January 18th, 2008

Jesse's P.O.V.

"I know it's your birthday, but I don't care! Get your ass out of bed right now or you're going to make us both late to school!"

This was the first thing I heard on my fifteenth birthday, and I couldn't help but roll over in my bed and groan. Couldn't my family just lay off me for one day? I mean, come on! It was my birthday! Why couldn't they just let me skip school?

I knew that that wasn't a good idea though, because if I did skip school, I'd end up near Adeline and wait for Jordan to get out of school. I wondered if she even knew it was my birthday today... I had told her, but I didn't know if she remembered or not. I did remember her birthday... May third. I'd always remember that day.

I trudged out of my room after I had changed, glaring at my sister who stuck her tongue out at me. She could have left without me for all I cared. She didn't have to drive me to school. I'd walk if I absolutely had to.

"Remember, Jesse, you have to go grocery shopping after school!" my mother informed me right before I closed the front door behind Camilla and me. Damn it. Why was I always the one that had to go shopping for her? Couldn't Camilla, who actually had a car, go? I didn't feel like walking all the way to the store and then back home after school. I could always pretend that I hadn't heard her...

No, because then she'd bitch at me and I'd have to still go anyway. So I might as well save time and just go right after school ended.

But there was a pro to going shopping, I guess. I had to pass Jordan's school on the way to the store... If I was lucky, I'd be able to catch her before she got picked up.

And I was planning on being lucky.

After school, I walked as quickly as I could toward Adeline Academy. It wasn't that far away from Cambridge... I should be able to catch her if I really tried. Hopefully she wouldn't leave on her own or whoever was picking her up would be late...

I cursed under my breath when I finally got to the front of the school and didn't see her. But I acted calm and cool like I always did, ignoring the gawks and stares I got from other girls. What, had they never seen a guy before? They might have gone to an all-girls school, but the whole world was full of guys...

"Look at that guy over there!" I heard a girl whisper.

"He's so cute," another one whispered right back.

"He's wearing Cambridge's uniform!"

"It makes him look even hotter!"

My task here was to find Jordan, not get distracted by stalker girls...

My face immediately lightened up when I saw her standing right be the parking lot, her arms crossed over her chest. She looked around, obviously looking for her ride, and I knew that this was now my chance to talk to her.

She saw me before I could say anything. "Oh, no."

I smiled. "It's nice to see you too, Emery."

She looked me up and down, obviously not used to my uniform. I'd let myself think that she was checking me out.

"So it's your birthday today, isn't it?" she asked, which I definitely didn't expect and I had to internally snap at myself to not let my eyes widen. She actually remembered my birthday? She turned her head away from me, and I wanted ever so much to slip my hand under her cheek and move her face back toward mine. She puffed a piece of hair away from her face. "Happy birthday, I guess."

I bit the inside of my lip, feeling my cheeks heat up. I am not blushing just because she wished me a happy birthday... I shouldn't be blushing no matter what! I shouldn't let her get to me like this...

Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked up at me. "Are you going to be sick or something?"

I forced out a laugh, turning my head away from her so she wouldn't see my red cheeks. Stupid girl, doing this to me... "Nah, of course not. I'm fine."

Jordan looked like she didn't believe me, but brushed it off and forgot about it. Thank goodness for that... She continued to look around in search for her ride, and I knew she just wanted to get away from me. All I wanted was to get closer to her...

A smile broke out onto her face as she looked over my shoulder. I glanced behind, sighing when I saw that Dallas and her brother were in the car that she was looking at. Without even saying another word to her, I slipped away and stalked off so I didn't have to deal with her stupid best friend and brother, who both equally hated me.

I guessed that it was time to finally go to the store to get my mom her crap. I would do whatever made her happy and just shut up...

So I trudged all the way to the store, angry over the fact that I wasn't able to talk to Jordan for that long. That was the sucky part about not going to the same school. Couldn't I just have her for the whole day? It was my birthday...

Lord knows what would happen if I got her to myself for the whole day...

