Chapter 9

During 5th period, I heard a lot of whispering and
laughing coming from everyone around me.

I looked at Nick up in the front, he was asleep,
drooling on his desk. I grinned slightly as I felt a tap on
my back.
I turned and took a folded piece of paper from Derrick
and a cheesy smile.

Unfolding it, I covered my mouth in shock.
It was the pros and cons list Ash made me!

Everyone started giggling around me, my face
turning red and my eyes watered, I kept myself
from crying.

Once the bell rang for 6th, I hauled ass down the hall,
passing everyone's laughter and Eddie trying to talk to
me.

I went to my locker as fast as I could…of course I
drop my books.

Shaking I picked them up and started my
locker combination as fast as I could.
Damn these stupid locks!

"Hey J," Nick said walking up behind me.

My stomach felt so uneasy, I felt so sick and nervous.
Did he see it?

"Hey," I said as calm as I could.
I finally got my locker open and stuffed my books in it.

"You seem like something's wrong Jess," Nick said
shutting his locker.

"No, I'm fine, really," I said pulling out my books for
6th.

"Well okay…see ya," he said walking past me. I
watched him go down the hall and banged my head
on my locker, causing me to scream with pain.

"Um…Jess?" Cindy asked concerned.

"Can we get out of here?" I asked pleading. She
shrugged as I grabbed her arm and headed
out the door.

"What's wrong?" She asked, wondering where
she was going.

"Just take me somewhere first," I said jumping into the
passenger seat of her car.

"Um…how about your house?" She asked as we
buckled our seatbelts.

"Yeah I guess…" I said as my voice trailed off.
Anywhere away from here.

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

"So what you're telling me is…you love nick. But he
hates you. And you hate him, but love him. And you're
going to the prom with Eddie but you want to go
with Nick without asking him. And today everyone
knows you like Nick?" Cindy asked taking a chunk
of ice cream out of the gallon.

"You make it sound so complicated, it's really not,"
I said pigging out on the cheddar cheese popcorn.

"I understand, it just seems too easy to fix," she said as I
turned my head to the window.

The bus arrived at my house.

"There he is," I said as Nick got off the bus.
Cindy sighed and shook her head. "What?" I asked.

"Go talk to him!" She said wiping her mouth of the
chocolate rim that had formed.

"Gee…NO!" I said sighing.
I looked at him get the mail from his mailbox; he was
just so cute.

"Fine," Cindy said getting up. I panicked, getting
up after her.

"What are you doing?" I asked, hoping she wasn't
going to go talk to him.

"Using the can Jess! God you're so depressed
you want to follow me to pee!" Cindy said as we
laughed.

She shut the door to the bathroom as I sighed,
thank God.

I walked over to the window and watched him walk
up to the door. He turned and saw me, waving
lightly. I waved back and walked away from the
window a little embarrassed.

I turned on my Monica cd and laid down on my bed,
waiting for Cindy.

"God Cindy, do you read in there?" I yelled.

"Sometimes!" She said walking in. I laughed as she
jumped onto the bed next to me.

"I'm gonna tell you something," she said getting
comfortable.

"Tell away," I said smiling.

"If I had to pick between them, I would pick
Eddie," she said taking another bite of ice cream. "He's
never treated you bad, and is always there for you…
well so far."

"I know Cindy, believe me I know. I've gone over it
so many times in my head. But Dr. Ashley told me that
maybe the reason we have hated each other is because
we really liked each other. I thought about it, and I did.
I used to make fun and everything not because he beat
me, but because I liked him," I said looking back out
the window at the beautiful house across the street.

"Okay…look. I'm getting too confused by this shit. I'm
going to go home," she said as we got up.

"Okay. Hey Cindy?" I asked. She turned to face me.

"Yeah Jess?"

"Thanks for getting me out of class," I said hugging
her lightly.

"No problem. Walk me out?" She asked as I nodded.

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

My parents were home for about an hour when I woke
up. Sleeping was the best was to get my mind off of
things.

I wiped my eyes and scratched my head, looking at the
clock I realized my favorite show was on.

I got dressed in my white halter-top tee shirt and
cut-off butthuggers, I was home and I didn't feel like
getting fully dressed to go watch t.v.

I walked up the steps slowly, reaching the top to see
Nick's adorable face.

"Hey Jess," he said looking down at me. I looked
at Vicki.

"What is he doing here?" I asked angrily.

"He's going to mow the lawn Jess," Vicki said
handing him the check.

"Thanks Mrs. Logan. See ya Jess," Nick said
opening the door.

He took one last look at me before shutting the door.

I sat down on the couch and turned on the t.v. "Vicki,
where's dad?" I asked changing the channels.

"He's at the meeting for the prom sweetheart!" She said
enthusiastically.

"What?"

"He and I are going to help chaperone at the prom
sweetie!" She said taking a bite of her carrot.

I moaned and covered my face with a pillow, hoping
all this would go away.

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

An hour of t.v. watching and Vicki was bugging
me again.

"Sweetie, can you go give this to Nickolas?" She
asked handing me a glass of water.

