[ C h a p t e r - E i g h t ]

Chapter 8

I didn’t talk to him this whole week. By him, I mean Jonah. Maybe today will be different. Or maybe it’ll be realistic. I blew my only chance at friendship for the rest of my high school life, maybe even college.

And this may sound cliché and sappy but I think I blew whatever chances I had at…romance, too. No, I don’t have a crush on him but I do think he’s cute, like the majority of the girls here (I’d unfortunately learned that, too this week). I also learned that Waverly is planning on asking him to Winter Wonderland on Tuesday or Wednesday, too, but it’s not like I can stop that from happening.

“Have a good day, today," my mom grinned at me. Today, I decided to actually eat breakfast. If I’m going to talk to him, I want to be able to focus on something other than lunch while I was conversing.

“Maybe,” I muttered as stirred my cereal around. My mother frowned at me while I heard a groan come from the stairway. Jeremiah is up.

“Morning," he mumbled as he rubbed his face. “Pancakes,” he smiled at the pile of pancakes on the table. I was never a big fan of pancakes.

“So when am I going to meet this boy?” my mother asked, raising an eyebrow.

“What boy?” Jeremiah asked through a mouthful of food. “You’re done fighting with Jonah?”

This is what I dislike about my family; nothing is private. And when I say nothing, I mean nothing. One time, in fourth grade- I walked into my room to see my family sitting on my bed. They’d read my diary and were curious about how things with River (my old crush) were going. My father was reading it in a high pitched girly voice, too. Turns out, they had been reading my diary every day since the day they’d found out I had it.

“You’re in an argument with that boy? Why?” my mother frowned deeper.

Jeremiah snorted. “She’s fighting with him because she doesn’t want to admit that she has a crush on him.”

“You have a crush on him?” she gasped. She believes everything Jeremiah says. That’s a problem because half of the things he says are lies about my love life, or lack thereof.

“No, I don’t,” I nearly shouted at the same time Jeremiah vigorously nods.

“Don’t listen to her; you know how she is, she’s so mean to him because she doesn’t know how to treat him…she does have a humongous crush on him and all. The feeling isn’t mutual so her expressing her love for him would be insane and awkward," my brother blabbed.

“When are you going to move out?” I snapped.

My brother smirked at me. “Never," he answered.

“Mom, can you please kick him out?” I whined.

“Honey, would you look at the time? I have to get to work and you have to get to school,” she smiled. Classic favoritism at its finest.

I got up and slung my bag over my shoulder, one strapping it. I have to follow Jenko’s advice…from 21 Jump Street. Get it?

***

During all of second period, I was anxiously tapping my foot. I have next period with Jonah and I plan to talk to him then. Waverly isn’t in that class, thankfully. Maybe I’ll meet up with him in the hallway.

When the bell rang, I was out of that classroom before the teacher could even breathe out the breath that she was holding. I strained to remember what class Jonah had prior to this one. A moment later, a loud locker slamming to my right pulled me away from my thoughts. As if an angel is on my side, I turned to see Jonah readjusting his books in his arms.

The angel decided to kick me in the face because Waverly started making her way down the hallway to my left. The angel proceeded to kick me while I was down because Shaw just so happened to turn down the hallway, right behind Jonah and he was gaining speed. Before I could make a decision, the people behind me were urging to get to class and they pushed me straight into Jonah’s path.

I stumbled slightly before regaining my balance. I let out a frustrated sigh before turning to see Jonah who had an eyebrow quirked upwards. I waved my hand slightly as I pasted a smile on my face. “Hi.”

“Not the usual ‘what?’” Jonah asked as I peeked beyond his shoulder. Shaw was gaining on us. I discreetly turned and looked back at Jonah. He was smirking.

“No, I’m trying to be a nicer person,” I stated, glancing over his shoulder again. I casually glanced behind me to see Waverly chatting with a blonde. I decided to just cut to the chase. “Anyway, do you want to walk to class together?”

This surprised Jonah and he shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

We walked in silence for a moment and after we passed Waverly, whose back was turned as she continued talking to the blonde girl. “I’m sorry…”

He looked confused for a moment. “Why?”