Unmentionable things. That's all I'll say.

Passing the gas station and finally getting to the store, I still wasn't happy about having barely any time with Jordan. But then I was also happy because she remembered my birthday. I really didn't think that she would remember... I mean, I remembered hers, but I was kind of stalking her at the moment.

No. I wasn't a stalker. Was I? I didn't necessarily follow her around or anything... I'd just find her and then talk to her. I didn't leave her any creepy notes, or follow her across the country, or shoot down Dallas when I thought that he was her boyfriend...

But maybe I was a stalker, in my own way. I did love her from afar... But at least I had the guts to go up and talk to her! I wasn't that creepy...

Okay, yes I was.

But you wouldn't blame me if you saw her. She really was the most beautiful person I had ever seen in my entire life, and I had to deal with Erica every day, who practically flaunted her body right in my face. Even in front of Hunter! I can't believe he hadn't figured it out already... But I was glad that he hadn't. My life was still safe.

As I turned the corner of one of the aisles, I rammed right into someone. Luckily, I didn't fall over and I only stumbled back a little bit. I could only wish that it could have been Jordan again, but sadly...

"Whoa, sorry, man!" the person I had bumped into said, straightening himself up only a second after he had knocked into me. "I didn't see you there!"

The guy in question had messy blonde hair that needed a good brush, and eyes that were blue and gleeful. This guy looked like he didn't have a care in the world, and I envied him for that. I definitely had a lot of problems I had to deal with.

"It's alright," I nodded, shoving my hands into my pockets and looking around. The last time I had run into someone, it changed my life forever. But I highly doubt that would have happened with this guy... I mean, come on. It was a dude. "I seem to run into people a lot."

The blonde laughed. "Hah, really? That's hilarious!"

I found myself chuckling, even though I didn't even know why. For some reason I felt it was easy to laugh around this guy, which just didn't make any sense since I had just met him.

"So, what are you doing here?" he asked before I could excuse myself. A little weird, but it wasn't like I was going to be rude or anything.

"Just buying a few things for my mom," I answered, since it was the truth and everything. "My mother always forces me to go out and get things even though I can't drive."

The blonde laughed again. "Wow, that sucks! How old are you?"

"Fifteen as of today," I shrugged, as if it was no big deal to me. But it was. I liked the thought of being closer and closer to freedom. "I still won't be able to drive for about another year."

The blonde smiled. "Today's your birthday?"

I nodded.

"No way! My birthday's a week away from now! That's so cool. Happy birthday!"

"Thanks," I smiled back at him, for a second forgetting all the problems I was having from the gang and Jordan. Wow... why was I getting so relaxed around some guy that I had just met? I didn't understand it. "How old are you going to turn?"

"Fifteen, like you," he explained, also shrugging. But I could tell it was a big deal with him. With this guy, it seemed like everything was a big deal. "That's why I'm here right now, actually. My brother and I are twins, and our parents asked us where we wanted to go for our birthday. We told them we wanted to go to Disneyland, and we just stopped for gas so we'd make it there. My brother and I were getting hungry, so I came in here to get us something to eat. We're originally from Maine, so--"

Before I knew what was happening, a brunette boy jogged up to the two of us. It was surprising how much the two of them looked alike; they only had different hair colors. This must have been his twin brother.

"Hey, Mom wants us back at the car. It's time to go," the brunette informed the blonde, barely even glances at me. "If you want to get to Disneyland, you better hurry and get in the car."

The blonde turned back toward me now. "It was really fun meeting and talking with you. Happy birthday."

He started away before I said, "You, too."

He glanced behind his shoulder to smile at me, and in the next moment he was gone. It was strange, the way I felt and all. It was like I had lost a good friend and I wasn't ever going to see him ever again. It was just so weird.

When I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, I looked down at it to see that I had gotten a text. I glanced at it uncaringly, expecting it to be my mom, but I immediately perked up when I saw that it was from Hunter about helping him out with a drug deal later.

