November 7th, 2007

“This stain is never going to come out,” I snapped as Dallas and I walked to his car. He had thrown his ice cream away, but he still unfortunately had the necklace that he was going to give to Trinity. If only that had gotten destroyed and not my ice cream and shirt… “I can’t believe the nerve of that guy!”

“He doesn’t go to my school, so I don’t know who he is,” Dallas informed me as we continue to walk, since the place was so crowded and we had to get parking blocks away. “I wonder what school he goes to.”

“He probably doesn’t go to any school at all,” I pouted, looking out into the street as we crossed it. “He looked like a total idiot. He’s probably a dropout or something. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was.”

Dallas shrugged. “You’re probably right.”

“It’s just so ridiculous!” I continued to rant, not planning on stopping anytime soon. “What guy acts like that toward a girl? It’s so stupid! I feel bad for the girls he has to go to school with. I feel bad for any girl in his life! I’m glad I only had to see him tonight…”

“You’re ranting, Jordy,” Dallas laughed once we had reached his car. He opened the door for me, but I was too upset to smile about it. Normally I was thrilled when Dallas did this type of thing for me, but right then I was definitely not happy. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this worked up about something before.”

I never thought that I’d be able to meet such an inconsiderate jerk in my life! I just didn’t think that it was possible! Was that how people were supposed to treat each other when they first meet? If it was, then I didn’t want to meet anyone else in my entire life.

“Jesse…” I growled, my hands balling into fists as I continued to sit in the passenger seat. Dallas was driving, of course, and I just continued to brood beside him as I thought of the jerk who not only ruined my favorite shirt, but my outing with Dallas as well.

“You shouldn’t get so worked up over an idiot like that,” Dallas advised, not even looking in my direction as he continued to watch the road. “He’s not worth any of your time. You’ll probably never seen him again, anyway. Don’t let him ruin your night.”

Even though I was sure Dallas was right, I wasn’t about to just forget about this Jesse guy. Since I went to an all-girls school, I didn’t have to deal with seeing him at school. But he lived in the same town as me, so there was always the chance I would see him again.

“Can you drop me off at my grandma’s house instead of my own?” I asked him unhappily, still staring out the window as my arms continued to stay crossed over my chest. “I want to see her before I go home.”

“Alrighty,” Dallas sighed, turning into her driveway quickly so I could hop right out without having to go into the street. “Do you want me to stay here so I can drive you home afterwards?”

“No thanks,” I responded with a shake of my head, smiling back at him forcefully. I still wasn’t in a great mood, but I didn’t want him to know that. “I’ll just walk home, since it’s not very far. I do it all the time.”

Dallas blinked at me. “Are you sure?”

I smiled for real at his concern, happy that he was worried about me. But since I walked home from my grandmother’s in the dark all the time, there was nothing that he had to worry about. “No, I’m sure. I’ll see you later.”

He smiled back at me. “I’ll see you later.”

He pulled out of the drive way and drove away, me waving at him until I couldn’t see his car anymore. When he was finally out of sight, I whipped out my phone and immediately dialed Lexi’s number.

“Hey,” I said, walking out of my grandmother’s front yard and down the street, away from where my house was. “Can you call the rest of the girls and meet me at the park a few blocks away from my house in five minutes?”

“Of course I can, Jordan,” Lexi informed me, sounding concerned as well as excited. “But what do you need to see us for? Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” I grumbled, staring down at my ruined shirt as I continued on walking. “I’ll tell you everything when I see you guys.”

I could tell Lexi was nodded, even though we were only over the phone. “Okay. I’ll call the rest of the girls. See you.”

“See you.”

I took my time all the way to the park, since I knew that my friends were going to take longer than five minutes to get there. The park that we were going to wasn’t the best one, and it had barely any lighting whatsoever even though it was already dark outside. But this was the only place that we could meet without getting caught, so this was what we were going to have to deal with.

Luckily, right when I got to the park, the girls got there as well. Chelsea had brought a flashlight, since she knew how dark the park got at night even when your eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I knew that that was a smart idea if I wanted to show them the stain on my shirt that Jesse had given me.

“Well?” AJ asked after we had all sat down on a bench. “What happened? Why did you call us all here?”

“Because,” I began, grabbing the flashlight from Chelsea and shining it on my shirt, “this happened.”

The four girls looked at me with their eyes wide, and my eyes were starting to get used to the dark so I didn’t have to use the flashlight so see them. Luckily, one of the few lights that were in the park was only a few feet away from us, so that also helped as well.

“What happened?” Lexi asked, her hands flying to her mouth in complete shock. “That’s your favorite shirt, Jordan! It’s ruined!”

“I know it’s ruined,” I grumbled, handing Chelsea her flashlight before crossing my arms over my chest. “There’s no way this stain will ever come out.”

