The teacher dismissed class and I smiled, knowing I could meet Jack soon. As I was about to pack up my things, I overheard Quinn, Elle, and Cindy talking about something. "He'll come to the party and then he's going to be so humiliated!" She chuckled. Her minions laughed as well. "Wait, do you think he's going to accept the invitation?" Elle asked. Quinn nodded. "Yep. I'm pretty sure he's in love with me and he'd do anything I asked him to do. Or he just finally thinks he's not a loser." Quinn smirked. Cindy gasped. "So wait, you don't really like him?" She asked. Quinn shook her head. "Nope, but he was hot. When I realized he hung out with Celia and when he started to ignore me and make fun of me, I planned this out of revenge. Trust me, he won't want to show his face in this school ever again." They all laughed and walked out ahead of me. My eyes widened. This poor person was going to be humiliated at this  party of some sort and he or she didn't even know. 

I sighed and walked out of my last class, one of the only ones I didn't have with Jack. I'm sure he's probably missing me right now. It's so sweet how he wants to go with my everywhere. Sometimes, it gets a little bit annoying, but overall I choose to believe it's a sweet gesture. I hold my books tightly to my chest and start walking around my campus, keeping my eyes peeled for Jack. 

I noticed his jet-black hair and his backpack that used to be my old one. Don't worry, it wasn't sparkly pink or anything. It was a plain navy blue backpack I gave him so he had something to carry his books in and he didn't have to be embarrassed. He was in a group of people, talking to them and using lots of hand gestures. Jack, you dropped the Italian thing a long time ago, you can stop now. The people seemed to be really interested in what he had to say, so I know he wasn't talking about me. 

As I leaned in to get closer to him, I listened to what they had to say. They mentioned something about later, tonight, at someone's house. What's going on? I leaned my head over to listen to more, but ended up catching Jack's eyes. I blushed and quickly blinked, standing stiff as a board. Crap, I've been spotted. Jack smiled at me, but he also looked a bit nervous when he saw me. "Hey Celia. Go ahead and head outside by the tree, I'll be out there in a second." He informed me, turning back to his little group. I was a bit confused, seeing as he always would link arms with me and walk down the stairs and home with me. This time, he was sending me off on my own.

I have to admit, that kind of stung a little. I mean, I'm not jealous or anything! It's just I loved walking home with him all the time, and it was so nice to sometimes hold his hand as we were walking. There would always be a cool breeze, so the trees above would release their leaves and they'd always land on us. It was a picturesque scene that made me wish I were someone else so I could stop and talk a picture. Also, Jack just made me feel safe. He's more than 1 foot taller than me, and now that he's real, I feel like he's the knight in shining armor that would protect me from everything. Just the other day, when it was raining, he brought me close to him and zipped me up in his hoodie..even though we had an umbrella on us. Hey, it's the thought that counts.

I awkwardly nodded at him and continued walking down the stairs, my head held down a little lower than normal. I hope he wasn't just trying to get me out of there so he could talk to them. I mean, that's okay, but I just don't want our friendship to end now that he's real. I'm reading way too much into this. I should just wait for him and be done with this. I walked over to the tree and stood under it, shivering a bit because of the cold. After what seemed like forever, Jack walked down the stairs to meet me. Even as he was doing that, I could tell people were asking him if he was going to be somewhere tonight. What is this? I have to ask him what's going on.

Finally, he met my eyes. He smiled down at me. "Hope you weren't waiting too long, shall we?" I nodded, smiling. Now he'd link arms with me and we'd go back and forth talking about our day and shooting each other compliments and sarcasm. I had my arm ready, holding it out for him, but he had his phone in his hand. He looked back at me, his eyes widening. He chuckled a bit. "I-I'm sorry, Celia, I have to text this one person really quick, then we can do that." He apologized. At this point, I was getting a bit irritated. "No, just forget it." I sighed, walking with him. I could tell he was a bit taken aback by my strong dismissal, but continued to text somebody. After 5 minutes of silence and the annoying sound of the keys clacking on his phone, I decided to break the silence. "So, what was everyone talking to you about?" I asked, innocently enough. I just needed to get information.

