December 19, 2007

“A dance?” I asked, my eyebrows furrowing as I stared back at Emily. “Are you kidding me? We’re actually having a dance?”

“How is that even possible?” Chelsea butted in before Emily could answer me. “We go to an all-girls school.”

“It’s with Cambridge,” Emily’s friend Molly informed us with a wide smile. “You know, that all-boys school a few miles away?”

“This is so exciting,” another of Emily’s friends, Cindy, practically gushed. “I’ve seen a few of the boys from Cambridge. They’re so cute!”

I wasn’t exactly excited by this. This would have been the first dance I had ever been to, and it was going to be crawling with guys that I didn’t even know. I didn’t even think any of the guys from my middle school went to Cambridge. They all went to my brother’s school.

The only one of Emily’s friends that didn’t seem excited was Yolanda, but I was expecting as much. The practically silent blonde girl twiddled her thumbs as everyone else continued to gush over the stupid dance.

“It’s going to be on Friday,” Emily now informed the rest of us. “I already have a dress and everything! It’s going to be so much fun. I don’t even care if boys that we don’t even know are going to be there! There’re still boys!”

Aimee giggled. “That’s true. Who knows, maybe one of us will get a boyfriend out of it.”

I couldn’t help but make a face as I continued sketching in my notebook. I wasn’t a great drawer, but it was something better to do than just talking about a stupid dance as we waited for class to end. I had my first badminton practice today, and I didn’t want to be late for it because we were talking about dances and potential boyfriends.

“What are you drawing, Jordan?” Lexi asked, snatching the notebook from me and examining my drawing carefully. “It looks like… uh… Actually, I don’t even know what it looks like, and I’m the artist.”

It was true. All the girls seemed to have something special about them, and I was just the leftover. Lexi drew, Chelsea danced, AJ sung, and Aimee loved to act. She was actually really good… You could never really tell when she was lying. But there was me, who couldn’t really do anything. I could barely even play badminton. I could play the guitar, but it wasn’t really that important to me.

“I’m just doodling. It’s nothing important,” I sighed, grabbing the notebook back from her. “I’d rather draw something horribly than listen to you guys going on and on about some stupid dance.”

AJ laughed, covering her mouth with her hand to stop herself from laughing too hard. “We all know who Jordan really wants to go with!”

My four best friends giggled, but the other four girls that were with us looked completely dumbfounded. No one else but my best friends knew that I liked Dallas, not counting my brother. I was friends with the rest of the girls that were with us, and I didn’t even think they knew who Dallas was, but I didn’t want to risk it…

“Who do you want to go with, Jordan?” Cindy asked, causing me to bite down on my lip and glare at AJ. How the heck was I supposed to answer that question and not tell them that I liked Dallas?

“Just this guy that goes to the public school,” I answered quickly, letting out a sigh of relief when I saw that there was only fifteen seconds left until the final bell was going to ring. “It’s really not
that important. It’s nothing to think about at all.”

I jumped up from my seat, scrambling toward the door just as the bell finally rang. It was obvious that I didn’t want to talk to them about Dallas, but I would just pretend that I didn’t want to be late for my first badminton practice…

After I had changed, I met with the rest of the girls at the tennis courts where we were supposed to meet. I was glad that Dawson was going to pair us up into teams, because I knew absolutely no one.

“Okay, everyone’s here!” Dawson smiled after she had called roll. “Before we get started, I’m going to put you guys on teams like I said I was!”

Even though I found the sport fun, I really wanted the practice to be over so I could have just gone home. The girls were obviously going to make me go to the stupid dance, so I was going to have to pick out a dress that I was going to wear that night.

“Jordan, you’re on a team with Kara,” Dawson informed me after I had finally zoned back in, and I turned toward the redheaded girl she was motioning to. It was the same girl that I had tried out with, and I smiled at her happily. At least it was someone I kind of knew… She wasn’t in any of my classes, but I knew she was a freshman like I was.

After Dawson had put us all into teams, she assigned us each to a court and had us whack the birdie around a few times. If this was what practice was going to be like every day, I didn’t see the point of coming every week.

By the end of practice, I was actually really tired. Running around and hitting a birdie was a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be. Wow, if I got tired doing this, I would definitely get
tired if I had to do tennis or any other kind of real sport.

“Good job today, girls!” Dawson giggled as we all shuffled into the locker room after everything was finally finished. “I’m so glad everyone was so glad to be here!”