Unfortunately, I had let go of the flashlight too early. I thought Chelsea had a good grip on it, but being the klutz that she was, she didn’t. It dropped to the ground, smashing and breaking.

“Well, there’s goes our light,” Aimee informed us flatly, as if we didn’t know.

“Let’s move closer to the street light over there,” AJ suggested, pointing toward the only source of light that was anywhere near us. We headed toward it, and luckily there was a bench right under it. The light wasn’t that great, but at least we could see properly…

“Ow!” Chelsea suddenly cried, and I heard her fall to the ground right afterward. I wasn’t surprised that she had fallen down, since she pretty much did every single day. And since it was dark, it definitely wasn’t in her favor. “My glasses! I lost my glasses!”

“Well, how the heck are we supposed to find them in the dark?” AJ asked, and I heard her squat down onto the ground next to Chelsea. “I’m telling you, you should just get contacts! It’ll be easier for everyone!”

“Not if a contact falls out,” Chelsea countered, and I could tell she was feeling around for her glasses. “That’ll be even harder to find than glasses!”

“I found them,” I responded calmly after a few minutes of the girls bickering about how she should just get contacts and lose her glasses for good. I handed Chelsea her lost glasses, and she quickly put them on and we continued over to the lighted bench.

“Well, what happened?” Lexi repeated, sitting down on the bench with me now. “How did you get that giant stain on your shirt?”

“Someone didn’t throw up on you, right?” Aimee asked, her nose crinkling in disgust as she looked down at my shirt. “Because if someone did, that’s absolutely disgusting and you should just take it off right now.”

“No, no one threw up on me,” I answered with a roll of my eyes, tugging on my shirt a little more now. I really wished I could have taken it off… But it was November, so it was too cold for the tank top I was wearing underneath. “It’s the exact opposite of that.”

Chelsea blinked at me. “What do you mean?”

I then started to explain to them about Jesse, and how he had barged into the ice cream parlor and knocked right into me. I told them what he had said to me and how obnoxious he was, and by the end of my story all four of them were making faces.

“What a jerk!” Lexi cried, her hands on her hips as she continued to stand over me. “Who rams into a girl like that and then doesn’t apologize? Especially when she’s on a date with the guy of her dreams!”

I bit my lip to stop myself from saying that it wasn’t a date, because I knew it wasn’t the right time to tell them that. I’d let them fume about Jesse for a little bit until I told them that Dallas and I hadn’t gone out on a date.

“I want to meet this guy,” Aimee finally spoke up after silence had taken over. “I’m sure this won’t be the last time you see him.”

“I hope it is,” I growled, my hands balling into fists at my side just at the thought of him. And what was with that look he had given me when he first saw me? “And he was giving me the weirdest look when he first saw me. He was like a freak or something…”

“How was he looking at you?” AJ asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

I mimicked the look Jesse had given me when we first looked at each other, and my four best friends just stared back at me. What was with that look? I didn’t think I would ever understand it.

I didn’t think I’d understand his problem either.

“Hey!” a voice called out, causing all five of us to almost jump right out of our skins. “Haven’t your girlies been taught not to stay out so late after dark?”

The girls and I turned to where the voice had come from, but I could only see his feet because of how dark it was outside. This guy wasn’t standing under any of the lights, so only his feet were visible from some of the access lighting.

Before I could move closer to get a closer look, Aimee already beat me to it, blocking my view from whoever this person was now. Unlike the rest of us, she wasn’t afraid to talk to people that we didn’t know. Even if it was weird men that we met at the park at night…

“Sorry, but we’re not allowed to speak to strange men,” she shot at him, and my eyes widened in shock. What the hell was she doing? I knew that she wasn’t scared to talk to people that we didn’t know, but it was almost pitch black and I couldn’t even see this guy’s face! Even if there were five of us and one of him, there was still a big chance that he could overpower us. “So I think you should go and find a few other vulnerable girls.”

“Excuse me?” this guy threatened, taking a step closer to my redheaded friend. “Maybe you should think before you speak, ginger.”

Aimee rolled her eyes. “Like I’ve never heard that one before.”

“Keep it up and you won’t hear anything ever again.”

The rest of the girls and I were pretty much freaking out from behind her now, not knowing if this guy was being serious or not. Why would he say that unless he was being serious? Was he just trying to get her to back off? He wasn’t really going to do anything to her, right?

“Come on, guapo, let’s not bother these girls,” a new voice now said, but this time it was female instead of male. She always talked with an accent, and I believed she was speaking Spanish as well. “It’d just be a waste of time anyway, so let’s go.”

“Shouldn’t someone teach them a lesson for being out so late, Erica?”