“I said a lot of mean things that I didn’t mean and I feel really bad about it,” I apologized.

“If you didn’t mean them, then why did you say them?” he asked.

“After spending a year with only talking to teachers, the occasional student, my family and Mere- it’s weird having a boy come up to you at a library that you rarely go to and just talk to you; although it wasn’t much of a conversation. It was even weirder seeing him at school and realizing that he’s a totally different person, or hopefully, than you assumed,” I shrugged.

“Is it that hard to believe that I wanted to be your friend?” he asked.

“I assumed you had bad intentions,” I frowned. He furrowed his eyebrows. As we continued walking, I glanced over his shoulders and saw that we lost Shaw in the crowd of people walking from class to class.

“Intentions like I wanted to play you? I mean, I know I’m hot and all but I’m not like that," he smirked. I rolled my eyes. “I’m more of a bad boy.”

“Actually, I thought you might’ve been a visiting friend of a student here that I may have angered and you were going to embarrass me or something,” I bit my lip.

“Embarrass you? How would I do that if I was a visiting friend?” he asked and I shrugged, staring at the floor. Because if you would’ve charmed me and then laughed in my face; that’d be pretty embarrassing.

“I’m not sure.” I lied. “So are we on good terms?”

“Sure,” he nodded. “So, what I’m gathering from this is that you missed me.”

I stared at him for a minute. His smirk widened. “You missed me, didn’t you?” he asked.

“Sure, call it what you want," I shrugged. His smirk formed into a grin as he stared down at me.

“You missed me," his voice was accusing and amused at the same time.

We entered the classroom and people’s eyes were glued to us. He didn’t realize it, though. I did, well, because I felt the familiar feeling of eyes on me and when I looked up, people were staring at us with curious and questioning eyes.

When I sat down, he pulled a chair out from beside me and plopped into the seat like it was an everyday thing. He continued talking to me and I tried my best to hold back from saying any rude responses. I managed well. We talked until the teacher started teaching. I fought off a smile. It felt better like this.

***

When I got to lunch, I looked out the window while standing in the lunch line and realized that it was snowing really hard, too hard to eat out there, without freezing to death, that is. The table that I ate at was covered in 2 inches of snow already. We were supposed to be getting a storm this weekend. It wouldn’t be anything that a snowplow couldn’t fix but it was going to be enough to have people complaining about the walk to their mailbox.

I sighed when I looked around to see no empty tables. “Deciding to be civilized today?” I turned around to see Jonah holding his tray in one hand and his other stuffed in his pocket. Is that really necessary? Does he have to show off and hold the tray with one hand? I had the sudden urge to bump into him but knowing him; he’d probably contort and grab the tray with his tongue while still managing to look cool.

“I’d rather not be but it has come to this,” I frowned. “My table is covered in snow.” I bit my lip.

“We could always sit with Waverly and her friends,” he shrugged. We? “As far as I know, they don’t have a problem with you.”

But I have a problem with her. I weighed my options: go to the bathroom, pick a stall and hope nobody left a little gift, or sit with Waverly’s group and hope they’re as nice as Jonah says they are. “Are you sure they’d be okay with it?” I asked him.

Jonah grinned. “Of course.”

***

“Hi!” Waverly was surprisingly okay with me sitting with them. I sensed falseness to her large grin. It’s like she was expecting it, almost. She probably doesn’t see me as competition; I don’t even see me as competition.

“Hello,” I plastered a smile on my face. I slowly sat down beside Jonah. I was stuck between a guy I didn’t know and Jonah. I expected the table to be full of gossiping girls. That’s what I’d seen in the movies, at least.

“I’m Waverly; this is Ainsley, Hailey, Jacob, Wyatt, Greg, and of course you know Jonah,” Waverly introduced.

Ainsley was a small blonde girl who was snuggled up against Greg. I think she was the one who Waverly was talking to in the hallway. And as far as Greg goes, I recognize him from the student council; he constantly gave speeches and such. His hair was as black as the black beans on his plate. The couple was seated beside Hailey, a taller Asian girl who had a pixie cut, she was giggling at something Wyatt said to her. Wyatt had chocolate colored skin and a shaved head. He had a bright smile which he was showing me. Jacob was the boy I was sitting next to. Raising his head from his entwined arms on the table, he looked up at me and flashed me a breathtaking smile. It surprised me. He had brown cropped hair and kind green eyes. How come I hadn’t noticed him before?

