The Good Samaritan

2

"So, tell me why you need me to help you wrap these?"

"Because, darling, these are your friends we're giving these to."

"I don't even know most of these people," I said as I grabbed another wrapped box and tied a ribbon around it. I read the next uncrossed name on the list to label the gift.

"Who even is Fariah?"

"Hush. Just wrap this next gift."

She shoved another box in my hand and I quickly wrapped it.

"Who's this one for?"

"Jodi."

"Oh, okay," I looked around me for the marker I was using. "Where's the sharpie? I swear I just had it."

"It's behind your ear."

"I knew that," I looked down sheepishly as I grabbed it.

My hand shook while writing her name. I never understood why, but every time she got mentioned I always felt nervous. We'd been friends since 7th grade and it wasn't even until recently that I got that issue.

"I don't mean to be rude, but it kind of looks like you had a seizure while you wrote this."

I kept my mouth shut as I ripped the wrapping off of the box to redo it. I didn't want to say anything about what just happened. If I did, Jasmine would have something to say about it, I could just feel it.

"Is someone feeling strange?"

"No, I'm fine."

"I don't know, you look pretty weird to me."

I just looked down and moved her gift away. Even though I knew what she would do, I still needed to prepare myself.

"You like her, don't you?"

"No, no I don't."

"I think you do."

If there's one thing that I really hate about Jasmine, it's her persistence. Anytime she latches onto an idea she really likes, she just runs with it. I actually don't like Jodi, not in the slightest. She's just a friend of mine. But, even with that said, I can't help but get this weird feeling every time I think about her. It's not necessarily a bad feeling, but I don't like it. My head gets cloudly and I can't think straight. Overall I just, lose function, like something in my head just got switched off.

This all only started happening in the middle of 8th grade, around my birthday. We were in the cafeteria and she gave me this bracelet as a gift. It was almost like the standard wooden bracelets that all the cheap girls in my school get from their boyfriends. The only difference was that inside there was some Greek phrase on the inside. I kept asking her what it meant, but she would never tell me. She would only tell me that it was something good. Ever since then, though, I've always felt weird around her.

Of course, I would never tell Jodi any of this. She's one of the few people who I actually like being friends with, and I'd hate to lose that. But Jasmine, and her big mouth, is probably prepared to ruin it for me. The only thing I could hope for now is for her to listen to me.

"Jasmine, there's nothing here to worry about. I don't have any feelings for her or anybody else for that matter," I said as plainly as I could.

"Kayden," she walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "You need to understand that love is a beautiful thing. There's no shame in feeling it. Everyone goes through it at some point or another, and this is just your time."

I knew she would leech onto the idea like this. Getting her to drop it at this point would be pretty much impossible.

"I understand this all. You're really shy. I should help you out."