April 2nd, 2010

“We need to make a plan, girls,” Aimee told us suddenly as we all sat in the ice cream parlor, the same one I had met Jesse in almost three years before, as she wagged her spoon at us. “We need to make a plan about all of us getting boyfriends.”

“You know you can get any guy you want, Aimee,” Lexi sighed to our friend with a roll of her eyes. “You don’t have anything to worry about. We, on the other hand, do. It’s even worse since we go to an all-girls school.”

“But we have the public school and Cambridge,” AJ reminded us as she took a bite of her ice cream. “There are a bunch of cute guys at those schools.”

“Not Cambridge,” I muttered, causing Aimee to give me a look.

“You know one guy at Cambridge,” she informed me, in case I somehow didn’t know.

“And he’s ruined boys for me,” I replied back. “For the time being, that is.”

“I thought that it was Dallas that ruined boys for you,” Chelsea blinked, and I bit the inside of my lip at the thought of him. Soon I was going to be a senior, just like he had been. I couldn’t help but wonder where he was now… “I thought Jesse was just the icing on the cake.”

She could have been right, but I didn’t really know. All I knew for sure was that I wasn’t interested in a relationship at all. I hadn’t been since what had happened with Dallas only two years before. I didn’t know why, but no guy was appealing to me after him. I was starting to think that he was the only one for me and there was nothing I could do about it.

“Jordan,” Aimee snapped, snapping me out of my sad thoughts and back into reality. “Don’t think about him right now. Or ever, really. You don’t need him in your life and you know it. Thinking about him just makes you upset, doesn’t it?”

I nodded, poking at my ice cream timidly. This was the ice cream parlor Dallas took me to when I thought we were going on a date. This was the ice cream parlor Jesse and I had first met in. I hated this place, and yet I still sat there like nothing about it bothered me at all.

How could anyone just expect me to be able to sit there like it was the first time I had ever been there? This place was only bad memories for me. I didn’t want to go, but my friends had pretty much forced me to.

“She always gets this way when she thinks about Dallas,” Chelsea pointed out, poking me in the cheek as she did so. I didn’t even respond, which caused her to roll her eyes. “Yep. She always acts so out of it when she’s thinking about that asshole. Eh, she’ll snap out of it sooner or later.”

I sure hoped I did. Hopefully something would happen that would make me stop thinking about Dallas and everything else that had happened in this ice cream parlor…

“Hey, girls.”

Well, this was definitely it.

We looked over to see Bruce Wilkinson standing before us. Any girl would be thrilled to be speaking with him, but I wasn’t impressed in the slightest. Bruce Wilkinson might have been exceptionally good at football, but he wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. And it annoyed me to no end. I liked it when a guy was smart, and that was definitely the last thing Bruce Wilkinson was.

But Lexi had been crushing on him for years, and I wasn’t about to tell her that I thought it was a bad idea to. Until this very moment, Bruce hadn’t ever spoken to any of us before. He went to the public school that Dallas and Austin had gone to, and Lexi only knew him through football games and people that went to the public school.

“Hi,” Lexi greeted up to him, and she sounded so happy and carefree. I was the only one that knew that she was actually freaking out on the inside. I could tell by the way she was tugging on the rolls of duct tape around her wrists.

“You’re Lexi Lightle, right?” Bruce asked now, and my blonde best friend nodded.

“Yes,” she nearly gulped. “I am.”

“I was just wondering,” Bruce started with a charming smile, and it was almost enough to make me forget that he was a complete idiot, “if you wanted to go out with me sometime.”

Lexi stared at him, her blue eyes wide. The three other girls and I did the exact same thing, because this was definitely the last thing we were ever expecting from Bruce Wilkinson. He hadn’t even talked to any of us before, not even Lexi!

“I’d love to!” she giggled, and I was pretty sure I was the only one that could tell she was trying her best not to freak out. I definitely knew my best friend well. “It sounds like it would be a lot of fun.”

Bruce winked at her. “Oh, I assure you. It will be.”

