Headfirst Into the Deep

“If he bothers you again let me know. I’ll make him pay for it.” Will’s last words of the night replayed in my head. I assured him we were only talking when I needed to use the bathroom and he was finishing a cigarette. Will didn’t buy it.
That night I laid in bed still thinking of Ryan and his tousled hair. His blue eyes were full of some type of remorse. He seemed to be perfectly fine but some part of me knew he wasn’t.
On Saturday I hung out with my friend Caitlyn from Our Lady of Angels.
“I cannot believe you transferred!” She said as we walked out of my house. Caitlyn had a pixie haircut and she seemed to run on pure sugar. If pixies were real I figured Caitlyn would be the closest thing to what they actually looked like. She was tiny and when she walked it was like she danced on air. She was amusing to watch sometimes because she talked a mile a minute. We’ve been friends since middle school. We were catholic schoolgirls our whole lives. When she found out I wanted to transfer she was extremely upset. She even managed some tears to convince me to consider staying but those could not keep me in the medieval school system.
“How was your first day? Tell me everything!” She said as we got into her car.
“Nothing happened,” I muttered putting my seatbelt on. She arched an eyebrow at me. Then I spilled everything about the party to her.
“What does this Ryan Malone look like?” She asked as we pulled into the mall parking lot.
“He’s gorgeous,” I said leaning against the seat as we parked.
“I want to meet this kid! Does he have a Facebook or something so I can cyber-stalk him?” She asked excitedly as she pulled into a spot. “Am I okay out my back?” She asked me. I poked my head out the back to see if she was in all the way. People were walking by. That’s when I noticed the group of boys who stood out from the people in the parking lot. It was the Malone’s. Ryan was there with his cigarette in hand.
“Holy crap!” I stuck my head back into the car almost immediately.
“Was it that shitty?” Caitlyn asked.
“No, Ryan and his friends are here. In this parking lot.” I told her closing my eyes. “Can we go see a movie somewhere else?”
“No!” She shouted. “Let’s follow them.” She said. This made me jump up and almost hit the dashboard but my seatbelt saved me from hitting anything.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I said.
“Virgin Mary finally said a bad word!” She laughed. “Come on, it’ll be fun. I have sunglasses and we can buy hats! We can be like real life spies!” She started going on about her lifelong dream of being a spy.

