Chapter 13

 

        Unlike I had hoped, my feelings for Jack didn't die down during that entire week he was gone. Every time I was around him, I could feel myself becoming nervous. After being around him for a while I sometimes couldn't stand it anymore and I ended up forcing myself to make some kind of excuse to get away from him. Whenever I wasn't around him, my thoughts mostly consisted of him. No matter how hard I tried to get myself to stop, it just wouldn't work.

        There was definitely no mistaking it though; I loved him, and I completely hated it. Why couldn't I just see him as a friend? Of course, it wouldn't have mattered so much to me if our friendship was taken to the next level, but would something like that ever really exist between us? I sometimes almost felt like telling him my true feelings for him, but there was just no way I would be able to bring myself around to doing it. What if he didn't like me in that way? It could entirely screw up our friendship, and I definitely didn't want to see that crumble apart.

        The rest of the winter seemed to fly by quickly. It was now March and it was two weeks before spring break. Since the first semester was over, Jack and I didn't have P.E. or Independent Living together anymore. We had different lunches too, so we weren't really able to see each other much during the school day.

        “Scoot over,” Jack said. “I want to sit with you.”

        We were currently on the bus ride home after a long and slow day of school, or at least that was the way it was for me anyway.

        “Why?” I questioned.

        “Because I forgot my iPod and I want to listen to some music,” he replied.

        I looked down at my iPod as I thought it over for a few seconds.

        “Fine,” I said.

        I sat my backpack on the floor and scooted over towards the window so Jack would have space to sit. As soon as he got into the seat, I could already start to feel the nervousness consuming me. I was already aware that this was going to happen, so why did I even bother letting him sit with me in the first place?

        “I'll take that, thank you,” Jack said as he reached over to the other side of my face to get the earphone. His hand lightly brushed up against my cheek as he did so and I could feel a little heat rushing to my face upon the feeling of it. After removing the earphone, Jack placed it in his ear. I didn't say anything as I stared down at my iPod, letting it roll around in my hands a little as I fidgeted with it. We didn't say anything to each other right away as we listened to the rock song that was currently playing.

        “I really can't wait until I get my driver's license,” Jack said a little excitedly a few seconds later. “It's going to be awesome! I'll finally get to go anywhere I want without my mom having to drive me.”

        “Oh yeah, you're birthday's this Saturday, isn't it?” I asked. I tried to lift my gaze to look at him, but as soon as our eyes met, I looked back down at my MP3 player.

        “Yeah,” he said.

        “A-are you doing anything special?”

        “Nope, just gonna take my new car out for a spin.”

        “You haven't even taken the test though,” I reminded him. “How can you be sure you'll even pass?” I smirked a little, but I remained looking at the iPod.

        “What are you talking about?” I wouldn't have been surprised if he was smirking too. “Of course I'll pass.” There was a brief pause. “You're probably only saying that because you're jealous.”

        “Why would I be jealous?”

        “Because I'll be able to drive and you won't.”

        “Oh yeah, I'm really jealous,” I murmured as I rolled my eyes.

        “I knew you were. But that's okay, you can ride with me. You won't have to ride the bus anymore with those annoying sixth graders shouting all the time either.”

        I almost liked the sound of never having to ride the bus again. The sixth grader's high-pitched voices really annoyed me, especially since they sometimes had a hard time shutting up in the morning. At the same time though, would I be able to handle riding in a car with Jack without feeling really nervous?

Author's Note

This chapter is really short and it bugs me, but I didn't have much to put for this part. I'm not quite sure if it's as polished as the other chapters are either, so I might have to come back and do a little more work on this chapter at a later time. How is it so far though?

Reviews

[courtney]

i dont see much of a difference between this chapter and the others except for the length. just keep the chapters comming