Chapter 9

A Chapter by Melissa

My strategy to avoid Jason goes well until we go back to school on Monday. I manage to avoid him in Intro to Psych. I even manage to avoid him at lunch, when Katy sits between us and talks continuously; making it so I don’t have to talk to him at all.

The walk to Spanish 3 is longer than normal, or so it feels, but I speed walk it, hoping to avoid Jason. I manage to make it to Spanish without speaking to him. Unfortunately, our seats are next to each other, and he arrives very shortly after I do.

“Hayley? Why are you ignoring me?” Jason says as soon as he sits down beside me.

“Why would I be ignoring you?” I question, quickly and harshly.

“Well, that’s what I’m trying to figure out!” Jason says, and I can hear that he’s becoming frustrated with me.

“Why do you even care? You’re only using me anyway.”

“What are you talking about?” Jason questions, beginning to become exasperated.

“I’m talking about the way you treat girls!” I finally snap loudly, right before the teacher enters. As soon as she does, I turn away from Jason.

“Good afternoon class. Take out your homework,” Mrs. Allen says in Spanish.

I slowly reach into my bad and pull out my Spanish binder, opening it to find my homework. A small piece of paper hits my arm before falling onto the ground. When I pick it up I find that it’s a piece of notebook paper folded up. Upon opening it, I’m able to read the words written on the page:

“So you’ve talked to Katy? “

I pause for only a moment before picking up my pencil and writing back:

“Obviously.”

Mrs. Allen passes by after I throw it back on Jason’s desk. It only takes a moment before I receive the note back.

“You’re different. I’m different. “

I find it impossible not to roll my eyes at this.

“People don’t change.”

A good portion of the class passes before the note is returned to me. As I unfold it I worry slightly that I’ve ruined any chance of friendship between us. When it’s opening the first thing I notice is how long the letter is.

“I understand why you’d think that and why you’d be upset, but I need you to listen to me. I need you to hear my side and understand where I’m coming from. When my parents died, it hit home. I realized that I was dating girls whose only hopes of a future were strippers. I realized I’d never find love that way. Love was never important to me, but once my parents died, I realized the importance of it. Nobody knows where I was the day of the crash. I was with a girl. The only girl I’ve ever loved. Her name was Maria and I’d been seeing her for a month. It was actually our one month anniversary. I got a call from Katy, she was in tears. I was trying to understand what she was saying, but Maria wouldn’t stop trying to get my clothes off. I tried to explain that my sister was in trouble but she wouldn’t stop. Finally, I managed to hear Katy say that our parents were in a car crash. I hung up and flipped out at Maria, calling her names I’m not proud of. Finally, I told her I had to go because my brother was on his way to pick me up, because my parents had been in a car accident. Her only words? “Fine, I’ll call Johnny and get him to sleep with me. I’ve been cheating on you with him anyway. “ Johnny was my best friend. Maria was my first, and only, love. After that, any time I felt myself developing feelings for a girl, I dumped them.

But Hayley, I had feelings for you from the very first time I saw you. I get this feeling that maybe, just maybe, you’d be different. Maybe you can help me. I’m afraid to fall in love with you. But I already am falling in love with you.

The bell rings and I quickly pick up my stuff. When I look up I see Jason waiting. I pick the note up off the desk and fold it up, placing it in my pocket.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I didn’t know.”

“I know. No one did.”

“Why didn’t Katy tell me?”

“Katy doesn’t know. I mean, she obviously knows what happened to our parents and that Maria and I broke up, but she thinks we broke up later that night because of a fight about my friends.”

“So no showing my best friend your gushy love letter?” I tease.

By now we’ve begun walking and he nudges me lightly. “Shut up.”

“Can I ask you one more thing?” I ask.

“I suppose.”

“Why didn’t you ask me to be your girlfriend after you kissed me?”

Jason releases a small laugh. “Hayley, I was going to, but you ran away. Then Katy said you’d told her you didn’t feel anything when you kissed me…”

“You kissed me!” I interrupt.

“Alright, well anyway…” he continues, rolling his eyes at me playfully. “So I was a bit nervous. After we kissed the second time, Katy ran in and dragged you away. Then you were avoiding me…”

“Oh… so that’s the only reason?”

Jason grabs my arm and pulls me over to the wall, kissing me gently and quickly. “Hayley, will you be my girlfriend?”

My smile grows immediately, and I nod before murmuring, “Yes.”

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