November 21st, 2007

"Wakey-wakey, eggs and bakey, Jordy!"

Two weeks passed, and I didn't see Jesse once. I was hoping that he had just been passing through town when I met him, and now I was never going to see him ever again. It seemed like that was going to happen, and my life started to get back to normal once again.

Whatever normal really was.

I shoved my head back under my covers, not wanting to get up to go to school. My body was never going to get used to waking up so early, no matter how early I went to bed. I just wasn't a morning in the slightest...

Dallas removed my covers from over me, and I let out a groan. I cracked one eye open, expecting to see a plate full of eggs and bacon like he had said there would be, but when I saw that he was holding nothing, I just buried myself even farther into my pillow.

"You don't have food," I complained, curling up into a ball from my lack of blankets.

Dallas rolled his eyes at me. "You don't have time to eat. You need to get ready or you're going to be late for school. Come on, Jordy! It's time to wake up! Austin wants you to get up right now!"

"Why doesn't he come in and try to get me up, then?" I questioned, not even cracking an eye open.

I could tell Dallas rolled his eyes. "Because the last time he tried to wake you up, you almost broke his hand! Plus, he's a chicken, so he sent a real man wake you up."

"A real man? Pssh, sure," Austin now scoffed as he came into the room, making sure to keep his distance from me. Dallas rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything as he now plopped down on top of me.

"Okay!" I rasped, now not able to breathe from how heavy this idiot was. "I'm getting up! I'm getting up!"

And I did as I said I was going to, even though I didn't want to. Everyone had to go to school, and I was sure Jesse was even getting up right then just to go to school, wherever his school was.

I was just glad that I hadn't seen Jesse. I didn't know what I would do if I had to see him again... I'd probably just run away or something. I guessed it depended on wherever I was when I saw him. But I wasn't planning on seeing him again, so things were pretty good.

Now as long as I didn't see him again for the rest of my life... Then everything would be great, and I wouldn't have a worry in the world...

"Do you want to go to the mall with me, Jordan?" Lexi asked me excitedly after school later that day, walking backwards as we made our way out of our school. I was afraid that she was going to fall, but I then remembered that she wasn't Chelsea.

"Not really," I answered honestly, pulling my backpack onto my shoulders a little more. "You know how I don't like shopping, Lexi."

"So?" she asked once again, spinning around so she was now walking normally next to me. "You could replace that shirt that that Jesse guy ruined a couple weeks ago!"

"Why did you have to remind me of him?" I groaned, running a hand over my face as we waited for Austin and Dallas to pick the two of us up now. "I was hoping that I would forget about him. I've been trying to get the stain out of that shirt, but it's just faded. It'll never come out..."

Lexi patted my shoulder sympathetically, but all I could do was stand there and stare at her flatly.

"We're going shopping," she decided after a few moments of silence, and she cut me off before I could protest against the idea. "We're going to tell Austin and Dallas to drop us off at the mall, alright? Alright."

Lexi had always been so pushy, but I loved her for it anyway. She was weird and pushy, and I would never get enough of her. She was just the kind of person that caused surprises wherever they went. You never knew what was going to happen with Lexi around... I should have known that we were going to go to the mall no matter what I said when she asked me earlier.

A few minutes later, Austin and Dallas were pulling into the parking lot of our school. Lexi and I quickly rushed toward the car, wanting to get out of the chilly air as quickly as possible.

"Thanks for leaving us out there to freeze, guys," I thanked them sarcastically as I threw the back door open after Lexi and I had put out backpacks in the trunk. "I can tell how much you guys love me."

I stopped when I saw that there was someone already in the back, sitting in the seat farthest from Lexi and me, the one behind the driver's seat. I looked back at Lexi, afraid that we had somehow got the wrong car, until I saw Dallas's head poke out from the passenger's seat.

"Would you like me to warm you up?"

My cheeks heated up just from his comment, and I didn't know what I was supposed to say to him. All I did was glance to the guy in the back seat, who wasn't even facing in my direction as he stared out the window. He had dark brown hair and broad shoulders, but that was the only thing I could tell from the way he was facing us.

"This is a friend of ours," Austin introduced from the driver's seat, waving the two of us in after we started getting honked out. I hurried inside, taking the middle so Lexi didn't have to sit next to this stranger. "His license got revoked, so we're driving him home."

"It didn't get revoked," the boy protested, still not turning so I could see his face. "It just got taken away for a while."

"You've always been such a trouble maker," Dallas sighed, shaking his head at his friend. "One day you're going to get busted for, like, attempting to murder the boyfriend of the girl you're in love with..."

