A LEAP OF FATE

Chapter 7 - Friends ?

Sydney's P.O.V
Friends.

I liked the sound of that, probably because it was better than enemy or bully, I'd have taken any title over those two, but the title I'd got was one that was really satisfying.

Jerome Johnson was not at all what all the students of Rosecliff had made him out to be. I'd really not expected him to be kind, but he'd really surprised me.

I thought back to Rosecliff, everything they had painted Jerome Johnson to look like, he was supposed to be the popular jock who became intimate with every girl and dropped them immediately, the fuckboy who rejected love proposals like 10 year olds with vegetables, the cool bad boy who never had any appropriate or respectful sentence come out of his mouth. He hadn't been any of those things to me.

In fact, Jerome Johnson had been kind, respectful and actually seemed very gentleman-like, he knew how to be proper around a lady, not that I was one anyway. I didn't consider myself a lady, most people didn't. I was just that epitome of ridiculousness that everyone could verbally jab at all the time. It didn't change the fact that Jerome was a gentleman, though.

When he first made the offer of getting to know each other, I'd been wary, the thought of being friend with someone from Rosecliff was scary, especially when it was someone like Jerome Johnson who had become a household personality in the area.

I'd accepted the proposal though, partly because I was scared to decline, but mostly because he seemed like a genuinely nice person. That was not something I ever thought I would say about someone from Rosecliff, more so when that person was Jerome. The image I'd been made to see was a very vile one, one that was only the exact opposite of the image I saw tonight. I was having an headache thinking about the situation, was there even anything to be stressing over?

A few minutes ago, I'd been worried he would start bullying me, but now, we were actually friends, that was a thousand times better. The situation had fixed itself, so why was I still thinking so hard.

Perhaps, I couldn't trust Jerome, people don't go from strangers for nine years to friends in one night, it didn't seem like it could work, maybe I should've rejected the proposal afterall. What if he was planning to embarrass me, and his nice attitude and friendship proposal was just one big fabricated hoax that would eventually blow up to be the biggest scandal on campus, and considering the fame Jerome would get if he started playing professionally, probably all of Hollywood.

I knew I was thinking too hard, I was being delusional, you don't go from being the 'broken cheerleader' to being Hollywood's biggest scandal story. But, in the end, this entire situation with Jerome was based on doubts becoming real. I never thought Jerome Johnson would talk to me, but we hadn't only talked tonight but actually laughed together, I never thought I could be friends with anyone from Rosecliff, but the most popular guy himself had asked me to be his friend. Was the entire Hollywood thing really far fetched, afterall? I didn't think so.

I groaned on my bed as I turned around, I was getting severely frustrated.

"If you keep turning like that, you're not gonna be the only one who can't sleep" I heard Paige's voice from the darkness. I must've been disturbing her.

"Oh, I'm sorry" I said, the lights flickered on, and I was met with a disheveled Paige, sitting on her bed with her cat print pyjamas.

"Is something wrong?" She asked. At first, I was compelled to lie and tell her to go to sleep, but with further thought, realised I actually might need her advice. Jerome Johnson wasn't going away, neither was this friendship proposal, I'd already said yes but I needed all the help I could get to make sure that that wasn't a mistake.

"Do you know Jerome Johnson?" I asked her quietly, turning around to look at her face. She looked shocked, like she didn't expect the question.

"You mean the 'Jerome Johnson', I don't think there's anyone in this campus who doesn't know him, Sydney" she said.

"Wait, did he ask you out?" She suddenly asked. My eyes widened.

"What! No! Oh my god, no, no" I replied quickly, the mere thought alone was scary. How could I even think of dating Jerome Johnson?

"Oooookay? Then what happened?" Paige asked, stretching the 'okay' like she didn't believe me.

"Well, the thing is we went to the same high school together" I could tell she was surprised at that. However, I kept going.

"I wasn't exactly the most popular in high school because I was bullied a lot because of an accident that happened some years ago" Paige seemed to be listening intently, my story certainly seemed interesting.

"Jerome, on the other hand was, the most popular boy in school, we didn't exactly talk to each other even though we were neighbours and we were never friends, then tonight due to circumstances I cannot even understand, we somehow talked and he wants to be friends." I concluded my rant with a sigh, raising my hands high into the air to get the message of frustration across.

Paige gave me a deadpan look. "Please, tell me you didn't wake me up from my sleep for that" she said, squinting her eyes together from exhaustion. Gee, cranky sleeper much.

"Listen, Sydney, someone like Jerome Johnson is not even supposed to know you exist. Yet, due to some circumstances you don't understand, he does and not only that, he wants to be your friend. Personally, I think you'd be crazy to say no" she said, her tone completely serious.

Somehow, her words left me hurt. I wondered how it would've been like if Jerome Johnson didn't know I existed. Normally, we never talked, but I knew he knew I existed, I had been his neighbour afterall, for nine whole years. For some weird reason I cannot understand, the thought was very unpleasant.

I realised that if that had been the case, then the conversation between us tonight would've never happened, I would have never got to see the side of him I saw tonight. The side I still wasn't sure was a facade or not, but somehow I got the feeling it was a genuine side. I got the feeling that I got to know the real Jerome Johnson tonight, and that made me happy.

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