Jessie couldn’t take it anymore. The clock on the wall seemed to be ticking away hours instead of seconds, moving so slow. They had to leave. They would be late. They would miss their plane. School was unbearable, and if it wasn’t for Jimmy’s insistence that they still attended, she wouldn’t be touching it with a stick.

Stupid, you need your education! Who knew how long this agency thing would last anyway. Or if she’d even get to graduate. Yeah, good job at calming yourself down.

Ten minutes. Ten tiny minutes and she would leave, meet up with Jimmy and Billy and head for the airport and to France, finally after Sam and Tom. Thank God she didn’t have any parents to lie to, because coming up with something had been hell for Jimmy. Finally, the headmaster had jumped to their aid and presented them with an academic cover that placed them in France.

Maxi had been hopping happy to hear about it, but stupidly asked no questions beyond the official letter. She and Freider had grumbled about Sam and Tom not being home to get congratulated and choosing to go out with their other accepted colleagues. Harry had been the cover who confirmed they were there.

Jerry had faked another college conference and Kyle actually counted on his parents’ blatant blindness and claimed to just be busy with school but still be home. Harry would help with providing his cover by breaking into the house and messing up his room and consume random food from the fridge.

It still grated Jessie how Maxi and Freider could be so overbearing and careless at the same time. They were both a bunch of nosy Nancies when it came to their sons’ relationships, but when any of them randomly disappeared, they didn’t bat an eyelash. One reason she wanted out of that house was to get away from that madness. And she just had nine minutes left to go.

Something sticky landed in her hair. She brushed it off and a slimy paper ball landed on the floor. Fighting the impulse to wipe her hand on her jeans, she turned around. Three girls giggled in the back while two assholes high fived as if they’d accomplished the most admirable feat, not just spat a paper ball at someone. Gah, she was in absolutely no mood to be pathetically bullied.

“What’s wrong Stefani? Missing your bodyguards?” one of the girls hissed.

Jessie rolled her eyes at her and turned back to the front of the class. She didn’t even know the girl’s name and didn’t want to find out. Just a few more--

“Jessica?”

Jessie jerked to attention and looked at the teacher. Crap, what class was this again? European cultures. The class was already sniggering at her failure to answer the question, she the one with the perfect scores. Shit, shit, shit.

“Hugo Capet,” she blurted out.

Everyone fell silent, even the teacher who stared at her with wide eyes. Crap, she’d totally gotten the answer wrong.

“Well, yes, Hugo Capet is part of the line, but I was thinking a bit more… recent. Who can tell me something about Filip the second?”

Jessie leaned back in his seat and zoned out. At least she’d gotten the country right. Weird that it would be France.

“Not so smart now, are you,” one of the giggling girls hissed from behind.

“If only I cared about your opinion,” Jessie mumbled to herself.

“Just ignore them,” Lisa whispered from Jessie’s right. “They’re like this with me too, thinking that if we’re brainy we’re pushovers.”

“I know. Thanks, Lisa.”

Lisa smiled weakly, but it slid off her face too fast. “How’s Sam?”

Jessie bit her lip. They’d lied to everyone that Sam and Tom had gotten sick, but Lisa proved much harder to fool than their parents, especially because Sam didn’t return her texts or calls. Even if she felt terrible about it, Jessie had made up a bullshit excuse that Christine had forbidden them to talk outside school and Sam was trying to stay on her good side for a while. Lisa had huffed and puffed, but finally gave up on it, cursing Christine under her breath.

“He’s a bit better, but it’s a nasty thing, honestly.”

“I should be able to visit him,” Lisa said under her breath. “Christine doesn’t get to decide this stuff.”

“She doesn’t. Just… give it some time.” Great, now Jessie felt bad about making Christine into an ogre, too, because she wasn’t that absurd.

Fortunately, the bell finally went off and Jessie could escape the awkward conversation. She liked Lisa, but Jessie always felt bad because it was so obvious her feelings for Sam were beyond platonic. And a small, guilty part of Jessie wondered if Sam wouldn’t be happier with Lisa than Christine.

“Finally.” Lisa stood, clutching her books to her chest. “What class do you have next?”

“None. I’m heading out,” Jessie answered, standing, too.

Lisa sighed, but tried to put on a smile. “It’s so lonely without Sam, really. I mean without Sam and Tom. I mean all of you guys. Honestly, even Harry would be a good choice right now.”