I gulped, scared by what he was implying. How would he teach us a lesson? I didn’t think I’d ever want to know…

Erica stepped forward now, and I saw long legs in high heels come into the light. Aimee and the darkness still blocked me from seeing their faces, but that also meant that they couldn’t see my faces either, which was definitely a good thing…

“Let their parents punish them, guapo. They aren’t worth any of our time. Let’s go,” Erica now pushed, sounding impatient now. I sure hoped that whoever this guy was, he would take this girl’s advice. Now that I had told my friends about Jesse, I just wanted to go home. “I’m tired and I want to go home.”

“Whatever,” this guy sighed now. “Messing with teenage girls isn’t fun anyway…”

They started away then, and I prayed that Aimee didn’t say anything else to them. If she was smart, she would keep her mouth shut and just forget that we ever saw these two people. If she was smart…

“Yeah, get lost,” Aimee called after them, and I slapped my hand over my eyes. “Go on home to mommy, guapo!”

“That’s it!” the boy shouted, and I heard footsteps come running after us. The girls and I immediately took off in the other direction, not wanting to get caught by this guy. If we did, who knew what would happen! “Get back here, you brats!”

“You’ve done it now, Aimee!” AJ yelled to the redhead as they ran side-by-side in front of us. “You’ve gone too far! We’re going to get murdered!”

“Just keep running!”

“Don’t fall,” I advised to Chelsea as I ran past her.

“Don’t trip me,” she countered back, making sure to keep up the pace with me and the rest of the girls. I wasn’t that athletic, but Chelsea was even less athletic than I was. Even though she was amazing at ballet, her clumsiness didn’t help her one bit.

When we finally got to my house, we hopped the fence so we would land in my backyard. I didn’t hear anymore footsteps, so I assumed that whoever had been chasing us had left.

“Aimee!” Lexi cried, her hands on her knees as she breathed heavily. “That was so stupid! You could have gotten us all killed! What were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t thinking,” she breathed, sitting down in the grass now as she tried to breathe. “I didn’t think the dick would chase us half way to Jordan’s house. What lunatic chases five girls at night like that?”

“That dick,” Chelsea answered, flat on her back as she laid next to Aimee. “I just hope we never see him again. Did you get a good look at his face?”

“No,” Aimee shook her head, lying down next to Chelsea as she continued to catch her breath. “It was too dark for me to see. His hair was dark though, but I guess that doesn’t tell us very much. I didn’t see the girl as well, so I was sure they couldn’t see me either.”

“I hope we never see him again,” AJ gulped, agreeing with what Chelsea had said earlier.

“Yeah, well him and Jesse both,” I grumbled, now all five of us stretched out in the grass of my backyard. I never thought that my breath would go back to normal… “Tonight has been such a crazy night. I just want to go to bed so I can get up and go to school tomorrow.”

“Crap,” AJ groaned, rubbing her hand over her forehead. “I totally forgot we had school tomorrow. There’s no way I’m ever going to be able to get up in time for school!”

“Well, you’re going to have to,” Aimee sighed before pushing herself up off the grass and brushing herself off. She then turned toward AJ and pulled her up before she did the same with Lexi and Chelsea. She then helped me up, and I seemed to be the only one who was still breathing heavily. “We’ll see you tomorrow, Jordan.”

I nodded. “Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

After the girls had hopped back over the fence, I let out a sigh and started for the sliding glass door. I opened it, expecting no one to be there, and I almost let out a yelp when I saw that both Dallas and Austin were sitting on the couch, the TV on mute once they had heard the door open.

“What…” I trailed off, looking at the two of them after I had locked the door behind me. “What are you guys still doing up? And why is Dallas still here?”

“I came over here to make sure you got home okay,” Dallas informed me, a serious look plastered onto his face. “When you didn’t show up, Austin called your grandmother and she said that you never even came to her house. So Austin and I decided to wait up for you.”

I almost smiled at how concerned Dallas was for me. That meant that he cared about me a lot! But still, this wasn’t the time to think about that. I didn’t know how I was supposed to tell them what had happened without making them angry… Ah, hell. They were already angry. But how could I tell them where I was without telling them how we had been chased all the way back here?

“Um…” was all I said, looking between the two of them worriedly. Both of them were glaring, arms crossed over their chest as they waited for me to speak.

“Well?” Austin waited.

“You know… you two are like a mother and father,” I informed them quickly, turning toward the stairs and starting toward them as I tried to escape. Unfortunately I was still tired from the ordeal that I had just gone through, so I was slower than usual. And both Austin and Dallas were are sports teams, so they had to advantage.

“No way, you’re not going anywhere,” Dallas shook his head, jumping up and pushing me onto the couch before I could even get on the first stair. I glared at him, but he only stuck his tongue out at me. “It’s what you get, you rebellious girl.”

