PG-13
Sophomores
Jessica walked up the trash covered school hallway. She kept walking until she saw an orange locker with a dark brown spot on it where it had been previously dented. She looked over both of her shoulders to make sure no one was watching and opened the locker door. She searched in her bag for a note she had written in 1st period, and then when she found it, she slipped it quickly in the locker and shut it silently. She looked over her shoulder again, and walked franticly to her 3rd period class.
Right as she walked into the crammed gym the bell rang. She rushed to her seat next to all of her friends. To her left, there was a tall, maybe 6 feet tall, or more. He was tan and had golden/blonde` hair. It wasn't too long, but an the other hand, wasn't too short. He had a football players body. Very strong and nice. He also had a beautiful face. Perfect edges and just all around clean. On the other side there was a very tiny girl. Even though she was a senior. She had dark hair, almost black. She had dark brown eyes. They were deep and confused, and hard to understand. Her face looked like it had spray make-up, even though she barely wore make-up at all. Everything was just right. Her body for the guys was almost irresistible. All the girls were jealous. And, Jessica, ah Jessica, she was what the guys wanted. She was a bleach/blonde, even though it was her real hair. She was thin but still had the “goodies”. She was tan, and she could dance like no other, spinning on her head and doing flips. The three of them were tight. Jake to her left and Gin to her right.
“It looks like someone threw up Abercrombie & Fitch on Meghan,” Jessica said to her friends, just loud enough for Meghan, the girl who had always given Jessica a hard time, to hear her. Meghan sat in the very front of the wide room, talking to all of her cheerleader friends.
“I heard that Bensman!” Meghan yelled to Jessica, without turning back.
“That’s good Smart Ass, at least you know that I said it, now my life’s complete.”
“You might want to stop irritating me Bensman, I’ll get my girls to kick your ass!” All of Meghan’s friends looked at her like “Who you talking bout’?”
“Oh really?” Jessica said with a sarcastic tone, “Well why don’t you learn to fight for yourself and stop making your wimpy ass cheer squad do it for you?” She stood up and tried to walk to her, but Jake stopped her.
“What the hell are you doing? Let me go!” Jessica said.
“Hey Jake, maybe you should sit with us, instead of sitting with that dog.” Meghan said in a flirty tone that just wanted to make Jessica rip her voice out of her body. She started pulling harder, but Jake’s grip was tight. Jake was her best friend, if Meghan wanted him, she was going to have to be cool with her, but she wasn’t, so Jake wasn’t.
“Nah, It’s cool. I’ll sit here,” Jake said. When he said that, all that was a smile wiped off of Meghan’s face, and it appeared on my face. She rolled her eyes and turned around. Minutes later their teacher, Mr. Cannings came in. While he was telling them what they were going that day, Jake whispered something to Jessica.
“Did you put the note in my locker?”
“Yeah. I had to make sure no one was looking though. All these people trying to get gossip or something.” The conversation stopped at that. When the teacher told them to pick teams, it was always Jessica and Jake. Gin had a boyfriend, Mike. They were inseparable. Meghan had tons of girls saying “Pick me!” Then another one would say “No pick me! I have whiter teeth and better hair!” It was like a fight. Once everyone had partners they walked to there places on the court. Jessica had no idea what they were doing, so she just went along with what everyone else was doing, which wasn’t too hard. Once she found out what they were doing, basketball, she could actually focus. She was actually good at basketball, which was more to say than Meghan, who was traveling with the ball, and doing granny shots and missing. Her little five year old sister could beat Meghan at basketball. Jessica knew though why she did her granny shots, she wanted Jake to see her butt. He did, but he didn’t really care like all the other boys in the class. If Jessica and Gin did it all the boys would have bowed down to them, but they didn’t.
It wasn’t war between them, even though at times it seemed like it. Her and Meghan were on the same side, same school. There was things about them, that if they were friends and they hung out, they could have be twins. Only Jessica was a person who didn’t care what people thought, and Meghan was a person who did care what people thought. It all was a very confusing mess when they first met.
