December 31, 2002

Chapter 2, Jordan: Are You Still that Clumsy?

It's 8:37 P.M. I get a text from Lucas telling me that Anderson's party is tonight and that they'll be at my house in 2 minutes. I put on a shirt with a hoodie over top. I grab a pair of grey sweatpants and put them on. I quickly run my fingers through my hair and hear a honk from outside. It's probably Lucas and Luke. I put on my Air Jordans.
"MOM, I'M GOING OUT. I'LL BE BACK AT 11," I yell out before leaving the house. I run outside, realizing that I forgot my phone inside.
"Wait, I forgot my phone. I'm going to go get it real quick," I tell Luke. He nods. I jog back inside and quickly go upstairs and into my room to grab my phone from my night stand. I look out my window and I see Autumn. I haven't talked to her for years until last week at the mall. It was awkward when she bumped into me. But it honestly sucks that we drifted... I wish we hadn't.
I leave my room and run down the stairs and out the house, getting inside Luke's car. As I put on my seatbelt, Luke starts to drive. I look out at the rearview mirror and I see Rose and Caleb outside Autumn's house. Rose was wearing a skirt with a tight turtleneck shirt while Caleb was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I then see Autumn leaving her house but since Luke was driving pretty quick, all I could see on her was a pastel top. I wonder if she's going to the party. As kids, she never liked to have birthday parties. Maybe she likes parties now. Who knows what changed.
"Why are you so quiet, Jordan?" asks Lucas, distracting me from my thoughts.
"What..? Oh.. I'm not quiet," I say.
"Yeah you are. Do you like a girlll?" Luke teases, realizing that I was looking back at Autumn, Rose and Caleb.
"What?! No," I say. What are they thinking? Me? Another girl who isn't Coraline? Never.
"Yea, sure, whatever, it's not like you would ever-" said Lucas.
I completely shut out Lucas with my thoughts by then. Luke and Lucas are such jerks. To be honest, I don't even know how and why I'm friends with him and the fact that Noah is all the way in Puerto Rico, leaving me here with these douchebags for another week or two.... Noah, please save me.
We arrive at Anderson's place. Thank god. I don't know how much longer I could handle sitting in that car. I make my way inside the house. It's 8:45 p.m. now, almost 9. As I walk inside the house, I glance around to see all the couples making out, all the people grinding each other, people just jumping around to the music, probably high on something.
I make my way to the kitchen and grab a red plastic cup. I fill it up with some vodka. Vodka's pretty good. If anyone disagrees then they're totally not okay. I see Victoria coming up to me. God, I hate that girl.
"JORDAN!" Victoria yells at me. I plaster a smile on my face.
"Yes..? What do you want?" I ask.
She takes a sip from her drink. "How about we go upstairs?"
I see her slip something into my drink. Jesus Christ. The amount of times this girl has asked me. Does she not understand that I have a girlfriend?
"No, I do not. And I never will," I walk over to the garbage can and throw out my drink with whatever it is she had put in there. I see her get pissed off. Her facial expressions are quite funny. She storms off, into the living room where the music gets louder.
I lean onto the kitchen counter, looking around at everyone. As time goes by, some of my classmates from sophomore year come and talk to me. About an hour had passed by. It's now 10:00 p.m.
I see Autumn, leaning on the wall by the stairs. She's wearing a pair of fitted denim pants, a pastel top and a windbreaker . It looked really nice on her. Her hair was down and curled, too. Right then, I see some dude who looks stoned as fuck. He walks up to Autumn with a grin on his face. I walk a little closer, attempting to hear what he wants from her.
"You came here"....."Babe?" The dude says. I can't hear much because of the music, but since when did she have a boyfriend? He called her "babe" so he probably is her boyfriend.
"Come with me".. "I'll show you some fun," I hear him say. What the fuck? She couldn't have possibly gotten together with that guy.
"Uh, no, I gotta go," I hear her say with a frown. She tries to walk away until the dude grabs her wrist. It looks as if he's hurting her because she makes a face that looks as if she is in pain. Is she okay? I see the dude trying to pull her up the stairs.
"She said no, Dumbass," I yell out.
All eyes were on me. The music was playing but everyone just stopped to look at me.
"Awww. What are you going to do about it-"
That's when I walk up to him and throw a punch at his cheek. He removes his hand from her wrist and I could see a bit of blood coming out of her forearm. The dude punches me. I didn't expect it because I was too busy thinking about her arm and how he had hurt her. The punch hurt. But I was used to it. From the corner of my eye, I see Autumn run out the door. I punched the guy one last time, knocking him unconscious. Everyone was still staring. "What do you all want? Continue whatever the fuck it is that you were doing." I say.
I walk to the kitchen to grab an ice pack from the freezer. Shit. I should probably check up on Autumn. I place the ice pack on the counter and I try to run out the house but it's a bit harder now with all the sweaty bodies dancing around me. When I get outside, I can't see her anywhere in the neighborhood. I remember that there was a park nearby we used to go to as kids. I run to the park, hoping to find her there. As I get closer, I hear a faint sound of someone crying.