She was as bright and chipper as she always was, and I couldn’t have felt more like a sack of potatoes. I really couldn’t wait to go home and sleep…

I changed without saying a word to anyone, looking forward to the feel of my soft, warm bed. The much needed rest was exactly what I needed…

“Hey, Jordan?” a voice asked me before I could leave the locker room once I was finally finished. I turned around, a little surprised to see it was Dawson that wanted to talk to me. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

I glanced toward the door, thinking for a second. Austin and Dallas were both waiting for me in the parking lot… But I guess they could wait a little longer.

“Yeah, sure,” I nodded, smiling brightly at her even though I felt like I was going to pass out right then and there. “What do you need to talk to me about?”

“It’s about Austin,” she started, twiddling her thumbs a lot like Yolanda had earlier that day in our last class. “I was just wondering… um… Does Austin have a girlfriend?”

I kind of expected this question to come from her. The way she was looking at him at the badminton tryouts just made it obvious that she liked him. She was only a year younger than him, so I guess she had a chance…

But then again, I didn’t really know. She was a really pretty girl, but I had no idea if my brother had a girlfriend or not. I was so focused on Dallas and Trinity that I didn’t even pay attention to my
brother’s love life… But if I had to guess, I was pretty sure he didn’t have one… He probably would have been gloating about it if he did.

“Um, I’m not really sure,” I answered truthfully with a shrug. “My brother doesn’t really talk about his love life with me. I could always ask him, if you wanted me to.”

Dawson’s eyes lit up. “Really? Would you, Jordan? I’d be so happy if you did!”

I nodded at her. “Of course I’ll ask him! He’s actually waiting for me outside in the car, so…”

“Go, go!” she giggled, waving me away with her usual cheery smile. “I don’t want to keep him waiting! Thanks again, Jordan!”

I waved at her as I pushed the door to the locker room open. “No problem!”

I quickly hurried to the car, ready to ask Austin and then go home and sleep. But when I saw that my brother's car wasn't there, I really felt like screaming.

If they forgot about me, I was definitely going to kill them! And of course it was absolutely freezing. Were they doing this on purpose? I was going to kill them if they were!

Five minutes later, my brother's car finally emerged into the parking lot. If someone wasn't bleeding, I swear...

"Of course you're late," I snapped, throwing my backpack on the floor of the car and stuffing myself inside the car once they finally stopped. "On one of the coldest days of the year, you're late to pick
me up."

“It couldn’t have been that bad,” Dallas waved away from the passenger’s seat as Austin pulled out of the school’s parking lot. “You were in a short miniskirt for forty-five minutes; standing
outside in pants and a jacket shouldn’t have been that hard on you.”

“Well, I had to move around when I was practicing, so it wasn’t that bad because moving heated me up,” I pouted, rubbing at my legs to get them to warm up. “I wasn’t moving while I was standing there waiting like I was when I was practicing.”

“You were playing badminton,” Dallas drawled, rolling his eyes.

“It still warmed me up!”

“Would you like me to warm you up?”

“You’re such a pervert, Dallas!”

I then noticed that there was someone else in the back of the car, and I almost squeaked at how embarrassing we must have sounded. This was the same guy that had been in the car before, Hunter I believed his name to be, and he still just continued to look out the window and not
even turn around to acknowledge me. Not that that was a bad thing…

“It would be fun, Jordy,” Dallas continued on with our normal banter, and I didn’t know if I could continue knowing that someone I didn’t even know could now hear us. “I’d warm you up very quickly.”

“Don’t make me hit you, man,” Austin warned, and I almost had to smile at him. “You seem to keep on forgetting that that’s my baby sister that you keep hitting on.”

“Aw, you know I’m just kidding, Austin! What, do you want me to warm you up, too?”

I couldn’t help but laugh now. The look on Austin’s face was just so funny that I couldn’t help myself! It looked like I wasn’t the only one Dallas liked to tease…

"Hey, Austin, I have a question for you," I now informed him, trying my best to pretend that the only people in the car were Austin, Dallas, and me. "You better answer me truthfully, okay?"

Austin let out a sigh. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

Before Austin could even say anything to me, Dallas burst out laughing so hard and loud that I almost had to cover my ears.

Austin looked nervous, and for some reason I was scared of the answer he was going to give me. Obviously Dallas knew something I didn't, or he wouldn't have laughed as hard as he did.
"I'm waiting," I informed him after silence rang out through the car. "What, you're not gay or anything, are you?"

Dallas burst out laughing again, and my brother looked embarrassed and pissed at the same time.