Jack turned back to me, a nervous look on his face. He sent the text and shut off his phone, putting it in his pocket. "Um, well, I sort of..got invited to something." My eyes widened. I suddenly remembered the conversation Quinn, Elle, and Cindy had. Could he be the one they wanted to humiliate? I bit my tongue and continued to listen. Maybe it was a separate thing. After all, Jack's pretty cool, who wouldn't want him at a party? "So, who invited you to this thing?" I asked. Jack seemed to look even more nervous. "Just some people, Celia." He awkwardly scratched the back of his head. I got a bit more skeptical. He was definitely hiding something from me, and I was going to find out what. 

I turned back to him, a stern look on my face. "Jack, you can tell me. Who invited you?" I asked for a second time. He sighed. "Do you really have to know, Celia?" "Yes, just tell me!" I yelled. I shrunk back as I saw his face look down at me with a hint of anger and surprise. "Fine, it was Quinn, are you happy now? Look, can we just drop this?" He yelled, angry. I wanted to cry. This was the first time he was ever angry at me. Except for that time that I wouldn't let him bring a cat from the pet store home, but I'm pretty sure that was just to get attention or something. Or maybe he just really likes cats. I looked back at him, trying to remain stern.  "J-Jack.." I stuttered. "Y-You can't go to that party." 

Jack looked at me and stopped in his tracks, stopping me as well. "Who says I can't?" "I do! Jack, I overheard them in class and they said-" "Celia, this is the only chance I will have to ever be popular and to ever fit in with these people and you want to talk that one chance away?" He accused. "No! Jack, please listen to me.." "No, you listen to me! For years and years I have been wanting to fit in with other people, but I can't because I was imaginary. Now, I have a chance to and you're not going to let me take it?" Jack yelled. I blinked back the tears in my eyes, trying my best to fight them back. I wanted to appear strong, but with everyone sentence, every word that came out of his mouth, he hurt me and broke fragments of my heart. I looked back at him, my eyes misty. "Was I not enough..?" I asked him. Jack remained completely silent.

I sighed. "Jack, I heard Quinn, Cindy, and Elle talking. They said they were going to invite someone to their party and then humiliate them in front of everyone. That someone is you! I can't let you go." I reasoned with him. He stopped for a second and then smirked. Not his normal smirk, this time it looked almost evil. "You're just jealous." He accused. My eyes widened. "J-Jealous? Jack, how could you think that?" I gasped. "Because you don't want me to have any other friends, especially girl friends, except for you." I couldn't stop them. Tears started streaming from my face. "Jack, that's not at all true, and you know that!" I yelled, my voice breaking. "Well, I don't care what you say, I'm going to that party and that's final!" He yelled, walking away from me. 

He turned back to me, dramatically, and looked at me. "I never thought you'd be like this." He started to walk away from me, then picked up his pace and started to run. I reached out my hand for him, but he was gone in the blink of an eye. I couldn't believe this. Jack was going to be humiliated, he didn't believe me, and now I'm sure that he hates me because he thinks I'm jealous of the others and the offer that he got. It seemed like there was a knife in my heart that he planted and I couldn't get it out. I sat down on the bench next to me and held my hand over my heart, pretty sure I was having a panic attack. I couldn't breathe and I couldn't talk either. All I could do was curl up in a ball and wait for it to be over.

When I found that I could breathe again, I grabbed my backpack and hugged it close to me, letting the tears cascade down my face and congregate on a puddle on the floor below me. I couldn't believe that this happened. After 9 years of being close friends, we had fought and he had left me over some petty dispute such as this one. I sighed, shivering and sobbing. I was a cold, crying mess. As I looked on at the ground, I saw a piece of paper gently float onto the ground from my backpack. I picked it up and saw that it was a picture of me and Jack that we had taken. I wanted to rip the picture then and there, but put it back in my pocket in case a miracle happened and I was able to reach him. 

I started to run back home, trying to forget everything that happened and how Jack and I now have a broken friendship, and I have a broken heart.