My Worst Distraction

Fourteen

Jorge's Point of View
Monday
Crystal and I hadn't texted one another since the kiss at Jessie's house, and I was a bit worried that she wouldn't want to talk during school. To avoid going to school, I decided to pretend I was sick. It clearly didn't work out because my mom was already pulling up at the pick up area. I got out of the car and immediately spotted my group of friends. Walking up to them, I noticed a couple were missing.
"Hey, Sal." I called. "Where are Scott and Frank?"
"They're both talking to some girls inside the band hall. Do you know if Joel is coming today?" He asked.
"Yeah, he texted that he would be with Savannah. Why?" I questioned.
"She has a friend, and that friend is beautiful!" Sal grinned. "Joel promised to try and work something out."
"Wait, what friend are you talking about?" I asked out of curiosity.
"The girl I have for a class. I think her name is Letty." He replied.
"Oh, man. Frank and her are talking. They're like best friend. Maybe Frank can hook it up for you. That's probably the girl he's talking to right now in the band hall." I laughed.
Sal's eyes widened and then he quickly flipped out his phone. I was going to take a seat on the bench, but then Ben randomly appeared and started up a conversation.
"How was the concert?" He asked, fixing his red hair and glasses.
"It was badass." I answered. "How did the date with that girl Clarissa go?"
"Bad."
"Bad?" I chuckled. "What did you do this time?"
"Me?" He asked, baffled. "She made me pay for her ticket, the popcorn, and dinner!"
"You did ask her out, right?" I asked.
"Yeah, so?"
"I'm no expert, but I am pretty sure that when a guy asks a girl to a date, he's the one who has to pay because he's inviting her somewhere he planned to go. If you wanted her to pay for herself, you should have asked to hang out instead of asking her to go on a date with you."
He squinted his eyes and told me to shut up. He also mentioned that Clarissa had tried to hold his hand during the movie while her hands were a bit sweaty, and she repeatedly stood up from her seat to use the restroom. Every date he went on with any girl would not last past a second date. There was always a reason to why a third date would never happen.
"Time to head on inside, go to class!" The security shouted.
I walked with Ben to class and there were no signs of Crystal. Ben dropped me off at my computer science class and left. As I sat at my computer by the entrance door, I saw Crystal passing by. She glanced at me and I smiled, but she only turned away. Just then Jessie walked in.
"She's not talking to you?" He asked.
"No." I whispered.
"Are you going to try and talk to her during lunch?"
"Maybe, maybe not." I replied.
Lunch came around hours later and I hadn't seen Crystal around. I was sitting on a bench with Sal, Scott, Frank, Kevin, Caleb, and Ben. They were talking about going some place, but I wasn't listening. Suddenly, Crystal walked by with some friends of hers that I particularly didn't like.
"Jorge!" Kevin called. "Frank asked you a question."
"Oh, I'm sorry man. What's up?" I blinked.
"We're all going to the lock in at Peter Piper Friday, you coming?" Frank asked.
I continued to stare at Crystal and murmured, "Hold that thought." I stood up from the bench and quickly walked towards Crystal who was now in the lunch line. I hadn't planned what to say, but for some odd reason, I knew in had to talk to her.
"Crystal." I called, grabbing her hand.
She jumped back a little, clearly surprised by my appearance. "You scared me." She breathed. "What's up?" Her friends, whose names I really didn't care to remember, took one ugly look at me and walked away, leaving us alone together.
"I wanted to talk to you about what happened." I stated.
"Oh, you mean about Esai and Savannah? Did he want you to tell Savannah that he said he was sorry or what?" She asked, getting in the line that serving pizza.
"No, actually. He hasn't messaged me."
"Oh, so then what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" She stared at me.
"Um..." I swallowed the saliva that was building up from nervousness. "Why have you been ignoring me?"
She going to reply, but paused, and then answered, "I'm not." She grabbed her plate and drink and we began to head to where she was sitting.
"You kind of were."
"Well, that was weird what happened Saturday." She exclaimed. "I like you, but that was just too soon."
"Wait." I stopped her by standing before her. "You like me?" I asked, grinning.
She looked down. "As a friend." She walked past me.
I caught York her, "No."
"No, what?"she asked confused.
"You don't like me just as a friend."
