The Hard Crush 1 (Feelings For You)

TWENTY-FIVE

Jerry leaned against the locker, patiently waiting for the girl to acknowledge his presence. The only thing blocking her from his view was her opened locker that was between them, keeping him on one side and her on the other side. He heard her curse as she tossed things around and refiled through her locker, obviously searching for something. Her cursing and tossing went on for quite a while before she finally slammed her locker shut defeatedly and slightly jumped with a gasp when she noticed him standing there.

"Hey," Jerry said.

She scowled. "What do you want?" She snapped impatiently.

"Yo, relax. You don't have to be rude. I'm just here to know when you'll be free to work on the project."

"What?"

"The project. English class. You're my partner."

"No."

"What do you mean no? You're Piper Dickinson, I presume?" He asked, producing the piece of paper with her name on it.

"Go away! I'm not in the mood for your games."

Jerry noted that she sounded slightly terrified and annoyed. He also observed that she looked kind of different today. Her huge ridiculous glasses were missing.

"Okay. I can understand that you're in a bad mood right now. Trust me, I've been there and I totally get that you want to be left alone, but..." He watched her carefully as she hastily stepped back, her eyes darting around the hallway uneasily. "Are you okay?"

"Who sent you?" She asked, suddenly sounding pissed. "Is it Elijah trying to make you do his dirty work? If you're going to pick on me too, you might as well get it over with."

"Whoa, pick on you?" Jerry was confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"

He heard heavy footsteps coming their way behind him and suddenly Elijah was standing with them. "Am I interrupting something?" He asked, glancing between Jerry and Piper with a smirk.

"You got Jerry as your puppet too?" Piper asked as she stepped back even farther.

Elijah snorted. "No way. I'm not actually ready to get my face disorganized. Again."

There was a hint of emphasis in his exaggerated statement.

Jerry and Elijah weren't exactly enemies, but they weren't friends either. They'd literally fought over some pretty good amount of shit back in freshman year. But the worse they'd gotten physical against each other was when Ashley arrived at their school as a new student in sophomore year. New students meant fresh meat, which also meant she didn't know anything about anyone. Elijah had snatched the opportunity and convinced her into believing he was the good guy he so often claimed to be. Ashley, being clearly uncertain and lonely with no friends, accepted the friendship he had offered. But the friendship never lasted, not after Jerry had walked in on them making out in the chemistry lab. But it turned out Elijah had been the one forcing himself on Ashley. Long story short, Jerry had punched him in the face a good three times for sexually harassing a girl, but he'd made sure to not physically bruise him or break his nose or something. Anyone who knew Elijah would have guessed that he wouldn't have gone without putting up a fight. Elijah grabbed Jerry by the shirt and was on the verge of throwing a punch when a teacher walked in and sent them to the principal's office.

Elijah was pissed. He'd snarled at the principal's refusal to believe it was Jerry who'd attacked him first. It wasn't as if Jerry's attack had been severe compared to his major offence. Knowing he had a flamboyant effect on the teachers and the other staffs in school, Jerry wasn't surprised that Mr. Benjamin didn't believe he was capable of violence, which of course he wasn't. He'd only allowed that side to emerge and take precedence because of the situation. Elijah had been forcing himself on a girl! He couldn't walk into something like that and ignore it. Besides, it was Elijah. Who wouldn't want to throw a few punches at him? He was a maniac and that's why he'd gotten suspension for sexual harassment and fighting. It was a wonder the school's authorities hadn't taken his case into consideration and expelled him already. He deserved it. He deserved to be put in his place.