Chapter 5: Misunderstandings

KARA

“Wake up!” The back of my head was hit by something firm, making a soft thud. I groaned and hid my face under my pillow, completely ignoring my attacker. All I wanted to do was sleep until the sun was high in the sky.

“Kara,” a voice called again, and my body jumped from the sudden rush of cold air. Layla had ripped the covers off of me, and I sent her a glare.

“What?” I snapped in response when she wouldn’t stop smiling at me.

“It’s eleven o’clock. We have to go meet Jess at the mall at two before she starts work.” Layla was stripping out of her pajamas while in the process of walking into her bathroom.

“You can take a shower in the guest room,” she shouted behind her, leaving me alone in her large room.

Dragging myself out of bed, I walked down the hall and into the familiar light blue room. The bathroom was connected to the guest room, and I entered, glancing at myself in the mirror.

My makeup was slightly smudged, and I frowned. I must’ve been so tired last night I just passed out right away. I peeled my dress off of me, which I had also fallen asleep in, and stepped into the shower.

I let out a deep breath when the warm water streamed against my skin. The hot water soothed my tense muscles, and I stood there, enjoying the feeling of water cascading down on me.

The thought of Jason popped up into my head, and I replayed the night all over again. I should’ve known he was dating Sarah.

After she had lashed out at Jason, I walked away, avoiding him for the rest of the party, which didn’t end until three in the morning.

Around two was when I got tired and ran up to Layla’s room to wait for her, but I fell asleep.

Grabbing my cream-colored towel from the rack, I stepped out of the shower, and the cold air instantly sent chills throughout my body.

I wrapped my hair in a separate towel, threw on a fresh pair of clothes, and walked out the door, but instead ran into someone else.

“Ouch,” I muttered while rubbing my forehead, which had collided with a jaw. I heard a low chuckle, and my head snapped up. “Liam?” My jaw dropped in disbelief.

Liam was Layla’s older brother by two years. He had left earlier this spring to go back to college along with my brother, Charlie.

Neither of them had returned for summer, though. Liam was a sophomore in college and spent the summer in San Francisco for an internship. Charlie decided to catch up on credits and took summer classes.

“Kara!” Liam looked surprised to see me. I tackled him with a giant hug.

He was like an older brother. Liam was a year older than my brother, but those two were best friends growing up. Another reason that Layla and my families were so close.

“When did you get back?” I asked as he set me back down on my feet. Charlie briefly crossed my mind, as I remembered that he was supposed to call me tomorrow at noon.

My brother worked very hard in school and didn’t use his phone that often, so we made a schedule for him to call me and talk for about an hour every weekend.

“This morning, around eight.” Liam paused and studied me. “Wow, you’ve really grown since I last saw you. You’re finally a woman,” he teased and ruffled my wet hair.

“Get out, Liam,” I huffed and pushed him out of the room before slamming the door in his face. I heard his deep laugh from the other side of the door as I continued getting ready.

“Layla! Kara!” We gazed across the food court and saw Jess frantically waving her arms in the air like windshield wipers. I laughed as we approached the wild-looking girl.

It had taken us longer than expected to all meet up just because Layla wanted to watch ~Grey’s Anatomy~—and then it took another half an hour to reapply her makeup after she cried it all off.

“Liam?” Jess stared at the foreign human being slowly walking behind us. “Liam!” she shouted and smiled once she realized it really was her former crush.

“Hey, Jess.” Liam grinned at the fawning girl in front of us. I wasn’t the only one who had grown up having a huge crush on Layla’s older brother.

In fact, Jess and I were only two of many, many girls. It drove Layla crazy, so of course— as her best friends, we made it our duty to always remind her.

“Wow, you’re finally a woman, too, Jess,” Liam teased as he sat down next to Jess and me.

I playfully elbowed his ribs. Liam saw us as his little sisters, but he found it amusing to tease us about the small crushes we once had.

Well, the crush that I once had. Jess was practically drooling over him as he sat down at the table.

The catching up began, and soon we were all laughing like old times. Jess and Layla found it necessary to include my whole Jason dilemma, and he found it just as interesting as my best friends.

“Well, would you look at that?” Jess mused, and we all turned to see what she was staring at. “Speak of the devil.” I saw the familiar blond-haired boy walking alongside Sarah.

All of us staring in his direction seemed to have caught his attention, and he turned to glance at us. My head turned in an attempt to avoid eye contact.

“Kara,” Jason called, and I cursed fate for putting us at the same place at the same time. I slowly turned to face him.

“Jason.” He gave me a smug smile when I didn’t mutter the usual “Jackson” joke. Fuck. I was supposed to stick to that just to mess with him.

Layla and Jess chuckled from behind me. I wouldn’t be surprised if they whipped out a bag of popcorn. Our stare down was interrupted when a hand waved in front of his face.

