emotions, jack gilinsky

17

amara rahman

"july reynolds in that skirt. shit." derek cusses with a big grin on his face.

i watch as jack smirks, looking down at his book and shaking his head.

"dude, you have a girl." nate nudges, referring to gloria.

"i'm so done with her shit." derek says. "seriously. i'm breaking up with her after school."

sadly, even after the project, ms.nawell was too lazy to switch seats, so i was still stuck with these three.

"i want a girl." nate admits, followed by a sigh.

i raise my eyebrows, sitting straight up and putting my pencil down. "is that so?"

they all turn towards me and i try not to melt of nervousness. "..yeah." nate mutters.

"any specific person in mind?"

nate furrows his eyebrows at me before sighing. "look, i'm not trying to hurt your feelings, but i only see you as a friend—"

"not me, idiot." i cut off.

he frowns, "oh. well, no. nobody specific."

"what about any of my friends?"

"ravyn's hot." derek informs, "her?"

"that's true." nate nods.

"not her!"

"i don't know why this is hard. you only have like, two friends." derek says, causing me to roll my eyes at him.

"i'm not interested in dudes, so not cj."

"well, clearly not. he showed it in that video from the summer." jack references, letting out a laugh with the rest of the guys.

"no, none of your friends." nate concludes, and my heart sinks. he didn't even acknowledge her.

i decide to let them be, picking my pencil up again and continuing to take notes.

+

"so, you going to cj's party tomorrow?" bri questions.

"probably not." i hum in response, twisting my locker open.

"let me rephrase this; why are you not going?"

"that's not rephrasing." i chuckle, "and because i don't want to. there's a million other things i could rather do than go. for example, tutoring jack."

"he's going to the party, too." she deadpans. "give me another excuse."

"well, shit." i murmur, "uh, i could watch netflix."

"wow, how tumblr." she mocks, "just go with me. we'll look cute and we can eat all the food. you know cj always has the good stuff."

"you mean food that literally everyone else has. my pantry is bigger than his, by the way."

"amara!" she groans, "stop being difficult and come."

my head pounds as i sigh, "will you leave me alone if i say yes?"

"sure."

"then fine. i'll go for an hour, though. and you will tell my mom i'm sleeping over."

"your mom?" she pouts, "can i just tell your dad?"

"you want me to go to this party or not?"

she groans in response, "okay, fine."

we walk out together and towards her car. "ew." she mumbles, making me look up from my phone.

i wish i hadn't, though. all i saw was a glimpse of jack pushing meredith against his car, his lips all over her.