The Same Mistakes Club

Chapter Fifteen

Thank God Jacob Valadict sucked at Spanish.

He'd been trying to hit on me and ask me to Homecoming all week, but since his Spanish was so bad, I just looked at him, confused, and pretended that I didn't know what he was talking about. And since Jacob was so bad in class, he believed me.

Just before the bell rang on Thursday morning, I started my usual routine of grabbing my books and running out of class.

"Whoa, hold up, Pina Colada." Jacob grabbed my arm before I got a chance to dash into the hallway.

"Huh?" I tried to sound surprised.

"I need to talk to you." Jacob followed me into the hallway. "So I was thinking..."

Oh, this was going to be bad.

"... that you and I should, ya know, go to Homecoming together."

He stopped in the middle of the hallway and looked at me. Although he was a few inches taller than me, he looked a little timid. It almost made me feel bad enough to say yes. Almost.

"Oh, wow, Jacob, wow." I tried to sound surprised. "I actually have plans for Homecoming already."

"Who are you going with?" A hard edge seeped into his voice. "Smithers?"

"Gabriel? No, why would you - never mind." That threw me off.

"Every chick in this school is waiting around for Smithers to ask her to Homecoming. He better ask someone ASAP." He folded his arms, looking impatient.

"Uh-huh. Well, see, I'm not going with a guy. I'm going with some friends, that's all."

"Why would you want to do that?" He looked confused. "You know what, Alissa - if you don't want to go with me you should just say so."

"No, it's not that, I really am -"

"Whatever." Jacob walked away.

Well, that went well.

*****

Despite Jacob's reaction, for the first time since I'd been in high school, I was looking forward to Homecoming. Anytime I got asked who I was going with, I'd tell the truth, not caring if people thought it was weird that a bunch of girls were going together.

"Hey there, stranger - have you forgotten where your locker is?" Gabriel said to me after class.

"Yeah, well, I just..."

"It's okay. I understand."

I had no idea what he was supposed to be understanding. I'd been avoiding my locker so I wouldn't have to deal with Jacob.

I got back to fishing my books out of my locker, but Gabriel wasn't going anywhere. "So, Jacob told me what happened."

I turned around and leaned my back against the locker. "How much does he hate me?"

Gabriel moved so his head was leaning next to mine. "It's not that bad. I told him that you really are going with a bunch of girls. Sorry."

"Why should you be sorry?"

A smile spread across his face. "Well, I think he may start hitting on you again once Homecoming is over."

"Oh."

"Anyways, you should be the one apologizing to me."

"For what?"

Gabriel opened his backpack and started putting things into his locker. He was pretending not to hear me.