“Hello?” Sarah snapped at him with an angry glare.

Jason glanced at her as she attempted to tug his arm while throwing daggers at me with her brown eyes. Jason’s eyes locked back with mine, and he paid no attention to her.

“We’re only here to talk, Sarah,” Jason muttered to her and pried her grip away from his arm, which was only making her even more livid.

I felt bad for her, but then reminded myself of all the times she had been rude to me, and the pity I felt for her disappeared.

“You originally came to go shop at—what’s that one store you girls shop at? Fly and 16?” Jason stroked his chin while pretending to think.

“Forever 21, but—” Sarah never had the chance to finish her sentence.

“Okay, well, we were done talking anyway.” A stern Jason looked down at her so she’d get the message.

“I’m texting Laura. Don’t bother calling me later,” Sarah huffed and stomped away, leaving behind a frustrated-looking Jason, who I could’ve sworn muttered “I wasn’t planning to” under his breath.

I had to admit, their situation had piqued my curiosity.

Jason, not having anything else left to do, walked over to us and sat down in the open seat to my left. My nose was greeted by his woodsy scent.

“How are you ladies doing?” Jason looked between Jess and Layla, who were now back to fawning in their seats. I narrowed my eyes at my friends for falling for his false charms.

“Good!”

“Amazing.”

They both replied in unison.

“Is that Jason?” Liam asked in my ear quietly.

I had forgotten we—or at least Layla and Jess—had caught him up on Jason and my quarrel. I nodded, not knowing what to say. Jason was a classmate, and nothing more, which wasn’t worth repeating.

A classmate I wouldn’t mind fucking. My head shook, trying to push my dirty thoughts away.

“He looks like you.” Jason stared at Liam as if he recognized him. Liam sat up straighter, composing himself.

“That’s because he’s my brother.” Layla stuck her middle finger out at Liam.

“Liam.” Layla’s older brother introduced himself, ignoring his sister.

Jason nodded his head before replying, “Jason.”

“Well, now that you two are acquainted, I’ll be back. I’m starving.” I dismissed myself and got up to go find food in order to satisfy my growling stomach.

Jason decided to follow me, and I took one last glance behind me at our table. I wasn’t surprised to see my two friends giving me sly looks.

My eyes rolled when Jess wiggled her eyebrows.

Jason and I walked next to each other in silence, with him occasionally looking over at me with an amused expression. We were already at the food court, so we didn’t walk that far.

I continued to ignore him and walked up to the cashier wearing a red visor. The worker looked at me with a bland expression, and I could tell that she was ready to leave her shift.

“Chips and guac, please,” I ordered, and she scurried to grab my items before handing them to me. My stomach grumbled as I held the chips in one hand.

“Three seventy-five,” the girl with a strand of pink hair muttered, and I dug into my bag to grab cash. The sound of the register opening caused me to glance up, noticing that Jason had already paid for me.

“I could’ve paid,” I finally said to him as I opened the bag of tortilla chips, “but thank you.” Even though he annoyed me, I had manners.

Jason nodded in response, and we walked back toward my group of friends. I was still curious as to why he was here with us, just randomly inviting himself.

Jason had barely said a word to me, and it just made me even more confused.

“We should hang out sometime,” Jason said, finally breaking the silence. I stopped a distance away from Jess and Layla so they wouldn’t hear and turned to face him. “What’re you do—” I cut him off, ignoring his confused stare.

“You want to hang out with me? After you just spent the last week irritating me?” My question seemed to catch him off guard. “Why?”

My eyes remained locked with his, showing him how serious I was. Jason looked genuinely surprised, and his mouth flapped open like a fish.

After a moment of silence, he seemed to have regained his ability to think. “So,” he lingered on the word, “there’s no connection here?” Jason raised an eyebrow, and I almost choked on my chip.

My coughing subsided, and I regained my composure. Sarah flashed through my mind.

I had no idea what their situation was, but clearly they were still talking to one another, so why was he going to another girl already? It made my skin boil.

Sure, I wanted to fuck him, but not while he had a girlfriend.

“Have you ever tried being just friends with a girl for once?” My eyes returned to his blue ones, and his face remained blank as he waited for me to continue.

When I said nothing more, he said something that slapped me in the face.

“I thought you were into me. What about that one time in the hallway? And the dancing at Layla’s?” Now it was my mouth that flopped open like a fish.

The memory of us dancing together at Layla’s replayed in my mind, and my face turned pink. The way his hands had felt on me was a delight, but it was the heat of the moment.

After both realizing my misleading actions, Jason continued.

“You know, Kara. You act like you have me all figured out. You label me as the guy everyone wants to see, and without even getting to actually know me. Maybe it’s you that needs to get off your high horse.”