Lexi nearly fainted, but I wasn’t that impressed. Bruce just wasn’t my type of guy; I didn’t even think he was Lexi’s type of guy. He was more… Aimee’s type of guy, but that was mostly because she would go for almost any guy. But Aimee hadn’t ever shown any romantic interest in Bruce before, so I knew nothing was going to go on between the two of them.

When Bruce and his friends left, Lexi just sat there for a moment, as if she was in a trance. She just stared out into space, a smile so wide on her face that it almost scared me. None of the girls spoke to her, so neither did I. I was afraid of what the outcome would have been if I did.

“Oh, my gosh!” she finally squealed, nearly falling right out of her seat until Chelsea clutched onto her arm and steadied her. “The Bruce Wilkinson asked me out! The guy I’ve been pining over for three years actually asked me out!”

I smiled at her just like the other girls, but something just didn’t seem right to me. It was just that… Bruce hadn’t ever spoken to Lexi before this moment. Weren’t you supposed to get to know a person before dating them? Maybe I was just weird…

“What’s wrong, Jordan?” Chelsea asked me, and I mentally slapped myself for probably making a face that showed that I wasn’t happy. “Are you okay?”

“Maybe she’s jealous,” Aimee smirked, and at first the words didn’t even register in my mind. Jealous? Of Lexi and Bruce? Was that even possible?

“I’m not jealous,’ I snapped, only speaking the truth. “I wouldn’t even be able to get along with someone as stupid as he is when I’m as smart as I am. Do you really think I could be in a relationship with him? I’d end up strangling him.”

“Then what’s wrong?” Lexi asked with a now worried expression on her face.

“I just… don’t like how Bruce and Lexi sound together,” I shrugged, making up an excuse because I didn’t even know what the true reason was.

Much to my relief, Lexi laughed. “And what name does sound good with mine?”

The question caught me off guard. I didn’t think that she would ask me something like that… I usually had the answer for everything, since I wasn’t the top of our class for nothing, but now I was at a loss for words. What name did sound good with Lexi?

“Alex,” I blurted the first name that came to my mind.

When Lexi burst out laughing, it wasn’t like I wasn’t expecting it. I didn’t even know where that name came from; it was just there in my mind and I used it.

“The names Alex and Lexi are way too similar, Jordan,” Aimee informed me, as if I was the stupid one. “We could even call Lexi Alex, since her full name is Alexis. That’s just way too similar for my liking. Chelsea and Alex sound pretty nice together though.”

“Hey,” Chelsea snapped, her eyebrows furrowing at the thought. “How did this conversation move to me?”

All of us laughed together now, and I pushed my doubts aside. I was sure I was just being paranoid about the whole thing… I had nothing to worry about. Lexi was a great girl and I was sure Bruce had just noticed it from afar.

“Uh, hey,” a new voice suddenly said from beside us, causing me to jump juts a little. We all looked over to see a boy that I didn’t recognize, and he looked no younger than us. “AJ, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

“Yeah, it was kind of a last minute thing that we decided,” AJ nodded at the boy, and I seemed to be the only person at the table who didn’t seem to know who this guy was. “It’s great to see you here though.”

“Yeah, but I was wondering for a while now,” he started, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from groaning, “if you wanted to, like, go out with me on a date or something.”

I was afraid that he was going to say that. I didn’t even know this guy’s name! Just who the hell was this guy and why was he asking one of my best friends out? Why was I so out of the loop for everything?

“Sure, Scott,” AJ smiled, and it was a smile I hadn’t ever seen before. What the heck was this? “I’d love to go out with you.”

Scott smiled, and all I did was sit there in complete shock and confusion. Why did I never know anything about anyone? Austin never told me anything, and it seemed like the girls didn’t either! I might have been smart in academics, but I definitely wasn’t smart when it came to the people around me!

Scott left a few minutes after AJ had accepted, now leaving the girls buzzing about how both Lexi and AJ had gotten boyfriends now. I only sat there for a minute before saying, “Wait, wait, wait a minute. Just who was that guy just now? Were you guys planning on telling me anytime soon?”

“Oh, he’s the younger brother of one of my brother’s friends,” AJ informed me nonchalantly, as if it was no big deal at all. “His name is Scott. I’ve known him for a couple of months now. He goes to the public school.”