I texted him back that I would be there, slipping my phone back into my pocket right afterwards. Now, I didn't do drugs, because I wasn't about to fuck myself up or something as useless as that. Hunter didn't do it either, because his dad died of an overdose, so he didn't want that to happen to him. But selling drugs was a good way to get money, and Hunter wasn't about to pass a chance to get money. He'd let people who were in the gang do drugs, but he said he wouldn't be upset if they died because of it.

I turned to leave the store without even buying anything, stopping short when I saw who had entered only a few seconds before.

Jordan and Dallas hadn't seen me yet, but I was going to let my presence be known. Even though they weren't dating, I didn't like seeing the two of them together at all...

I felt like such an idiot for actually believing that they had been dating. I mean, he was a senior and she was a freshman. What senior in their right mind would date a freshman? No matter how beautiful or amazing she was...

Mentally slapping myself, I slipped in front of them before they could go to another aisle. The smile on Jordan's face immediately deteriorated, and the same with Dallas's. Looks like they were happy to see me.

I looked Jordan up and down, seeing that she was still in her school uniform. I felt like a complete pervert to think that she looked totally hot in it, but I bit back anything I could say about it because Dallas was there.

Even though they weren't dating, I still couldn't stand the sight of Dallas, because he was what Jordan liked. She liked him, not me. I didn't see any type of appeal in him, but I guessed that that was just because he was a guy and I was as well...

"Well if it isn't the birthday boy," Dallas scowled, wrapping his arm around Jordan's shoulders and pulling him closer to him. I inwardly scowled when I saw the blush on her face. Didn't she say she was going to forget about him? "How about you don't harass my girlfriend today?"

"Jig's up, lover boy," I smirked at him, cocking my head to the side. "I know you're really not dating her. And I also know that Jordan likes--"

Before I could finish my sentence, she slapped her hand over my mouth as hard as she could. I wouldn't be able to tell her that it didn't hurt. She wasn't very strong.

She laughed nervously, turning toward Dallas while her hand tightened around my mouth. "He's just trying to start crap. Don't listen to a word that this idiot has to say because absolutely nothing he says is true."

I couldn't help myself any longer; I parted my lips and let my tongue run across her hand. She let out a terrified scream, immediately pulling away from me and wiping her hand on her skirt.

"You idiot!" she shouted, her eyes fiery with hatred. "That's disgusting!"

I couldn't help but smirk at her, wiggling my eyebrows as I did so. "Believe me, I plan on licking you in a whole bunch of other areas besides your hand."

Her eyes widened, and she looked so shocked that she couldn't even speak. But all I could think about was how her skin felt against my tongue. Damn it. Even her hand tasted good.

I'm going to hell...

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

"Yo, Jesse," a voice said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You paying attention?"

I wanted to say yes, but that would have been a lie. All I could do as I sat next to Hunter in the passenger's seat while he drove was think about Jordan. I was on my way to a drug deal, and I was thinking about a girl that was driving me crazy.

"Uh..."

"You're thinking about that chick again, aren't you?"

Now I wanted to say no. I didn't want Hunter knowing anything about Jordan because if he found out about Erica, I wasn't sure if he would go after her or not. Hunter was the kind of guy that would go after the people you cared about just to get to you...

"Uh, yeah," I answered, mentally slapping myself right afterwards. The three guys that were sitting in the back were too busy having their own conversation to listen in on ours. "I'm, uh, thinking about her."

Hunter tsked. "You shouldn't get all worked up over a girl. Especially one that won't even give you the time of day. What's so special about her anyways?"

I was at a loss for words. Honestly, I wanted to say that everything was special about her, but I was afraid that was just too sappy for Hunter. What the hell was I supposed to say when I just thought everything was fucking perfect when it came to her?

"Everything, really," I answered honestly, glancing back at the guys in the back. "Except for the way she acts toward me and all. But what can a guy do?"

"Force yourself on her."

"I'm pretty sure that would not only land me in jail, but make her hate me even more."

