The Perfect Girl

I gaped at Will and Jake as if they were crazy before leaping to my feet and grabbing the folded up paper in between Jake’s index and his middle finger. As it whipped from his fingers, I ripped it open and stared at the contents inside.

“What the hell is this crap?” I scoffed as I held in laughter. Who in the world even wrote this? And how insane were they?

Dear Jakey,
I love you SOOOOOOOOO much! You take my breath away every time you smile!!! I’m just in love with you!!!! I know this is weird but…I LOVE YOU BABY. You must be totally and completely and absolutely positively lost because you’re pretty darn far from heaven, babe.
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love,
Kylie I-Love-Jake Adams

I was starting to think this person wrote it from the asylum. It was ridiculous. I mean, honestly? It was such a joke. No one in their right mind would write that thing.

I looked up at Jake and Will for a moment before narrowing my eyes. “It’s fake isn’t it?”

Both of their straight faces faltered before they began laughing. Jake bent over and leaned onto Will as he struggled to stay up on his feet. Will hid his face into his palms as he laughed obnoxiously. Their bodies shook as I shook my head in disbelief. Especially to the fact, I actually fell for their stupid prank! What idiots.

“I can’t believe you fell for it!” Jake choked out and I crumbled the paper up before throwing it at his body.

“Prick,” I grumbled and pouted before turning to face forward.

Why did I fall for it? I fell for it almost as if it were possible I’d written a letter. Jake probably knows I like him now. I shut my eyes and buried my face into my hands as if to hide from the rest of the world. How could I have reacted that way? And above all, it was a joke. A lame joke Jake decided to pull with this new guy, Will.

I looked up and glanced at Jake who was back in his seat, chuckling with some of his friends and then I glanced at Will. He was looking at me intently with a trace of a smile placed on his lips. I take that back, it wasn’t a smile but a smirk. A stupid, egotistical smirk, on a stupid, egotistical ass. He kept staring at me even when I looked back. I bit my lip and waited for him to say something, anything. But he didn’t, he just stared and smirked.

“What? What are you staring at?” I mumbled and subconsciously touched my face to see if anything was there.

Will blinked once before shaking his head and looking ahead at the teacher.

What was that about? “Weirdo.”

I glanced at him for a last second before I noticed the soft shade of pink tinted on his cheeks and grinned to myself before turning back around. Will stared at me and he was caught. Apparently even the most perfect of men blush and get embarrassed. Who knew?

Half way through class, I was bored out of my mind. Calculus will never be a subject I adore. Never. I slumped back in my seat when I felt something poke my side. I gasped and squealed at the same time, popping from my seat and gaining attention from everyone in the room.

Mr. Capo gave me a look and opened his darn mouth, “Is there something you’d like to share Miss Adams?”

“Um…No?” I joked and turned to glare at Will.

He chuckled and winked at me. I raised my eyebrows as if challenging him and he scoffed. I stuck my tongue out and scooted myself as far as I could from him and he rolled his eyes. He smirked that stupid little smirk of his and scooted so close to me that our chairs were directly side by side. And with no distance between us, he crossed his arms, pointed his finger and poked my side, causing me to yelp and do some odd spazz movement.

“Miss Adams!” Mr. Capo scolded and I sat up right, tomato faced and glared daggers at Will’s bemused expression as he grinned, no smirked, down at me. What a twat. “What is your problem?”

“Sorry. Won’t happen again,” I wheezed as I pulled out my chair and settled myself back down. Will nudged me and I turned, narrowing my eyes as he chuckled.

“Yeah, Kylie. What’s your problem?” Will teased and I scoffed. “You know, frowns don’t suit you at all. Maybe…I should poke you again. To light up that pretty face of yours?”

He threateningly held up his finger and I snapped my head towards him with no expression. I stared at his finger as it came closer and closer. It was actually quite comical but for some reason, I was dead afraid of being poked again.

And then it happened. I freaked. I kicked his chair with all I had, causing his chair to topple over just in time for him to grab onto me, causing us to both collapse. I was on top and he was my cushion. And it was all an accident. But from everyone else’s point of view, it looked like I pounced him. But much worse, it looked like I jumped him for a kiss. Because right when we landed, our lips crashed and I lost my first kiss to the new kid.

“Office! Now!”

Quickly, I hopped to my feet with my right hand finger tips placed on my lips. My first kiss. Now, don’t get me started with this first kiss business. I’ve dated other guys, liked other guys, held hands and hugged other guys. But I never kissed them. It’s not that I stopped them or had anything against kissing. I didn’t want my first kiss to be on my wedding. It just never occurred. None of the guys I’ve been infatuated with have ever tried to plant one on me. And even if they did, it was always interrupted. Kissing just didn’t happen to me.

