My Worst Distraction

Four

Jorge's P.O.V.
We continued to text through the night, and the conversation had actually gotten interesting. We changed topics from music to movies, to fears and dares. It was pretty fun getting to know her and things about her, without having to ask boring questions. It was 10:56 at night And she texted that she was sleepy.
Me: OK. Night. It was great talking to you.
C: Likewise, night.
I plugged my charger into my phone, and sat up in my bed. I walked to my drawers and grabbed nightclothes. I was heading to my shower, until my phone started humming. It was a phone a call from Esai.
Me: Hello?
E: Hey man, I have something important to tell you.
Me: Figures, you never call not text.
E: Do you remember Savannah?
Me: The name rings a bell, but no, I don't remember her.
E: She was the one who dated Juan, your old friend.
Me: Okay, but how does that information help me?
E: She told me that she knows someone who likes you.
Me: And?
E: Dude, you're hopeless! She was always hanging out with Crystal.

I paused, gathering all of the information given to me. She is one of the friends in the photo that I saw taped to Crystal's dashboard, which is why she looked familiar.

J: You don't think that-
E: I do.

I shook my head not knowing what to think or say, now that I had a clue that there was a possibility Crystal liked me.

E: So what are you going to do?
J: I don't know. All I can think of is inviting her to our demo release show, but we don't even have a place to play.
E: Don't worry about that. I know someone who knows someone. I will just make some calls, and I'll get back to you.

With that, we hung up and I was left thinking about what just happened. How can you like someone you have only known for half a day? Then again, I liked her when I first saw her. I waited impatiently until I recalled that I was going to take a shower. I left my phone to charge, and grabbed my clothes walking to the shower. I took my clothes off, and switched on the water. Once it was a little hot, I got in and showered. When I was done, I changed into my nightclothes and heard my phone ring. It was a picture message. I left the towel on my hair to dry, too lazy to blow dry it and too impatient to do it before reading my messages. I checked my phone, and it was a few photos from Esai. They seemed to be messages between him and another person. I clicked on the first photo, and this was the conversation.
E: Hey, can I ask you something?
S: Yeah, sure.

/Wait, what? He asked Savannah?/ I read on to see what happened, and how the conversation ended.

E: You said your parents own a couple of places here and there, right?
S: Yes.
E: Thing is, I can help your friend.
S: What do you mean?
E: See if you can get Jorge and his band a place to play, and your friend will be able to meet Jorge, personally.

I started to freak out, and stopped reading. /What if it is t Crystal, and it's some crazed fan. It's happened before, it can happen again./

S: Sounds like a plan. Let me ask.
(10 minutes later)
S: There's a place free this Saturday, but it's not here I. Weslaco.
E: Anywhere is fine.
S: Okay, then. We just need the money in by Thursday, and your friends can play at 8 pm in McAllen at the Switchfoot Skateshop. We'll charge $5 before 10 and $8 after. The total is $150, depending on what we make will depend on how much the band will receive.
E: Awesome.
S: One other thing, there'll be three bands playing as well. One before Jorge's, one for a break, and one after.

Then, I got a message from Esai asking if I was going to take on the offer. I called Chris and put Jessie on the third line. They answered and then I asked.

Me: I have a gig for us, but a few things.
J: Spill.
Me: It's in McAllen and we have to pay $150.
C: That's not bad, other places have charged us more!
Me: It's cheap because three other bands will be playing and whatever money the place makes, we'll have to separate it.
C: Man, I don't know.
J: Chris, we have to take whatever we can get! If they're giving us money, I'm in.
Me: I agree with Jessie. We haven't played anywhere in a while, man.
C: Okay, fine. Where will we get the $150, though?
Me: We can split it.
J: So we each pay fifty bucks, it's great!

We all agreed on the date and Chris said that he would go pay them before Thursday. We hung up the phone, and I messaged Esai that we were going to pay. He messaged Savannah and she booked the place for us. She even went ahead and made posters, saying it was our demo release party and three other bands would be featured. Chris put it on twitter and many re-tweeted the photo.
I went to bed, feeling pleased. I woke up the next day to my alarm. It's 6:40 a.m. and I got up to get ready for school. I did my business, brushed my teeth, and fixed my hair. After that, I walked to my closet. I searched through my shirts and chose one randomly. It was my black Pink Floyd t-shirt, and I threw on some jeans. Grabbing sock, I slipped on my black converse, snatched my backpack and walked downstairs with my phone in my left hand.
"Morning mom." I greeted.
"Morning Jorge. Are you going to make yourself a bowl of cereal?" She asked.
I shook my head and took a seat next to my little brother and sister, Andrew and Gracie. I checked my phone and had a message from Joel saying that he was already in school. I replied that I would be leaving from my house in about five minutes. When everybody was done, we left. I was the first one dropped off because mom worked at Andrew and Gracie's school. I met up with Joel, Frank, and the others in front of the band hall. As I arrived, they were talking about Joel and how he hasn't had a girlfriend.
"You talk to a lot of pretty girls, but none of them like you." Scott, with highlights, laughed.
"Because most of them are taken or they like someone else." He confessed. "They just come to me for advice."
"So why do you waste your time on them?" I asked.
"I'm not wasting my time." He said. "I actually already have someone."
All of the guys looked to Joel for more details. He looked around, then did a double take at a particular direction and stared. I turned to where he was staring and it was at Crystal and Savannah. My eyebrows furrowed, and I had completely forgotten that we went to the same high school. I turned away before Crystal could catch me staring, and I looked at Joel. He continued staring, and I looked at them again. Savannah turned, saw us both staring, then looked away and whispered something to Crystal. They got closer to the school entrance, and then Savannah turned around again to see us still gawking at them.
"Do you know her?" Frank asked.
"Who?" Joel asked, returning back to reality.
"Those girls." Scott stated. "You stared at them until they went inside."
Joel grinned. "I like one of them."
My heart congested. I glared, awaiting for the name of which girl he liked and hoping it wasn't Crystal. He looked down, and started explaining that he has art class with one of them, never mentioning which girl, and they started talking. She is a pretty cool girl, but is going through a lot of stuff. They started texting after a while, and he began to develop a small crush on her. I was about to ask the name of which girl he was talking about, but the security guards began to shout that it was time for us to head inside for class. I checked the time on my phone, 7:55 a.m. We walked inside, and some of the guys left with their girlfriends, others stayed behind, and then it was just Joel and I.
"Do you think I should tell her I like her?" Joel asked.
I sighed, "No."
"Why not?"
"It's only been a month since you've known her, right?" I questioned.
"Well yeah, but-"
"It's too soon." I blurted out. "It might take her some time to start liking you. Or what if she likes somebody already."
"Nah, man." He shook his head as we took a left turn in the hallway. "I've seen the way she looks at me. Her eyes light up and she smiles a lot."
I thought about Crystal and when we would talk. Her eyes were always shining bright and she wouldn't stop beaming.
"Everything about her is beautiful. Even her name."
I laughed silently and shook my head. He's spoken about every girl this way before, and it never ended pretty.
"Sorry, what's her name?" I finally asked.
Before he could answer, the bell rang for first period.
"I'll tell you during lunch." He shouted as he made his way to his first class, which was art.
I walked up the stairs and went to English. I debated on texting Crystal and asking her what her first class was, but I didn't want to seem like a stalker so I held off on it and decided to wait impatiently for lunch. The time seemed to be going slow and I couldn't text Joel because his art teacher wouldn't let them use their phones.