Jewel

Chapter 16

*16 years old*

So Blake and I have kind of been a thing since the day Jackson left for the military and we caught his dad at home. Not much is different between us except now we hold hands in school and sometimes kiss after school. We're still more of best friends, but I guess that's how your significant other is supposed to be.

Mr. and Mrs. Todd on the other hand have been separated for some time now. She found out about the other girl before we had a chance to tell her. They tried working through it, but they couldn't. It has been really sad to see two great people torn apart. They are just like my parents and I hate to see them not together. It's like everything I thought that was good and wholesome in life is even a lie. If not even Mr. and Mrs. Todd can make it work, I don't have any hope for myself.

In other sad news, I haven't talked to Jackson pretty much at all. I called him a couple of times a week for the first few weeks. We cried the first two times and talked for an hour or so. Then our conversations kept getting shorter and shorter and before I knew it, he wouldn't even pick up my calls. He ended up changing his number around the third month he was gone and now I have no way of contacting him. I knew this was going to happen, I just didn't know it would happen so soon.

On the bright side, all that has been happening has given me some great topics for art pieces. Art is going really well and I'm working on my portfolio to start submitting for colleges. I have to start this summer. Blake and I have been looking at colleges together still and I guess it's settled where we're going but it still doesn't seem real.

We've kind of skipped some of the big things that you do as an upper classman like the whole sweet 16 thing or the ring ceremony and such. For our 16th birthday, we just spent the weekend at the beach with Mrs. Todd and his sisters and that's probably what we'll do for our 17th birthday next month.

In the mean time, I am fighting my way through yet more AP classes; I don't know why I do this to myself. They're not that important for my school, but they help with my GPA so I guess I'll have to suffer through. While I am stressing about the big tests coming up, all the other girls are stressing about prom this year. They're worried about finding the perfect dress, and how they're gonna do their hair, and how far in advance they have to start tanning to make sure they have the "perfect non-orange glow" for the stupid dance.

Blake and I have decided that it's not really our thing to go to a school-sponsored dance where we have to dress up and go be social. We'd much rather stay in and watch movies in sweats all night, and that is precisely what we plan to do.

Blake and I are trying to walk through the halls in school before class starts, but it is really crowded and I have no idea why. We make our way through the crowd to the front and find that it's some big promposal thing. Some guy has an obnoxiously large banner and flowers and there's music and it makes me want to barf. Everyone is cheering as the girl walks through an arch that her friends made with their hands and she runs up to him. They hug and when she turns around, I see it's Tess.

"Come on, let's go" I say, annoyed and take Blake's hand as we try to break through the crowd.

"Jealous because no one will ask your stupid little ass to prom?" Tess mocks me as I walk past.

I roll my eyes and just keep walking. I don't pay any mind to her, but Blake stops. "Actually, I asked her to prom so you need to keep your big ass nose out of her business." He snaps to her.

I am totally surprised by his reaction. Plus, we already discussed that we were not going to go to prom.

Tess looks shocked too, then she quickly rebounds. "Going to prom with your brother is not allowed, Meredith."