I glanced at Will, blinked and turned around, heading out the door. I was, to put it gently, uncomfortable. I didn’t know how to react to it. Should I act like it never happened? That was my best bet. But I still didn’t know what to say. I felt myself rushing down the hall. I could hear Will’s echoed steps behind me, they seemed to be quick. Almost as if he was trying to keep up.

“Wait! Kylie! Hold up!” Will yelled and I nodded, took a deep breath and felt myself stop and turn around abruptly. He ran directly into me. Then he gripped my shoulders, took two steps back and laughed. “Stop freaking out and walk right or else we’ll bump lips again.”

I chuckled nervously and nodded before turning around and attempted to walk at a decently normal pace. Why was I so nervous?

“Are you okay?”

I looked at him and shrugged. “Fine, why?”

“You seem jittery. Are you always like this? Jake said you were a pain in the ass. I mean, you kind of are but it’s sort of weird,” Will rambled and I laughed. Of course Jake would call me a pain in the ass. He is my rival after all.

“Sorry…It’s just…”I looked at him for a second and shook my head. “Never mind.”

Will laughed and casually rested his arm around my shoulders. “It’s not like that was your first kiss. Chill. Let loose.”

I stiffened instead of what he said. He stopped as I held tight to my joints. He was joking and yet he still got me to a T. He took his arm away and looked at me, wide eyed.

“That…was your first kiss?” He questioned, his mouth agape. Not even one second later, he was bent over laughing.

I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at his shaking body, leaned against the red lockers. What an asshole. Of course he and Jake became good friends. He started slamming his right hand against the locker as he tried to stop laughing. With a swift move of his wrist he rubbed his eye, as if he were wiping away a tear.

“Stop laughing! It’s not fucking funny!”

He stopped for a moment before he looked at me, expressionless and then he broke out into laughter again. I could feel the anger and embarrassment build up inside of me. Humiliated, I turned and stormed my way to the front office, leaving Will to laugh by himself.

I heard his foot steps behind me and quickened my pace. I could still hear his obnoxious laughter as he panted. He finally grabbed a hold of my arm and pulled me around.

“Come on! Loosen up! We’re all friends here. I just think it’s funny how you reacted. Funny shit right there,” He chuckled and flicked my forehead.

I pouted and rubbed the spot he’d hit and rolled my eyes. Turning around, I walked into the office. He grabbed my arm but followed me inside. As we got inside, Shep came out and glanced at us.

“Can I help you?” He greeted us and I shrugged.

“We got in trouble in class because of this…thing,” Will smirked and Shep nodded. I elbowed Will in the gut, obviously unhappy with him calling me a thing. I’m a human thank you very much.

“So Jake and Kylie didn’t fight?” Shep asked, almost as if he were shocked.

Will shook his head proudly and wrapped his arm around my shoulders again. I rolled my eyes as he bent over and kissed my cheek as if we were the best of friends.

Shep stared at the movement and nodded. “Then, Mr. Foreman, please assist Kylie after school during her hours.”

I glared daggers at Shep who returned the favor with a smug grin. I shook Will’s arm off and he rustled my hair as he turned back around. I followed suit, glaring daggers into Will’s back. As we rounded the corner, back towards class, Will took a sharp turn and headed for the doors to the side staircases.

“Class is this way,” I reminded him and nodded my head towards the classroom door.

“I know. I’m skipping the rest of the day,” He informed me and I bit my lip.

During hours, I’d wanted Jake to go first, to skip so I could come too. And now Will was, and he was making the first move. I took a deep breath, glanced at the classroom that held Jake’s presence, the presence that I craved for so much of the time.

“You coming Miss First Kiss?!” Will hollered and I pursed my lips and took a deep breath.

Then, I ran after Will towards the door out of the hell house, forgetting about Jake altogether.

Here goes nothing.

“My legs fucking hurt!”

I groaned and turned around. Will had been whining about his legs for the last hour. We’d been walking and walking towards the ice cream parlor, his decision but we ended up underestimating the distance. The very long distance, in fact. I turned around and glared at Will’s body, lying in the middle of the deserted road.

It was easy to say, we got lost.

“Get your ass out of the road before you get run over!” I hollered.

Instead of listening he pushed himself up on his elbows and winked at me before gesturing me over. I began to walk over as he patted the spot beside him.

“Get up,” I snapped at him but he just laid there, his chest heaving up and down and his legs stretched out.

“Sit with me,” he finally invited.

At first, I didn’t want to be anywhere with him at all but when I looked at him for another minute, I couldn’t resist. So I did; I laid next to him in the middle of the road after we decided to skip school together.

We just laid there for awhile. It was all but silent besides our patterned breaths. My eyes drifted, my breaths deepened and then I was slowly letting go.

