The Dating Game

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Justin

"Does anyone know yet?" Jazmyn asked, her nose glued in her new book, Just Listen by Sarah Dessen.

Sighing, I said, "No. And I don't want to tell them but I can't exactly block her out at school, can I? And we can't go on how we were before... we're dating now. I have to treat her right and proudly display her and our affection-"

"Just note," Jazmyn interjected, nearly tripping along the sidewalk over a loose rock, "she's a human, not an object."

"I know. I know. But she's never had a boyfriend before and I want to make sure she doesn't want to go back to that."

"Which means," she deduced, "you treat her right, keep her close, don't push her away, confide in her, make one another happy otherwise she could end it if she saw you weren't happy, and keep an eye out whilst she becomes more ill."

I had filled Jazmyn in on everything. Juliet wouldn't have minded, I'm sure, but I needed some advice other than Michelle, Beth, Juliet and family relations – her dad. Unpredictably, that left Jazmyn and since she was quite intellectual from all of her books she reads, she knows one or two things. She has a thing for sob stories where one of the protagonists have a deadly illness – her preference then heightens to where one dies so she can really feel the emotion of the characters and the story.

Back in school, however, nothing was going as I had hoped. As it was lunch now, and subsequent to locating Juliet and hugging her in the middle of the corridor, the unfortunate thing was that shortly my friends were arriving and observe the whole thing – even the near-kiss when I leaned down until they began hollering jauntily and capturing our rapt attention on them now.

"Justin!" Ryan shouted.

"What are you doing?" another yelled.

I still had my arms around Juliet so I let them drop to my side. Juliet, somewhat hurt and sensing the mortification on my behalf, did the same and dropped her head. I kept my eyes on them as one who had previously jumped on someone's back, fell to the floor.

"Justin, coming for some basketball practice in the hall for lunch?" Chaz asked.

Conflicted, I looked dubiously at Juliet. She kept her gaze away from my friends and I so I turned back to Chaz. "I can't, guys," I replied. "I'm spending it with Juliet."

They all groaned. "You can't change your life to suit hers."

"I'm not, but I'm choosing to spend time with her."

They were all instantaneously livid. "Whatever, Justin."

And in their huddle, they walked off down the corridor, all of them bumping my shoulders in the process. Some were even looking infuriated with Juliet even though her culpability should not be placed on her. It was my own choice to stay with her. I'm not about to abandon her.

"You shouldn't have done that," she muttered. "Go and play with them."

Leaning against the locker, I lifted her chin up slowly with my thumb so she was looking into my eyes. "I'm not just going to leave you when you don't even know where your friends are, Juliet. And plus, I'd rather stay with you."

She bowed her head. "No, just go with them."

Mustering all of her remaining bravado, she ambled off down the corridor in the direction of the lunch hall, ignoring my own pleas of her name billowing down the corridor after her. She kept her walk steady and she turned the corner quickly. Sighing, my shoulders dropped before I followed in the direction of my friends.