"There's no way you can be gay," I decided without him even saying anything to me. "Dallas just offered to warm you up and you said no. Any gay guy would take advantage of that immediately."

"I don't know if I should be flattered or offended."

I stuck my tongue out at Dallas. "This isn't about you right now."

I continued to stare at my brother intently, waiting for him to answer my question. What was with his and Dallas's reactions?

"I do have a girlfriend," he answered, and I felt my heart get crushed for Dawson. Damn it, Austin. He was such an idiot. "We actually just got together two days ago."

Damn it, Austin! If Dawson had talked to me on during the tryout or something, the two of them could have been a couple now!

"Do I know her?" I asked, leaning back in my seat now.

Austin looked incredibly uncomfortable. "Yes..."

"If it's Lexi or AJ or Chelsea or Aimee, I'm gonna kill you," I threatened, leaning forward in my seat so I was closer to him now. "If you're dating any of my best friends, I'm going to push you off the
roof or something."

"Wow, Jordy has a dark side," Dallas teased, tugging on my hair a little. "Maybe she can hang around with Hunter's gang of friends."

Ignoring Dallas completely, I continued to stare down my brother. "Well?" I waited. "Who is it?"

"It's Emily," he finally confessed, and my eyes went wide. "Emily Annex."

"What?" I practically shouted, falling back into my seat. "Are you kidding me? She may not be one of my best friends, but she's still a close friend of mine! Are you insane? Anyway, she's only a freshman and you're a junior!"

"I apologize for Jordan's rudeness," Dallas apologized obnoxiously to Hunter, turning around in his seat to face him. "She's like this sometimes."

"You're not helping!"

"I'm not trying to."

I groaned, covering my face with my hands. This just wasn't good. My brother going out with one of my good friends? And why didn't she even tell me? Austin probably told her not to...

I couldn't believe this. Not only was I going to have to tell Dawson the bad news, but if Austin's and Emily's relationship turned sour, I was going to be stuck in the middle of it.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"We all look amazing," Aimee announced as we made our way into the gym on Friday night. The music was blaring out some annoying song, so I tuned it out and only listened to what my friends were saying. "This is going to be such a fun night! We should all make a pact to find a boyfriend tonight."

"That would really only work for you and Chelsea, since you two don't have anyone you like," Lexi reminded our redheaded friend. "I like Bruce, Jordan likes Dallas, and AJ likes Scott."

"But none of them are here because they go to the public school," Aimee smiled matter-of-factly. "So just loosen up, ladies! The guys you like don't have to be your first boyfriends. I guarantee you that you won't end up with those boys that you mentioned anyway."

I didn't know if she was right about Lexi and AJ and their guys Bruce and Scott, but she was probably right about Dallas and me. We didn't stand a chance.

"Ugh, Elizabeth is the biggest slut I know," Aimee muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and turning away from the dance floor. "She and her friend Alexandria Quirk. Man, I hate them more than anything."

I looked over to see the two girls that Aimee was talking about grinding on the dance floor with pretty much every guy in sight. How gross...

When someone caught my eye, I froze and stopped dead in my tracks. This caused Chelsea to run into me, which almost caused the klutzy girl to fall right on her ass.

“Oh, no,” I groaned, slapping a hand over my mouth. “Oh, no, no, no!”

“What’s wrong, Jordan?” AJ asked, her eyebrows furrowing at me. “Are you going to be sick or something?”

I couldn’t speak. I just couldn’t. If he was here, that meant that he went to Cambridge, which meant he practically went to my school because our two schools did everything with each other! This couldn’t be happening!

Lexi’s eyes went wide and she started laughing when she saw who I was looking at. The other three girls looked so confused, and I still didn’t say a word. When Lexi finally stopped laughing, she pointed over at the boy that I was so terrified of, who hadn’t seen us yet. “You see that guy over there? That’s Jesse! The guy that Jordan’s getting all worked up over!”

The girls practically trampled me to get a better look at him. I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring in his direction. I really hoped he didn’t see me.

“That’s Jesse?” Aimee asked, her eyes going wide as she continued to stare at him. “He’s… he’s…”

Despicable and evil? Troll-like and stupid?

"He’s hot!"

I should have guessed it.

"That's the guy that spilled your ice cream all over you?" Aimee now asked, finally tearing her eyes away from him and finally looking back over at me. When I nodded, she smirked. "I'd let him lick it all right off me."

My face burned up. “Aimee!”

“You should go talk to him, Jordan,” AJ giggled, nudging me over in his direction. “I’m sure he’ll be glad to see you.”