“Kylie, what’s your middle name?”

I blinked awake and stretched my arms before resting them behind my head.

“You already know it. It’s Kylie,” I mumbled and sat up, crossing my legs Indian style.

“Then what’s your first name?” Will mumbled, adjusting his head onto my crossed legs.

I shrugged. I never told anyone my real first name. I didn’t like it and I sure as hell wasn’t going to be stupid and have the world know it. Everyone simply knew me as Kylie Adams. Not Marcella Adams. It was a stupid, horrible name. What kind of name was Marcella, anyhow?

Will waited contently for an answer as I played with his hair. He had his eyes shut, like he was sleeping but by the way breathed; I could tell he was conscious.

“It’s not important,” I ended his wait. He opened his eyes and glared up at me.

“Just tell me. I’ll ask Jake if I have to,” he threatened. I snorted a laugh. As if Jake would know a thing about me.

“Jake doesn’t know,” I muttered. At this, he sat up abruptly.

“That’s a lie,” Will glared and I scoffed.

“If Jake knew a fucking thing about me, I’d be shocked.”

Will looked at me in the eyes, “Just tell me.”

I looked back at him for a moment and for some odd reason, I gave in. I caved, “Marcella. It’s Marcella.”

He chuckled, “That’s pretty bad.”

I glared but grinned at him before I took a breath and rested my head against his shoulder. I looked down the street, searching for headlights in case we were going to get run over. As we sat there, the wind growled in our ears but I could hear Will whispering to himself, too low for me to hear.

“Why’d you want to know my name, newbie?” I questioned and I felt him shrug.

“It’s not a big deal, I was just curious,” He explained and I rolled my eyes as I gently shoved him. “Geez, Miss First Kiss. No need to be rude.”

I laughed at that but said nothing. He didn’t say anything either so we just sat there, in a comfortable silence. Friends, I’d call us friends. Something I could never do with Jake. Jake. Why was I comparing Will to Jake? Will was better, I could tell. But everything had to do with Jake. And I always said negative things about Jake, nothing good, so why, why was it all about Jake?

I shut my eyes and the image of the kiss appeared in my mind. Quickly, I reopened them.

“I have a request,” I blurted and Will turned to look at me strangely.

“What is it? You do realize it’s my first day in Michigan. I can’t do much,” he reminded me and I laughed.

“It’s not difficult,” I assured him. He looked at me warily before sighing.

“What is it?”

I looked at him then, smiled just a little and easily let the words slip between my lips. “Let’s pretend the kiss in class never happened. I want my first kiss back.”

He looked at me almost as if he thought I was crazy. His eyebrows were knit together and there wasn’t a single trace of a smile placed on his lips. He looked almost angry or disappointed.
It was the longest minute in my life. Would he disagree or something? I bit my lip, nervous for what he’d say.

“Easy as pie, baby,” He winked, breaking from his down expression. I let a relieved sigh escape my lungs as I smiled.

Laughing, I stood, brushing dirt off my clothes and offered him a hand. He took it, pulled himself up and rustled my hair up again. I pouted and swatted his hand away.

“You need to stop doing that,” I muttered, running a hand through my hair in attempts to fix whatever damage he’d done.

“Darling, you’ll have to get used to it.”

We’d walked for hours.

At one point, he had to carry me around. He was warm when I was cold and for that, I’m glad Will had come instead of Jake. In fact, I didn’t even think of Jake with Will after wards. Will had been a pleasant time. The pleasant time that Jake never was.

We’d talked the entire time. Twenty questions, family, friends, just stuff. The topics seemed endless. He was great. He was 17 and turning 18 on Christmas. He had four other siblings other than Natalie. Joy, April, Michael and Jack. Joy was three, April six, Michael twelve, and Jack was fifteen.

In a lot of ways, Will was like Jake. Like his humor and his clever mind. They both played an instrument -Will played piano whereas Jake played guitar- and liked to drink monster. But in so many other ways, he was different. Will and I could get along. Will didn’t take advantage of his family’s wealth and he wasn’t as much of a troublemaker as Jake. Also unlike Jake, he didn’t like to wear beaten up clothes which Jake just didn’t care as long as it covered him up. Although, I don’t think Jake would mind going around naked either, it would probably make having sex easier. Will wasn’t as perfect as he seemed though; he wasn’t into the family stuff. He was cocky. And he could be rude. But unlike Jake, he could control it for the most part.

“We should head back.”

I glanced at Will who was sitting against a pole as I stood, leaning against the bus stop’s hood. I pulled my phone out and checked the time, 2:07. School was nearly over. I pulled away from the hood and walked towards Will.

“Yeah, let’s go,” I agreed and lent him a hand.