~ ~ ~
Jessica was coming to a new school for the first time ever. She was in sophomore year at high school and wore preppy clothes. When she went to Fairland High School it was all very new to her. Most people didn’t wear the preppy clothes that she did. One of the only groups that did was the cheerleaders. When the cheerleaders saw Jessica, it was like an easy target. She was new, and pretty. Perfect for their group. So they walked up to her and started pretty much saying your perfect with us. It was like a Christian monk on a missionary. They were looking for more people to be in their group. And, of course it was Meghan as the queen bee. Jessica was just glad to be accepted into the group. So when Meghan invited her to come to cheer practice, she was all for it. At practice all the boys were playing football in the background. They would look over and check her out, like she was a doll. She didn’t mind though. She was just glad to be with some people like her, or so she thought.
“Don’t you think Jake Olton is just the hottest guy you have ever seen?” Meghan would ask her fellow cheerleaders, then she would wave at him, and he was blush.
“Just a heads up, Jake’s my guy. I mean if you want him you can go for him, I won’t take it against you. I’m not like that,” Meghan explained.
“Well I don’t thi___,” was all Jessica said then Meghan cut her off.
“No it’s okay. If you want him, go for him.”
“No I’m good.” Meghan seemed happy and content with the answer. After practice the guys would take a shower, and then they would come out clean and smelling good, out of the locker room to talk to the girls. Jessica was getting tired of her jeans, so she decided to go in the bathroom and change into her sweatpants that she was going to wear for P.E. But, she didn’t know at the time that they were going to talk to the boys, or else she wouldn’t have changed. When the guys came out of the locker room, she was flustered. She felt so stupid wearing sweats and a blue tank. The guys didn’t seem to mind much. All of them would say,
“Dude, I wish all girls wouldn’t care what to wear like Jess. It’s okay I call you Jess right?”
“Yeah, it’s fine,” I would say. Meghan was dealing with it fine, until Jake started talking to Jessica. Then she got ticked off. Jessica didn’t even know who Jake was at first, but she soon figured out. He was flirting with her more than any of the other guys. He would play push her, and dance on her like and idiot, just like all guys do. They don’t really care. They just want the girls to know that they can have fun, and that they were perfectly fine with where they were in their school. The top. Jake would make Jessica laugh so hard, every part of her would ache. When they all decided we had to eat, Meghan made it a fight. She would say
“Nah, I have to go home anyway, but you can if you want girls.” Then she would give them dirty looks, like if you go with them your life is over. She stood strong for a whole five minutes, and then she broke down. See Jake knew finally what was going on. Jessica figured out that was Jake, and stepped back. He turned around. He said something in his eyes like, “Don’t worry, I’ll fix this.” So, he did. He got up right next to Meghan, towering above her, and said in a flirty tone. Maybe the flirtiest tone Jessica had ever heard. Meghan liked it though.
“Oh, come on Meghan. You have a new friend, don’t you want her to get to know you better?” Jake said. Meghan gave Jessica a dirty look, but Jake went on. There was more. “I…f you don’t even want her to go, we can drop her off and go by ourselves, I mean we want you to go,” he winked at her, and she smiled. That got her right there. The wink. Jessica was stunned. He didn’t want her there. What a jerk.
“Okay. Well you know, I don’t have anything against Jessica! She is cool. Yeah we need to help her with her wardrobe,” Meghan said. Maybe a little bit bitter like, but I didn’t pay too much attention to the bitterness, but the last thing. Her wardrobe. That was the thing that make her just ahhhhhh. Meghan saw how Jessica dressed. Nothing like this at all. Just at that time, she was trying to get comfy.
“Oh really Meghan, well do you want me to take my clothes off? You know since it’s soooooooo to wear what I’m wearing right now?” Jessica asked. All the guys looked at her. If they were dogs, drool would rush out of their mouths like a waterfall.
“NO!” Meghan said it a bit too early, and bit her lip. She was screwed. There was a guy in the back that said,
“Do it!” Jessica laughed. She blew it into Meghan’s face. After everyone stopped looking Jessica up and down, everyone left to eat. Everyone had to spread out. People without cars had to ride with someone who did. Jessica and Meghan only had their temps at the time, so they had to ride with one of the guys. Meghan was thinking that Jake was going to ask her to ride in his car, but he didn’t. He asked Jessica.
“Yeah, you can ride with me. Well if you want to I mean,” Jake asked Jessica. Meghan eyed me and wondered if Jessica was going to stay true to her 2-faced self after she insulted her in front of everyone.
“Sure. Do you have a ride yet Meghan?” Jessica said in a nasty tone. Meghan gave her “the look” and walked away. Jessica turned around and watched her, until Jake said something.
