Chapter 27: Chapter 27

This was bad. This was very, very bad.

I stood in front of the mirror of the upstairs bathroom, trying to find reasons to walk out. He didn’t make me nervous. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t.

He can’t!

I’m just on edge, that’s all. The only kiss I’ve received from a boy who wasn’t related to me was in elementary, and I had to do it. I had to! Margaret O’ Donald made sure as to steal my crayons without me knowing, and all I knew was that he had the sixty-four pack!

You’re just overreacting.

Of course I’m overreacting. I’m always overreacting.

I groaned, letting my head fall forward, so that it made a soft thump against the mirror.

This is a disaster.

When had you become so weak?

I bit my lip. It tended to tingle every now and then – and I despised it.

With a deep breath, I backed up and opened the door. As I descended the stairs, I looked over through the archway leading to the kitchen. My Mom was on the phone, glancing down frequently at a magazine in her hand, while my Dad was at the table trying to out beat the daily crossword in the newspaper.

With a sigh, I continued past the archway and opened the front door. I was walking down the porch steps when I noticed something was off.

My Mom’s car was meant to be parked in the garage, seeing as though it was probably the most expensive. My Dad’s truck was always parked along the street, and mine was usually the only one on the driveway.

The thing off, was that Jesse never gave me my keys back… because I stormed off too soon as to even give him a chance – either way, I walked home yesterday. So I was taken aback when I saw my car parked in front of the house.

Acting out of common sense, my eyes shot to the street, and I noticed another car on the side of the road beside my Dad’s. Seeing the flashy black paint of the car – it was a wonder as to why I missed it. There was a shape of a person leaning against the door, also.

My thoughts clouded.

Not now.

He seemed to be in a daze – staring blindly at the house next door that I once told him was mine, but then he shifted his stare up once he heard the door shut behind me. Like yesterday, he leaned away from the car quickly and took small steps toward me.

I glanced at my car, establishing what he had done. “You didn’t have to do that.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t know if you had a ride or not, so I figured I’d drop it off.”

As he spoke, he raised my keys in front of me. A small part – a very small part – was almost fearful of grabbing them. I swallowed it, tightening my lips, reaching out to take them hesitantly.

He didn’t release them immediately, but instead, held them longer – letting the small object hold us close. After a long minute, he finally freed them, meeting my eyes before backing up.

“I’ll see you later,” he muttered, turning back to his car.

I stared after him, toying with the keys dangling from my finger, and tried to think fast.

I felt bad, there was no denying it. He went through waking up early – mostly likely – to drop off my car, have someone to drop his off, and then he had to wait outside until I mustered up the courage to walk out of my bathroom.

He had a hand on the top edge of the driver’s side door, when I shifted, and dropped my stuff trying to catch up to him. I set a hand on his once I reached the Camaro, trying to stop him from getting in the car.

His eyes met mine, utter surprise in his expression.

My voice came out soft – a first, even from me. “Thank you.”

He smirked, and I noticed the little movement in his features made the sapphire color in his eyes brighten. “Your mood swings scare the hell out of me.”

I half-smiled. “That’s the point.”

After a moment, his eyes shifted to the hand on his – and I immediately pulled it back before he got any ideas. He let out a soft smile, before he got in the car, and drove off.

I stared after him for a minute, before shaking my head and turning back to gather my belongings thrown on the floor.

* * *

When the bell rung, signaling History to be over – I quickly scurried out the door before the teacher could call me back in, and scold me for guessing on the test he handed out.

How is anyone supposed to know what the Magna Carta is?

Just as I pushed open the doors leading outside toward the gym building, I felt a jerk. My eyes widened when I realized I hit someone, and I jumped out before it shut so I could see who it was.

The odds. Hit him with the door, why don’t you?

“Carson,” he let out, rubbing his arm. “How’s your head?”

His usual sandy hair was darker again. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought he went rolling in the snow or something. Come to think of it, my brother did do that once. What’s to stop his friends from doing it too?

“I’ll live,” I muttered.

He let out a small smile. His gaze shifted to the door beside me.

I spoke before he could leave though. “What were you doing there, anyway?”

“Hmm?”

“The field. You don’t have gym during seventh, you’re a senior.”

He cast his eyes down, awkwardly beginning to fidget with his fingers. “I wanted to talk to you – without him with you.”

“You ditched class just to warn me about him?”

“No,” he backed up a little, until he was against the brick wall of the school. “I would have kept talking if he wouldn’t have thrown the damn football.”

“Talk about what?”

“I need your help.”

I bit my lip again. “I’m failing everything. To be honest, I’m not even the smartest person here—”

“Not with school,” he said, cutting me off.

A gut feeling began to scream for me to walk away. I’ve had enough of these encounters with Jesse. I didn’t need another problem with Kale.

I crossed my arms, and stared at him skeptically. “Then with what?”

He tightened his lips in a hard line. “Jesse—”

I cut him off this time. “Oh come on, Kale. I barely even know the guy—”

“You know him enough. It doesn’t even matter, he seems to really like you anyway.”

My expression fell. “Where are you going with this?”

He ran a hand through his hair awkwardly. Right after glancing around to see if the area was clear – which more than obviously was – he relaxed back against the lockers and directed his eyes to me again.

“When I was in eighth grade... I had a girlfriend – my first girlfriend, and I really liked her. Jesse was a year younger, and a grade below.” – I easily noticed the hostile expression he made as he said Jesse’s name – “After a week or two of hanging out with him, she started to get… distant. And I noticed she was always… happy when he was around. I started freaking out, and asked her about him."

He took a deep breath. "She said there was nothing going on, and I believed her. But then a few days later, she left me for him.”

I sighed. “To be honest, if she left you that easily, maybe she wasn’t even worth it.”

“That’s not the point,” he said quickly.

I narrowed my eyes. “Okay? Then what is it?”

“I wanted to ask if you’d do the same to him.”

I was lost – my mind didn’t start to work again until I repeated what he said in my head. "You want me to... cheat on him...?"

His face fell. "I want you to ditch him for someone else."

My whole body entirely froze. After a moment, I finally mustered up a response. "What? No. That's insane.”

The only insane thing, was that ditching Jesse was probably going to be the hardest thing, considering he was rather the persistent type.

“You made it clear that you hate him, so why the hell not?”

I struggled for my words – because I never thought I’d have it in me to say them. “Because… I mean, deep down… he’s a good person—”

“A good person? He left her once he was done – she was one of those girls now. Do you know how bad I felt after that?”

“No…” I tried to find something to say – anything to defend Jesse.

There’s a first.

“Then you know,” his eyes glinted. He leaned away from the wall. “You’re the only girl he’s actually chased after. If you leave him, he’s done.”

Why was it, that if he would have asked you a month ago – you would have said yes in a heartbeat?

“I’ll…”  I backed away, aiming for escape. “I’ll think about it.”

He smiled softly, shifting so that he was nearer to the door. “Thanks, Carson.”

He opened the door and went inside.

I turned, scowling at the gym where Jesse was.

I was so screwed.