The Perfect Girl

“Sir, do you know the way to Clementine’s?”

The man gave me half a glance before pulling his phone out and pretending to be busy. I rolled my eyes and continued down the street. There were random stores everywhere with a scarce amount of cars crowding up the street, and barely anybody was walking on the actual sidewalk. I’d been stumbling around for hours ever since I ran from Jake.

The tears had ended around the same time panic awoke inside of me. And that happened around the time I realized I was lost. And being that I have no sense of direction, I ended up on the side of the road as the sky turned black.

The fact that no one would help me out didn’t make the day any better. Not that I blamed them. If some midget walked up to me clad in pajamas with tear stains, I’d think she was psycho too. But still, I would’ve appreciated directions.

But what bothered me the most was that Jake hadn’t gone after me. It was like he was admitting to what Will had said. And trust me, that hurt more than actually hearing it. If he’d gone after me, if he’d cared, I probably would’ve believed him if he’d said Will lied. If he’d fought against Will’s words, I would’ve trusted him. But no, Jake had just stared at me with wide eyes. He just let me go. He was probably home cuddling Natalie while he laughed at how pathetic I was.

“Stupid jerk,” I grumbled, kicking the cement as I began to cross the street once the sign flashed that it was safe to cross the street without being run over. I was halfway when a car came racing down the road, straight at me.

When you watch a movie and somebody’s about to be run over and they just stand there, you think they’re stupid. But trust me; it’s impossible to move your legs when you’re that terrified. When your heart’s beating so fast you can’t breathe, when those white head lights come towards you, you can’t think of anything besides ‘Oh, shit’.

I squeezed my eyes tight and braced myself for the pain I’d soon received as the car slammed into me. The loud squall of a tire rubbing against the street echoed through the streets as some people screamed, others ignored it and a few others screamed for me to get out of the damn street.

But the painful slam never came even when the screech had ended. I peeked through one eyes and witnessed the car five feet away from me. The driver’s forehead was against the steering wheel as his hands wrapped around its bars. I breathed in relief as I watched the dumbass look up at me.

Oh he was going to get it. “You fucking asshole! Can you not see it’s a red light! You almost ran me over!” I screamed, flailing my arms around as I scolded him. I watched the guy lean back into his seat before sticking his fucking head out the window and replying.

The street was dark and it was hard to make out the guy’s face as he screamed back, “Just get out of the road you old hag!”

I froze. I knew that voice. It was the same voice I argued with everyday. The same voice that made my heart frantic. The same one that pissed me off daily. I took a step back, better to get away than to stay and have him laugh at me for still being on the streets.

I took one more step back before realizing I’d stepped right under one of the street lights. I was put under the spot light. I saw Jake stiffen in his car before throwing his car door open and racing towards me. I took another step away and began to run away. I didn’t go more than four feet before I ran into someone.

“Watch where you’re going!” He screamed and I flinched before glancing back to see if Jake was near.

He was right behind me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him. As he tightened his arms around me, I gasped. Why was he hugging me? Why did he seem so relieved to see me? Was he worried? I shook my head. He couldn’t have been worried. Jase or Duke probably threatened him or something. Who knows?

“Thank God, I’ve found you,” He whispered and began to run his hand through my hair as he held me close.

I squirmed out of his grip. “Get off me!”

As he stumbled backwards, he looked at me surprised. “Where the hell were you? I’ve been looking for you for hours!”

I narrowed my eyes, “Sure you were.”

He looked at me in disbelief, “Don’t believe me? Ask Duke. I’ve been going insane!”

He looked me straight in the eyes as he spoke. My heart tightened. He had been worried. He had cared. I felt my anger soften as I sighed, “Just take me home, Jake.”

He looked at me, a little hurt even before nodding. He grabbed my hand and pulled me back to his car that was left in the middle of the street. I went to the passenger seat as he put himself back in the driver’s place and started the car again. As the car began to move, I glanced at Jake only to see him looking at me too. My anger dissolved as he gave me one of his real smiles. I looked away and soon, I was asleep.