~*~

I don’t know why I agreed to do this but we were now sitting in the food court awkwardly watching these boys hit on women. Before this the 4 boys spent twenty minutes clowning around in express. But Ryan just looked at his phone in a daze.
“They are all hot. The things I would do to them…” Caitlyn started.
“Oh don’t start,” I waved my hand in the air. “I’m going to get a drink.” I got up and walked over to the nearest concession. When I turned back around with my water bottle in hand the table we were sitting at was empty and my bag was not in my chair anymore. I looked around and whisper yelled, “Cait!” But no answer. I looked for her green beanie hat but it was nowhere in sight. I was wearing a black fedora with sunglasses. Then I spotter her brown short hair at the table of boys we were stalking. She was actually talking to the Malone’s. I hid behind a big column and I slipped the sunglasses off. Of my face and help them in my hand. Breathe. They’re only people. Other girls stared at them and giggled as they watched but they intently talked to Caitlyn amused by what she was saying. What could she possible be saying?
I walked over, fedora on head, heart racing, and palms sweating.
“Hello Jacqueline,” Ryan said smoothly.
“Hey,” I said quietly. “Hey Caitlyn,” I said in a I’m-going-to-kill-you tone.
“Hey Jacky. When you got up I went to throw something out and got into a conversation with these guys. But you know them?” She asked playing coy.
“I know Ryan,” I mumbled.
“Well I’m very sorry to hear that,” A boy who looked a bit like Ryan said as he smiled and put his hand out, “I’m Bennett.” Bennett had the dark hair but his smile was warm and welcoming. Though their eyes were similar. Both blue but Ryan’s reminded me of the ocean.
“I’m Jacky,” I said taking his hand.
“Nice to meet you Jacky.” He said.
“I’m Taylor King,” Another guy said to me nodding his head. He was blonde with blue eyes. His arms bulged from beneath his polo.
Finally the last boy introduced himself, “I’m Marcus Cruz,” He smiled. Marcus was obviously some type of Spanish descent.
“Sit ladies,” Bennett said nodding to the empty metal seats and Caitlyn wasted no time. I just wanted to go crawl in a hole.
“Where are you from?” Caitlyn asked.
“We all live in Monty Hill,” Bennett said. That is the gated community on the opposite side of town. Obviously they were rich. I know my family had some money but we lived in a normal neighborhood. The closet thing to a gate was a white picket fence that even I could climb over. I never understood why people paid to be locked in a place. They say it’s for security and to keep the “trash” out. But I live in a secure neighborhood with no trash anywhere to be found, shame on them for wasting their money. I laughed a little at this thought. They all just looked at me. Ryan raised an eyebrow at me.
“So how do you know my little brother here?” Bennett asked referring to Ryan.
“I go to Valor,” I said.
“Really? I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t ever forget a pretty face,” Marcus interjected.
“She just transferred,” Ryan said defensively.
“Oh, she’s the transfer!” Taylor said.
“What’s wrong with being a transfer?” Caitlyn asked putting her head on her hand.
“Nothing is,” Bennett said. “She’s just cousins to one of the most pretentious douchebags in the world.”
“Watch it,” Ryan muttered, “That’s a sore subject.” Then he looked up and smiled at me as if I should be in on some joke. They are talking about my family. That is no joke to me.
“My cousin isn’t a pretentious douchebag. The only pretentious douchebag I see here is the one I’m looking at,” I said looking directly at Bennett who looked extremely surprised I said anything to him.
“Do you know who I am?” Bennett asked as I stood up.
“A pretentious douchebag as I just said. Nice meeting you all,” I said sarcastically. This made Ryan’s smile widen. This was the point I walked away with Caitlyn shuffling in toe.
“I cannot believe you just said that Jack!” She said to me as we walked briskly for the nearest exit.
“HEY JACKY WAIT!” I heard a voice call behind us. I turned around and it was Ryan jogging after us with my sunglasses in hand. The idea of him jogging in jeans and a fitted black t-shirt in a crowded mall didn’t faze me as weird for a second because he was just so perfect. “You forgot these,” He said. I took them out of his hands and mumbled a quick thank you.
“I’m sorry about what they said. It is a little bombarding..” He started.
“Hey Ryan!” A girl’s high voice said. Then the blonde girl from my first period walked over to us with shopping bags in hand. She smiled at Ryan and gave him a quick hug.
“Hey Scarlett,” He said looking at the floor.
“Hi,” She said looking at Caitlyn and then me. She looked me up and down. “We have first period together right? Jacky Right?”
“Yea,” I nodded.
“I’m Scarlett Johnson,” She said. I bit my lip. This was Ryan’s former ex-girlfriend that Will’s friends were talking about yesterday. She pushed a piece of blonde hair back with a perfectly manicured fingernail. We stood there awkwardly for a few moments. “Well I really should be going, Bridgette is waiting for me!” She said as she walked away. Then she turned around and added quickly, “Ryan, I’ll call you later okay?” She smiled too. She was extremely pretty. She seemed nice. I couldn’t hate her. Ryan just watched her and when she was gone he shook his head.
“Mental bitch,” he muttered under his breath.
“I’m going to go,” I said grabbing Caitlyn’s arm and turned away.
“Oh and you need my number,” he said making me turn around.
“Why do I need that?” I asked him.
“Well… um… Mr. M wants you to get caught up on chem notes. Remember we have chemistry?” He asked.
“Oh yea,” I shook my head and I gave him my IPhone and he added his number in. “I’ll see you.” With that I walked away really quickly.
“Boy, do you have chemistry,” Caitlyn cackled loudly as we walked out of the mall and into the sunset.