Pieces of Love

Chapter 19

I woke up the next morning to my phone practically exploding with missed calls and messages from Jacob. Scrolling through all of his messages, angry tears welled up in my eyes. No explanation is valid enough for his attitude towards me and Isaac last night, yet he still had the nerve to be angry at me for nothing. Jacob's messages showed his anger at first, then soon morphed into desperate pleading and despite myself, I felt a hint of guilt at leaving things the way they were yesterday.

By the evening, my anger has given way for remorse and I would give anything to be able to speak to Jacob again. My phone has become a temporary accessory of mine, as I would look at the screen every minute, hoping that Jacob would send me a new text. When it was time for bed, I sent a few texts to him, tired of all the waiting.

Em: I'm really sorry I said that to you. It was uncalled for.

Em: But I'm still mad at how you acted yesterday.

Em: Can we just forget about this? Not talking to you is driving me crazy.

The last text took me some time to write. In order to fix whatever happened between us, I had to tell him what I feel, and it was true. I missed joking with Jacob. I missed looking forward to his goofy texts. I missed being able to look at him laugh. With a sigh, I placed my phone by my bedside table and prepared myself to go to sleep.

By the next morning, there was no reply although my phone indicated that Jacob had already read the messages. There was however, a new text from Isaac.

Isaac: Pick you up on Friday at five?

Receiving his message just increased the thoughts of what happened that night in my head. Yet I could not blame Isaac for what happened, for he had no intention whatsoever in creating a fight between Jacob and I. Replying with a yes, I got ready for school, simply dreading the fact of seeing Jacob in History, which I had today. It was bad enough being in the same class as him, but the fact that we usually sat beside each other made it a whole lot worse.

So it wasn't with much enthusiasm that I made my fifteen minute walk to school. Even the cool air couldn't lift up my mood. My fingers subconsciously fiddle with the charm bracelet Jacob gave to me and a sinking feeling entered my chest of the possibility of us never talking again. Lily and Sophie greeted me on the way to my locker, screaming unintelligible words in my ear, in which I winced and begged them to stop.

Gesturing to Lily, I asked her to explain. With bright eyes, she said, "You scored a date with Isaac and you didn't tell us? Albeit, it's weird that you are going out with my cousin, but I totally support it." Sophie nodded and mocked a look of hurt as she pouted and demanded for details. I sighed and rubbed the sides of my head, silently begging them to keep their voices down in case Jacob heard them.

Beckoning them to my locker, I said in a soft whisper, "Isaac told me in the party that he liked me." Sophie let out a high-pitched squeal at this and muttered, "I'm so jealous of you." I rolled my eyes at her reaction as she already had a number of admirers ever since she stepped into Clifford High.

Continuing after Sophie's interruption, I said, "I then told Isaac that I only looked at him like a friend. He then asked me out on one date, and if my feelings for him still haven't changed, he won't bother me anymore. The date's this Friday and I have no idea what he has in store for me yet." As I said this, my cheeks heated up and I felt a weird tingling feeling in my chest that a boy would be so interested in me.

Lily and Sophie were looking at me with so much interest and eagerness I felt like an object on display. Then a strange thought appeared into my head. I didn't tell them about my date with Isaac, something they were kind enough to remind me, and I don't think Jacob would want to tell them something which made him upset. So how the hell did they find out?

"Where did you guys hear about this?" I asked curiously. Both of their faces fell as soon as I said this. This increased my curiosity by tenfold and I peered at Sophie with suspicion, knowing she will succumb to the desire to spread gossip.

"We overheard Jacob talking to Nicholas and Dylan about it. He...he didn't seem too happy," Sophie whispered fearfully, yet a light blush formed on her cheeks on the mention of Dylan. On other occasions, I might have smirked and teased her, but now was not the time. She then nodded her head at something behind my back. Twisting around immediately, I saw the said people bending their heads together, discussing something heatedly.

My stomach gave a lurch when Jacob just happened to look up, and our eyes met. I stood there frozen as I anticipated his reaction. He fixed me a cold unblinking stare, and then went back to talking to Nicholas and Dylan as if nothing happened. My heart dropped and I felt the familiar tears sting behind my eyes. Ducking my head, I walked past Lily and Sophie, ignoring their cries, to go to class early, not in the mood to stand in the corridor with Jacob there.

The hours ticked by like clockwork until my History class. With a sinking heart, I trudged to my class. My mood dipped even further when I saw Jacob's tall frame enter the class, as if the universe wanted to remind me of the conflict between us. I had already extended my forgiveness towards him, yet he still continued ignoring me. Wasn't he the one who was asking me, no, more like begging me to forgive him yesterday?

Shaking my head of my negative thoughts, I walked into the classroom without a word and plopped myself down on the seat next to Jacob. He stared forward, determined not to make eye contact with me. I made sure to make a fuss of taking out my pencil case and notebook, bending my body as low as possible away from him. When I could delay rummaging through my bag no longer, I reluctantly straightened up to see the teacher glaring at me, clearly ticked off of me taking my own sweet time. Gulping, I made the mistake to glance at Jacob who looked as if he would rather be anywhere but next to me.

"Stop being such a nuisance!" he exclaimed, looking thoroughly annoyed. Speechless, and feeling that if I opened my mouth, I would start crying, I looked back down to the plain wooden surface of the desk, feeling extremely hurt. Maybe he truly doesn't want to be friends with me anymore. Out of the corner of my eye, Jacob made a sudden movement towards me, seemed to think better of it and went back to paying attention to the teacher.

If this was going to continue, I was pretty sure that our friendship has pretty much ended. And losing Jacob was like losing a part of you.