Jesse's Girl

Chapter 28

I decided it would be best if I skipped out on gym class, by waving a year old sore knee slip at the gym teacher. Like all of my excuses, it worked out in my favor. She ended up seating me off on the bleachers, in the shade where the practically useless sun couldn't reach me. Throughout the hour I snuck backwards, more higher on the seats so I could have a better view of the entire class.

The boys' portion had a spot on the massive field, and were hurling footballs at each other. Off to the side were the girls, running suspiciously slow around the track bordering them.

I suppressed the urge to throw something at them.

Though in reality, it turned out that I really had nothing to be worried about. Within the class of boys, Jesse - being Jesse - had found a way to woo the coach and stand off to the side with his friends. Either they actually finished their throws, or they started up a conversation with the only authority responsible for getting them to do their exercise. Oddly enough, Jesse hardly needed the workout.

Letting my uneasy gaze rest on him, my thoughts flickered to Kale. I recalled what happened not even an hour ago, when he came forward and told me how bad Jesse really was – so bad as to steal someone's girlfriend, and throw her away like all the others. And only to add insult to injury, Jesse only made matters worse by moving onto more girls, as if stealing one wasn't bad enough. A distant part of me remembered this morning also, and how 'caring' Jesse seemed to be for dropping off my keys so early in the morning. But before that, I also remembered the kiss he was so hell bent on giving me.

Nevertheless, I couldn't take a side. It was almost inhuman.

It was about then that I suddenly heard a loud, shrilling laugh ring through my ears. When I snapped my attention back to the track on ground level, I realized the girl who caused the noise was an attention seeker.

The distance between her and me was impossibly far.

As was the distance between her and the boy she was trying to attract. It stirred something within me when I noticed that boy was Jesse. Though if he heard her, he was doing one hell of a job hiding it.

A settling calmness radiated through my body. But the peaceful moment of watching Jesse blindly reject her shattered, when a shadow of a person appeared beside me just as I relaxed back into the bleachers.

I shrieked, jumping away in alarm.

"Jumpy," the person observed.

I indentified the sandy hair, as Kale. Before thinking how mildly rude it was, I blurted out, "Don't you have class?"

He shrugged, leaning casually against the seat behind him, observing the field as I was. "I don't like Chemistry."

With an uneasy short glimpse, I eventually passed it off, glancing back down to the field.  After attempting to avert my gaze so it wouldn't seem as if I were staring at Jesse, it turned out to be a wasted effort.

"It's a shame," Kale started, a bitter tone in his voice. "How off it'll be when his friends aren't going to be around him anymore."

I didn't turn to look at him, for fear I'll accidentally strangle him for holding a grudge so long. Instead, I focused my gaze on Jesse. "Why do you say that?"

All while facing away, I heard metal snap together, followed by the unusual smell of cigarette smoke. Startled for a second time, I held my breath and turned to Kale. Sure enough, he was the cause. "Do you really think they hang around him because of his charming personality?"

That sunk in, but it only hit a nerve. "Then why make it worse? Even the people he trusts are already using him."

Shortly after blowing out a ring of smoke, he sat up. "He doesn't trust them. They're tools." He turned his gaze to me. "He uses them to get what he wants."