Windows of the Soul

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, at least, until the end, when Jess came running towards Penny and I as we walked out of the building. I was going home with Penny tonight so we could practice our upcoming English presentation. Out of nowhere came Jess, an ecstatic smile exploding on her face. She barreled while between Penny and I, out of breath, and began to speak.

"Ohmigod you're so not going to believe this but Jace asked me out!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Something flashed in Penny's eyes, but she didn't say anything. My reaction, inside, was similar. If Jace kept staring at me, why did he decide to go out with Jess? Jess, of all people. She wasn't the smartest in the bunch, completely clueless in fact. I have to admit I was a bit jealous, after Jace had stared at me through the rest of the classes we shared; pretty much everything after lunch. Since Penny didn't seem like she wanted to respond, I did.

"Congrats," I forced myself to say, looking away from the jumping Jess around the parking lot. As if the mere thought of him caused him to appear, he stood by a dark Volvo near the front of the parking lot. Again, he was looking straight at me. I debated flipping him the finger, but decided against it since that wouldn't be very wise. He didn't know I secretly liked him- wait, did I just think that? That I *liked* him?? I shook my head and turned back to Jess, who was waving her fingers at Jace. He didn't acknowledge them, only me.

"Look, he's staring at me!" Jess said ecstatically, misinterpreting his stare at me. I didn't bother to correct her.

"Well, we'd best be off," Penny said; the first thing she'd said since Jess broke the news. "We'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Sure! See ya then!" she raced back down the steps and towards her own car, stopping for a second to talk to Jace. I took the moment that he wasn't looking at me to bolt down to Penny's car. I didn't realize he was watching me the whole time.



Penny and I walked into school the next day, a bit early. I wore a loose green long-sleeve shirt, a pair of dark tight skinny jeans, and my chocolate colored Uggs. I didn't believe in spending so much on shoes, or boots, but they were just so comfortable I had to have them. Penny wore a tight black dress open-toed red shoes. She looked good, although it was getting chilly outside. We walked through the halls together, and I thought this day would be just as good as any. We walked straight past the sputtering water-fountain - a water-fountain that sprayed anyone who dared to drink from it - and right into the tangled embrace of Jace and Jess.

I didn't know where one of them stopped and the other started. I finally spotted Jace's head, his mouth suction-cupped to Jess's. A deep make out session in the middle of the hallway. As if sensing Penny and I standing there, Jace broke away and stared at me, his eyes widening. He disentangled himself from Jess, much to her disappointment, and opened his mouth like he wanted to say something to me. I grabbed Penny's arm, shot Jace a glare, and we went into the girl's bathroom where I know he wouldn't be able to follow.

"Can you believe her?" Penny was ranting as we dropped our bags on the tiled ground and stood, looking at ourselves in the mirror. This morning my caramel colored hair was curled to perfection, and bounced with every step I took. "She has to rub it in everyone's face that she got the new guy first, and it's only his second day. She's acting like a slut!" Penny was fuming.

"Calm down, Coin, we'll figure out what to do," I said, using the nickname I gave her in first grade where we met.

"Why'd you pull me in here, then? You have Drew." Penny didn't mean it rudely.

"I..." I paused, wondering if I should admit it, knowing she's my best friend, but also knowing she likes the guy. "I needed to check my hair," I say instead.

"Well, the bell's about to ring, so I'll go. See ya in first," Penny headed out the door and I replayed the gawd-awful scene in my head again. Jace didn't have anything to apologize for; we never went out, we aren't even technically friends. Although this is all true, I couldn't help but wonder if maybe he feels the same way about me, and maybe he thought he ought to apologize.