"Sure," I said walking out the door. He was starting
the mower again.

"Hey Nick," I said before he started it up again.
I walked down the steps to him and handed him the
water, his shirt was completely off and the sweat
off his body made his chest shine.

"Thanks, I was about to die," he said taking a sip.

"Actually Vicki told me to," I said nodding. He handed
it back to me as our hands touched; my stomach
butterflies were active as ever.

"Can you put this on the steps? I don't want to knock it
over," he said asking politely.

"Yeah no problem," I said putting it on the steps.
I stood there for a second, then turned back
to him. "Nick can I ask you something?"

"Yeah," he said nodding.

"Why haven't you rubbed in my face that I lost
Saturday?" I asked curiously.

"Good question. Um…I have to admit Logan, you did
good. I couldn't say anything about it this time if
you did good," he said folding his arms over his chest.

"So you're saying every other time I wasn't?" I asked
folding my arms the same way.

"You said it not me," he said with that damn smirk
again!

"Whatever, just because Vicki and my dad like you
doesn't mean I have to. Just finish your job and get out
of here," I said walking inside angrily.

I slammed the door scaring Vicki to death.

"Honey is something wrong?" She asked.

I shook my head and sat back down on the couch,
"No Vicki, nothing."

He confuses me so much…

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

"J…dinner's ready!" Vicki said from the kitchen.

I had been watching reruns of Full House and the
Real World for 2 hours now.

Even though it looked like I was watching t.v.,
I was thinking about everything that was going on.

"Can I skip dinner tonight Vicki?" I asked.

"Sure hon, why?" She asked sitting down next to me.

Her bright orange outfit and enormous hot pink
fingernails started to hurt my eyes.

"Nothing, I'm just not hungry," I said sighing.

Nick walked in with that ridiculous smirk on his face,
cup in hand, shirt on shoulder.

"Hey Jess, Mrs. Logan. I finished and I wanted to bring
you your glass and your mail," he said handing
Vicki the mail and put the glass down.

"Well thank you Nicky, Jess wasn't that nice?" Vicki
asked me as I sighed.

"Sure," I said mumbling. Vicki's smile turned to a grin as
she handed me a letter.

"It's from your mom," she said.

"Oh good! Thanks," I said opening it.

"Nick why don't you stay for dinner? J's father isn't
going to be here and we'll have a lot of left
overs!" She said turning back to her cheery state.

"NO! I mean…no Vicki," I said whining.

"Why not? I'm sure Nick wants to," Vicki said smiling.

"Yeah sure Mrs. Logan," Nick said.
I rolled my eyes as they went to the table.
I folded my legs up to my chest and started reading…

Hey Jess,
So you like Nick huh? I always thought it when you
guys were around each other but I wasn't sure.
My advice about it? I'd talk to him about it before it's
too late, you might be passing up the best thing
in your life, like I did with your father.

Your brother wants to come and see you this weekend,
so be prepared for him to come to town;
he misses you a lot.
Almost as much as I do. Grandma says hi.
Love,
Mom

I folded up the paper and shoved it in the envelope,
wiping my tears from my eyes.

"J? What's wrong sweetie?" Vicki asked as I got up.
Nick looked at me concerned.

"Nothing Vicki. Guess who's coming to town? Ryan!"
I said smiling. My brother was a college dropout,
thinking he'd get his big acting break. He lives in
Hollywood and talks to me whenever he has the time.
He's been in a few commercials so far, but nothing
really major.

My dad always loved seeing my brother, made him
happier than being with Vicki at times.

"Your brother?" Nick asked butting in.

"Yes Nick my brother," I said rolling my eyes.
I took two Tylenol from the cabinet and popped
them in my mouth. My migraines were slowly going
away, but came back whenever my mom wrote me.

"That's great J! When?" Vicki asked taking a huge bite
of her mashed potatoes.

"Sometime this weekend mom said."

"Great! I'll get him some food," she said happily.
She always loved taking care of Ryan;
she treated him like a little baby.

"Well I have a lot of homework to do and I have to
write mom, see ya Vicki," I said opening the
basement door.

"Bye sweetie," she said wiping her mouth.
I smiled bright when I realized…I left Nick by himself
with Vicki.

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

"What is this junk?" I said looking at the problems in
my math book.

I heard footsteps coming downstairs; I turned
my swivel chair to the door as they knocked.

"Come on in," I said brightly.

Nick opened the door and looked around my room.

"Wow, a normal room," he said as he shut the door
behind him.

"What do you want?" I asked sighing.

"You have reading glasses?" He asked pointing to
my glasses on my face.

"No Nick I just use them to make me look sophisticated
in class and when I do my work," I said
taking them off and setting them down on my desk.

"You too?" He asked with a smile. I busted out laughing.

"Yeah me too!" I said as we laughed.

"Well, Vicki wanted me to come down to see
what you were doing…don't worry, I'll tell her you were
using drugs and jumping out your window,"
he said shutting the door.

I laughed and sighed.

He's just so cute, so funny, and so…lovable.

I put back on my glasses and started up my confusion
of my math all over again.

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