I blinked, not knowing what to say. Well, at least she knew this guy, unlike Lexi and Bruce… But it wasn’t like I was going to say anything like that out loud for all of them to hear…

“What is this, ask-out-a-nearly-random-girl day?” I asked, my eyebrows furrowing at the two love-struck girls sitting across from me. “It’s really cute and all, but what about Chelsea and me? We all know Aimee can get a guy in a hot second, but what about the two of us?”

Chelsea shrugged, playing with her straw as if she didn’t care at all that she didn’t have a boyfriend. “You’re turn is probably coming up soon, Jordan. You have Jesse.”

I nearly fell out of my chair. “I… I do not!”

“There’s no point in fighting with her, Chelsea,” Aimee sighed, cutting our clumsy friend off before she could say anything more. “She’s as blind as a bat when it comes to that boy. She’s also as stubborn as an ox, too.”

I made a face. “I’m not blind about anything.”

Aimee took a bite of her ice cream. “See? Stubborn.”

“And I’m not stubborn!”

My four friends stared at me flatly, and I said nothing as I stabbed at the ice cream before me. I wasn’t blind or stubborn about anything when it came to Jesse Jacobsen. I might have been stubborn about some things, but not about that idiot… People could say what they wanted to. I wasn’t going to believe anything.

“I don’t even want a boyfriend anyway,” I huffed, turning in my seat a little so my friends wouldn’t see my blush. “They’re just troublesome and nothing good ever comes from them. They’re a waste of time. When I get a boyfriend, whenever that may be, I’m going to make sure that nothing bad is going to happen from it.”

“Spoken like a true person who hasn’t been in love,” Aimee sighed, as if it was a shame, and all I could do was glare at her. “You definitely weren’t ever in love with Dallas, that’s for sure. You’d understand more if you were.”

I was glad that I hadn’t been in love with Dallas. Everything would have just hurt so much more if I did.

But it made me wonder. What did Dallas want to talk about every time he tried to see me after the prom? I honestly really wanted to know. Did he want to apologize? That was the only thing I could think of. He definitely wasn’t going to say that he loved me or anything, since he had left me for Trinity. Now that only made me wonder if they were still together or not…

It had been almost three years. I didn’t know if they were going to the same college or not. I didn’t even know where both of them were even going to college. I’ll just assume for the time being that they were still together and happily in love.

No matter how much that hurt m e

“Well, she did like Dallas a lot,” AJ said now, and I wished she didn’t. I just didn’t want to talk about him. “I wonder from time to time what would have happened between the two of you if everything at the prom hadn’t happened. What if he never used you? Would he and Trinity still be together? Would the two of you still just be friends?”

“Please, stop,” I nearly begged, swallowing to stop myself from tearing up. “I really don’t want to think about that.”

The girls and I now grew quiet, and I was happy to eat my now-soupy ice cream in peace. Now all I could hope for was that no guy would come up and ask Chelsea or Aimee out. I didn’t want to have to deal with any more lovey-dovey crap for the day.

“I think it’s Jordan’s turn to be asked out,” Aimee nearly sang, elbowing me in the side so hard that I nearly fell out of my seat. I turned to glare at her, but she only cocked her head in the direction of the door. I already knew I didn’t want to look over there.

“Well hello, Emery,” Jesse smirked as he made his way over to our table. “Feeling sentimental by coming to the place where we first met?”

“This is the place where you guys first met?” AJ asked, her jaw nearly hitting the floor. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Too embarrassed, Emery?” Jesse guessed, the smirk on his face only growing like it always did. “How sad. Are you really that ashamed of me that you wouldn’t tell your closest friends where you met the love of your life?”

“You’re not the love of my life,” I spat through clenched teeth, not wanting anyone else to get any ideas.

“Maybe someday,” Jesse winked.

“Think what you want.”

“But I’m glad I ran into you,” Jesse started now, and I wanted to tell him that the feeling wasn’t mutual. “There’s something important that I want to talk to you about.”

“You see?” Aimee nearly squawked, and I wanted to turn around and hit her. “I told you it was Jordan’s turn!”

“Turn?” Jesse questioned.