Jason’s face was stoic as he gave me one last glance and walked away, leaving me gawking in the middle of the mall food court.

I didn’t know what to do. The whole situation went differently than I had imagined, and guilt rippled through me.

There was a tiny part of me deep down inside that did acknowledge the slightest crush I had on him. Jason turned me on.

“How was the trip?” Jess wiggled her eyebrows once I returned.

“One, I think I lost my appetite, and two, I don’t plan on talking to him ever again.” Their faces dropped, and Layla pouted when I had no juicy details to give her.

“Why? What happened?”

I rolled my eyes at their ignorance, opening my bag of tortilla chips to give them a try.

“He’s Jason Kade. I shouldn’t have to explain myself.” I dipped the chip into the small guac container and shoved it into my mouth.

Okay, so maybe I still had an appetite.

“Well, I’ve got to go to work now. Retail sucks—wish me luck.” Jess dismissed herself, thankfully changing the subject. We said goodbye, and I continued eating in peace.

A groan left my mouth as I slowly walked up the driveway to my small, cozy house. It stood out because of the bright red paint.

As much as I loved my house, I hated coming home ever since Charlie had left for college.

I was left all alone with my mom. I loved her with all my heart, but she wasn’t the same woman anymore.

It sometimes felt like a chore—having to come home and help her when she was too drunk to function properly. After my dad left us, she turned to drinking as a coping mechanism.

I walked into the living room, which was shrouded in darkness. I took a couple steps forward and turned the lamp on, illuminating the sight of my mother’s body sprawled across the leather couch.

“Where have you been?” my mom slurred as I closed the door behind me.

She weakly got up, and I grimaced at the sight of her. Her short black hair was sticking out in all directions, and she still had her “work” clothes on.

I knew she was unemployed, but she was too ashamed to tell us. I found out when I overheard her talking to my aunt on the phone a few weeks ago.

I wanted to help my mom out more than anything, but I knew she’d get even more upset—and it would make things worse for her.

The only reason I wasn’t working yet was because my mom wanted me to focus on my school first so that I’d get good grades to help me get scholarships for college—just like Charlie.

“I went to the mall with Layla and Jess.” Not adding the fact that I had texted her about it earlier in the day. Walking up to her, I watched carefully as she struggled to stand up straight. It pained me to see my mother this way.

“Ma, you should go to sleep.” I put my other hand on her shoulder, and she almost fell backward.

Instead of trying to bring her to her own bed, I helped her lie down correctly on the couch and covered her with a warm blanket.

My mom passed out within a second. I went to my room, and my heart hardened when I saw the framed picture of my dad holding me on his shoulders when I was four.

If only he knew the pain that was held in this house.

“Jeez, Kara. You look dead.” Jess gasped when I met her at her locker the following morning at school.

My stomach grumbled from not eating breakfast, and I snatched the strawberry Pop-Tart from my backpack. It had been squished thanks to my Science textbook, but alas, I was hungry.

“Thanks,” I replied sarcastically and munched on my fruity pastry. My friend shook her head, ready to correct herself, but I cut her off, feeling extra grumpy this morning.

“I’m going to English now.” I spun around and walked toward my classroom. I hadn’t slept well last night, and I felt groggy, but thankfully the food in my stomach was helping.

As I walked into class, I noticed the devil himself was sitting in the seat next to mine.

Of all days, I thought.

Jason stared forward as I sat down, not acknowledging my presence. Was he giving me the cold shoulder?

His body was facing the front of the class, and his arms were crossed. My heart fluttered when I couldn’t help but notice how attractive he looked when he was serious.

I think it was because I was so used to seeing the goofy, irritating Jason.

“Can you stop staring at me?” Jason said while looking at me from the corner of his eye.

My mouth dropped open as I tried to come up with an excuse, but I remained quiet and faced forward, wallowing in my own embarrassment.

Jason chuckled, and instead of continuing to face the front of the class, turned his entire body toward me, causing his knees to rub against the side of my thigh.

“I guess I don’t blame you; I like my view too.” I could see Jason smirking in my peripheral vision. I was both confused and intrigued. Wasn’t he mad at me the other day, and now he’s flirting with me?

I bit my lip. Thankfully, the bell rang, letting everyone know our class started.

“Jason.” Our English teacher, Mr. Quinn, stood in front of our table. “Could you please face forward?”

This was a daily routine in this class. Mr. Quinn absolutely despised Jason and found every little reason to scold him.

Jason held his hands up and turned forward.

We sat silently next to each other, but it was extremely difficult to focus on anything the teacher was saying when Jason’s arm would occasionally brush against mine. The heat radiating off him was making me horny.