Jessie tried to give her an encouraging smile then said goodbye and headed for her locker to leave her books. High school was so weird when her life outside was anything but ordinary. She felt like she was floating through the motions just waiting for a day when she could… She didn’t even know what she was waiting for, really. The longing for a normal life and the thirst for action and adventure were equal parts of her. The only constant were the people. Whatever happened next, it was okay as long as she had her friends. As long as she had Jimmy.

“Yo, Stefani!”

Jessie gritted her teeth and slammed her locker. She knew that voice and it belonged to Matt Damien, the school douchebag.

“Don’t think you had us fooled in there.” He grasped her shoulder and turned her around.

He wasn’t alone, of course he wasn’t. Two more guys from the football team were brushing his shoulders and the three girls from their class hung in the background, once again giggling as if their poor attempts at bullying were funny.

“What do you want, Damien?” she asked, bored.

“Play nice now, Jessica.” He grinned in a cheesy way that probably looked charming to those hormonal girls behind him. “We were thinking, since we’re so busy with training and everything. You could have the honor of doing our Culture papers.”

Jessie yanked her shoulder out of his grip. “You need the culture. I’d be doing you a huge disservice.” Figures they’d try getting free homework out of her since they never could out of Sam.

The smile slid off his face, leaving room to an ugly frown that emphasised his long, pointed chin. “Let’s put it anothers way. I’m sure you’ve noticed that we’re the it crowd around here. It would be beneficial for a newbie like you to receive our protection.”

God, they had to be kidding. She’d been pushed around enough at her old school for being famous. These guys weren’t even scratching the surface. “Honestly, does it look like I care who’s in and who’s out?”

Damien snarled. “You should care. I’ll put this in a simpler way. One you might understand.” He grabbed her shoulder again and squeezed hard. “You’ll do this for us if you know what’s good for you.”

“And you’ll take your hands off my girlfriend if you know what’s good for you.”

Jessie’s heart skipped a beat. Shit! Jimmy had come up behind Damien, the annoyance on his face chilling. He was already out of uniform, wearing jeans, a black t-shirt and his multi-slotted vest on top of it. And she knew what would happen, she could already see it. Damien jerked to the side and let her go.

“Jimmy, drop it, it’s not worth it,” she said.

He threw her a fleeting glance which convinced her he thought it was totally worth it. And it made her shudder because Jimmy was always like that. He didn’t care about people sneering at him, he ignored all insults, all attempts to provoke him, he even let Sam and Tom look after themselves because he knew they could. But when it came to her, even if he knew she was more than capable of taking care of herself, it was like someone flipped a switch.

Damien grinned like an idiot, thinking her words held any weight with enraged Jimmy. “Aw, seems like your girl wouldn’t want my pretty face ruined.” He gave Jessie an exaggerated wink. “Didn’t know you felt that way about me, sweets. What about you and me… ya know.”

Crap. Big mistake. It took Jimmy precisely one second to stuff a punch in Damien’s stomach. He fell to the floor, holding on to his torso, moaning in pain. His jock friends immediately grabbed Jimmy and pulled him away before he could do more damage. Jessie froze, not sure what to do.

Jimmy turned and elbowed one of the guys in the neck, sending him back wheezing. The other guy let go and stepped back just enough to give Jimmy the space he needed to kick him in the chest and throw him against the opposite wall. The girls screamed and scurried away like frightened hens.

Jessie lunged forward and grabbed Jimmy’s arm before he could do more damage. “Come on, let’s go. We have better things to do.”

“Stay away from Jessie, asshole, or next time, I’ll really hit you,” he said, pointing at the still moaning Damien. When he turned to her, he was all smiles, like he hadn’t just left three people moaning on the floor. “Let’s go.”

She let him take her hand and followed him towards the exit, worrying her lip. Her stomach churned uncomfortably because this wasn’t about school bullies. It was about Jimmy always losing his head when anyone came near her, it was about him putting himself in harm’s way. He’d almost died once because he wanted to protect her and the guilt was too much to bear.

The cold December air did nothing to clear her head, just dug in that they were leaving on another mission - an opportunity for Jimmy to get hurt while trying to protect her again. They’d had the talk, he’d agreed that she was very capable of defending herself, that he trusted her. But still, he always, always ended up getting hurt because of her.

“Jessie? You okay?”

