Jason

A new week was about to start at school. Everyone was eagerly waiting for the summer vacation. Nerissa had been thinking a lot about the jerk Robert had turned out to be. That ‘shy-guy’ look  he had was nothing but a cover up of his real cold personality; whenever he talked to her their conversation quickly turned from a nice normal chat to an unpleasant conversation accompanied by sarcastic comments. Now that she was at school with her friends again she felt secure and protected, especially when Devin was with her.

“What are your plans for Summer vacation?”. Hazel asked Nerissa, while they were having lunch at the same bench outside the cafeteria.

“I have no idea, I just want to stay sleep late and wake up late every single day of my vacation”. Nerissa answered.

“Yeah, that sounds kind of like my plans, only mine had some partying added, we should do it together”.- Devin added, hugging Nerissa and kissing her cheek.

“Uh-oh British Freak alert”. Hazel said as she saw Robert walking nearby.

Nerissa quickly glanced away as she saw him and Devin remembered about the dinner at Nerissa’s house the night before.

“Why you didn’t told me that freakish guy was your neighbor?”. Devin said

“What? He lives close to you?” Hazel asked surprised

“Yes, he lives right next door to me, unfortunately”. Nerissa answered rolling her eyes, barely in the mood to answer her.

“And he missed the dinner last night, the one Nerissa’s mother made to invite his family to her house”. Devin said.

“Your mom invited them to your house, but why?”. Hazel asked Nerissa frowning.

“Because my mother wanted to be nice and welcome them to the neighborhood, but that jerk didn’t want to go so he didn’t”. Nerissa answered. The tone of her voice could give away how upset she felt just by talk about it. But she did not tell them that she had gone to look for him at the park after the dinner.

“It was such a shame; it would have been so fun to see how he would have reacted to me trying to make him uncomfortable at that dinner”. Devin said chuckling.

“You will have a lot of time for that here Devin, don’t worry”. Hazel said.

“Yes, he is a jerk and he is not even from here, I hope he leaves soon”. Nerissa replied.

After school Robert walked to the Gym to meet up with the person doing the auditions for the new band. As he entered he noticed there were like three guys rehearsing with their guitars and one guy seating on the floor with a pair of drumsticks on his hands. He walked towards him.

“You are lucky you seem to be the only one auditioning for the drummer”. Robert said to him.

He looked up at him.

“Yes, I don’t see anyone else with the drumsticks on hand, so I guess it would be easy for me since they will have no other choice huh?” He said chuckling

“How long have you been playing?”. Robert asked him.

“Since I was four”. He replied.

“Then you will do well”. Robert said.

“Thanks, I’m hoping my nervousness won’t appear all sudden and ruin everything for me now”. He said.

“I’m Robert by the way”. Robert said

“Jason”. He answered shaking hands with him. “So what are you auditioning for?”. He asked.

“Guitar player, but nobody told me I had to bring my own guitar”.

Jason then noticed his English accent and he couldn’t help asking him about it.

“Are you English?”.

“Yes I am”.

“Cool, so are you an exchange student or something?”.

“No, my father is on the military and we’re going to live here for two years”.

“Cool, you must travel a lot”.

“Well yeah but I really hate it”.

“Dude seriously, why?”.

“I used to like it when I was younger but now is just annoying to have to leave your friends behind and everything you know”

“Yes I guess that’s not cool”

Then the coach entered the gym and asked everybody there to form a line.

One by one they walked to the front to play for the couch as he took notes of each one of the students.

“Thanks very much for coming today guys I will be calling the finalists soon, except for you Jason, you did amazingly at the drums and since you were the only drummer auditioning you will be the new school’s band drummer, congratulations”. The coach said.

Jason and Robert started to walk out of the building together.

“Dude this is awesome, I will be the drummer!” Jason said excitedly.

“That’s very cool congratulations. But I think that even if they had been other people auditioning you would have had beaten them up anyway, your skills are amazing”. Robert commented.

“Thanks, same to you, dude you killed it with that guitar skills, where did you learned to play like that?”.

“Back in England some years ago, I have a very close friend back there, Simon, we used to play together almost every day after school”.

“That’s cool, you really miss it there?”.

“Every second, I just wish two years could go by  fast”.

“Relax, it can’t be that bad here, if you want we can hang out this weekend, I’ll show you around and I will introduce you to my friends they’re into music too”. Jason said.

“I guess I can give it a try”. Robert replied. The idea of getting out of his house and out of his mother’s sight for the weekend sounded tempting in his mind. His first weekend had been awkward enough for him to want to repeat it. On the other hand, Jason seemed a cool dude to hang out with; he was kind of like Robert’s best friend Simon.

As they walked outside the building Jason started walking but noticed that Robert stayed behind.

“Hey what’s wrong dude?”. He asked stopping and looking back at Robert.

“Do you want a ride?”. Robert asked Jason as he took his keys out of his pocket.

“Dude, you kidding? Is that your car?”. Jason asked astonished when he saw him opening the door of that beautiful white Volvo S60 T5, parked outside.

It was the car James had bought for Robert when he knew about them moving out, after all if he was going to be away for so long, his son would need a car to go to and from school to his house. He had paid to import it from Europe. Jason got in the car with Robert and he started driving.

“So how fast is this car?” Jason asked as he looked at the dashboard like someone who has never seen a car before.

“I don’t know, is just a car”.

“Just a car?, I don’t think so dude”.

Robert liked cars like most guys his age, but he just didn’t care much about them, it was just something he could use to transport himself from place to place, he didn’t thought about showing off his European car with every person he crossed paths with. But Jason was just mesmerized.

“Dude seriously, you could be a chick magnet with this wheels”.

“Chick magnet?” Robert asked him.

“Yes, we could get the pretty girls at school in a blink of an eye”.

“I don’t think so Jason”.

“Yes, I’m telling you, we just need to go to a club or something”.

“Jason, quit making plans that involve using my car to get beauties to talk to us, we’re just lame losers who are about to be on the school’s band, so if you want to get girls to talk to you, you will very soon trust me, girls like musicians”. Robert said.

“Wow, dude you are very smart, you are totally right”.

Robert drove him to his house. Jason seemed to be a very cool guy, and he was the first one who talked to Robert at his new school, it was like when he met his friend Simon. Now that gave Robert a feeling of confidence in his new life, he hoped to find a good friend on Jason and have at least someone to talk to at school; however, he couldn’t take Nerissa out of his head and he knew without a question that she was mad at him for being rude at her. Robert started to think that he had a weird way to show his feelings but he also understood that he needed to change his attitude, especially if he wanted to win Nerissa’s heart.