Hunter smirked, leaning back in his seat. "I heard it's your birthday today," he now said, and I was glad that we were getting off the subject of Jordan. "Happy birthday."

I wasn't expecting that from him, but I thanked him and the two of us went silent again. Before I even knew it, we were at our destination and all of us were piling out of the car and following Hunter toward a dark alleyway.

"Here," Hunter said, tossing me something. I caught it, and my eyes widened when I saw that it was a gun. "Just in case."

Just in case what? I didn't think I wanted to know.

The three guys and I continued to follow Hunter, not saying a word and just letting him lead the way. When I saw a few dark figures, I felt myself stiffen and I grabbed the gun that was now in my pocket. Just in case... Just in case.

"You got the stuff?" one of the guys asked, his eyes bloodshot.

Hunter nodded toward one of our guys. "Yeah. How much money you got?"

The guy licked his lips, staring at the bag Hunter's goon was holding. "However much it costs."

As they talked prices, all I could do was stand there and look as tough as I could. But my mind wandered away from the drug deal and to a certain girl, and I knew that it was the complete wrong time but I didn't even care. I didn't want to be there right then, I wanted to be with Jordan. Whatever she was doing during this time.

When I heard yelling, I snapped back into reality and saw that one of the goons in the other gang had snatched the bag of drugs from the goon on our side, and all three guys that were sitting in the back of the car were chasing after him now. I stood there almost frozen, not knowing if I should run after them or not.

Hunter grabbed onto the bloodshot eyes guy, pushing him against the wall as hard as he could. "Where's the money?"

The guy smirked. "I ain't paying you shit."

Hunter's eyes furrowed, and his eyes burned with fury. If you didn't pay him when you were supposed to, he got pissed. Pissed enough to kill. And honestly, that freaked me out a little.

"Shoot him, Jess!"

I held up the gun and held my breath. I wanted to. I wanted to shoot that guy right then and there, but I just couldn't. All I could think about was how, if I got caught, I would get thrown into jail and never get to see Jordan again. All I could see was her face, glaring at me in complete disgust for killing someone.

I must have been taking too long, because before I could pull the trigger, someone else had beaten me to it. I looked over, my eyes wide when is saw Erica standing there, blowing at the end of her gun and smirking at Hunter and me. "You two started without me? Decepcionante..."

I looked down at the guy, his bloodshot eyes wide and lifeless. Erica had shot him right in the forehead, and it made me cringe just a little bit. What was I getting myself into?

"I thought you didn't like coming along for these types of things," Hunter informed his girlfriend, grabbing her by the arm and pressing her body to his. "I didn't want to bore you."

"This? Boring? Boring is the last thing this is," Erica smiled, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend's neck. "You better now forget about me next time, mi amor."

Hunter smirked at her. "I won't."

When she hugged him, she looked over Hunter's shoulder and winked at me. I did nothing; I pretended that I didn't even see it. I wasn't going to let Hunter kill me because a girl I didn't even like was interested in me. Nuh-uh, no thank you.

"I'm just gonna go," I told him, placing the gun on the ground and taking a few steps away. "This actually isn't too far from my house. I'll just walk."

Hunter only nodded at me. "Alright."

I took off as quickly as I could, not wanting him to question me about why I didn't shoot the guy before Erica did. He'd think I was a wuss if he found out it all because of Jordan... and I couldn't let that happen.

Damn this girl. If it wasn't for her, I'd be able to have fun with my friends and do things gang members should do. But no, all I ever do is wonder about her. She was ruining my life, but I couldn't have been more happy that she was.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yep, all Jesse's P.O.V. for his birthday.

Do you know who the blonde boy was in the store? Hint: It's his birthday today and There's a Thin Line Between Love and Hate wouldn't be the same without him... ;D

THE WATTY AWARDS ARE AT ITS LAST WEEK! PLEASE VOTE FOR THERE'S A THIN LINE BETWEEN LOVE AND HATE IN ACTION AND HEY THERE, DELILAH IN MYSTERY/SUSPENSE! THANK YOU! :D

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :D