Even Though She Doesn't Believe In Love

Jack and I sat in lunch, picking at the slop they decided to give us today. Jack was my best friend, the only one I trusted and could really get along with. In all honesty, he was like my brother. “Oh, please, Dev, don’t tell me you have a crush on that douche,” he interrupted my thoughts.

“Who are you talking about?” I knew there was no fooling him.

“That new kid you’re staring at. What’s his name?” He snapped his fingers, and I could almost see the smoke coming out of his ears. Jack, as you can tell, does not like to think, but happens to sometimes.

“I wasn’t staring at him, but his name’s Alex. You just don’t like him because you don’t like the band he’s in,” I defended.

“See, you already knew who I was talking about! And I don’t have a problem with him, in fact, I’ll invite him to hang out,” he smirked and got up.

“So, what’d he say?”

“He said blink-182’s a fucking sellout band, but I finally talked him into coming over and listening to them,” he sat back down at the table.

I nodded and the bell rang. “Damnet,” I sighed and got up. “Bye Jack,” I waved and walked to my locker.

“Bye Devon, see you seventh,” he was referring to the class I hated most. Gym. I rolled my eyes and walked into my science class. Just another one I had with Mr. Alex Gaskarth.

“All right, class,” Mr. Jackson, the teacher, announced. “As for the ones of you that pay attention, you will know that we are going to be dissecting this week.” All of the girls groaned while the boys cheered. “I already have your partners assigned, so when I call your names, go back to station I assign you at,” he went through the list. “Devon, Alexander, station four!” My heart skipped a beat.

“Devon!” I heard a shout and a slam on the desk. My head jolted up, and my heart was pounding in fear. I looked up to see a very angry Mr. Jackson. “You were sleeping. You’re partnered with Robert at station seven.”

“My name’s Rian,” I heard him shout. I gathered my books and went back to the island where Rian and the dissecting tools were. The bell rang and rushed out of the room. The smell of formaldehyde was making my head light, and frog’s creep me out—even if they are dead.

I went to the girl’s locker room and changed into my gym shorts and beat up tie-dyed shirt. I walked into the gym to see my blue headed best friend. I jumped on his back, scaring him, and making him ‘bust out his ninja moves’.

“Hello Jacko,” I smiled. We were interrupted by Coach Baker.

“Everyone, remember your numbers!” She yelled and went down the line numbering everyone by three. I also noticed she had a volleyball in her hands. Great.

Everyone was divided into teams, Alex and I being on rival teams. The first serve took place and I was doing all right so far, that was until I went to hit the ball Alex spiked over the net. I tripped over my own feet and got hit right in the face.

I sat up and saw the outlines of people. Where are my glasses? “Umm, Devon, we have a problem,” I heard Jack say.

“What would that be?”

“Your glasses are busted. Don’t you keep a spare in your locker?” I nodded and heard him ask Coach if he could retrieve them.

“I am so sorry!” Alex was in the front of the crowd now.

“It’s fine, I promise, I just need my glasses and I’ll be fine,” I grabbed his hand that he had extended to offer to help me up. “Thanks,” I mumbled and accepted the glasses that Jack had just put into my hand. I put them on, glad that I could see again.

“You do realize your nose is bleeding, right?” Jack said. I groaned and went to the bathroom to clean myself up. When I looked halfway decent, I retreated back to the gym where Coach made me sit out the rest of the period.

It was after school and no one was home. I changed into some denim shorts and one of Jack’s shirts before putting in my contacts, putting down my hair and fixing my make up. Usually, people look terrible out side of school and decent while in it. I’m the exact opposite.

“Jack!” I cried and knocked on his door. He answered it with a smile, as always.

“Man, you got perfect timing! Make me a sandwich?” I laughed at him, turned on the CD player—which of course had blink-182 on—and started creating a peanut butter and jelly.

There was a knock on the door which I answered, butter knife still in hand. “Umm, hi, is Jack here?” Alex asked.

“Jack!” I yelled over the music and went back to finishing the sandwich.

“I’m sorry, but you look really familiar, have I met you before?” Alex asked as Jack entered the kitchen.

“Here,” I handed him the food. “Yeah, you kinda hit me with the volleyball today,” I laughed and cleaned up the mess I had made.

“You look so different out of school, like not in a bad way, just… wow,” his eyes were huge.

“Thanks,” I smiled and belted out the chorus of ‘What’s My Age Again?’ from the CD ‘The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show’

“That song’s amazing. What band is that?” he asked.

“blink-182,” Jack replied.

“Dude, we have to cover this, like, now,” Alex laughed. I looked out his living room window to see my mom was home.

“Hey, I gotta go, I might come back over later if that’s all right,” I hugged Jack and kissed him on the cheek. “Bye, Alex,” I waved and walked next door to my house to be greeted by an angry mother.

“Where have you been?!” She yelled, slapping me in the face.