"It's okay. Don't worry, I'm here," I whisper to Autumn as I kneeled down to her level. I extend my hand to her and she takes it after a short moment of hesitation. I pull her up into a tight hug, allowing her to cry into my shoulder. I rub her back in small circles, hoping it makes her feel better. A couple minutes passed by and she slowly stops crying. I back away, my arms still holding her firmly and we stare at each other for a few seconds. Wow. I never noticed how pretty she was. Oh shit. I can't be falling for her.
"I-I should probably get home," she says, breaking the silence.
"Oh uh.. Yeah," I say, my voice almost a whisper.
"Thanks," she says.
"Anytime...do you want me to walk you home?" I ask, softly.
"It's alright. I'll be fine."
Something told me she wouldn't be fine.
"It's really dark, let me walk you, I'm right next door and I don't want to go back anyway."
"Please" I add after seeing the hesitant look on her face.
"Okay" she replies with a nod. Thank God. I don't know if she would've been safe if she went alone. Too much happened to her already. Autumn and I were walking back to our neighborhood. It was pretty awkward, especially 'cause we haven't talked in ages. But I really did miss being her best friend. All the memories we made together...
"Remember when we walked to school sometimes in third grade and you always managed to fall or trip over?" I ask, breaking the awkward tension between us.
"Oh yeah" she replies with a little chuckle.
"Are you still that clumsy-" I get interrupted by Autumn, herself because guess what..? She trips, and because of my fast reflexes, I catch her by her waist. It's awkward because of how I caught her but at least she didn't fall to the ground and get hurt. Again
"That answers my question," I say while laughing. She looks at me with a look of confusion which makes it even funnier. I cannot believe she's still clumsy. This is way too funny. I see her rolling her eyes at me. Damn, she really hit me with that. But it's alright 'cause I can see her trying not to smile. She's really bad at acting pissed.
"Thanks," she says as I'm finally calming down from all that laughter
"Anytime," I reply, realizing that my arms are still around her waist. Oh shit this is really weird. I let go awkwardly and we start walking again. We're in our neighborhood now and reach our similar looking homes.
"So, um, I'll see you around," I turn to her.
"Yeah... See you on the first day of school- tomorrow, Autumn."
She walks to her front porch and I walk to mine. I wave at her and she waves back. I step inside my house, closing the door behind me. My mom walks over to me, in the front foyer.
"You're home early.. Which is a good thing since your first day is tomorrow," She says.
"Yea, I know. I got tired. Plus, me and Autumn walked home together. So it's all good." I reply.
"You and Autumn, huh..? Wait, you mean like, the next door Autumn?" She asks.
"Yeah."
"Don't you have a girlfriend, though?" She asks.
"Coraline?" She says her name in a weird and high pitched voice. My mom always does this when Coraline isn't around. I don't know why she doesn't like her. Coral isn't that bad
"Mom! Stop saying her name like that! I don't know what you have against her but she is my girlfriend," I reply.
"Jordan, you know what happened between her mom and I. I refuse to talk to that woman ever again. By the way, I used to know girls like Coraline and they are terrible. If you guys ever break up, I guarantee you that it will be her fault for the break up and she will still be running back to you. Sorry for being so mean about your relationship but if she's the one you truly love and choose to marry when you grow up then, I'm sorry to tell you this, buddy, but you have a terrible choice in women." She says. Mama Adler went off on me. Honestly, I don't blame her. After Coraline's mom stealing my mom's boyfriend and first love back in high school, it is understandable why she wouldn't trust Coraline's mother, Jane. But Coral isn't the same. She's very sweet to me.
"Mom, Coral isn't like that! Just you wait and see. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed. Goodnight." I walk upstairs to my room. When I enter, I grab a pair of my comfiest sweatpants and a pair of underwear and I throw it onto the hanger that is in my bathroom. My phone beeps but I don't answer it. I turn on the hot water of my shower and hop in, quickly washing my hair and my body, then I get out and change into my "pajamas." I jump onto my bed, thankful that I can finally go to sleep. My phone's screen is on and is filled with messages from Coral. Goddamnit.

Coral <3:
Where are u?

(x2) Coral <3:
JORDAN

(x3) Coral <3:
ARE U WITH AUTUMN?!

(x4) Coral <3:
The one time I don't go to a party, u go with another girl?

(x5) Coral <3:
JORDAN, Y AREN'T U ANSWERING

Can this girl calm down?

Me:
Coral, calm down. I was in the shower

Coral <3:
With who?
Is she for real right now? "With who" does she not trust me?

Me:
Me, myself and I. Coral, why don't u trust me? Our relationship is about trust and if u don't know how to do that then why are we a couple?

Coral <3:
I'm kidding :(

(x2) Coral <3:
Just wanted to say gn

Me:
Goodnight, xx

To be fair, I understand why my mom doesn't like Coraline. But she's still my girlfriend. I turn off my phone and place it onto my night stand. That's enough for one day. Tomorrow is the first day of junior year.
I'm ready.