Jacob

this is a short story i wrote for my sophomore honors english class. the prompt was -a college student -in a classroom -the hotest days of augest -someones pride has been hurt/

 I am sitting my first class of the school year, physics, and the professor is trying to explain that this class is extremely rigorous and that we need to be dedicated to it 100%. She probably thinks I am the biggest space cadet in the history of the world, mainly because I’m staring out the window, not paying attention to anything going on around me. The kid in front of me keeps putting stuff, that needs to be passed around, on my desk and all I really want him to do is go away or figure it out that I don’t want these papers or to even be in this class. Anyway, so I’m sitting here thinking of Jacob and everything that happened this past summer.

 

It still amazes me that something so small could tear apart a friendship that was so strong. I mean Jacob and I had been best friends since we were in diapers. We had gone through everything together. He stayed up with me for three days straight when my grandpa died, when we were in the eighth grade, and when his parents got divorced during our sophomore year, I was always there for him.  We had pulled countless all nighters the night before finals. Jacob and I spent literally every weekend together for as long as I can remember. We were basically always together.  That is until this summer came along.

 

The summer started out the same as every summer that had come before it. I spent most days sleeping late and hanging out with my friends.  Just like we had done the past three summers, my Friends and I had rented a beach house on Banks Lake for a week at the beginning of the month of August. It seemed like everyone was going to make it. Which was great because Annie and Stephanie were leaving for Europe the next month and would be gone for eighteen months!  So the whole week was kind of like one big, long going away party. We spent the mornings sleeping in, during the day we would hang out on the beach, and in the evening we would have a huge bonfire on the beach. It was paradise.

 

We had all gotten to the house on Monday, and it was Tuesday. Everyone was so excited to be going into Electric City to see the laser show on the Grand Coulee Dam. Going to see the laser show was a ritual that had taken place every year we had ever gone to Banks Lake. Everyone piles into two or three cars, and we make the half hour drive into the city to see the show. Of course by now the car ride is the most exciting part. Mainly because everyone blasts their music and we scream it at the top of our lungs. I’m sure if you were in a passing car you would be so confused about what is going on our cars. After the laser show everyone decided we should go swimming when we got home.

 

On our way home my car decided that we needed to pick up some stuff from the corner store. As we were checking out we met some local who were about our age. There was about six of them, and we invited them back to our house for a while. So they followed us out to the house. It was great, it turns out that one of the guys, Carter, was going to the University of Washington next year. Just like me. It also turns out that Jacob knew one of the girls, Alison, from summer camp a when they were in like fifth grade. At first I thought this would be great, but as it turns out, they weren’t friends at all. They actually hated each other.  It had something to do with Jacob being paired with, some chick, Amy during the kayak trip. Apparently Amy was Ali’s best friend, and after the trip she stopped hang out with Ali and started to spend time with Jacob. In my opinion this was a stupid childish argument, who cares who hangs out with who. It was just summer camp. But I guess Ali and Jacob never really became friends. This is really where our issues started to appear.

 

Jacob was angry with me for inviting Alison to the house, even though I had no idea they even knew each other. After that night Jacob treated me like crap. He avoided me completely blamed me for ruining his whole week. After a few day of cooling off he came around and apologized to me. But I later learned that our friend Adam forced him to. At the time of course didn’t know this, and I accepted his apology. Everything seemed to be going back to normal. Although as I look back on that week Jacob and I never went back to the way we were. The day after he apologized Ali, Carter, and the rest of the locals came out to spend the day with us. Jacob was really not happy about this, but that was his problem. Everyone but Jacob like them and that was his problem. So he ended up sulking around the house the rest of the day. That night Jacob asked me to talk with him in the yard after everyone had gone to bed.

 

He was out on the front lawn waiting for me. I couldn’t see his face but I could tell he was mad. As I walked up behind him he whipped around to look me in the eyes. Now I could really how angry he really was. I’m sure I had a confused look on my face because he just looked at me like I was stupid. I asked him why he wanted me out here so late, especially because he hadn’t said one word to me all day. He snapped at me asking me why do I think I was out here. And honestly I had no clue. I was about to ask him if had something to do with Alison and the locals, but he spoke before I could. He said I was stupid girl, and how could I possibly invite that Chick to the house again. He ranted and raved about how stupid it was of me to invite Ali back to the house. He said that I had deliberately stabbed him in the back repeatedly. At this point I was in tears.

 

Without letting him say any more I ran into the house with tears streaming down my face. I locked myself in the bathroom and stayed there all night. Rose, Spence, and Annie had all woken up as I ran through the house. One of them stayed outside the bathroom all night in case I decided to come out. When I did come out the next morning my eyes were swollen and red, and anyone who didn’t know what had happened knew something was wrong. Spence and Adam made me my all time favorite breakfast, which I didn’t touch because I was so upset. I could tell it was going to be one of those days where people walked on eggshells around me. As soon as I had come out of the bathroom I noticed Jacob wasn’t there. I just assumed that he was in his room or down at the beach feeling sorry for how he had acted.

 

 Later that day I was informed that Jacob had sat on the lawn for a few hours after I ran into the house. Rose told me from what she could see he was crying but she couldn’t be sure. Around four in the morning someone heard a car start and by the time they got to the window all they saw was the back end of Jacob’s car as he sped from the house. I was upset that he had yelled at me and that he had just left without saying goodbye, but mostly it hurt that he had thought I would do anything to hurt him. He was my best friend.

 

 I haven’t talked to Jacob since that night. There have been many times where I have dialed his number to tell him something that happened to me and realized what I was doing and hung up. After that hot summer night in August I cried myself to sleep for weeks. I didn’t know what to do with myself. All I wanted was my best friend back. As the summer ended and school started I was getting back to a normal routine. Instead of crying myself to sleep, sleeping till noon and acting all depressed I was actually getting up at a decent hour and doing thing with me friends.

 

This is actually how I got to where I am now. Sitting in the back of my physics class balling my eyes out. Now I’m absolutely sure the professor thinks I am totally crazy. The class ends and I walk out of the class room. I stop by the local coffee shop and buy the biggest coffee they sell. I pull out my phone. I dial Jacob’s number for about the millionth time this week, but this time I actually press ‘send’. After five rings I hear that voice I have missed so much for the past month. And all it says is “I’m Sorry”.

Reviews

[Chellie]

That was great. It reminded me of a fight that I had with one of my good friends one time, and how it took them weeks to say sorry to me. I was deeply hurt, and our friendship was never the same again, but we are atleast on good terms now. Great story.