Rumor Mill

Chapter 2 - Girls Freak Me Out

I turned around to see Jess coming straight for me. Not knowing what else to do, I just stood there. 

"Talking to Jenna, I see?" She teased.

"Shut up, Jess."

"Hey, I'm sorry if Jor hurt your feelings earlier. You know that he was just joking, right?"

I frowned at her. "Well, yeah, but... Do you guys always have to pick on me and my non-existent love life?"

Jess laughed; her laugh sounded so much better when she wasn't laughing at me. "Tay, they don't just pick on you. Remember when Cam had that awful crush on Hayley Williams? Or that time Alexa almost kicked my ass because someone told her that I wanted to nail Lynn?"

I started laughing, too. "I remember that! I seriously thought she was going to come after you during that lunch period!"

"Thankfully she didn't, and we're all friends now."

"Oh yeah, one big gay happy family." Jess smiled at me, but I could tell that something was wrong. "Hey, you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine." I could tell that she was lying. "We should get to class though. Walk me to jazz band?"

"Of course."

She held onto my arm as we walked to class. Orchestra and jazz were at the same time and on the same hallway, so we usually walked together. Sometimes, Stephen Gomez- although Jordan is trying to convince everyone to refer to him as "Stephen G'Day-Mate" after this morning -joined us, but it didn't happen every day. We talked about hanging out after school some time this week while we made our way to the arts wing of the school.

"You better not start standing me up for that cute Aussie, Jardine. Or I'll kick your ass."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you're jealous, Jess." I chimed.

I felt her arm slide out of mine as she stopped walking. I was greeted with a dismayed look when our eyes met. "And what if I am, Taylor?" Holy Christ, two people have a thing for me? I'm usually just lucky that Jess holds my hand when we all watch a movie!

Not knowing what to say, I stood there with my mouth slightly agape. After someone bumped into me, I snapped back into position. "Jess..."

"It's fine, Tay," she tried to smile like nothing happened. "Really."

"No, it's not!"

"Tay, please. I don't want to talk about this right now."

I looked at her with quizzical eyes. "Then when? Later? You always say 'later' and then we never do." The smile disappeared from her face once more. "Jess, no, come on. I'm sorry. Can we please just forget this?"

"For now," she paused. Then, she leaned in so close to my ear that I could feel her breath. "But sooner or later, you and I will be alone again." A tremor surged through my body, sending a shiver down my spine. To make matters worse, she kissed me on the cheek. "See you, Tay."

She left me there, awestruck. Man... girls freak me out.

The day was finally over and I made my way to Jordan's car as quickly as I could. It wasn't too hard considering the band room had an exit that faced the parking lot. Seeing that the passenger window was down, I tossed my backpack into the window and dove in after it. I probably looked silly. I didn't really care. I just wanted to go home, curl up, and die.

"Jardine!" I heard Jordan calling out to me. He must have seen my neat little stunt. Damn him and his ability to see above large crowds.

Once he reached the car, I answered him. "Yes?"