“I’m Savannah,” I smiled at the group of people. They all said their hellos before casually turning and talking to the person they were sitting next to. I was awkwardly excluded from conversation as Waverly leaned over Jacob in order to talk to Jonah.

“Hey, J,” She called him J? How original.

He better not call her ‘Wave;’ that’s an action, Jonah, not a nickname. “Hey, Waverly,” he smiled. Thank goodness.

I internally groaned. I was sandwiched between the three people. Jacob was playing a game on his phone while Waverly was technically lying on the table and Jonah was eating as if this were a normal thing- girls lying across tables to communicate with him. Normally, I’d ask if she wanted to switch seats but something inside of me was urging me not to.

“I have something to ask you," she smiled at him. He nodded, encouraging her to continue. And proving the rumors to be true, she continued speaking. “This isn’t as romantic as I wanted it to be, sorry about that, but-,” I cut her off accidentally.

How did I cut her off? Well, I cut her off by choking on my food. I was going to witness what I’d been dreading (for reasons unknown). The piece of bread I’d been nervously nibbling on was now lodged in my throat. Waverly looked at me, slightly concerned but mostly annoyed.

Jonah turned to me with wide eyes before he started patting my back. He handed me his Sprite and I took a sip, tasting mint along the rim of the bottle. This move angered Waverly, maybe it was because he didn’t take his sweet time opening my drink while I was coughing and instead, handed me his already opened sprite. His action meant nothing, he just didn’t want me to keel over and die right on the table. That'd be a mess to clean up; I should know. I've done it before.

“Sorry about that,” I apologized halfheartedly. Waverly blinked at me a few times before turning back to Jonah.

“Anyway, I wanted to know if you wanted to go to-,” this time, I wasn’t the one who cut her off. The principal did, thankfully.

“Good Afternoon juniors and seniors; I’d like to announce that your last class has been cancelled due to the worsening weather conditions. Lunch is over in five minutes and the buses are already outside, so you’re welcome to either get onto your assigned bus or get into your cars and drive home. We are still unsure whether or not school will be in session on Monday or Tuesday but we have yet to cancel the Winter Wonderland. It is this Wednesday and I’d love to see you all attend. Tickets will be sold at the exit doors, if you plan to go, you’ll need to purchase one beforehand because the tickets will not be sold at the dance. We encourage you all to attend. Thank you, get home safely and have a wonderful weekend,” the principal placed the microphone back down and I was already placing my bag on my shoulder.

“Jonah, would you like to go to-,” Waverly started again but the sound of the bell ringing cut her off. She glared at the speaker before turning back to Jonah. She tried shouting over the sound of the bell: “I’ll call you and ask my question!”

I waved to the people at the table as I got up and walked over to the trashcan. I tossed my food into the bin before hurriedly walking over to the exit doors. “Wait up!” Jonah called towards me.

I turned to see Jonah jogging behind me. “Yes?” I asked rather than saying ‘what.’

“Let’s walk together," he shrugged, falling in step beside me. When we made it into the parking lot I decided to say something.

“You do realize what she was going to say, right?” I asked him. He gave me a sheepish look before he shook his head. “You’re hopeless.”

“What was she going to say?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as if he doubted me.

“She was going to ask you to Winter Wonderland,” I shrugged simply. I ignored the panging in my chest as I repeated the words in my head. Was I getting sick?

“Oh… how do you know?” he asked. I shrugged again.

“It’s common sense,” I shrugged simply. It was silent for a moment.

“Are you going to go?” he asked.

“Go where?” I questioned as we approached the corner where our cars are parked.

“Winter Wonderland,” he clarified. I snorted, shaking my head. Just the name was enough to spark me ‘let’s sit at home in our pajamas and watch movies’ nerve.

“No…are you?” I asked as I dug my hands into my jacket pockets.

“I don’t want to," he shrugged. “I’m probably going to make an excuse as to why I can’t go…or maybe I won’t answer her calls.”