“Oh, well, you see--”

“Shut up, Aimee!” I shouted, slapping my hand over her mouth to shut her up. I then turned toward Jesse and forced a smile. “She’s been on this special medication lately, so she’s been spouting out really random things that don’t make any sense, so just excuse her and be on your way now plea--ew! She licked me!”

I immediately removed my hand from over her mouth, wiping it on my pant leg before glaring at my redheaded friend who was grinning triumphantly at me.

“Lexi and AJ got asked out today, so I was just assuming that it would be Jordan’s turn since you walked in here,” Aimee informed him calmly and nonchalantly while I was pretty much having a seizure.

“Don’t even pretend to ask me out, not even for a prank or a joke,” I nearly begged Jesse now. “I really don’t want to hear it.”

“Well, I have something even better than asking you out to talk about,” Jesse grinned egotistically at me now.

“You’re going to ask her to marry you?” Chelsea asked with a wide grin, and it was now more than ever when she reminded me of the Cheshire Cat. “Because that’s even better than just asking her out.”

Jesse laughed. “No, something even better.”

“What, Jacobsen?” I groaned, now out of patience.

“I wanted to ask for a truce.”

I only blinked up at him. “What…?”

“I wanted to ask for a truce,” he began, and I could have sworn I heard some kind of choir music in my head. “I think this feud of ours has been going on for quite too long. It’s almost been three years. We’re not little freshman anymore, Emery--I mean, Jordan. We’re going to be seniors in just a few months. I just think that the smartest thing to do is to just end this feud.”

I gulped. “Are… are you being serious?”

This was what I had wanted ever since it had begun! Jesse and I were no longer going to prank each other nearly every time we saw each other. This was a dream come true! I wasn’t going to have to worry every time I stepped out of my house now!

“I’m being serious,” Jesse nodded, and then held out his hand. “Let’s shake on it.”

I noticed then that he was wearing gloves, but that didn’t even matter to me at that moment. I eagerly placed my hands into his, wanting this fight between us to finally be over with.

“What the--?” I cried when I realized that something sticky and gooey was on the gloves that Jesse was wearing. I immediately pulled my hand away, slapping my hand against the table and trying to wipe the slop off. But before I could, my hand stuck to it as if my life depended on it. My eyes widened in fury as Jesse burst out into laughter, and I knew what that bastard Jesse Jacobsen had just done.

“Smart move, Emery,” Jesse winked.

“We’re back to the glue again?” I nearly shouted, gaining a lot of stares from around the ice cream parlor. “What, are you fourteen years old again?”

His head cocked to the side. “Maybe…”

I would have strangled him if I had both of my hands free! What was I supposed to do? I was literally stuck at the table for who knows how long! And just like always, it was all Jesse Jacobsen’s fault!

“You’re evil!” I cried when he turned away from me. “I’m not going to lose this, you hear me? This is going to go on until the day we die unless you give up!”

Jesse turned back around to face me, his hands now in his pockets as he smirked. “Then I guess we’ll be seeing each other on our death beds.”

I was seething by now, and no matter what I tried to do, I couldn’t pry myself away from the table. It had taken hours to get the glue off of my hand and the tennis racket all those years before, but at least I could have taken the racket home with me. This table was connected to the floor of the ice cream parlor!

“Jesse Jacobsen is truly evil,” Lexi blinked, staring down at my hand as I continued to try and pry it off. “How could he do something like that so easily to you like that? I really don’t understand how cold he can be.”

“I don’t think there’s any human being on the planet colder than him,” AJ scowled now, and I couldn’t help but agree with him. Was I ever going to run into someone who was colder and meaner than Jesse Jacobsen? I didn’t think I would. I just didn’t think that it was possible.

If I ever did meet someone who was worse than Jesse Jacobsen, I didn’t know what I would do. But that wasn’t ever going to happen, so I didn’t have anything that I had to worry about.

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It's like Jordan can see the future... Sort of. ;)

The song on the side is so perfect that it's almost ridiculous! It's like it was specifically made just for Jordan and Jesse! x)

Were any of you convinced when Jesse said he wanted a truce? I was even convinced and I wrote the huge original book that proves they definitely do not make up anytime soon... xD

Only five chapters left! :D

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! <3