Don't Make This Easy, I Want You to Mean It.

“He’s your best friend! You know him better than anyone!”
“You’re his girlfriend! He tells you more than he tells me these days!”
“Will you two do your work?!” Mrs Loita shouted from her desk at the front.
“No!” I shouted back. “Jack, just tell me what the fuck is going on!”
“Miss Rae, language!”
“I don’t know! He won’t fucking tell me!”
“Mr Barakat!”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” I shouted at her. She wasn’t helping, every comment from here made me even more frustrated.
“Get out of my classroom!”
“Gladly. Talk to me when you’re ready to be honest, Barakat,” I fumed, picking up my bag and storming out of the classroom. The entire class had been watching our argument as though it was the most entertaining thing ever. They had never seen the two of us argue before. Never mind arguing about Alex Gaskarth.
“For Christ’s sake, Jasey!” Jack’s voice sounded when I was halfway down the corridor. “I don’t know what the Hell is going on with him, I swear. Me and you, we need to stop arguing over him. You’re my best friend, along with him; you can’t expect me to watch you grow to doubt him. I don’t want to have to take sides if you split up.”
“You’re saying this the day after we got together, that doesn’t say much for how long we’re going to last.”
“Come on, let’s get him out of lesson. He couldn’t keep a secret from you if he tried, remember?” He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into a one-armed hug. I smiled weakly as Jack text Alex. “Yo,” he said but a minute later when Alex called in reply. “Well, we need to talk to you… Uh huh… Oh, come on. You’d never ditch the two of us for a lesson. You’ve got to already be out to call me!... I know you’ll see her next period but I won’t be there and I want to know, too!... Dude, you are not there! When did that restart?!... Fuck, I’m going to kill you.” I couldn’t follow what the pair was talking about without Alex’s half of the conversation. It was annoying as Hell. “You’re doing that for her?! You’re fucked in the head… No, I will not calm down!... I don’t care… Just get the fuck into the parking lot now.” He hung up and let out a frustrated groan. “That guy is so fucking stubborn. We’re meeting him in the parking lot by your car.”
“Jack, what’s going on?”
“Alex will explain. If he doesn’t I’m going to beat the living shit out of him.” To say I was confused would seem an understatement to me. I didn’t get it even remotely besides the fact that Alex had done something to piss Jack off. And believe me that took a lot. I was worried about what Alex had done. Call me paranoid, but I had a feeling it was something that would hurt to hear. I sat in silence on the front of my car with Jack. I needed Alex to be here and explain everything to me before the worry ate me alive. I saw the familiar head of brown hair leave the school building and instantly smiled, forgetting the worries that I had been drowning in only moments before. He walked up to me, wrapping his arms around me before he did anything else, and pulled me into a tight hug, ignoring Jack’s demand for information.
“When I tell you what was going on, do you promise not to think any differently of me?” He asked, head to my own. With those words I felt all my worries return. Only now I wasn’t sure I wanted to know at all.
“You’re scaring me,” I told him.
“Just promise me.”
“I promise.”
“Yesterday when I went for my guitar, I got a phone call.” He was speaking louder now, so Jack could hear, too. "It was from Mrs Mars. She wanted me to come over, her husband's away on business again. When I told her no, she threw a fit at me down the phone. She told me to meet her in her office today and wouldn't take no for an answer." My fear of it hurting was coming true. I could tell why she had wanted to meet him today. Why she had called him. I didn't know if I could bear for him to carry on, telling me all my fears were true, but I couldn't find it within myself to make him stop. His words continued to flow from his lips, stinging me. "So, when I didn't show, she had me pulled out of lesson. I told her I had a girlfriend; she reminded me she had a husband. She made it sound like it meant nothing. Her husband means nothing to her, but, Holly, you mean everything to me. I don't care if I'm being corny, it's the truth. I broke it off with her, and she threatened to move you back to Warren's class. I had to threaten to tell everyone about me and her," he laughed bitterly. He turned his eyes to Jack. "That's what I was in the middle of when you text. I was in the middle of threatening her, not making out with her like you thought. You have no idea how crazy she gets with rejection." I was speechless to say the least. He had just admitted to sleeping with a married woman regularly behind her husbands back. A married teacher to make it worse. "Say something, Holly." His gaze fell only on me now. I could tell Jack lay forgotten in the back of his mind; all he was concentrating on was me.
"What do you want me to say?" I whispered. "Do you want me to tell you it's all okay? You helped a married woman cheat on her husband for God only knows how long, Alex!"
"Six months."
"Six months?! Are you serious?!" He hung his head. My insides twisted. I didn't mean to upset him. He broke it off with her for me, that should mean something to me, shouldn't it? I wrapped my arms around him once again, apparently taking him by surprise. "I'm sorry for throwing a fit, but you can't expect me to be okay with what you've just told me."
"I know, but, please, remember it's over. And I did it for you."
"I'll never forget it."
"You two are fucking sickening," Jack told us. I looked over to him laughing.
"Sorry, Jacks, I just can't stay mad at him."
"You can't stay mad at anyone, Jase."
"That's hardly the point." The bell rang out and I sighed. Back to lessons. Wonderful.
"Hey, don't sigh! You're with me now!" Alex told me, smile planted firmly on his face. I thought back to the previous lesson I had been kicked out of and smiled, he was right.
"I take back my sigh." He laughed and took my hand, leading me back to the school building. We were halfway to Vanner's classroom before the whispers started. I had already been through this when I showed up for school in Alex's car. Marissa had taken mine after Alex had picked me up. It was fun riding with Alex and Jack, it made me wonder why I had never hung out with Jack this much before now.
"Psst, Jasey!" A girl half whispered from the seat beside my own, tearing me away from my work. I did tell you I liked English. I turned to her.
"Yes?" I didn't know her name. All I knew was I had taken her seat beside Alex when I had transferred over and she was pissed because of it. I took that much from the glares I had been receiving from her.
"Is it true?" I like how she just assumed I knew what was going around the rumour mill today.
"Is what true?" I felt Alex's hand lace with my own under the table and smiled.
"Are you dating him?"
"Sweetie, there are a lot of guys in this school. Must I assume you mean Alex?" She just looked at me with the most annoying 'duh' face I had ever come across. "Yes, I'm dating Alex. What is it to you?" She was annoying me. Had we been friends or at least acquaintances before now I would not have been so snappy at her. She didn't need to know the details of my private life. Well, I suppose she wanted to know every tiny detail of Alex's personal life rather than mine. Now that annoyed me even more.
"Curious, that's all," she shrugged, turning from me as I started to glare at her. It didn't matter if she could see me or not, I still got to glare.
"Relax. You're going to get more like that before the end of the day. We haven't even had gym yet," Alex whispered to me. We had since discovered we had Gym together, but had chosen different activities to participate in. Alex, being the charmer he is, yet again managed to flirt his way to what he wanted with one of our female Gym teachers. It was weird being grateful for him flirting with another woman.
"Urgh, thanks for the reminder, Alex," I groaned.
"Hey! Remember our conversation we had yesterday? I'm getting beaten up for you!"
"Like I said, they just wanted a quick lay." I rolled my eyes.
"I'm with easily the prettiest girl in school, boys are going to get jealous."
"Bull," I said simply, releasing his hand and returning to my work.
"You'll see."