“Dude, that was hard.” He turned towards his car laughing. Obviously the conversation that Jessica and Meghan had amused him. She followed, only getting in the passenger side. They both climbed into his car. It was a mustang. Beautiful.
“If it’s too hard, get a helmet.” He looked at her, half in laugh and half surprised. He started the mustang, and they were off.
“So how do you like this new school?” he asked.
“Uh, well it’s good. I don’t like the bitches already though,” Jessica answered.
“Oh yeah, them. Yeah, don’t worry about them. They are just jealous.”
“Why would they be jealous with me?” He looked Jessica up and down.
“I can think of a lot of reasons.” Jessica made the “humph” noise, and looked outside the passenger window.
“Of course.” Jake looked at her. He was confused. What had he said.
“If I offended you or somein’ I’m sorry.” She looked at him, she didn’t mean for it to be mean, but of course it was going to be mean, it was what she heard everyday.
“No, don’t worry about it. I mean it just bores me. I don’t know how to explain it without sounding like I own everyone and everything, but it’s just what every guy would say to a girl. You don’t ever say anything different. It’s always the same sarcastic things. I don’t know. I wasn’t trying to be a bitch. Sorry.” He didn’t say anything. He just looked forward on the road.
Once the whole team got there, they had to wait for twenty-five minutes for some tables to clear out. Probably the whole room. When they sat though, it was like boy, girl, boy, girl. At the end, it was Jake and next to him he saved a spot for Jessica. Everyone was in a conversation. It was something about cheerleading. The usual. Jessica and Jake didn’t talk to anyone though. Jessica felt like it was her fault he wasn’t talking and not enjoying himself. She took one of the crayons out of a little cup on the table. It was meant for a 2 year old, but it would do. She wrote on her napkin…
Go outside.
She pasted it to him.
“I’m going to go outside for some air. I’ll be back,” Jessica said. She left the table, right when she saw him reading the tiny two letter message. She went outside and waited, looking through the wide windows to her table. She watched Jake make his excuse. He walked to the bathroom, but turned to go out the door. Meghan, Jessica noticed, was watching him the whole time. Even when he walked out the door to Jessica.
“Okay. If I said anything that hurt you, I’m sorry. I’m new here, so I don’t want anyone to hate me,” Jessica said. He didn’t seem to be listening though. “Hey. Do you hear me. Come o___.”
“Come here,” Jake cut off Jessica. He climbed into his car and started the engine. It was dark at this time, but her parents wouldn’t care. They trusted Jessica. So, she jumped in and they left. Meghan’s eyes didn’t leave them until they were out of sight, then Jessica didn’t know.
“Where are we____”
“Shh. You’ll see,” he answered her unfinished sentence. They sat in the car, silent, for about fifteen minutes, then he turned onto an ally. Jessica had seen the movies. The cute guy would take you to an ally and then he would leave without you. She was panicking quietly in her head. She was debating what was going on. He couldn’t. He’s in high school, he won’t do this. Then it would come up as Well teenagers do do some stupid things. It was all so confusing. She did this until they stopped. Which was a dead end. Terror filled her body up, just like you would fill up a glass. He just sat there and looked at the empty, blank, brick wall.
“We’re here.” Jake got out of the car and stood, waiting for Jessica to step out. “Oh come on. I’m not going to hurt you. Trust me.” She slowly slide out of the car and to his side. I was like comparing a sky scraper to this little car. He as exceptionally taller than she was.
“Follow me,” Jake said walking to a ladder next to the dead end. He started climbing, so Jessica had to too. They climbed to the very top together. When they were at the top Jessica could see the whole city of Chicago.
“Wow. It’s beautiful,” Jessica said in awe. She couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. “But wait, why did you bring me here?”
“Well you said that all guys are the same pretty much, so I just wanted to show something that made me different. My dad used to take me up here to look at the lights. I loved it. I started taking pictures. I don’t know. But, when my dad died it was like, I wanted nothing to do with this. Everything up here reminded me off him. I just hurt.” At this time they were sitting down on this cement bench. He was upset, but he was a guy, so he wasn’t allowed to cry. “One day, I just came back up here, and let myself out. A lot of times when times are hard, I just come up here, and I relax. It just is a part of me.” Jessica didn’t say anything, she was stunned.
“So you showed me this, just to prove me something?” Jessica asked.
“Yeah. Is that so bad?” He said in a confused tone.
“No. It isn’t at all.”