psycho | jaeden lieberher

eleven

"What were you doing last night? I tried to FaceTime you but you didn't pick up." Maddie says as we walk through the hallways the next morning. Mads is the one that told me to not interact unnecessarily with Jaeden, but how can I not tell her?

"Running lines with Jaeden." I almost whisper, praying she won't hear me. 

"Ugh, that loser again?" She huffs as we stop in front of her locker. 

"It was for the musical." I point out.

"But was it mandatory?" Maddie bends down so she can look in the mirror magnetized to her locker door. She grabs her lip gloss and applies another layer, even though it was fine before.

"No."

"Then it was a stupid thing to do." She closes her locker then turns and looks at me in the most serious I'm-telling-you-what-to-do way. "Look, Corinne. I'm not telling you this to be mean or to control your life or whatever, I'm telling you this to help you out. People will think your fucking weird if you keep hanging out with Jaeden Lieberher. Eventually Finn will think some shit is going on and that will fuck up your life enough, but on top of that all of the popular kids will think you're turning into a full time theater-nerd and will stop talking to you. So just, stop hanging with Jaeden when you don't need to. Ok?" 

I nod, understanding every word. "Ok." 

I think about what Maddie said during all my classes. I also think about how much I need her lip gloss because it looks great, but that's besides the point. Is hanging with Jaeden really fucking with my life that much? I mean I'm just being polite. It's not like I'm asking to run lines at the coffee shop or get a drink at parties, I'm just saying yes. Before I know it it's lunch, which means it's time to start thinking about Finn and not Jaeden.

"How are you?" Finn asks right after kissing me. He sits down next to me at lunch, which hasn't happened in forever and I'm so grateful for it. 

"Good, you?" I small talk. He isn't the biggest personal talker when we are in public, but I guess I'm fine with that. He likes keeping us for us, not the whole lunch table.

"Band is rehearsing late today, so if you wanna come after rehearsal you can." He smiles, like he genuinely wants me to go.

"Yeah, of course." I smile back. When we're both smiling it feels like the world is smiling. And I love when the world smiles.

Rehearsal goes by incredibly fast, because the whole time all I'm thinking about is that I'm seeing Finn after. Before I know it we've been dismissed and I'm sitting on the steps outside of school waiting for my mom to pick me up. I've text her about 200 times with no response, and left 3 voicemails. "Need a ride?" A voice says from behind me.

"No thanks, Lieberher." I come through with the last name friend zoning, I think it's working.

"Well, Leon, I think you do because you've been sitting here for about 20 minutes." Fuck, he's doing the last name thing too. Is he friend zoning me back or does he just think it's like a fun game?

"Have you been waiting for me to leave?" Creep.

"No. I mean, kinda. I mean, you seemed in a rush to leave and then I saw you sitting here I didn't know if you had a ride-" Ok, sweet creep.

"Sure, give me a ride." I stand up. Jaeden leads me to his car, and it's not as crusty as I expected. It's an old Jeep, like a very old one, but I like the rustic vintage feel. The outside looks like it's been through hell, but the inside is neat and well kept, like what you'd expect a kind of girly and nerdy teen boys car to look like. And now the mystery has been solved, he does have his own car. "I'm going to Finn's by the way." I say when I realize he has no idea where to take me.

"You think I know where Finn Wolfhard lives?" He laughs. And then I realize, Jaeden has a completely different life then me. If you asked any kids that sit at my lunch table they know where Finn lives, because they've been there thousands of times. I guess I've never fully realized that me and Jaeden really are from two different worlds. Like of course knowing where Finn's house is doesn't determine social status, but it determines who your friends with and what you do with your free time. And so far I've only seen Jaeden at one party, and I go to every single party, so it was probably his first real one. Now I get what Maddie was saying; all Jaeden and I have in common is the musical, everything else is different. 

"Thanks for the ride." I say when Jaeden pulls his car up to Finn's house.

"Anytime." He smiles. I open the door and get out, before more words ca be exchanged. I start walking up to the door and I notice Jaeden hasn't moved the car. He is fucking waiting to make sure I get in ok. That sweet creep.