Dark Beauty

Chapter 8

Jake wasn’t waiting for me, but I knew he would be there soon because the bell had just rung. He must’ve been getting out of class. As I was walking out of class, I felt someone push me. I think it was Rebecca or Selena, well, it doesn’t really matter who. All that matters is that I fell and all of my books scattered around on the floor and about a dozen people started laughing at me. I started getting my books, avoiding looking at people (who were only walking around me instead of helping me, but okay).
I had just reached my English book when someone grabbed it and handed it to me along with my Math book. When I looked up, I noticed it was Jake, holding my books and smiling that perfect smile. I stood up as he handed me my books. I hoped he didn’t notice that I was blushing.
‘So, what happened here?’ Jake asked, with a worried expression.
‘Well, as you can see, I tripped and all of my books went flying around.’ I lied.
Jake sighed and then got a pen that I had forgotten on the floor. He then showed me the way to the math classroom. I was still getting lost in this school.
Just like math, the class was boring. There were just some numbers painted on the walls and some formulas, unfortunately nothing that could help us during exams.
‘Wow, this classroom is as boring as math.’ I said as we got in.
‘Yeah, you said that last week too, but Math is very easy.’ Jake said as we sat on the desks.
There were already some people sitting and the teacher was already there.
‘Really? For me Math is impossible.’ I said. The teacher had already given us homework and I was already lost.
‘No it isn’t, it’s easy.’ Jake was going to say something else, but then the teacher told everyone to be quiet because she was going to start the class.
Unlike Geography class, this one seemed to never end. It was so damn boring that Jake needed to shake me twice in order for me not to fall asleep. When the class finished the first thing that Jake said was:
‘This is only your second week of class and you are already sleeping, my gosh.’ he said laughing.
‘Yeah, when I can’t sleep, I just open a Math book and I fall asleep very quickly.’ I joked.

We had break after Math and then it would be English, which I also had with Jake. We didn’t walk much, we just found a tree and sat there and kept talking. 
‘So, if you could, would you pursue a music career?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know. I never stopped to think about that.’ He said. ‘It’s not really an option.’
‘Why?’ I asked. ‘You should do what you want.’  
‘It’s not that simple.’ He said looking down at his hands. ‘Would your parents let you do whatever you liked for your future?’
‘I don’t know; I still don’t know what I want to do.’ I said. ‘But when I decide I’ll try and make them understand that that’s what will make me happy.’
‘It’s not that simple.’ He said again and this time it seemed like he was talking to himself. 
We stayed some minutes in silence, just looking up at the sky. I glanced quickly at Jake. He seemed to be thinking of something. Then Jake looked at the watch and said we only had two minutes to be in class. Talking about his future seemed to leave him uncomfortable.
Now I would focus on Peter. Thinking about Peter, we hadn’t seen Jessica today.
‘Where do you think Jessica is? She didn’t even talk to us today.’ I said
‘I don’t know, but I know she will appear as soon as we talk to Peter.’ Jake said, as we walked to his locker so he could get his books.

 It turned out Jake was right. Jessica was with Peter. She was just looking at him as he sat on our table.
‘Hello Peter.’ I said sitting down.
‘Hi Leila, hi Jake’ Peter said as Jake and I sat down. He was wearing a black jacket and black jeans. 
    The teacher told us to open our books and read the chapter about ultra-romanticism. After about twenty minutes with no one in our table saying anything, I broke the silence. 
 ‘Well, did you guys finish reading?’ I asked.  
‘Yeah.’ Jake and Peter answered at the same time.
    I looked around the class. Everyone was talking, laughing, some were even arguing, but our group was the only group who was in an awkward silence. 
When I was alone with Jake everything just flowed, we talked about everything. When Peter was there though, it was like Jake and I were complete strangers. I mean, he talked to me but it was as if he got embarrassed or something. Okay, I’ll be honest, we had some awkward silence moments too, but they were different than this one. 
The teacher handed out a text about five pages long. I don’t even remember what it was about because I was too busy thinking about other things and looking at Jake.
 I kept looking at him, but when he lifted his head I looked the other way. I could see him smile out of the corner of my eyes. 
    I know it was only the second week of school, but I already considered Jake a good friend, I would never want to lose his friendship. You know that just like love at first sight, friendship at first sight is a thing too. 
    I looked at Jake again, he was looking at the text the teacher had handed out, but I could tell he wasn’t reading, he was just gazing at the paper. What was he thinking? I wish I could read people’s minds, then I would know what Jake was thinking. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t even hear the bell.

‘So, did you read all the five pages?’ I asked him as we left the classroom.
‘No. What about you?’ He asked me.
‘No. I read very slowly.’ I said.
‘I think it was because it was too boring, I caught myself many times thinking what I was going to do when I got home.’ Jake said.
‘So, did you come up with something to do when you get home?’ I asked.
‘Yes!  After a lot of thinking, I came up with the perfect thing to do at home, dramatic pause… SLEEP.’ He joked.
‘What a great idea, I think I’ll do the same.’ I said laughing.
    ‘So, what class do we have now?’ I asked looking at my schedule as we walked through the corridors.
Jake shut my agenda where my schedule was glued.
‘We have philosophy now; you said the teacher was cool, remember?’ Jake asked giving my agenda back.
‘Yeah, I remember.’ I said turning left.
‘Hum, Leila, the classroom is that way.’ He said pointing to the other side.
‘Yeah, I knew it. I was just testing you.’ I said, turning to the right side.
Jake chuckled and showed me the way to the classroom.
It is so good when Jake is around, I could totally be myself with him, I feel so comfortable with him.
As we walked, we passed by Lucas. He was so hot. He was with a big group of people; I think they were talking about football. As I passed near him, our eyes met and he smiled. I smiled back.