….

I woke up in my room at four with a loud beeping echoing through. I slammed my fist onto the alarm clock, silencing it as I crawled out of bed. I was in no shape, or state of mind, to care what I wore. I stumbled to my closet, whipped out a pair of jeans, a big, oversized black hoodie that said ‘ADAMS’ on the back with the number 28 underneath in big, bold letters and font. It had ‘FOOTBALL’ on the front in the same big bold letters. It used to be Danny’s before he left to Princeton. I ripped my pajamas off, and I slipped on the skinny jeans, threw on the hoodie and went into the bathroom to brush my teeth.

As I entered the restroom, I stared into the mirror. My hair was all over the place, a total and complete mess. I grabbed a hair tie and pulled it into the same messy bun it was in the day before. I clipped my bangs away from my face and grabbed my toothbrush, brushing my teeth. As the minty toothpaste freshened my bad breath, I stared at my reflection.

I had red, sore eyes and bags underneath my eyes. The same bags I’d had the day before and the day before that. I spat out the foam and rinsed twice before washing my face. As I patted it dry with a towel, I left the restroom, reentered my room to get socks. I grabbed two socks, not caring if they matched or not and pulled them on quick. Slipping my Toms on, I left the room, went downstairs, grabbed my bag and left the house without breakfast.

As I stumbled out of my house and down the driveway, I stared at Jake’s house. I stared at it as I passed it and I stared at it even once I was past it. I was hoping to see Jake come out. I knew that I was supposed to be doing all the morning hours by myself for two days, but I was still hoping he might come.

All the anger was gone and from the amount of worry Jake had shown last night, I wasn’t upset at him at all. Instead, I was guilty. I’d believed Will without consulting Jake. And then I’d worried him into looking for me for hours. I was just hoping Jake wouldn’t be too mad at me. I couldn’t handle it if Jake never spoke to me. We weren’t friends, but we were something.

I wasn’t angry at Will either. I was just neutral. I didn’t want trust either one of them. Instead, I just brushed the whole situation behind me. The point was I was still a virgin and both boys were potential liars.

I sighed as Jake’s house left view. He wasn’t coming.

“Stupid jerk,” I grumbled, kicking a rock and watching it skid across the street. “Stupid Jake.”

I frowned as I checked the time. I had a full fifteen minutes to get to school. I breathed out and made my way to school. Every now and then, I’d glance backwards to see if Jake was coming along but there was never a sign of Jake or anything else for that matter.

As I arrived at the school, I entered the front office to pick up my schedule. I grabbed it and read it over.

1. Pick up trash on the school lawn.

2. Empty trashcans.

3. Inflate footballs.

4. Clean baseball equipment.

5. Inflate basketballs for PE.

6. Sort books in Library.

It was pretty much the same as last time besides the fact we wouldn’t help the cafeteria anymore. I sighed, bid my goodbye to the secretary and went to the janitor’s closet. I grabbed the trash bag and the trash pickup thing. I headed outside and stared at the front lawn. It was spotless. I raised an eyebrow, going around the building twice before realizing there wasn’t a spot of trash left.

“Weird,” I mumbled, heading back inside and placing everything back into its place.

I then went around the hallways, staring into trashcans. Actually, I was staring into empty trashcans. Every single one was empty and replaced with a clean black bag. “What the fuck?”

I shook my head. The janitor probably cleaned on Friday. I nodded and headed for the gym. As I arrived, I stared at all the neatly stacked equipment. I grabbed one of the basketballs and squeezed it. Or at least, I tried to. The balls were so pumped they were rock hard. I began to get confused as I inspected the baseball equipment for dirt, for anything at all. But there was nothing. It was spotless. The P.E equipment was perfect.

I stumbled to the library quick, and stared at the empty carts. I checked the book drop and saw nothing. Maybe it was a Monday thing. Maybe the janitor cleaned after school on Friday, the coaches had the equipment cleaned on Fridays, and the librarian put away all of the books for the weekend.

I sighed and turned, about to turn to the comfortable reading chairs in the corner. As I turned, I noticed the limp outline of a person laying on the loveseat. I walked over and stared down at Jake’s sleeping form on the loveseat. He was sitting with his head leaned all the way back. He was slumping to the side, as if he was about to fall over. At first, I wasn’t sure if he was sleeping because he was frowning and his eyebrows were knitted together. But a soft snore emitted from him as he groaned in his sleep. I stared at the empty carts and sighed.

Jake had come early and he’d done all of it by himself. My stance softened as I looked down at him. When I’d woken up the day before, he surely hadn’t been sleeping with a frustrated expression. He’d looked so at peace. I frowned, wondering if he was having a nightmare. I sat down beside him, and placed my hands onto his shoulders, moving him downwards until he was lying on my lap. I ran my fingers through his hair as he slept.
As I stared at his disgruntled expression, I felt a flash of pain pierce through my chest. I’d worried him sick yesterday, accused him of something I wasn’t sure of and he’d done our hours by himself. I sighed.

“You idiot,” I whispered as his frustration slowly dispersed from his face. As a soft snore came from him, I leaned over and whispered into his ear, “I’m sorry, Jake.”

With that, I placed the softest, slightest kiss on his cheek and leaned my head against the back of the chair and rested my eyes.

We’d be okay.

….

When I woke up again, it was ten past seven. I’d slept for two hours. I looked down, expecting to see Jake but instead I just saw my lap. I looked up and around before noticing his backpack was on the couch beside me. I sighed, stood up and looked around for him. As I headed for the shelves, the doors slammed closed and I glanced towards the entrance to see Jake.

He looked back at me and at that very moment, we shared a soft smile. We were okay. Whatever we were, Jake and I were okay. Without words, we left the library together. We went to our lockers together before splitting up to find our own circle of friends.

“See you later, Kylie,” Jake smiled and I nodded, returning his smile.

As I walked away, I glanced back to see him watching me go. The smile on my face widened as I found Jase. We were okay. Jake and I…We were okay.

“Hey Jase,” I greeted as I came closer to him. He looked and smiled at me, pulling me into a big hug.

“We were so worried about you!” Jake exclaimed, swinging me side to side in a hug. I laughed and hugged him back.

“Thanks?” I smiled and he rolled his eyes.

“Yeah! You should’ve seen Jake though. He called Duke and he was going crazy! I swear, he thought you were dead!” Jase informed me and I raised both eyebrows. He really was worried. “He was so worried it made me feel like I was a bad best friend!”

I laughed and rolled my eyes, “Well, you’re you. You couldn’t care about something for more than five minutes.”

“Shut up, girl. I so can care about something for longer than five minutes,” Jase sassed and I grinned at him.

“No, but he’s right. Jake was more worried than Jase and I combined. And believe me, that’s saying something,” Duke pitched and I rolled my eyes at them. They were exaggerating.

“Yeah right,” I laughed as we began to walk to class.

Jase bid his goodbyes as he walked towards his class and Duke and I sauntered to class. This was the same class I had with Jake, Will and Natalie. I felt a nervous bubble grow inside of me as we entered. Duke put his arm around me in support as we looked around for a place to sit.

Duke pulled me to three empty seats and we sat down. I kept glancing at that last empty seat, wondering who would take it. As Will and Jake raced through the door, Natalie began flirting as she greeted Jake and every other girl greeted either one of them. It was pathetic really. They’re just boys.

I slumped down in my chair, staring at the seat beside me. Duke poked my back and I turned around to see him giving me a reassuring look. I wasn’t sure what he meant but I nodded back anyway. I stiffened as I noticed Will eye the seat by me. He began to come towards me before Jake sauntered past him and slid into the seat before Will could blink. I felt a soft smile form as I looked at Jake beside me. Will glared at him and looked at me.

“Get out of the seat, Rivers,” Will demanded and Jake just turned towards me.

“So, are we doing anything today?” Jake asked me, referring to the perfect girl plans.

I shrugged, “I don’t know. You have anything in mind?”

Will looked at me confused as he returned his attention back to Jake. He must’ve thought I would be incredibly angry at Jake. What he didn’t know was that I needed Jake around. No matter how much Jake teased me or hurt me, I still wanted him around. And even though he might’ve lied to me about Will, I still wanted him around. Whether it meant by fighting, arguing or being friends, I needed Jake. Even if Jake hated me, I needed him as much as the air I breathed. He would be the only person who actually, truly knew me.

He may not know the little details but he knew me. He could guess what I did next and what I was thinking. He knew what mood I was in even when I had the best fake smile on. He seemed to read me as a book and it was a nice feeling. It felt good knowing no matter how much I shut everyone out, Jake still managed to slither his way through my walls. It was nice knowing I could never be alone.

“Well I was thinking we’d just chill at my place today and you know, actually plan for once. Every time we wing it, it ends up in disaster,” Jake chuckled and I nodded in agreement with a smile plastered onto my face.

“Kylie, you’re actually going to talk to this asshole?” Will asked me with wide eyes.

I glanced at him, “Well, even if I didn’t talk to this asshole, I’d talk to you, which is pretty much the same thing.”

Duke chuckled from behind me and Jake smirked as he looked down and back up again. I stared at Will, waiting for a response.

“What did I ever do to you?” Will spat and I sighed.

“Will, come on, you ditched me with the hours for a party. Why should I trust you?” I scoffed and Will rolled my eyes.

“Why should you trust Jake? All he fucking does is hurt you. What guy lays a hand on a girl?” Will argued and I looked up at him.

“True,” I sigh and Jake glances at me. “But then again, why would that guy look for that same girl for hours when he thought she was lost? And remember when you left and he stayed? He's proven to be a better person than you, Will.”

Will frowned, “He looked for you?”

I finally smiled, “Yeah. He did. I can’t be mad at him when he actually seems to care. So I’m just going to leave it in the past.”

His eyes glazed in confusion before understanding and realization finally appeared. “I get it,” Will began as I relaxed. He understood. Everything would be okay. With a soft smirk, he continued, “You like him.”

I froze. Had I heard wrong? I must’ve. There could be no way that Will had said that. Especially not out loud with Jake less than a meter away. I took a deep breath in attempt to hide my blush as I stared at Will in shock.

“W-What?” I stuttered and Will’s smirk grew.

“You’re his little fucking whore,” Will chuckled and my surprised expression faltered into disbelief as I listened to him go off about me. I couldn’t form words. It was like everything I wanted to say got stuck before it even became sound. “God, Kylie. I didn’t think you were one to spread your legs like a little slut. But then again, I should’ve known. You were more than willing last week at the party.”

As the words Will said sank in, I could feel the shock in my bones double. Jake hadn’t lied. I’d been a total whore for Will when I was drunk. My disbelief faded as I opened my mouth to deny it. But nothing formed when I noticed the snickers and groups of people gossiping and insulting me into pieces. I’d always been fine when Jake made fun of me. I’d always been okay when someone teased me or called me names. But for some reason, on that day, with all those people looking down on me as a slut, it hurt more than my lifetime of fights and arguments.

I don’t know what it was. Whether it was the fact Jake was totally in love with Natalie or that Will detested me. I wasn’t sure if it was because seeing Natalie all the time made me lose the confidence that allowed me to have the guts to argue back or the fact that no matter how I argued against that, I couldn’t prove I hadn’t been a whore at the party on Friday. I’d been drunk and I didn’t acknowledge any of the day’s events. Maybe it was that this time, what they were saying could be true. Whatever it was, it broke down that hard wall I’d built and let all those looks and insults hit me like a thousand bombs.

My vision blurred as I felt tears form a pool in my eyes. With that, I was shoved aside. I blinked as one of my tears dripped down my cheek and stared at the form that stood before me protectively. At first I’d thought it was Duke, but when I looked over to his desk, Duke was standing there behind me with an angry look on his face. I turned back and looked at the person in front of me before realizing it was Jake.

“Wanna say that again, Foreman?” Jake growled and I winced as I stared at him.

The way Jake said it truly scared me. Never in my life had I ever seen Jake this way. The way he was at that moment was a side I had never met. And as I stared at Jake’s face, I realized Jake had never been truly angry with me. He’d never looked murderous or life threatening. A black eye or a broken nose was as far as he’d ever driven me, but the way he looked at that very moment could send a man to his grave.

Will chuckled as he tilted his head. “Protecting your little whore now? No need to be so greedy when she’s probably screwing Duke too.”

Before I even knew what was happening, Will and Jake were on the floor in a rut. Desks had been shoved aside when the two boys began to pound each other away. Girls screamed before backing up and forming a circle around the boys. Natalie just watched angrily before her eyes met mine in glares. I gulped and looked back at the boys. I tried to get in and pull one of them away from the other before I got shoved aside roughly. Jake was on Will, slamming his fist into Will’s face as Will struggled to defend himself. Jake had a vein on the side of his neck popping out as his jaw clenched. Will moved his leg, faltering Jake’s stance and flipping them over before Jake kicked Will off of him. Will stumbled backwards, sliding on his back as Jake got to his feet and grabbed Will by the front of his shirt. With his arm pulled back, ready to punch, I took a step about to interfere and try to end the fight. Duke held me by my arm and gave me a stern look, not letting me go.

Right then, the bell rang and Mr. Capo entered the room. Mr. Capo’s eyes widened before he adjusted his glasses and rushed towards Jake and Will right when Jake’s fist collided with Will’s bruised and bleeding face. Mr. Capo got in between the two and shoved them from each other.

“Stop!” Mr. Capo yelled and I stood silently as Will staggered before resting on a desk. He had a black eye forming and blood was gushing from his nose. His cheeks were swollen and forming dark circles and his lip was badly split and bleeding.

Natalie rushed towards her brother with a worried look, but only after smiling proudly at Jake. A sick feeling grew in my stomach when he’d smirked back at her. She shot me a glare as she laid a hand on Will’s shoulder, asking him if he was okay. He shot her a glare and shrugged her hand off of him. Jake gave me a worried look before I looked away.

Jake was fine. He suffered barely from a bloody nose that had already dried. His hair was messed up and his clothes were a bit wrinkled but other than that, Jake had dominated and survived without an injury.

“Put back your desks and work on the warm up. When I come back, I expect all five problems to be completed. If anyone fails to do so, I’ll give you all a week’s worth of detention. Understood?” Mr. Capo ordered and everyone quietly agreed and began to arrange the desks back to their original places as Mr. Capo escorted Will and Jake to the office. Shep was in for a surprise.

I sat down at my desk with Duke behind me. Everybody piled into their seats but I took notice of the empty seats surrounding me and of the huddled groups whispering and snickering as they snuck glances at me every five seconds. I could already feel the discomfort build around me.

I began scribbling the calculus equations down into my notebook when a folded piece of paper fell to my desk. I picked it up and read through its contents.

do u not remember what I told u on sat? gtfo of my life u hoe –natalie f.

I crumbled the paper in my fist and tossed it to the floor. I could care less about Natalie’s ego and greediness when I was going against the school. And more than that, I had Jake to worry about. I knew he’d defended me but what if he believed Will about me liking him? What if he knew? Just the thought of that had me unnerved for the day. And to add more things to worry about, there would be the news of me being a slut. I winced as the thought rolled through my mind and tried to return my focus to the calculus problems. Refocusing became a failure.

Fuck calculus. I had a rumor and my love life to worry about.