I couldn't help but make a face at what Dallas was saying. That was horrible! I sure hoped that never happened to me... But what was I thinking? There was no way that that would happen to me out of all the people that were on the planet...

As I buckled myself in, my hand brushed against the boy's sitting next to me. I yanked it back when I felt a static shock, and the skin the brushed against his tingled just a little bit. "Sorry," I apologized quickly, turning away from him before he could turn toward me.

He didn't even budge. Actually, it think he got even stiffer.

"Can you take Lexi and me to the mall instead of home?" I asked now, leaning forward in between the two front seats, smiling sweetly at the two boys I was in between. "Please? We really need to get new clothes."

"Why? To replace the one that that guy ruined a couple weeks ago?" Dallas smirked, and I couldn't help but make a face at him. I hated how he could always see through me so well, and yet he couldn't figure out how I really felt toward him. "Hmm... I don't know... What do you think we should do, Austin?"

Austin smirked, obviously in the mood to tease me as well. "Hmm... I don't know, Dallas. What should Jordan do to repay her brother and her best friend for taking them to the mall?"

Dallas looked back at me and smirked, and I didn't think I wanted to hear his answer to Austin's question.

"Maybe you should strip for me like you did the other night."

"Dallas!" I shouted, covering my burning face with my hands.

"Don't make me hit you again, man," Austin warned, not even looking away from the road as he continued driving. "You seem to like to forget that that's my little sister that you're sexually harassing."

"I'm not sexually harassing her!" Dallas defended, crossing his arms over his chest as he turned to look out the window and pout. "She likes it."

"Gross," I spat, my eyebrows furrowed as I leaned forward to glare at him. "Don't go making things up in front of someone I don't even know, Dallas."

He stuck his tongue out at me.

"We'll drive you to the mall," Austin grumbled, obviously not in a teasing mood anymore as he turned sharply to the right. This caused Lexi to fall into me, and for me to fall into the guy sitting next to me.

I quickly straightened myself out. "Sorry," I apologized again, looking away and out Lexi's window before he could look over at me.

But again, he didn't even budge. He just got stiffer.

When we finally got to the mall, I couldn't have been happier. I practically pushed Lexi out the door, following after her as quickly as I could. But of course, my skirt got caught in the seat belt as I tried to slip out.

And that is why I hate uniforms...

"Only you, Jordan..." Dallas sighed, shaking his head when he had seen what I had done. "Only you would get your skirt caught in a seatbelt."

"Shut up and help me."

"Maybe you should just take it off," he winked at me, and I felt my cheeks heat up even more. "That could be the reprise to your last strip tease."

With one final tug, I was free of the seatbelt and out of the car. Slamming the door behind me, Lexi and I made our way inside the mall without a second glance behind us.

"He acts like he knows that you like him and he's teasing you about it," Lexi informed me after we had seen them drive off.

"No, he's always teased me like this," I sighed, shaking my head as we walked through the first store. "He's just always loved to tease me."

"Maybe he loves you."

I laughed, just to hide the pain from the thought of that never happening. "Yeah, sure. He loves Trinity, Lexi."

Lexi shrugged. "You never know. Childhood sweethearts end up together sometimes, you know."

I didn't respond to her, because I knew if we continued this conversation, I would start crying.

As we continued to walk around, I kind of wished that we had gone home to change first. People were looking at our uniforms, as if they could tell that our private school was prestigious. It wasn't my fault the uniforms were nice... It was the school's. I didn't even like the uniforms to begin with.

"Let's go in there," Lexi smiled, pointing to a clothing store that we always went to whenever we went to the mall. I didn't protest, because I knew there would be no point in doing so. We would go inside whether I wanted to or not... But I wanted to anyway.

We went through racks of clothing, looking for tops that we liked. Lexi had a bunch that she liked, but I found it difficult for me to find any. I usually liked the shirts that this place sold, but for some reason there just wasn't anything I really liked right then...

"I'm going to go try these on," Lexi informed me over the gigantic mountain of clothes she had in her arms. I nodded, even though I knew she could barely see me. She then turned and slowly walked to the dressing room, and I watched her until she finally made it into a dressing room. My best friend could be so weird sometimes...

I let out a sigh, walking past the store's window in search for better clothes. When I still couldn't find anything, I went farther into the store in search for more clothes. There had to be something in here I liked... If Lexi could find a mountain of clothes, I was sure I could find one measly shirt.

After finding one shirt on the racks that I thought was decent, I turned to look for more. I was stopped, however, when a body collided right into mine. Hands shot to my hips to steady me, and that was the only thing that stopped me from falling right down on my ass.

