Love Me Patiently, Love Me Honestly

I laid in my bed, trying to force myself to fall sleep. I was tired, but I had a lot on my mind and I couldn’t stop thinking about John. He likes me? I was surprised. It was unexpected, but not disappointing. I had the biggest crush on him since met him until I was 15. That’s when I started liking Kennedy, because John was a lost cause. When did he start liking me? I needed information, but I wouldn’t dare ask him. I’ve already put my feelings out there for a guy and he broke my heart. I won’t go there again.

Just then my phone rang. I looked at the screen and saw it was John calling me.

“Hello?” I said tiredly.

“Madeline! How dare you make me go out with Courtney!” John exclaimed.

“Well, I didn’t know you didn’t want to,” I replied.

“What!? She’s like the most annoying thing on earth.”

“Oh, yeah, I knew that.” I said, a smile evident in my voice.

“Jerk.”

“What’d you two do?” I asked.

“We went and got some food, then to the park, then we went to my house and watched movies. She just left.” He responded.

I looked at the clock and saw it was 12:31 AM. “Wow, late night.”

“She wouldn’t leave!”

“Well, did you have fun?” I asked, hoping he’d say no.

“A little, I mean it was cool catching up. But I certainly didn’t need to spend the whole day with her.”

“Why do you hate her so much? You had to like something about her when you dated.” I asked.

“Well...she was a little less annoying, and...she is very good looking.”

“You’re shallow.”

“Correction, I was shallow. As you can see I can clearly look past that now. Or I would have had sex with her tonight.”

“Ew!” I said, acting disgusted to cover my jealousy.

“Well, I didn’t!”

“Okay, good. So…how come I never met her?” I asked.

“I don’t know…I didn’t want you to judge her.”

“I’m not judgmental though! …Am I?”

“No! But, I care what you think.”

“And you don’t care what everyone else thinks?” I questioned.

“Nope, not really.” He relied.

“Well, that’s nice I guess. And you’re right I probably would have been a jerk to her!”

“Hey, she wasn’t too bad back then. But she probably would have been rude to you.” he said.

“Why? She already seemed to hate me today.”

“Yeah, I kind of talked about you a lot. More so than any of my friends.”

“You’re a bad boyfriend.” I told him.

“We just have a lot of great stories!” he defended.

“Mhmm, we sure do.” I smiled.

“Okay, it’s bed time.” He said.

“Okay John. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Lunch tomorrow?”

“Actually, I’m going out with Kennedy.” I said, quietly.

“Oh, okay then.” His voice changed from light and friendly, to short and almost rude. “Night.” he said and hung up before I could say it back.

I drove into school the next morning early, so I could gimp my way to class and be there on time.

The first 2 periods went by quickly, and I was just excited to see Kennedy. I walked into Calculus and sat down. I looked around the room, no site of Kennedy. I sighed and got out my homework that I finally finished at 11:00 last night. I laid my head on my right arm and closed my eyes. I was tired. I started dozing, but I heard a book slam loudly on the desk next to me and I jumped awake. I looked at Courtney, she smiled at me, flipped her hair, then sat down.

Next, a girl sat down in front of Courtney, she looked exactly the same as her. She turned around to face Courtney and they both squealed.

“Oh my god Stephanie, I am so happy you got switched into this class! We are going to have SO much fun!” Courtney said.

I tried to tune out their annoying voices, and I just couldn’t come up with an answer of how those girls got into a Calculus class.

“So, where is the hottie Student Aide?” I heard Stephanie say with a smile in her voice.

“I don’t know, he’s usually here.” Courtney said. “Hey, Maddie?” She asked.

I turned to look at her. “Yes?”

“Do you know where Kennedy is? I mean I know you’re with those guys, like all the time.” She said, trying to insinuate there was more then just hanging out going on.

I gave her a fake smile. “No, I don’t.” I said, mimicking her voice, she didn’t even notice.

“Oh my gosh, this is Maddie? John’s Maddie?” her friend said dramatically.

“Yep.” Courtney said curtly.

“Ooh, hey Maddie, how many of those guys have you hooked up with? You know, that whole group of friends?”

“Um, none?”

Courtney snorted a laugh then covered her mouth. “Sure.” She giggled.

I turned towards her. “See, I haven’t hooked up with any of them, because Courtney, I’m not sure if you know this, but it is possible to be friends with a guy, and not do anything with him. Hard to believe, I know, but it happens.”

“Are you saying I hook up with all my guy friends?” She asked.

“Guy friends, total strangers, whatever. Yes.” I smiled.

“Ooh, you’re so lucky Mr. Watts is in here because I would so rip you apart right here!” She said, leaning towards me.

I didn’t flinch. “Just don’t forget to take out your hoop earrings first, honey.” I smiled and turned to the front of the room, just when the bell rang.

Mr. Watts started talking about the lesson and that’s when I decided to tune out. About 5 minutes in Kennedy came walking through the door. The teacher gave him a stern look, Kennedy mouth a ‘sorry’, and made his way back to his work station.

When Mr. Watts turned to write on the board I turned to Kennedy. “Why so late, Mr. Brock?”

“Ugh, problems with Emma, I’ll tell you later. Pay attention dummy, this is why you suck at Calculus! You talk to me the whole time!”

I gave him a dirty look and turned forward again. I wondered what kind of problems with Emma he had. I hope she’s okay. Where was Haley during all of this? It seemed kind of irresponsible to leave her baby with her parents all day.

“Ms. Riggs?” I heard my name called and looked up, the class was looking at me, and I had no idea why he said my name.

“Yes?” I tried to smile sweetly.

“Can you tell us the answer to the question?”

Oh crap. “Could you tell me the question again?”

“Compute the problem on the board.” he said, gesturing to the chalk board.

“Uhm, right, okay.” I looked at the jumbled mess, and really focused. I worked it out in my head and came up with an answer. “Um..11 over 4?” I stated as more of a question.

“Very good.” He wrote the answer on the board and asked another student a question.

I turned back to Kennedy with the biggest smile on my face.

“My girl!” he smiled and hi-fived me.

Courtney leaned towards me, “Sure you’re not sleeping with him?” She whispered in a snotty tone.

“Sure you’re not a stuck up, idiot?” I looked her right in the eyes, she stared back, but looked away first. I smiled triumphantly and paid attention to Mr. Watts.

The rest of the period passed quickly. I didn’t leave early because my next class what right across the hall, so it wouldn’t take me long. When the bell rang, Kennedy handed me my crutches and helped me out of my chair.

“So you sure you still need that tutoring session after school? I mean, you look like you’re really getting a hang of it and…uh, “ Kennedy trailed off, looking down.

“I think I might need some help still.” I smiled.

He looked up. “Good.” he smiled. “Come over to my house around 3, okay?”

“Sounds good, Mr. Brock.” I smiled and turned around.

“See you later…Madeline.” Kennedy said right before I was out of earshot. He was good.