“I was just out with--”

“That boy that we met at the ice cream parlor?” Dallas asked me dramatically, placing the back of his hand over his forehead and turning away from me. I stared flatly at him now, knowing that he was now only doing this to make fun of me and be stupid. “You’re cheating on me, aren’t you, Jordy? How heartbreaking!”

“Cut the crap, Dal,” Austin snapped, his eyebrows furrowing at his best friend before he turned back toward me. “I really want to know where Jordan was, and--wait a second. What is this about meeting a boy? And Jordan, what the heck happened to your shirt?”

I looked over at Dallas to glare at him, but he only smiled at me. I then turned back toward Austin, letting out a breath as I crossed my arms over my chest.

“A boy ran into me at the ice cream parlor, so that’s what the stain is from. Good night.” I tried to get up from my spot on the couch, but Austin grabbed onto my arm and pulled me back down next to him. Dallas continued to stand beside us, and I felt like kicking him or something for what he was putting me through. Why did he have to love to tease me so much? “I want to go to bed, Austin!”

“Where were you?” he now asked, letting go of my wrist because he knew I would try to get away again. He sure did have a strong grip…

Where did he think I was? Did he seriously believe Dallas’s joking allegations? Why would I go off to see Jesse when I obviously couldn’t stand him? That was just stupid!

“I was with the girls at the park,” I answered, turning away from him and pouting over the fact that he didn’t trust me. Where would I have gone? All my friends were girls, brainy ones at that, so there was no way I would have been out doing something wrong!

“The park that’s always really dark at night?” Dallas now asked, sounding concerned once again.

“Chelsea had a flashlight,” I defended, making sure to keep out the fact that I had broken it…

“That girl’s as blind as a bat; a flashlight wouldn’t help anything,” Dallas grumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets and turning toward the door. I rolled my eyes at him, but I was sure he didn’t notice. “But you shouldn’t be going out this late at night to a place with barely any light. You never know what could be there.”

He was sure right about that. We had been chased down by some lunatic, and I definitely didn’t want that to happen again. I wasn’t going back to that park for a while…

“Nothing happened,” I lied, crossing my legs and leaning back into the couch now. I really wanted to change out of this stupid shirt… I felt so dirty. “I’m here, aren’t I? I wasn’t beaten almost to death or anything. I didn’t get shot or raped. I’m fine you, guys.”

“You don’t know who could have been at that park,” Dallas told me now, turning back toward me with a serious look on his face. He definitely wasn’t goofing around anymore… “There could be a gang or something!”

I burst out laughing, unable to stop myself. “A gang? Are you kidding me? That’s the most hilarious thing ever! There aren’t any gangs around here!”

Dallas glared down at me. “It’s possible, Jordan.”

I snorted, standing up from the couch and brushing myself off. “Uh-huh, sure. A gang is the last thing I would expect here. You should go home, Dallas, unless you want to stay over or something. If I don’t go to bed now, I won’t be able to wake up for school tomorrow.”

“When can you ever wake up for school?” I heard Austin mumble, but I decided to ignore him instead of start another useless fight.

“I’m staying here,” Dallas informed me, that serious look still on his face as he stood right in front of me. He then leaned forward so his face was right in mine. “And I’m sleeping in your room.”

My eyes widened, and I took a step back. I must have looked absolutely horrified, because Dallas then burst out laughing like a maniac.

“Ha! Aha! You should have seen the look on your face, Jordy! It was priceless! Ha-ha!”

I glared at him, stomping passed him and toward the stairs. Not being able to take it any longer, I pulled my stained shirt over my head so that I was now only in the tank top that I hadn’t remembered being so revealing…

I felt myself blushing, since I was still in front of Dallas and everything. He was staring at me with his eyes wide, and my blush got even deeper when I saw his gaze go up and down, studying me as if he hadn’t ever seen something like me before in his life.

I quickly started up the stairs, regretting what I had done. I thought the look that Jesse had given me was bad, but the one that Dallas had given me was so much more… erotic.

I should have been disgusted, but I was more… excited.

“Whoa!” Dallas catcalled after he had cleared his throat, and I continued my way up the stairs as quickly as I possibly could. “More, Jordan, more!”

So… he’d been joking. Was that look he had given me joking as well?

I could hear Austin hit Dallas. “That’s my baby sister, man!”

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The song on the side makes me laugh when I think about Jordan and Hunter. xD

Dallas is such a pervert... I wonder what he was thinking when Jordan took her shirt off... I think his look gave away everything. ;)

Jesse's in the next chapter. :D

It's pretty obvious who the two people at the park were, right? I did give the name of one of them, so the other should be obvious. ;D

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! <3