Heaven; Chapter .5

Chapter .5

 

7 Days

 

“Hey Jake, heads up!”

 

I turned in time to be pelted in the stomach by a grime-covered football. My Bio and English textbooks flew out of my hands and smacked onto the floor. Hog and his big, jock buddies burst out in laughter as I managed not to yelp out in pain. It majorly hurt to be caught off guard by the school’s star quarterback, who had a very appropriate nickname for his size: 250lbs of pure, jiggly mass, with an awesome throwing arm. I regained focus in my eyes and picked up their gross pigskin.

 

I smirked and tossed it back, “Haha, very funny guys.” Somehow, I was pretty well liked by Hog and his friends. Although his interpretation of a friendly gesture differed from mine by a long shot, it kept me from getting shoved into a trashcan, so I had no complaints.

 

Hog was still chuckling at his ace shot to my vital organs as he snatched the ball and pretended to throw it at me again. I flinched and the jocks hooted once more, enjoying their little game of ‘Fake Jake.’ They actually named it, and I had to admit, it was pretty clever for a couple of buffoons like them.

 

Hog passed the football over to his runningback and put me in a chokehold.

 

 “What’s the matter, Jake? Did I scare you? Is wittle Jakey frightened of the wittle ball?” He taunted as I tried not to die, smothered in his pudgy arm.

 

“More than the Boogieman under my bed,” I gasped. Hog snickered and released me, and I welcomely gulped in the fresh air.

 

Hog rejoined his group and said, “We’ll smash you later, Jakey,” as they left for their playoff match. Something in my recently damaged gut told me he wasn’t kidding.

 

I looked down at my shirt and saw the sickly, brown stain left by the earlier football assault and tried my best to brush most of it off along with unwanted Hog germs. My textbooks were still sprawled everywhere and I could see a giant, muddy footprint perfectly stamped on one of pages of my English book. Mrs. Jeffries was going to kill me.

 

I scrambled around to retrieve my dropped belongings and made my way towards my locker. Time to get ready for my Nutrition class. Woo.

 

When I turned the corner, I saw my younger sister yukking it up with her dorky girlfriends. They were grouped together in a tight circle, squealing about the latest vampire craze.

 

“Ohmygosh did you see what he did after he caught up with the slayer?”

“Ohmygawdd totally! It was so wicked how he just appreared like that! Like a ghost or something!!”

“He seriously needs to take off his shirt again! His pecs are to like, die for!!!”

 

I could swear their inhumanely high voices were messing up my brain.

 

“Jes, would you just shut up with all that stupid nonsense? You guys are making my ears bleed!” I complained. My sis gave me glare, along with her little pocy.

 

She sneered, “Oh whatever, Jake. Stop bothering us and just go play with yourself. You know that’s your favorite pastime.” Her clique snickered. They knew that she had caught me during one of my “moments” last summer. That definitely taught me to always lock my bedroom door.

 

My cheeks started to burn, “Yea, yea, whatever buttmunch.” I started to turn away when I noticed her gracefully gliding towards the group. Lily Strom.

 

She flashed the girls one of her perfect smiles. “Hey guys, what’s up?”

 

Jes directed at me and grinned, “Nothing, Lily, just demeaning my bro again.”

 

“Oh, are you?” Lily said as she laughed, and I felt my face growing redder and redder by the second. One of the twerps noticed and cried out, “Hey! Jake’s blushing! Oooohhh. He has a crush on Lily~~” They all looked at me and giggled loudly. Lily just gave a shy glance.

 

“Jake’s in love with Lilyyyyy~~”

“*Giggle* He looks like an apple!”   

 

I wanted to retort at them to shut up, but my vocal chords were working against me, like they always were when she was around. I just angrily stomped away while blocking out all their embarrassing taunts. It was not my fault that Strom was absolutely perfect and every one of her traits was attractive to me. The way her golden brown hair glazed her shoulders, how her smile shone even in the darkness of a stormy day, her amazing hazel eyes, the way she brightened up my worst days just with her presence… Perfection.

It was almost as if she was born to tempt and tease me, because she was so awesome and there was no chance of me ever getting to date her. I waved my daydream away and unlocked my locker to switch out textbooks. The door felt odd somehow, a bit wobblier than usual. When I opened the door, a dark red light caught me off guard.

 

There was blood everywhere.