All I could focus on was how bad I wanted to pull Jason into an empty classroom and have him bend me over. It was hard to listen to whatever lecture Mr. Quinn was giving.

The first half of class went excruciatingly slow, and when our teacher finally gave us the okay to work independently, Jason turned back toward me.

I tried to ignore him, forcing my eyes on the worksheet on top of my desk.

“So you’re stuck up, huh?” Jason’s voice entered my ears. I gritted my teeth to keep my mouth shut. I could tell he was trying to mess with me.

“Or are you a Goody Two-shoes? Either way, not surprising. You do think you’re better than everyone—or so I’ve heard,” Jason whispered, and I slammed my pencil down on my desk.

“What do you mean by what you’ve heard?” I gave in and turned to face Jason.

He raised his hand in defense. “Don’t get mad at me, I’m just going by what I’ve heard. You know, kinda like you.” My eyes widened at him. What a low blow.

I gritted my teeth in annoyance. “What are you trying to prove?” One minute he was flirting with me, the next he was being an asshole.

“I’m just treating you the way you’ve treated me. Not so nice, is it?” Jason’s blue eyes locked onto mine, and I tried to find an answer in them, but his face remained stoic.

“Jason,” Mr. Quinn cut in, and the tension in the air quickly dissolved. “You need to start on your worksheet and quit distracting Kara.” The teacher glared at Jason.

My mouth opened to defend him, but Jason snapped back instead, “I was just helping Kara on a question, Mike. No need to jump to conclusions.”

I stared back at Mr. Quinn, whose face resembled a tomato.

“Detention after school, Kade,” our teacher snapped and walked back to his desk. My hand covered my mouth as I tried to hold in my snickering.

It didn’t work very well because Jason returned his gaze to me and gave me a smirk.

“You think it’s so funny, but just wait until I get you in detention with me.”

“I’m a Goody Two-Shoes, remember?” I sneered. “Good luck with that.”

My mood turned sour, and I continued to do my work while ignoring the asshole beside me.

The rest of the class flew by quickly, and after that, I walked like a zombie all the way to the girls’ locker room.

I changed into my bland-looking gym attire and walked out to the gymnasium full of semi-tired students.

Thankfully, Jess was in my class, but so were Jason and Adam.

“Gather around, class,” Mr. Dott yelled, and his voice echoed throughout the gray-walled gym.

“For warm-ups, I want everyone to do twenty jumping jacks, twenty sit-ups, and fifteen push-ups. We’re doing three sets. Go!”

The bulky teacher blew his whistle, which made everyone cover their ears from the shrill sound.

My movements were in unison with the rest of the students up until the second round of push-ups. My arms could barely hold my body up, and I tired myself out after attempting to do five.

I felt weak, but I convinced myself that it was okay considering I was running on less than five hours of sleep.

“I refuse to sweat,” Jess said as we began jumping up and down again while flailing our arms. I was on number eight when suddenly I fell to the glossy wooden floor with a very heavy body on top of me.

“What the fuck?” I snapped at the black-haired boy who landed on me.

I groaned as I tried to push his weight off of me. My hand landed on his sweaty shirt, and I instantly pulled away from the moist contact. My butt throbbed from landing on it so abruptly.

“Sorry, I tripped,” the shy guy mumbled and got off me. I lay on my back for a minute, collecting myself after the sudden impact. I jumped in surprise when someone hovered over me, literally.

“What the—” Jason was holding himself up with his hands on either side of my head as if he were in a push-up position, and his legs were in between mine.

His blond hair fell forward as he stared down at me with dark blue orbs.

“Time for push-ups,” Jason said, smirking, and began to drop his chest against mine.

Jason purposely made sure his mouth got closer to my own, and I turned my head just as his lips grazed my cheek, leaving a burning sensation.

My breath caught in my throat, and I did the only thing I could think of at the moment to save myself from embarrassment.

“You asshole.” I brought my knee up and hit his pride with a forceful impact. Jason fell over, groaning, while clutching his not-so-precious marbles.

“What—is wrong—with you?” Jason groaned in between painful huffs and curled up into a ball on the gym floor.

His cheeks were red, and his face was contorted into a painful expression. The room went quiet, and everyone stared in surprise at the body lying on the ground.

“Ms. Acosta, that was completely out of line. You’ve earned yourself an afternoon in detention,” Mr. Dott shouted across the gym, and I felt my heart drop straight into my stomach.

The class oohed after my punishment was announced.

“Not the way I expected to get you,” Jason grunted while standing up on his feet again, “but I’ll take it.” He took a step toward me, so we were only a few inches apart.

I was still in shock from the moment.

“You know what the best part is?” Jason smirked down at me. “I didn’t even have to do anything. You earned that all on your own.”

A moment later, his body heat disappeared, and I watched as the asshole walked away.