Chasing Jacob (Jacob Whitesides Fanfiction)

Just a Kid

My eyes grew wide and I hung up as fast as I could. "What was that?" Ryan asked.

I swallowed hard. "I was on a call with Jacob. I don't know what he heard..."

Ryan parked his car and climbed out with a shrug. "Everything happens for a reason. This could be your chance."

I shook my head and fought off tears. "But I don't want him to find out like that."

Ryan walked around the car, pulled my door open and waited for me to climb out. When I hopped to the pavement he led me to the house and we found Josh in the kitchen. "What are you doing here?" He asked me.

Ryan shrugged. "Some dumb middle school drama today. Emily and Jake are breaking up."

Josh continued to stare at me. "And the relevance of Cassie being here and not there is?"

"He pissed me off."

"And?" Ryan asked me.

I rolled my eyes. "I left him a voicemail that's probably going to ruin my life." Josh continued to give me the same look. "He heard me and Ryan talking about how I like him."

Josh laughed a good, long, genuine laugh. "Cass. That's dumb middle school stuff. Look at it this way. You don't have to hide your feelings and Jake is soon going to be on the market to sweep you off your feet. Nothing is going to go wrong."

I was frustrated because it really did feel like the world was ending, but I knew Josh had enough sense to steer me in the right direction. He shot me a look of pity and grabbed some chips to head to the basement which on weekdays became his and Ryan's man cave. "I'm sorry, Sissy, but you've had this coming for a long time. It'll be fine. I can promise you that."

Then he and Ryan were gone. I collapsed on the couch with a sigh and checked my phone. I had one message from Jacob. "I'm sorry I flipped out, but I'm breaking up with Emily anyway. You can tell her if you want."

The big thing was that if it wasn't going to keep Jacob and Emily together, I didn't want her to know. All I wanted out of the situation was for Jacob to be happy and if I was going to be risking my own happiness, I wanted to be sure that Jacob would get happiness from it. I texted him back. "I'm not going to tell her. You're right. I don't wanna risk it."

I laid on the couch for the longest time until Josh came up to start dinner. "Did you do your homework?" I shook my head and stared up at the ceiling. "Quit moping and get moving, Cass. I know your grades are still slipping. There's only a week or two until report cards."

I groaned and peeled myself off the couch, grabbing my backpack and pulling out my history binder. It was the only subject we had homework in that night aside from math which I'd already finished in class. I stared between the article comparing some presidents and the worksheet I had to fill out as I read it and groaned. I didn't have any motivation.

Ryan helped Josh pull out all of the stuff required to make a dinner of chicken nuggets and homemade french fries before he got the call to head home. I was almost done by the time he came into the living room where I was and stared at me as I wrote. "5," I said without looking up.

"4."

I sighed and finished up my homework, sliding it back into my binder. "I'll see you in the morning then?"

He nodded and spun his keys around on his finger. "Yeah. I'll see you then."

I wandered to the kitchen where Josh was starting to peeling the potatoes and started to help him. "Do you think Ryan's been acting really weird today?"

Josh nodded. "Yeah. He has his reasons." We were quiet as I waited for him to add more to what he was saying. "He doesn't want you to know, Cass. I'm sorry."