The Dates.

With Em gone, I jogged through the corridor, pushing a group of twelve year olds out of my way (why were they hogging up all the room anyway - they breeded like mice or something) which they weren't too happy about.

"God, grandpa. Slow your roll." said a small, freckle-faced boy. He was holding an Iphone, clutching it to his chest with unnecessary precaution.

"Shut up, kid. You old enough to be looking after one of those things?" I snarled, sticking my fingers up at him when his friends hissed at me.

I hurried past them, ignoring their high voices shouting swear words at me and stepped outside, scanning the area for Jake. He wasn't sat at our usual bench but was crouching behind a tree on the other side of the quad, digging around in his bag for something. I weaved in and out of the huddled groups of students, side-stepping Rebecca Grey and her goth friends who galred at me through narrowed, black-rimmed eyes, and strode towards Jake.

"Hey, man. You made it." he said, still intent on searching his bag.

"Yeah, after getting assaulted by some snotty Year Sevens and dodging Grey and the Goth Gang." I muttered, dropping my bag onto the ground before folding my arms. "What the hell was that back there, Jake?"

He didn't stop the rustling and didn't look up at me, just continued pulling out random items from the wonderous and dark recesses of his bag. I knelt down by him, gingerly picking up an old banana peel that he had just cast aside between my fingers.

"Jesus, Jake. What the hell?"

I sorted through the stuff quickly as he chucked more and more onto the growing pile. A bag of unopened, hard boiled sweets, one greying sock - stained from endless football matches, a collection of dirt splattered school books (again, probably from football - he uses them as makeshift goals), one pair of glasses without the lenses (I don't even know) and the broken, toothless comb that had lodged itself into my hair earlier. Finally, he pulled out his beloved Ipod, gently laying it out beside the rest of his crap. I peered into his bag, seeing it was empty, yet he was still digging around in there like he was searching for something.

"Jake, are you alright? Can I help you find what you're looking for or...?"

He turned his face away from me, trying to discreetly wipe it on his shoulder.

"Dude. Are you crying?" I gasped, shifting across so I could get a better look at him.

"No!" he said, shoving my shoulder so I fell away from him. "As if. Just a bug or dirt or whatever flew into my eye. Hurts, you know?"

I sighed, balancing on the balls of my feet and shuffling around so I could face him. He looked up at me unwillingly, shifting his gaze constantly. His face was blotchy and his eyes were bloodshot and we were both feeling awkward as hell.

"Come on, Jake. We both know you're upset. It'll be easier if we just talked about it."

Jake sniffed loudly and dragged his hands over his face as he moved back to lean against the tree trunk; a bunch of girls ran past, giggling and chatting. Jake shrank further behind the tree.

"Ugh, man. Do we have to? Can't I just bury it deep inside me and crap?"

"No."

A pause. A really long pause. Then Jake sighed in frustration and turned his face full on towards me.

"I guess the instinct to argue with her is a little hard to shake. Like, maybe I'm scared to be normal around her because I'm worried I'll not be good enough?" he said, asking himself the question rather than me.

I gaped at him. This was probably the most sincere Jake has ever been in my entire time of knowing him. I scratched the back of my head, feeling bad for him but also trying to fight down something else. Jealousy? Knowing that you want to be the best you can possibly be for someone and being too scared in case you fall flat on your face. I didn't think I even had that with Gemma before she cheated on me. I've never had that; hoping that the person you care about the most sees you as you are and accepts it without question.

I tried to lighten my tone but it sounded off even in my own ears. "You thought insulting her was the best way to deal with that?"

Jake seemed too preoccupied to notice the steel in my voice. "I guess it wasn't the best thing to do, was it?"

I shook my head as I stuffed all of his crap back into the bag. I shoved it at him and pointed to the school.

"Go find Em and make it up to her. Just say everything you just told me and she'll forgive you, hopefully." I said. "I'm not even dating you and I thought my heart fluttered a little when you were going on about not being good enough for her." I added in a joking voice.

He pulled the bag out of my hands and rolled his eyes. "If you mention any of this to anyone - I'm coming after you, Andy. I mean it, I'll come swooping down on you like Batman and - "

"You're pulling out the Batman reference again?" I laughed. "It's getting hard to take you seriously, Jake."

Jake continued as if he hadn't heard me. " - and I'll haul your arse to the police - "

"For what? I haven't committed a crime, mate."

" - to your mother." he amended, grinning down at me. All previous evidence of tears had vanished from his face.

I dragged myself to my feet and stood beside Jake, checking my watch. Lunch was going to end anytime soon which meant no more interviews for today. I turned to Jake to tell him this but he was speedily pushing the buttons on his mobile phone.

"I just messaged Samantha, telling her the interview is rescheduled." he told me, dropping his phone into his bag.

"Samantha?"

"Yeah, she's wild. Got crazy-ass green hair - it's like in a mohican or something. I dunno how she got away with it in school, they moan at me for wearing a freaking hat all the time."

"Mohican?" I said weakly.

Jake grabbed my shoulder and shook me about in what he must have thought was a comforting way.

"Don't judge a book by it's covers, Andy. Except Rebecca Grey - judge her all you want, that girl's messed up." he grimaced, freeing my shoulder and starting to walk towards the school. He turned before he had completely crossed the quad and dropped the mocking facade as he called over to me.

"And thanks, mate. You're a good friend."