Achieving Unbroken
Chapter Seven

—

"I said maybe, you're gonna be the one that saves me
And after all,
You're my wonderwall"
Wonderwall | Oasis

—

Jason
[Monday, May 15th, 2017]

The next day, at lunch, I actually walk into the cafeteria instead of sprinting outside. Lilla told me at Starbucks to come and find her and her friends so we could go out to lunch, in the midst of us working out some sort of timeline of how this works out. When I walk in, eyes focus in on me, and I hold back a what are you looking at? remark that I know Lilla would get on me about later.

In the crowd, I find her lean frame sitting at a table, surrounded by Piper, Gavin, some other of her friends, the ones who aren't assholes.

"Oakland," I hear a shocked voice say. Looking to my right, it's Cannon. Cannon Davis.

Good ol' Fireball had been one of my closest friends since we met in second grade. We got into sports together, we got into girls together, and were connected at hip.

And then, Joey happened.

Cannon came over to my house every day after that night, only to come and talk to my door; since I had holed myself up in my room.

I was stubborn and upset. I cut him out, I cut them all out. It felt right at the time, but it only doomed me to be more lonely.

Until Lilla Harris came into the picture.

"Hey, Davis," I say, a little uneasy.

"Jason!" A feminine voice exclaims. Turning to my left, I see Lilla's joyful face smiling at my day, and I feel instantly better.

This is so weird. People don't normally cheer me up.

"Hey, Lilla." I give a shy reply back. She then bounces out of her chair, grabbing her things.

"Y'all ready?" She asks. Then she brings her attention to me again. "Jason, you'll ride with me, we're heading to The Barn."

The Barn is a local restaurant, barely a 10 minute walk from campus and a 2 minute drive. Everyone gets up and grabs their backpacks, walking as a clump to exit the cafeteria.

"Is Maxwell coming?" Patrick asks. My face twists in confusion.

"Who is Maxwell?" I pipe. Everyone looks at me, and then look at Lilla.

"You didn't tell him?" Piper directs at Lilla. She sounds concerned, and on the brink of anger.

"Pip, it's not important." Then she gets closer to Piper, and lowers her voice. "The school doesn't know about Maxwell, and he knows I want to do this with Jason. So we're fine."

"Who is Maxwell?" I demand.

"Lil's boyfriend," Peyton sighs.

"More like fuck buddy," E.J. snickers.

"He is not my boyfriend or my fuck buddy, you pricks," she snaps. Then, her eyes return to me. "I'll explain in the car. Let's go." She aggressively stomps past us and the guys sigh in defeat, Piper, Vince , Gavin and Patrick running out after her. I assume I'm supposed to follow, so I do, all the way to her car.

"Peyton and Sabrina have been on the rocks lately. He's just pissy. It'll pass," I hear Vince consoling Lilla when I approach.

"And E.J.s just... E.J.," Patrick attempts, but I see him wince at how lame it sounds.

"If Peyton wants to be pissy about him and Brina's relationship then he shouldn't have been flirting with Rowan in the library last week." Lilla finally notices me, and her face fills with guilt. "Jason, oh my God, I can explain this--"

"Lets just get going, yeah?" I cut her off. "We don't wanna be late to class."

Everyone nods, stealing final glances at Lilla before dispersing to their cars. Piper, Gavin and Patrick even leave, even though I'm pretty sure they were going to carpool with Lilla. Patrick gives me a strange look while he leaves, and I'm suddenly reminded that only Piper and Gavin are the friends that know what the plan is. Her and I get into the car in silence, and once we're inside I speak up.

"You were going to set up a relationship with me when you already are dating someone?" She instantly brings her hands to her face and buries it in them, shaking her head.

"No, no, that's not what's going on. Maxwell is just a guy that I hang out with from time to time. He's not my boyfriend. We don't go on dates. We either hang out at the library or one of our houses. It is in no way commited at all, and if one of us wants to actually date, then we tell the other. Its mostly filling up that need for something, you know? He's also a pretty good listener, so, we just help each other out. Pretty decent gig, actually."

I give myself a few seconds to ponder this. Our generation isn't like the ones you see in movies; getting shitfaced, partying, sleeping around, all that bullshit. We actually don't talk about anything very much, even though we're all drowning in hormones. I lost my virginity to some girl at Evergreen Hills High at the beginning of sophomore year, around December, to someone who didn't know about me or my brother and all that. It kind of takes me by surprise that Lilla isn't a "waiting until marrige" kind of girl, but then again, we've never been close, so I can't make that conclusion.

"Can I make the conclusion that he's at another school? How did you guys even meet?"

"He's at West Cove. Him, Peyton and Vince all went to the same middle school, and stayed in touch with him at basketball games and such. That's actually where we met." I nod, finally understanding parts of this odd situation.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised," I shrug, but when Lilla looks like she's about to push me out of the moving car, I realize that that came out completely wrong. "I'm sorry, that came out bad. I just mean that it's smart, which you are, to arrange something like that with someone who doesn't go to our school, and have a solid arrangement with them. I am slightly shocked that you have already lost your virginity, though."

This makes her laugh, actually, really hard.

Am I missing something?

"Of course you are." I look at her, confused. "That's just how our generation is, huh? The thought of losing the V card in high school is shocking to most of the people I've talked to about it, everyone claiming that they want to wait until marrige or past college. They say that, but I go to my doctor and she's telling me about all of the pregnant 14 year olds she gets coming in to her office. It's like there's no grey area, you know? Our parents lost their virginity at our age. Why can't we?"

When I'm silent, processing the information, she huffs.

"Never mind. Maybe I've just got more sex drive."

This, for some reason, makes me explode with laughter. I think she's getting a little irritated, but I don't know, her honesty is a refreshing start.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, just... I think it's normal to lose virginity in high school, too. I lost mine last year." She smiles. "To someone from another school, obviously, like you. Its easier that way. That way no one at your school can 'talk'."

"I totally agree," she says, and we fall into a small bout of silence. Who knew talking to your future fake girlfriend about sex in today's society would be so easy?

"Oh, wait... You didn't even tell me if he's coming today. I gotta check out my competition at some point, right?" I chuckle, and a slow smile grows on Lilla's face.

"He's not coming today, retaking a Calc test. I'm sure you'll meet him at some point, though. And he understands that you and I are only fake dating, and that I might not be able to hang with him as much."

"Right," I say, nodding. "Completely fake."