𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙨 | 𝙟𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙜𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙠𝙮 | 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙙

Ch. 5 ♡

"I love being with her," I said to Johnson and Sammy as we were sitting outside of school for lunch, "I honestly thought it wouldn't go well.."

I was telling them about last night and this morning with Jamie. Thanks to their encouragement, I ended up here.

"See? Not that hard," Sammy lightly punched my arm, "at least you didn't hit her with your car."

"Geez, the moment you told us you jumped in front of Blair's car," Johnson sighed and shook his head, "I thought you were the biggest idiot on the Earth– still are."

"Yeah, but I got the girl so–" He playfully winked and laugh.

"That's good that you're talking now, but are you gonna have time for a relationship?" Johnson asked me.

"I will," I nodded, "I'm gonna make the effort to be with her. I really do like her so.." I heard my dad once say that if someone truly wants to spend time with you or be with you, they'll make great efforts for it to happen.

"When it gets tough, you can always count on us, you know that right?" Johnson patted my shoulder, "for anything."

"Thank you," I said to him and we continued to eat our lunch.

________

Jamie's Point of View

"This is terrible," I slouched back into my seat at the library. A mid-term was coming up for government class and we were all studying together, "I'm not going to pass it."

"You are!" Dani whispered-yelled, "what's the 14th amendment?"

"Um–" I snapped my fingers to try to remember, "due process and no discrimination."

"What's the 24th?" Monique looked up from her laptop, "I thought it was due process.."

"No, it's the 6th and 24th that's due process. 24th is no more poll tax," Danielle corrected.

My eyes were fixated on my flash cards, I really didn't like school. I hated waking up early, listening to lectures, and all these tests that affected the majority of our grades. High school had so many rules and regulations to grades– if you weren't the one that tried their best in class, you were considered as a low-life that wasn't gonna graduate. It sucked.

We studied until the library closed at 5PM and studied for another two hours at a coffee shop, Blair joined us after she worked. After burning our brains out, she gave us all a ride home.

"Thanks, Blair. See you tomorrow guys," I waved goodbye to them and walked into my house. My mom sat me down for a plate of mole and rice. As soon as I finished eating and took a shower, a text from Jack appeared on my phone.

Are you busy? I need to get something off my mind. –Jack

It must be the same things that was bothering him this morning, I wanted to help him.

I'm not, are you going to pick me up? –Jamie

I'm coming –Jack

Quickly, I slipped on a hoodie and some leggings, I told my parents that Monique called me and asked for assistance on some calculus homework. I saw Jack's SUV in the front of my house again.

"What's wrong?" I immediately asked. He didn't look well, his eyes were puffy and there was a fatigued expression on his face.

He didn't say anything at first, he continued to drive until he reached the parking spot of the ice cream place we went to last Friday.

Jack sighed and clenched the ends of his shirt, "it's just something about my mom. She–" He paused before shaking his head, "it's nothing. She's just being herself."

I know that he was lying because he thought I wouldn't care.

"No, you have to tell me," I said to him, "you've been in a tired mood since this morning, Jack. I noticed." His elbow rested on the arm rest and his head on his hand, he wasn't looking at me this time.

"I've been taking care of my mom since my grandma died. She's a depressed alcoholic who can't even help me pay the bills," He started to open up, "it's not that big of an issue taking care of her, I just need to check up on her, cook, and give her some money for whatever she personally wants but–" his voice started to break, "–but she started yelling at me after I came back from work. God– Jamie, I was so exhausted too. I just wanted to sleep and finish my homework but she suddenly started going off about how much I hated her. She started talking about how ungrateful I am, how Dad hated her– all of these false things," he started to sob, "I didn't know what to do, I just left. I left got in my car and drove here before sending that text. I'm sorry."

"No," I pulled his arm down and held it, "don't apologize, it's fine. I–" A sigh escaped from my mouth while I thought of what to say, "I don't know much about your family.. but what your mom said? Not true. Like you mentioned, they were false things. You love her– everyone loves their mom, I'm sure she was just having an episode or overthinking or– something, okay?"

He was looking at me now and I saw the sadness in his eyes turn to relief. Jack just needed to hear the right words to calm down. It seemed like he was confused and angry at the same time, I'm surprised he was stable enough to drive around.

"Thank you," He faintly smiled. I felt his hand reach into mine, he and I were staring at our intertwined fingers, "it's weird to cry and talk about my problems with a girl I just met."

I laughed and tightened my grip on his hand to comfort him more, "it's really not, I don't care if we just met– if you ever need to do this again, I'll be here down the street."

We sat there in silence, the car radio was playing Arctic Monkeys as our hands were still holding each other, the only thing I focused on was my breathing before Jack dropped me off back home.