Pieces of Love

Chapter 16

After a fun-filled week of sightseeing, including of going to King's Cross station to see Platform Nine and Three-quarters, I had a quiet Christmas with my family. Having spent the previous week with Jacob, now it was time for me to be with my family. I exchanged texts on Christmas morning with Lily, Sophie and Jacob, all wishing each other a Merry Christmas. Jacob sent a picture of himself in a cute sweater handmade by Alice, with the caption reading: missing you here! Unsurprisingly, for the rest of the day, I had a goofy smile on my face which I could not erase.

Lily and Sophie immediately filled me in about the latest news about school when we made time to hang out in the mall the day after Christmas. Sophie was literally screaming in my ear about the Valentine's Day dance that Clifford High organised for the student body to attend. In order to please her, Lily and I agreed to help her shop for a dress to wear, although we only decided to buy our own dresses sometime in January. After scrounging the mall from top to bottom for what seemed like forever, we managed to find Sophie a dress with a white bodice and red skirt. It had spaghetti straps and a sweetheart neckline and fell to her knees, something which suited Sophie perfectly.

Although I might not be a huge fan of shopping, I had to admit that it felt great to be able to talk about girly stuff with Lily and Sophie again. School reopened in January and the three of us were closer than over, eating with each other during lunch every day. Jacob started hanging out more with his two friends Dylan and Nicholas, something I did not mind too much, seeing as we still talked to each other often.

The whole school was now buzzing with excitement about the upcoming Valentine's Day dance, now that the weeks are starting to slip by closer to February. Lily, Sophie and I did not have any plans to go with anybody, so unless somebody asked us to go to the dance, we would go there together. Unknowing to Sophie however, was the fact that Dylan was planning to ask her to the dance, thus it was not a surprise that she came flying to Lily and I after our Music elective class, telling us the news.

As the three of us parted ways, I walked home feeling strangely unsatisfied. It was only when I was standing on my front porch did I realise what was bothering me so much. It was the fact that nobody had asked me to the dance, or more specifically, Jacob. It would just seem fitting for us to go there as friends and the fact that he was a boy and I was a girl made it even better. And I was sure he felt the same way.

My tutoring sessions with Jacob were still carried on as per normal, although I did notice a slight change in how he behaved. He would take the effort to make me laugh, and half of the time I realised that he was more focused on me than the things I was teaching him. Although I was excited at the fact that a boy was paying so much attention to me, I could not help but feel curious about the reason behind all of this. It was like something happened during the night in which we shared the same bed, something which triggered all of this.

I remembered a particularly memorable morning, in which Jacob had definitely acted different. I was about to say goodbye to him outside his house when he stopped me with an odd expression on his face.

"Hey Em, wait!" Jacob had shouted, beckoning me to come closer. He had seemed nervous, and was constantly rubbing his neck. "Can I ask you something?" he asked with a little bit more courage, and a hint of his signature grin appeared on his face.

"Yeah okay, what's up Jake?" I answered, a slight funny feeling in my stomach. Is he going to ask me to the dance? Just the thought of it made me feel giddy and I tilted my head up at Jacob, my heart thumping faster than usual. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down and he suddenly seemed hesitant.

After a moment's silence, when I thought nothing was going to happen, he slumped his shoulders in defeat and mumbled a 'nothing' No matter how hard I pestered him, he refused to answer me anymore, his eyes focused on the ground in disappointment. With a sinking feeling in my chest, I finally admitted defeat, and walked off reluctantly, glancing back at Jacob who was staring intensely at me.