“Why?” I asked, an unexplained hopefulness rising in my chest. "That's rude, you know. She likes you," I told him.

“A whole three and a half hours listening to her go on about how much her dress costs doesn’t seem like much fun to me,” he shrugged. Was that a good enough answer for me? Did that determine if he likes her or not?

“She’ll probably ask you to dance," What are you trying to do? Get him to go with her? I thought you don’t want them to go together! I don’t. Then what are you doing? Shut up; this is how I get more information.

“I don’t like to dance," he gave me a flat look.

“Sorry, you just come off as a samba and salsa type of guy,” I smiled. He rolled his eyes but I could see the corners of his lips rising.

“I would go if, I don’t know, maybe somebody else asked-," he started to say but was cut off by Sabrina’s high pitched shout. I internally cursed the girl. What was he going to say? Don’t get your hopes up. Aren’t you in charge of that, brain?

“Come on, Jonah! I’m freezing!” She shouted as she hugged herself. The girl was wearing a thin pair of jeans and a white long sleeved shirt, no sweater in sight. Sierra, on the other hand, was lying on the back of the car, making snow angels in the four inches that gathered since 7 this morning.

“Get off of my car!” Jonah squealed as he yanked Sierra off of his prized possession. “And it’s not my fault you didn’t bring a jacket.”

“Fashion doesn’t involve a large, puffy jacket!” Sabrina cried out as she yanked on the door handle. He still didn’t unlock the car yet.

“But freezing to death does," Sierra muttered under her breath. Jonah unlocked the car and his sister got in. He started wiping off the windows while Sierra walked over to me.

“How are you?” I smiled.

She groaned. “I have to deal with Jonah, the neat freak, and Sabrina, the whiner, every single day.”

I puckered out my lower lip. “My brother is like Sabrina, a whiner, but he’s extremely messy.”

“I just can’t wait until I get home. I can go and barricade myself in my room, away from Sabrina,” she sighed.

“There has to be some good points about her,” I smiled slightly.

“There are, I guess," she frowned.

“Sierra?” a boy, who I’m assuming is a freshman, spoke. Sierra turned and as if she was hit with a love spell, she stuttered and nodded.

“Yeah, that’s me," she nodded, brushing her hair out of her face.

The boy smiled. How romantic. “Where’s Sabrina?” As soon as the romance appeared, it left. Sierra sighed and pointed to the car.

I found myself clenching my teeth at the boy. I suddenly felt bad for Sierra. Although the two girls were twins and looked exactly alike, guys always went for girls that are…girlish instead of girls that are ‘one of the guys.’ I watched as Sabrina opened the car door and looked at the boy. She didn’t even bother to stand up.“Yes?” she asked as she raised an eyebrow.

“I was wondering if you’d like to go to the Winter Wonderland with me,” he suggested, switching from one foot to the other. My eyes found Sierra’s who mumbled something along the lines of, ‘this always happens.’

Sabrina pursed her lips as she looked at Sierra, sympathy shining through her eyes. “No,” she responded. Sabrina closed the car door while the boy stood there, eyes widened slightly and his stance slumped over.

I let out a laugh. “Get out of here,” Sabrina snapped, opening the door just a crack.

The boy followed her commands and walked away with his hands shoved in his pockets. Sierra smiled slightly. “That’s good about her, isn’t it?” I asked.

Sierra nodded, watching as the boy walked away. “He wasn’t that cute anyway," she snorted.

“And even the ones that are cute are too stupid to realize what’s right in front of them,” I sighed. The sound of snow crunching surprised us all. Didn’t we just tell the boy to leave?

“Jonah, glad I could catch you!” Waverly smiled. Her face was red and her hair was disheveled. The cold isn’t kind to her. I hope I don’t look like that…who am I kidding? I don’t care.

Jonah smiled slightly. “Yeah?”

“This girl hates me, watch this," Sierra whispered to me as she rubbed her eyes under her glasses slightly before taking them off. “Hi, Waverly!”

“Which one are you? Sadie or Sara?” Waverly furrowed her eyebrows as if thinking hard.

