Unshed Tears

I picked up my soda and lunch, and then smiled at Amy. “Love to.” Quickly I looked past a veil of hair, up at Jake, and saw him grinning. It felt so good that my smile widened.

A very chipper Amy turned away from us and skipped into the courtyard. She put her over stuffed back pack onto the dying grass and took a seat on the brick wall. Slowly I slid down next to her, my bag resting between my legs. Jake slumped onto the grass. Stretching out his long jean clad legs, he tiled back his head and looked up at the sky. Black hair spilled back from his pale face, and I could clearly make out the delicate lines of gray eyeliner that clung to his eyelashes.

A girl in neon yellow jeans and a black splatter painted shirt, came right up to us. Her yellow hair was pulled back in an odd twisted bun. Beside her was another very pale girl with dark brown wavy hair. Thick black frames were perched on top of her nose, in front of two dark brown eyes, and she wore a red Fall Out Boy shirt that hung to just above the knees of her torn jeans.

“Hi!” they both yelled when they were just a foot away from us.

Amy looked up from rummaging through her bag and smiled. “Hey guys this is May and…” she trailed off looking at Jake.

“Jake,” he said, his dark eyes still closed, his face tilted to the sky.

The dark haired one waved and took a seat on the grass. “I’m Kathy.”

“And I’m Kathleen,” the blond told us.

I laughed. “Okay, but don’t flip out when I mix you two up.”

“Everyone does,” Kathy whined.

As I chewed, Amy said, “Well, Kathy and Kathleen are a lot a like.” I nodded in agreement.

“True, but still annoying,” Kathleen said, still trying to turn me into a pile of ashes.

“I make no promises about getting names right,” I said with a half smile. I couldn’t believe I was making plans to ever see them again because if I never spoke to them after this I wouldn’t need to know their names.

Amy took a bit into a sandwich, chewed, swallowed, and then said, “Ignore them. They’re always this way.”

“Hey!” Kathy exclaimed.

Just then a familiar blur escaped from the area by the vending machines. He walked right up to our little group, his light hair tangled and messy and his bag falling from his shoulder. “Hey May,” Jace said as he looked at the others with his golden eyes.

“Hey Jace,” I said with a grin. When no one bothered with introductions, Amy steeped up to the metaphorical plate.

Smiling wide, she introduced herself first, “Hi I’m Amy. This is Kathleen and the one dying by your feet it Kathy.”

With his sparkling smile Jace said hi to every one before taking a seat on the other side of Jake.

Amy begun talking, but I was only half there. Out of the corner of my eye I could make out their perfect figures. Jake sat stretched out like a lazy big cat, and Jace sat slumped down on the brick wall. Black hair rippled like a waterfall, back from Jake’s pale face, and his eyes were half closed, long lashes brushing up and down as he slowly blinked. Jace’s hazel eyes darted around, and the sun light played on the little curls in his cinnamon hair. They were two opposites. They were the two boy pulling at my hearts cold edges.

“Hey we’re going to the movies Friday, want to come?” Amy said. I was really starting to like this girl.

Grinning, I looked at her. “What movie?”

When the first bell rang, signaling the end of first lunch, we all stood agreeing to hang out Friday and eat lunch together tomorrow. Jake and I started heading towards our next class.

“What’s with you, freak?” someone asked as the pushed me into Jake’s side. “Why do you even show up? Get lost!”

I felt someone wrap their arm around my shoulders, and I kept walking, taking great comfort from his cool skin and my new thoughts. People kept shouting, ignoring Jake completely. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was so damn hot or because of his sisters image, but he was sort of a middle figure.

We took out seats in class and he rested his hand over mine, a sad smile in his eyes.

I managed a real smile for him, and found it wasnt that hard to do if I just thought about him. The overly cheery school bell rung causing Jake to pull back and me to slump in my seat.

About half way through the class I noticed Jace was in his seat and that I hadn’t noticed when he came in. That had to be a good sign. I bit down on my lip and tried to focus on the teacher’s ramblings. The bell went off, and I jumped. Subconsciously I had been thinking, and now all the thoughts and worries were surfacing. The teacher said something about studying for the final exams; there was only two and a half weeks left, and that was a short time coming. This week was coming to an end. New events were unraveling, only making it move faster.
.......................................................
“The day wore on, until classes were over, and we were gathering things from our lockers. Jace struggled to get the lock off his, and Jake was fighting with the books that fell from his. I was leaning against the wall, watching the two of them in pure amusement.

Jace slammed the locker closed, a black bag hanging on his arm. He smiled, and then walked away. Another locker banged closed, and Jake walked up to me. A few seconds later his sister came skipping up, a huge smile planted on her freckled face.

“Hey May!” she squealed as she stopped beside her brother.

“Hey Susie,” I said before turning to Jake. “I was thinking. If you want, Jake, I could come over and help you study for exams. You know, get you caught up,”

He smiled as Susie took us both by the arms and started skipping down the close to empty hall. In the lot, girls sat on the hood of their boyfriend’s cars, lying back as if to get a tan, and guys stood around comparing the latest add on to their babies. With my head down, I allowed Susie to pull us towards the blue mustang.

“Hey! Hey!” some one shouted. “That yours?” Susie and I had stopped just in front of the car to look back at who ever was calling. Jake chose to ignore him and was opening the trunk for our bags. “It’s a nice one,” he said.

I knew this guy. He’d made my life hell all this year, right beside Jena and Kate. He pushed past me, making sure that when I fell I didn’t hit Susie. My hands scrapped the pavement.

“Get lost,” Jake said through gritted teeth as he used his free hand to help me into the back seat.

The guys exchanged some more pleasantries that included Jake pushing the guy back, and then Jake yanked open the driver’s side door and got in. Susie turned back around and buckled up, right as Jake sped out of the lot. Driving like a mad man, Jake broke every speeding law for five miles before Susie took one of his hands and he let off the gas.