He reached and held onto my hand. For a moment, he was sat there, not moving. Instead, he stared at our hands intertwined. I began getting nervous. A sick feeling developed in the pit of my stomach… Butterflies? This was wrong. I liked Jake, didn’t I? Although, Will is an improvement. I didn’t protest or remind him to get up; I just kept my grip on his own hand. His hand was warm, quickly comforting my cold one since it was a stiflingly cold day. So cold in fact, I’m shocked that it hasn’t snowed yet.

I tugged on my hoodie as he shook his head, snapping from his trance and squeezing my hand as he stood up.

“Um…Let’s get going,” He quickly mumbled and got a head start, leaving me behind to come after him.

I cocked an eyebrow before following him. School was close to ending when we arrived back on the schools grounds. As we entered the school, the bell rang signifying the end of the day. I shrugged at Will before heading for the Gym to catch Jake for our hours. Will followed me, hoping to catch Natalie on the way to tell her about how he’d assist me during the hours.

“Nat!”

I ignored Will since I knew he’d go over to her to talk about the hours, I proceeded to the Gym. As I entered said Gym, I saw Jake come out of the locker rooms. He didn’t notice me, instead he was looking around. He scratched his head and to be honest, he seemed confused yet worrisome in a way. I watched him mutter to himself something before turning to leave the Gym. His eyes flew right over me before those same orbs flickered back at me. His eyes widened as he waltzed towards me. I didn’t meet him halfway; instead I waited by the door.

“Where’d you go?” He growled and I blinked.

“Not even a ‘Hey Kylie’?” I ignored his question and he shot daggers at me. He put his arm around my shoulder in which, I aggressively pushed off. I didn’t need Jake touching me.

“I repeat, where did you go,” He growled, rougher and slower this time. He emphasized each and every word that it seemed like he was implying something else when it was clear, he wasn’t.

“I see, so you’re not going to greet me nicely after all,” I sighed and he pushed me.

Annoyed he took a deep breath as if to calm himself. Jake was already angry with me and I’ve only been around for less than three minutes. Damn, I’m good.

“Kylie,” He growled and I sighed before looking at him. He looked genuinely worried to death. I was amused.

“Will and I skipped school,” I sighed and patted his cheek before continuing the way to the janitor’s office when Will appeared by my side with a happy smile on his face. I gladly returned the said smile.

“You skipped school…with Will?” Jake snapped and I rolled my eyes. Someone’s on their man period today. I loved every second of it, knowing I’d bothered him without even being present the majority of the day.

Will gave me a questioning look and I shrugged, not knowing how to explain Jake’s bitchy mood. He stopped looking and instead, wrapped his arm around my shoulders casually. I didn’t shove Will away, I just kept on walking.

“Yeah, so?” I mumble and I could hear Jake grunt.

“Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve skipped with you and then we could have gotten ahead on the deal,” He was referring to the perfect girl business.

I gave Jake a look, “Why would I want to spend time with you in the first place? I hate you.”

Jake just rolled his eyes. “Whatever, I need to talk to you about this perfect girl business.”

I waited for what he had to say. He glanced at me and then to Will and back to me. I moved away from both of their reach as I went into the janitor’s closet to get supplies needed to get the trash from the lawn.

“Without Will,” Jake concluded and I turned to give him a questioning look. He just stared at Will who was staring at me.

Will took that as a warning and left with the materials first. And then, Jake looked at me, straight in the eyes and bit his lip. He seemed nervous almost as he did. I waited. What was so important he couldn’t even say it in front of someone else? Jake was shameless after all.

“It’s about my perfect girl thing,” He hinted and I nodded, waiting for what was making him so jittery.

He looked at me and gulped. I’d never in my life seen Jake so nervous and wrecked in my life. It was strange. I looked at him closer, he looked like he’d combed his hair with a fork and he was just…a mess in general. He looked horrible, like the day had been hell. –Which I find surprising since I wasn’t there to fuck with him. What could’ve possibly put Jake in this condition? I felt jealousy slowly bubble inside of me. I was jealous of who could’ve gotten Jake like this and how I couldn’t. Yes, this bothered me and it bothered me a lot more than it should have.

“I um…” Jake trailed on and I sighed impatiently.

“Well? Go on,” I urged, waiting for the name of the damn bitch.

“I- She- I…” He cut himself off again, scratching at his neck.

“Spit it out!” I mumbled and he winced. I began to tap my foot. Jake took this as a sign to grow some balls and get on with it.

“I think I know who she is now.”

I blinked. I knew he knew, that was why he was nervous. I just wanted to know who. Who was she?

“Who?” I mumbled, pushing him to finally spit it out.

He looked at me for a moment, his eyes wide with anxiety. He opened his mouth to utter her name and shut it. Instead he removed his eyes from mine and towards the ground before whispering.

“It’s Natalie.”