"Sorry..." I began to apologize, my eyes landing on this person before I could finish.

"Well, wasn't this how we first met?"

"Oh, no," I groaned, running a hand over my face when I saw who I had run into. So much for never seeing him again! "It's you! Anyone but you!"

"Nice to see you again as well, Jordan," he nodded at me, and I couldn't help but narrow my eyes at him. "I didn't think that I would see you here."

"I was hoping that I wouldn't see you here."

"You're just as happy as you were the last time I saw you!"

"Is there something you need?" I now asked, placing the shirt I was holding back onto the rack as I continued to look. "Or are you in here to ruin all of these shirts, too?"

"I saw you in here, so I thought I'd drop in and say hello," he smirked at me, following as I walked through different racks of clothing. I felt my eye twitch, but I didn't say anything as I let Jesse continue. "And you know, we didn't formally introduce ourselves the last time we saw each other."

"You know my name is Jordan," I informed him flatly, pulling another shirt from the rack.

"But I don't know your last name," he reminded me with a smirk, and I felt my eye twitch once again. Would giving him my last name make him go away? Why did I feel like giving him my last name would be a bad idea? "Why don't we introduce ourselves to each other now?"

"Fine," I gave in, putting the shirt back and turning toward him. "You go first. Introduce yourself to me."

"Okay," he grinned slyly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Well, my name is Jesse Isaac Jacobsen. I'm fourteen-years-old, my birthday is on January eighteenth, and I think you're unbelievably cute."

My cheeks flushed red, and my eyes went wide at him. I was silent for a few moments until he burst out laughing, and I scowled when I realized he was only teasing me.

"Well," I started angrily, my hands balling into fists at my sides, "my name is Jordan Elaine Emery. I'm fourteen-years-old, my birthday is on May third, and I think you're an annoying prick."

Jesse continued smirking at me. "Touché, Emery. Touché."

Emery? He was going to call me by my last name now? Fine! Two could play at this game!

"Yeah," I glared as harshly as I could, "Jacobsen."

"Nice uniform," he complimented teasingly, looking me up and down. I felt uncomfortable, covering my skirt with the shirt I was holding. That guy sure had the nerve to check me out so obviously... "You didn't strike me as the private school type."

"I can strike you right now, if you want."

He grinned at me, and all I wanted to do was throw the shirt I was holding into his face and run. But I had to wait for Lexi, who was taking an excruciatingly long time to try on all the clothes she had brought in there. I had seen her take that many clothes into a changing room before and she had come out only a few minutes later...

"And you're funny, too," he chuckled, taking a step closer to me now. I took a step back, wanting to be as far away from him as I possibly could have. This guy was sure weird... "Everything I want in a girl."

I didn't allow myself to get worked up from this comment of his, because I knew he was only teasing me. Even though he had a serious look on his face...

"Okay, Jordan, I'm done--" a new voice now said, and my eyes widened when I saw my blonde friend rounding the corner, no clothes in hands. She stopped abruptly when she saw Jesse, and I didn't know what I was supposed to say to her.

"Um..." I blinked, looking in between her and Jesse as I tried to think.

"Who's this?" Lexi now smirked, and my eyes widened even more. No! She was getting the wrong idea! "Cheating on Dallas, are we?"

Jesse's smile disappeared in the next second, but I wasn't paying attention to him anymore. I was shaking my head rapidly, so hard that I was surprised my neck hadn't snapped.

"No!" I denied, a little too loud for the store that we were in. "This is Jesse!"

Lexi stared at the boy who stood behind me now, obviously surprised by what I had said. I had told her and the rest of the girls all about Jesse, and I knew they weren't expecting to ever meet him. I wouldn't have been surprised if they thought I was making him up!

"The Jesse you were talking about?"

Jesse's eyebrows rose at me. "You've been talking about me, Emery?"

"I told them how you ruined my favorite shirt, Jacobsen," I spat at him, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. That last thing I wanted was for him to think that I liked him or something... That would just be horrible. "I had to tell them why I couldn't wear my favorite shirt anymore."

Jesse wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "Sure, call it whatever you like. But I get to call you adorable."

I shoved his arm away from me. "I'll call you annoying."

"I'm Lexi," my blonde best friend suddenly introduced, causing me to roll my eyes at her. She stuck her hand out for him to shake, and he did so as he looked down at the brightly colored rolls of duct tape she wore around her arms. She was definitely a crafty girl... "I'm Jordan's best friend!"

Jesse nodded at her, jabbing his thumb right at me. "It's good to know someone as mean as her has friends."