I scowled, turning away from Jesse so there wasn’t a chance that he’d see me. “There’s no way in hell that I’ll go talk to him unless I absolutely have to--wait, where’s Chelsea?”

I whipped around in search of my friend, my eyes going wide when I saw her scampering over in Jesse’s direction. If I was lucky, her clumsiness would kick in and she’d trip before she could get over to him.

Please fall, please fall…

When she didn’t, I almost started yanking my hair out. This was a bad idea! Now the girls were going to get involved in this stupid mess! Before I could make a run for it, Lexi grabbed onto me to stop me from going anywhere. I was going to kill them for this! After everything I told them, they should have known that I hated this stupid jerk!

I didn’t know if Chelsea was doing this on purpose or not, but I could read her lips perfectly from where we were standing. Knowing my glasses-wearing friend, she was definitely doing this on purpose.

“Hey,” she started, glancing over at me and smirking just a little bit. I was going to get her for this! “You’re Jesse, right?”

The brunette boy nodded at her. “Yeah,” he responded, which was easy for me to read since it was only one word. He looked confused, but it wasn’t like I was expecting him to not look that way when a random girl approaches you and starts talking all strange to get the girl watching to know what she was saying.

“My friend’s told me a lot about you,” she nodded, still talking like a slow idiot so I could read her lips. “It’s like I practically already know you!”

Jesse said something that I couldn’t read, but I was sure it was something about asking who her friend was.

“Oh, who’s my friend?” Chelsea continued with a devilish smirk, and I tried my best to get out of there before she could show Jesse where I was. Aimee kept a tight grip on me, so I wasn’t going anywhere. “Why, my friend is Jordan Emery, of course. You know, the one you spilled ice cream all over? Yep, she’s actually here right now. Right over there.”

She jabbed her thumb toward me, and I thought I was going to faint. Why the hell were they doing this?

Jesse’s eyes widened when he saw me, and all I could do was glare. Since there was no way I could get out of seeing him, I wasn’t about to look happy about seeing him. I was so getting my friends back for this later…

The stunned look on Jesse’s face only lasted for a few seconds before it was replaced by his usual cocky smirk. I just glared harder at him, and before I even knew what was happening, both he and Chelsea were making their ways closer to us.

No, no!

"Why, hello, Emery," Jesse greeted when he and Chelsea finally got close enough to us. "I didn't expect to see you here."

I continued to glare. "Right back at you."

He offered me a hand. "You want to dance, Emery?"

"Of course she does!" Lexi answered for me, causing me to let out a shout when she pushed me right into his chest. "She'd love to dance with you! Go on, Jordan, I'm sure Dallas won't be jealous!"

Before I could bite Lexi's head off, Jesse had already dragged me onto the dance floor. This wasn't fair! I didn't want to dance with him; I didn't even want to be anywhere near him!

I guess I could humor my friends by dancing with him, but it wasn’t like I was going to enjoy it or anything.

“I wouldn’t have guessed that you go to Adeline,” Jesse informed me a few seconds after we had started dancing. “But then again, I did see you in a uniform and you do seem like the private school type…”

I couldn’t help but glare at him even more. “You definitely don’t seem like the private school type at all.”

Jesse grinned. “Eh, I know, but here I am anyway. Hey, where’s your boyfriend Dally?”

I really wished he’d stop calling Dallas that. I had only called me that a few times, and it was when I was annoyed with him for calling me Jordy.

“He doesn’t go to Cambridge,” I informed Jesse, as if he had the right to know. “People who don’t go to Adeline or Cambridge aren’t allowed to come.”

“It’s kind of illegal for you two to do anything now, isn’t it?” Jesse asked with a devilish smirk much like Chelsea’s now. “It’d be statutory rape, wouldn’t it?”

“Don’t be so disgusting.”

“It’s my job.”

Why was I doing this again? Oh, because my friends forced me into dancing with him. The sooner I got out of here, the better everything would be...

"Your friends seem like they like to tease you a lot," Jesse continued on as we continued to dance. Why the he'll did it have to be a slow song? "They must tease you about Dally all the time."

They did tease me a lot about Dallas, but not in the way Jesse probably thought they did. Jesse thought Dallas was my boyfriend, but my friends knew that he was only my friend that I had a crush on.

But Jesse couldn't know the truth. He couldn't even know that Dallas wasn't really my boyfriend, because he'd probably give me crap for lying to him.