She snapped out of her miserable thoughts and realized they’d reached the car. Jimmy was looking down at her, chocolate brown eyes filled with concern. She’d always loved the color of his eyes, how the brown was so dark it looked black if you didn’t look carefully enough. She loved the line of his face, the shape of his mouth, the fulness of his lips, the taste of them… She loved everything about him, and not just physically. Even this dumb stubbornness to always jump in front of her made her love him more.

And that was why she couldn’t do it. Could no longer be the reason he got hurt.

“Jimmy, I…” She bit hard on her lip and looked into the ground, at the snow gathered on the tip of her boots. There was no way she could say this while staring him in the face. “What you did back there…” Okay, this was a stupid strategy. She should be yelling at him, not act all apologetic. But she couldn’t, not when she was getting ready to break his heart.

“Come on, Jessie,” he said with a laugh. “I didn’t hit them that hard. But they should know not to mess with you.”

“I could’ve handled that myself.”

“I know. It just… sort of makes me feel better when I do it.”

She raised her eyes just so she could throw him a hurt enough look to wipe the smirk off his face. It worked like a charm. The smile slid off his face and worry took over.

“Jessie, what’s going on?”

“I just can’t keep letting you do this.”

“Do what?”

“Get hurt because of me. Get in trouble because of me.” Tears filled her eyes once she realized where this was going. It was so out of the blue, so… stupid.

“Um… what are you doing?”

She had to say this now, before they left, before she was too weak to do it. It was her only chance even if it meant spending the mission in huffy silence. “I don’t want to be the reason you get killed. I don’t want to be the reason you might…”

“Jessie…”

“I think we should…” The words were stuck in her throat. She couldn’t say it.

“No.” The word was filled with determination. “Unless you have a better reason than me getting hurt to protect you, don’t even start. Do you think it’s not hard for me? Do you think I don’t wake up every day knowing you’re in danger because of me? If you weren’t my girlfriend, you wouldn’t be a target for Snitch Gravel. And now with Angie and Christine missing…” He placed a finger under her chin and lifted her face. The heat in his eyes sent a shiver down her spine. “If you want to talk stupid reasons to break up, let’s start with that one. Because it sure as hell beats yours.”

“I…” She bit her lip, her mind spinning, wondering just what the hell she’d been thinking when she breached the subject. Yes, it bothered her, yes, she felt guilty, yes, it sucked. But breaking up with Jimmy would only make things so much worse.

He took one step away from her as if he wanted to see her better. “Is this a fling to you?”

“What?” she blurted.

“A fling. You know. One of those things you’ll look back on and maybe smile when you’re older right before you forget about it and go on with your life.”

“Um…” Where the hell was he going with this?

“Because it’s not to me. What we have, our relationship is not something temporary.”

“Jimmy, you’re nineteen.”

“So what? What does age have to do with anything? When I took my chance with you, it wasn’t so I could fill in some space, so I could have a girlfriend just for the sake of it. It was because I felt you make me better, complete me. And that’s something I want to hold onto for the rest of my life.”

Jessie watched him, unable to believe her ears. Of course she hadn’t entered this relationship thinking they’d break up, but she hadn’t considered it was forever either. Forever was a foreign concept given their lives. But his words didn’t scare her. They warmed her up to the core, made her feel like she belonged to him, like the two of them were an unbeatable force.

“I’m not saying this to freak you out. I’m definitely not saying this to make you feel like you have some obligation towards me. I’m okay with being a fling. But if I am…” He leaned over her, trapping her between his body and the car. “I’m going to make sure I’m the best damn fling you ever had.”

Jessie’s stomach dropped off the face of the planet, and she was suddenly filled with helium, because she was soaring above the clouds. The way he looked at her, the way he leaned in and turned even the coldest winter day into a scorching inferno… yup, she didn’t think anyone could trump that. That or the frustration she felt because he just lingered above her, maybe an inch out of her reach.

“Are you gonna kiss me or not, hotstuff?”

He grinned like an imp. “There’s my Jessie back.”

❄❄❄

I updated! Hurray! I'm going to try to stick to a Friday schedule.

Not much happening in this part. People are getting ready to leave and some tensions are running high. Of course I'm going to use this scene to bite you in the ass at some point. Probably. Most likely.

Hope you're still having fun. I wish o had more writing time and motivation to move faster.

Don't forget to comment and leave me your thoughts.