“I was hanging out with Jack.”

“Where are your glasses?” She screamed.

“They got broken in gym today. I got hit in the face with a volleyball.”

“Get a dress on, we have to go to a dinner with your father’s boss,” I went to walk upstairs to my room. I opened the curtains and walked out on the balcony. I threw a crayon at Jack’s window to see if he was in his room. No one opened the window.

I was changing into a summer dress when Jack came to his window. “Hey,” I said, pulling it over my head. “I have to go to dinner with the folks, I probably won’t see you until tomorrow,” he nodded and his eyes grew big. I knew he had seen the red mark on my face.

Jack knew there were a few slaps and hits here and there, but he didn’t think they’d be so hard to leave a mark, or let alone on my face. Alex came to the window as I was hurrying to put foundation on my cheek.

“Please don’t say anything?” I directed to Jack, he nodded. Alex’s face was a question mark as I almost killed myself putting on my heels. “Love you man,” I waved and rushed downstairs where I got into the car with my mom and drove away.

Alex’s Point of View:

I couldn’t believe how different Devon looked outside of school. She was… wow. I could tell
there was something wrong with her though by the way she acted at her house. “Jack, what was the deal behind that?” I asked when her car was out of the driveway.

“She meant don’t tell anyone about her wearing a dress. She doesn’t want anyone to know she owns any, so don’t say anything.”

“Are you guys like, dating or something?” Jack looked at me like I was crazy.

“No way, bro. She’s like my sister.” I gave a single nod and began fiddling with his guitar.

It was a Friday night, and since we didn’t have school tomorrow, Jack wanted me to spend the night. It wasn’t until about nine at night when I saw lights shine in her driveway.

She stormed into her room, slamming the door behind her. The curtains were still open, and I saw a man, with light blonde hair identical to hers, and rather over weight throw open the door. All I could do was stare in horror as his fist crashed onto her jaw, knocking her to the ground where he threw two more punches before exiting.

She began to gather up some clothes into her backpack before shutting off the light. A few seconds after the light shut off, there was a knock on Jack’s front door.

Devon’s Point of View:

I knocked on the front door of Jack’s house to be greeted by his mom. “Hey Joyce, mom and dad aren’t too happy with each other, do you think maybe it’d be all right if I crashed here tonight?”

“Of course Sweetie, the boys are up stairs.” I knocked on Jack’s bedroom door before opening it.

“Hey,” I said quietly. “Mom said it was all right if I stayed here tonight, but I didn’t realize Alex was still over.”

“It’s fine,” Jack said. Alex was staring at me, like he felt bad or something.

“Well, is it all right if I use your shower? My mom sent me out before I could get one.” He nodded, grabbed me a towel, and sent me into his personal bathroom. I got out ten minutes later feeling ten times better. My face was no longer red where I had gotten hit earlier by both parents.

I was about to walk out when I heard them talking. “Dude, I’m telling you, I saw the whole thing. He swung as hard as he could like three times,” Alex said.

“No, you’re crazy; her parents would never hurt her.” Thank you, Jack.

“Believe what you want, but I witnessed it.” I walked out and sat next to Jack on the bed, laying my head on his shoulder.

“Where’s your air mattress?” I asked.

He laughed. “I kinda popped it the other day when I jumped on it.” I laughed at him. “You can bunk with me though right here,” he patted the bed. I laid down, sprawling my legs across Jack.

“Night,” I smiled. I was almost asleep when I felt Jack pull the covers over me and crawl beside me. His arm was wrapped securely around my waist, and his face was pressed into the back of my neck.

It wasn’t unusual for Jack and I to act so close together, but this wasn’t the usual. I rolled over, knowing he was still awake and looked at him.

“Sorry, didn’t think it was gonna bother you,” Jack said nervously.

“It wasn’t, it just wasn’t usual for you,” I grabbed his hand and wrapped it back around me. “Goodnight, Jack,” I cuddled into his chest and fell back asleep.

It felt like I had just fallen asleep when I felt a body crash onto me. I groaned and rolled to push them off.

“Wake up!” Jack screamed. I flipped him off and shoved my head under a pillow. There was a moment of silence, then I heard them count to three and felt a fair of hands lock onto my ankles and a pair on my wrist and set me on the floor. I opened my eyes to see Jack and Alex, grinning like idiots.

I rolled my eyes and got off the floor with the assistance of Jack. “You guys suck.”

“Come on, let’s go swimming!” Jack squealed.

“Dude, I just woke up.” He gave me the puppy dog eyes. “Fine, I’ll be back over in a few minutes,” I sighed and walked back to my house. There was a note on the door.

Devon, your father and I went on a little vacation for a week or two. If you forgot to grab your key last night, then you’re in trouble, because we didn’t leave one. Maybe Joyce will let you spend the night there. –Mom

Well this was going to be an interesting week or two.