"I don't know what you see in that guy," Jesse informed me before I could even say anything to him. I expected him to be smirking like always, but he wasn't even looking at me as he continued. "Some big senior when you're only a freshman. That guy's just going to ditch you."

"Dallas wouldn't do that," I defended, even though I didn't really know myself. I didn't even know what college he was going to next year... I didn't really know anything about him and he was my supposed best friend. "He's a nice guy. Sure, he teases me a lot, but he's been doing that ever since we were kids."

"And your parents find it appropriate for a fourteen-year-old girl to go out with an eighteen-year-old boy?" Jesse asked, his eyebrows furrowing at me now. "I highly doubt that they do. Even if they have known Dallas all their lives."

I shrugged, not knowing what I was supposed to say for a moment. I didn't even think my parents knew that I even liked Dallas, unless it was completely obvious. No one knew that I thought I loved him, not even my best friends... I just couldn't tell them yet.

"My parents are fine with it," I lied with another shrug. "They don't see anything wrong with it because it's Dallas. And like you've said, they've known Dallas ever since he was born. So it isn't a big deal to them."

"Really," he scoffed, tightening his grip on my waist just a little bit. "I definitely wouldn't allow my daughter to date someone who's four years older than her. Isn't he supposed to be in college, anyway?"

"He was born late in the year," I murmured, not feeling like fighting any longer. "So he had to start a year late."

Jesse rolled his eyes. "Of course."

"Why do you even care, anyway?" I snapped, the song finally stopping after an antagonizing four minutes. "It's of no concern to you. I've only met you over a month ago, and you're sticking your nose into my business and making my life a living hell. What, is it amusing to you? Am I just that amusing?"

Jesse smirked, but something inside me told me it was forced. "You're a good source of entertainment."

I rolled my eyes now. "Of course I am."

"I'm just telling you that I don't think it's a good idea to be dating that Dallas guy," he continued, and I turned around and tried to get away from him. Where the hell were my friends? Don't tell me they ditched me... "You're going to find out sooner or later that he isn't a good guy!"

Aw, come on! He was following me now? What a creep...

"Look," I snapped, turning back around to face him now that we were off the dance floor. "Thanks for the concern, but I can take care of myself. I think I trust Dallas a little more than I trust you, considering I've known him my entire life and I've only known you for a little over a month. Just go harrass some other girl and leave me alone to find my friends."

Jesse grabbed my hand, leading me far away from the dance floor and all the way toward the exit. I tried to pull away, but it was no use. Jesse was just too strong for me, and I hated it. I almost felt helpless in his strong grip.

"Look," Jesse mimicked, and all I could do was glare at him even more. "I may have been a complete jerk to you when we first met, but I don't want to see you getting hurt by this guy."

"Oh, really?" I challenged, crossing my arms over my chest. "And why don't you want me to get hurt?"

Jesse looked nervous, as if he didn't know what he was supposed to do. He looked around, as if trying to find a way out, but I wasn't about to let him go now. Now that he had started speaking, I wanted an answer.

"Well?" I pressed on, cocking a hip out now.

"Because..." Jesse started, letting out a sigh and finally looking back down at me. "Because I like you."

I stared up at him in complete shock for a moment, not knowing what I was supposed to do. Was he kidding me? Did he seriously just tell me that he liked me?

Jesse now looked me up and down. "Actually... I think I love you."

My cheeks flamed, and I was about to say something to him until his laughing cut me off. I stared at him, completely dumbfounded for a moment, until I realized that he was only messing with me.

"You jerk!" I shouted, reaching up and bashing him in the shoulder. "I really believed you!"

Jesse continued to laugh like crazy. "You should have seen your face! It was hilarious! You really did believe me!"

Before I could hit him again, someone was calling out my name. I turned around to see who it was and smiled when I saw that it was Lexi, my three other best friends behind her.

"Hey, where's Jesse?" Chelsea asked when the four girls finally walked up to me.

I turned around to face Jesse, confused at why they were asking me this when he was right behind me. But when I finally turned around, I could see that he wasn't there anymore. He wasn't anywhere in sight.

"I don't know," I answered with a sigh, shaking my head at my friends. "And honestly, I don't care."

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This is the chapter that Jesse figured out he was in love with Jordan. :D Hence the song on the side... But, as you know, Jordan will stay oblivious for the next three and a half years. xD Stupid girl.

I know it's been forever since I last uploaded. I'm very sorry. I've just been very busy lately and I haven't been able to write. But I'm trying to get back on track. :)

This is the first post of the new year! I'm excited. :) I hope this year is better than the last!

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :D