Just Another Reason I Could Never Forget You.

"JOHN CORNELIUS O'CALLAGHAN!" I screamed, throwing my bag on the table in front of him. "GIVE ME THAT GOD DAMN PHONE AND STAY THE HELL OUT OF MY BAG!" John looked up at me blankly, the other four boys also staring at me, looking just as clueless as John.
"What phone?" He blinked stupidly. I growled.
"You know fine well what God damn phone."
"Holly, I honestly have no idea. The only other phone you have is at your parents’ house."
"You know for a fact it isn't because you text Alex from it!" I growled once again. He was trying my patience.
"Wait. Alex as in Gaskarth? Why would that matter?" Garrett asked, looking at us confused, the same expression on every one of the faces of the boys in front of me.
"Who's been on this bus while I was gone?" I asked bluntly, finally realising it wasn't John.
"Jack came over about an hour ago. Said you wanted him to get something from your bag," Jared told me. I blinked stupidly.
"Bitch is going down. O'Callaghan, move. You're helping." I stated, turning from the group of boys. "Barakat, where are you?" I asked chirpily as soon as he answered the phone.
"Um, chicken place. West Boulevard. Turn right onto Tryon, it's on the corner at the end." I rolled my eyes.
"Maria with you?"
"Where else would she be?"
"Good. I'll see you in ten." I hung up quickly, raising my eyebrows at John who was only just leaving the bus, placing a beanie over his messy hair that for once he hadn't managed to style better than my own.
'Go into your boyfriend's pocket and get my Sidekick2 out of it. :)'
I knew Maria was in on it too, but I also knew she would do what I asked of her. That's the way the three of us had worked since senior year. Well, for six months in senior year until I bailed on them. What a great friend I was, huh?
It wasn't long until I was sat in the booth between John and Maria and across from Jack. I had plastered an overly-sweet smile onto my face the moment I saw Jack, and I had literally seen him gulp as he spotted it. No doubt he knew what was about to go down. Maria had slipped me the Sidekick when I sat down, and it was now sitting in my lap awaiting any need for it.
"So, Jack, you done anything... fun today? You know, mischievous?" I asked, smile broadening.
"Uh - not that I'm aware of?" He replied meekly. Had he been a turtle I'm sure his head would have shot inside his shell, as it was he just shrank back into his seat.
"No silly little pranks? No throwing food at people and pretending it was somebody else? No stealing someone’s phone and texting people off it?" I asked, though losing the faux-sweet voice and smile in the last sentence.
"Um, no?" He squeaked.
"So why is it Maria just handed me my Sidekick and you're squeaking like a little rat?"
"She made me do it!" He shrieked, pointing at Maria whose jaw dropped. I growled, glaring at him. I knew Maria better than that - hell, knowing Jack a tiny amount would have made it clear it was all him. "Fine, I did it myself! But he had a right to know! And you have another month until then! More than that in fact!"
"You're going to pay dearly for this, you know that? Now I have to sort your frickin' mess out, too!"
"You know, this is where I draw the line," John spoke up. I blinked at him dumbly. Did he just say what I think he just said? "You're not backing out of this. You still love him, and he clearly feels something strong for you. He deserves to know the truth before he gets in too deep."
"He won't get in too deep. I'm just Stella now, I'm not Jasey Rae. I'm not a girl he can fall in love with." It was an empty statement. The text he had sent to Jasey had proved enough. He was falling for me after only three days, and it was just going too fast that I couldn't get a foothold - I knew I was falling too.
"Nice try. We read the texts. All of them," Jack stated. "Including the ones from when you left. He loved you then, and he's falling for you again now. He thinks he's getting over you, but you're just sucking him in again. Can't you let him know so he can at least know he has his girl back?"
"It's not that simple, Jack!"
"You know, you need your roots doing," Maria told me, staring at my scalp where the blonde was coming through worse than ever.
"What?" The three of us asked her.
"Personally, I think you should go back blonde. You looked much prettier then." She was rambling, but I knew why she was rambling. "I say you make an appointment for when we get to Tempe, on the 28th. I'll be out then, we should go together."
"She's joking, right?" Jack asked, blinking stupidly. "We're trying to get you to tell Alex who you are and she's discussing hair?"
"You in, Hol?" She asked, ignoring her boyfriend. I sighed, closing my eyes and thinking it over. Was I?
"Of course I'm in," I told her. She smiled brightly.
Score one to Maria.