While Lexi giggled, all I could do was glare at him. He didn't even look at her; all he was looking at was me as he continued to smirk like a complete idiot. Was that all he did? It sure seemed like it. All he did was smirk and make fun of me!

Jesse smirked, and Lexi looked pretty amused as well. Now I just wanted to go home, and I didn't care about getting a new shirt. I had plenty more where that one came from...

"Jesse!" a voice shouted from outside the store, and the three of us turned to see a boy around our age waving Jesse over to him. So he actually had friends... What a surprise. "Come on, man! If you make us late, we're all going to be pissed!"

Jesse rolled his eyes at his friends before turning toward me. He smirked, cocking his head just a little as he said, "I guess I'll see you around."

I scowled at him. "Hopefully not."

Jesse reached out, ruffling my hair before turning around and walking, chuckling all the way out. All I did was glare at his back as he left, and I couldn't believe I had actually seen him again after two weeks of thinking I would never have to see him ever again.

"He's cute," Lexi gushed, giggling as she watched him go as well. "You're sure lucky to run into someone like that, Jordan. He has a smoking hot body and a hot face. You're lucky that you saw him first, or I'm sure the girls and I would all pounce on him."

"You can have him," I gagged, walking passed her and right out of the store. She followed me, giggling as she did. How could she think someone like that was attractive? "Why don't you just stick to Bruce and leave Jesse out of our lives?"

"Something tells me that Jesse's going to be a very important part of our lives," Lexi informed me with a small smile, and I only made a face at her. "Something tells me that Jesse's going to be changing our lives... What do you think, Jordan?"

"I'm calling Austin and Dallas and telling them to pick us up."

Fifteen minutes later, my brother and male best friend were waiting outside the mall like I had asked them to. I didn't end up buying anything, but Lexi got a few tiny things in the short amount of time that we had.

"Jordan ran into a hottie at the mall today," Lexi announced the second the two of us got into the car, and I glared at her after she had done so. Was she insane? Even if that other guy wasn't there anymore, telling Dallas and Austin about seeing Jesse again wasn't a good idea.

"Really, now?" Dallas asked, his grip on the steering wheel tightening just a little. I'd never understand why Austin and Dallas rotated being the driver all the time even though it was Dallas's car... "And who is this supposed hottie that you speak of?"

"His name's Jesse," Lexi continued on before I could stop her, and I wanted to just hop right out of the car even though it was moving. This was so embarrassing! Of course Dallas was going to put two and two together... "He's the guy that ruined Jordan's shirt when you two went to the ice cream parlor!"

Unless Lexi just went out and told him.

"You saw that guy again?" Austin asked, his eyebrows furrowing as he looked back at me. "What did he do?"

"Nothing," I excused, even though it really wasn't nothing. Not only had I told him my full name, he had told me his... Not to mention our birthdays and our ages, too. "Nothing happened at all."

"Sure, Jordan," Lexi giggled, and I felt like pushing her out of the moving vehicle right then without a second thought. "I was in the dressing room for a very long time. You two looked like you were a very deep conversation when I finally came back outside."

"He ran into me again and we talked for a little bit," I finally said, just wanting to subject to change to something less awkward and embarrassing. "That's it, okay?"

"That isn't nothing, Jordan! That's definitely something!"

I slapped my hand over my eyes, wanting to go to bed before a migraine hit me full on. Lexi was never going to learn how to shut her mouth... I was so tempted to just take a piece of duct tape from the rolls around her arms and tape her mouth shut with it.

"My little Jordy is growing up!" Dallas gushed from his spot up in the front, and this definitely wasn't the reaction I wanted him to have. I wanted him to be angry; I wanted him to be jealous. But no, he was as teasing as usual. There was nothing I could do to ever make Dallas return my feelings!

"Well, I don't like this guy at all so far," Austin grumbled from the passenger's seat, but no one seemed to even acknowledge him. I was too pissed, Lexi was too excited, and Dallas was too... I don't even know... to listen to him. He was pretty much just talking to himself now...

But I heard what he had said, and I had to agree with him. I didn't like this guy either. Jesse was obviously a jerk, and all I could do was hope that I never had to see him ever again.

But knowing my luck, I knew I was going to have to, whether I liked it or not.

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We all know who's in the car.

I've said this a million times, but I really shouldn't love Hunter. He's an evil jerk, and yet I can't get enough of him. I just don't understand it. He's a horrible guy but I still want him to have a chance with Jordan, which is why I'm putting a bunch of little scenes between them in this book.

He'll probably be in every chapter, either mentioned or there without Jordan really knowing it, like in this chapter.

Jordan just needed to give him a chance. I would have. ;D

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! <3