"Why does it matter?" She asked, putting her plate down at the table and taking a seat. I moved one of the backpacks and sat next to her.
"It matters because..." I looked around.
"Because what?" She asked impatiently.
"I like you too." I stared, making eye contact with her.
"Excuse me." A voice cleared their throat.
We both looked at who was talking and I stared at the girl before us. I rolled my eyes and stood.
"Hey Cindy. Always a pleasure." I moved out of her way, wanting badly to spill her diet coke all over her shirt because of what she did in the past.
"Yeah, whatever." She sat down and so did the other people.
"Crystal." I looked at her and she gawked at me, "I'll see you later."
As I walked away I heard the girls laughing. I was a bit angry because Crystal was hanging out with my ex Cindy, of all people. I looked around and saw Joel walking with Savannah, so I sprinted towards them.
"Hey, are you alright man?" Joel asked.
"I'll tell you later. Where are you two headed?" I asked.
"We're just going outside." He answered.
"I'm not cock-blocking am I?" I chuckled.
Savannah and Joel answered at the same time. Savannah answering no, and Joel answering a yes.
"You're not." Savannah repeated.
I nodded and we walked out of the school, and relaxed in the pick up area. I took out my phone and decided to just see what was going on twitter. I had barely made an account and wasn't following much people so my timeline didn't have much. Getting bored of that, I decided to just talk to Joel and Savannah.
"So, how are you two?" I asked.
"Good." Savannah smiled and then looked away with a sad expression.
I looked to Joel for a explanation and he mouth the name Esai.
"I'll be right back." She whispered, got up, and walked into the band hall.
"She's still sad about it?" I asked.
"Yeah. She says it didn't bother her, but I know it did." Joel stated a bit angrily. "She barely met him, I don't understand why she's so chocked up about it."
"Am I sensing jealousy?" I snickered.
"No, man. Maybe." He looked down. "It's just all ridiculous."
"What is?"
"Us. Her and I." He whispered.
"Wait a minute, I thought she was all you wanted. Now you have her and you think it's ridiculous?" I asked in disbelief.
"Not us being together is ridiculous. What's ridiculous is the fact that what we have going might not even last. There's already another guy that is messing us both up, and I'm getting protective of her!" He exclaimed. "Everything is moving fast."
"Tell her how you feel." I commented.
"She didn't even want me to know Esai called her those things."
I didn't really know what to tell him, so I stayed quiet. I did agree with him on the fact that things were moving fast. Not only for him and her, but for Crystal and I as well. We had barely met and at first it was mostly flirting. Of course my intentions were to get to know her better, but I hadn't expected to kiss her so soon. And now I was planning on asking her out to dates.
"You need to talk to your friend." Joel demanded.
I glanced at him, "and say what? I barely get to see him and I'm not even sure he's in town."
"I'm pretty sure he is." He replied.
"What makes you say that?" I asked.
"This is our last week of school because next week is Christmas vacation. College students get out earlier than us." He informed.
"What am I supposed to say?"
"Tell him to leave her alone! To leave us alone." Joel shouted. "He's a damn pervert."
I stared blankly, I hadn't seen him this angry in a long time.
"And tell him to delete Savannah's number or else-"
"Or else what?" A voice asked.
We both turned to the left and saw Savannah standing a foot away from us.
"How long were you standing there?" Joel asked.
"Long enough. This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you." She bickered and then walked past us.
I watched as Joel called her, reaching for her hand but she jerked it away.
"Tell your friend something or I will." Joel barked at me.
"Time to head inside!" The security shouted.
I walked with Joel to class. He hasn't spoken a word. We entered class and sat before Scott and Frank who were looking at something on the phone. Joel put his head down on the desk and I stared forward, not knowing how to cheer him up. The entire period we were silent until towards the end, Joel had decided to text Savannah. He apologized to her and she had only replied with the word o.k.
Hours later, it was now after school. We were seated outside and Crystal walked up to me sitting down. She whispered hi and offered a cookie she had received from a friend. I politely refused it while Ben gladly snatched it from her hands and walked away. She laughed, and I stared in admiration.
"Why are you staring at me?" She asked, smiling.
"Your smile is forever wedged in my mind and memory." I stated.
"Don't be so gay." She joked, turning a slight pink, and we both laughed.