“I’m Sara,” Sierra said as she stuffed her glasses in her jacket pocket. Sabrina got out of the car, an amused look on her face.

“No, I’m Sara,” Sabrina said. I realized how similar the girls looked when Sierra has her glasses off. If you put them in the same clothes and do their hair the same, and ignore Sabrina’s pink highlight, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

They continued bickering while Waverly looked back and forth between the two, an annoyed look on her face. I was laughing loudly at the twins while Jonah was sighing; I could see a faint smile playing on his lips though. Now, I never said that Waverly was smart- she's just kind of nice, when she wants to be. And obviously, when she wants a guy, she'll get him. I guess I admire that about her. I wish I had that trait about me.

Waverly tore her gaze from the twins who wouldn’t quit, now they were arguing about who was Sadie. “Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you would go to Winter Wonderland with me.”

“I would but I can’t. I have to watch the twins,” Jonah looked awkward as he shifted from one foot to another. He isn’t a good liar.

“Aren’t they old enough to watch themselves?” Waverly whined. Jonah shook his head. “Can’t they watch each other?” Jonah shook his head again. “Why can’t you hire a sitter? Savannah, are you doing something on Wednesday?”

Jonah’s pleading eyes found mine and I nodded. “Yeah, sorry, I have plans.” Honestly, I have to work.

“I just bought my dress yesterday; it’s blue and it’s a high-low. I even got heels to match. You don’t think that maybe you could cancel them and watch the kids," she started saying but Sabrina cut in. Her statement annoyed me because one, they aren’t kids; two, she’s saying it as if they’re her own children; the kids; and three, if she expects me to cancel my plans just for her, she’s mistaken.

“He has to watch us or we’ll set the house on fire again,” Sabrina said as she hugged herself to stay warm. They finally quit arguing.

“Butt out Sadie,” Waverly snapped at Sabrina.

“See? I’m Sara,” Sierra stated and they were back at their playful bickering again.

“I’m sorry, I have to get home,” Jonah smiled apologetically as he held onto the driver’s side door.

“If you change your mind, I’m just a call away,” Waverly looked almost desperate. I sighed in relief as she walked away. Jonah sighed at the same time I did.

“I heard that; relieved, are we Savannah?” Sierra whispered to me. I gave her a warning look and she held her hands up in defeat.

“As much as I’d like to sit out here and freeze to death, because believe me, I wouldn’t want to do anything more than sit outside and freeze on a Friday night, but seeing as they’re having Teen Wolf reruns on all night, I have to get home,” Sabrina stuffed herself inside of the car. Sierra quickly hugged me before getting into the car.

Jonah walked me to my jeep, although it was only about 15 feet away; it was still a sweet gesture. “Thanks for that.”

“For what?” I asked as I unlocked the car door.

“Lying for me," he clarified.

“I wasn’t lying. I do have plans,” I nodded. “If watching ‘Breaking Bad’ from the minute I get home until January 2nd count as plans.”

Jonah smirked. “I have a feeling that you didn’t want me to go with Waverly.”

I decided to try my hand in playing it off. I rolled my eyes. “Puh-lease, I’ll call her back over here and say that my plans are off. I’ll tell her that I can babysit Sierra and Sabrina. I’ll do it,” I pretended that I was going to shout her name by opening my mouth but Jonah quickly covered it with his hand. I’m guessing he bought my bluff.

“No, no, no, don’t do that," he shoved me into my car. His hand still over my mouth and his other hand behind my head. I blinked a few times while staring at his hand. He'd make a great kidnapper.

“Sorry about that, anyway, I’ll see you Monday, if there's school?” he asked while removing his hands and I simply shrugged. “Say it.”

I stared at him with furrowed eyebrows. “I’ll see you Monday?”

“No, not that, say that you missed me,” he smirked, earning a glare from me.

“No,” I shook my head.

“Say it," he told me.

“No, I’m not a liar," I crossed my arms.

“I missed you,” he smiled.

“I know you did but I’m not going to say it,” I smirked while my car roared to life.

He narrowed his eyes. “I hate you.”

“I doubt it,” I smirked before closing the door and pulling out of the parking lot, a goofy grin plastered on my face.