Forbidden

An unforeseeable future. This was something Jessa Davis wished for constantly during her day, and also something she was certain she’d never get.

It was 5:00 in the morning when the alarm clock rang in her eardrums; a broken record of constant buzzing until she finally brought herself out of her peaceful slumber and hit the off button. This was predictable.

The time read 5:30 when Jessa was done showering, getting dressed, and straightening her hair. Jessa's hair was something like a prized possession to her; though, she wasn’t the type to boast, so she usually kept that particular sentiment to herself.

“Jessa!”

The teenager grumbled at the screaming voice of her mother, a predictability that has occurred every morning since the first day of high school.

“Yes?” Jessa called back, opening the bathroom door and standing in the doorway so she could listen better.

“It’s already 5:35. You know the drill, seeing as we’ve been going through this since sophomore year. Get your body out of the bathroom, put your shoes on, and let’s go!”

“I’m coming! Jesus,” She replied, muttering the last of it to herself.

She headed out of the bathroom and proceeded downstairs to see her mother standing next to the front door, sporting an unamused expression. Jessa tried her hardest to hold in a chuckle, as she sat down with her shoes and put them on.

“It’s not funny, Jessa. If I get fired because I’m waiting around for you to get up and get out of the house, you best believe you’re going to be serving some sort of punishment,” Donna growled. Jessa sighed and moved from the chair to pick up her bag from the counter. “I’ve told you hundreds of times not to leave your stuff just lying around like that, too. One of these times I’m not going to be so lenient and it’ll end up in the trash, along with your school books.”

Jessa wanted to chime in a smart remark along the lines of enlightening her to the fact that she would be the one to pay for the lost books, but decided to keep it in and thew her bag over her shoulder. Donna rolled her eyes at her daughter and started out the front door, Jessa following and closing it.

Even with all the stress and pressure Jessa received from her parent’s, she couldn’t be biased in saying that they did pretty much buy her whatever she wanted; her car is one of those things. It was definitely something to marvel over. It was cherry red, shiny, and in pristine condition. Everyone who lived in Jessa's community of houses had the newest edition of automobiles, and her own family was no different. It was a big, giant mess of cliche and Jessa found herself to be one of the only ones who hated the predictability of it all.

“Make sure you come straight home after school, young lady. If you miss another homework assignment, you know it’ll destroy your whole GPA and that just cannot happen,” Donna said as they stood in the driveway.

“I know, Mom. I’ll come right home, I promise.”

“Do you have a date with Scott this weekend?”

Jessa rolled her eyes; it was almost as if her mother was the one dating Scott and not her. She was completely enthralled with him, and it annoyed Jessa to no end.

“I’d hardly call it a date, but yes. We’re supposed to be going to a party at one of his friend’s houses.”

“All right, well maybe if you do all your homework and act decently for the rest of the week, you can go. Tell Scott I say hello when you get to school, too.”

“Will do. I’ll see you tonight.”

Donna walked down the driveway to her car without saying another word, and Jessa rolled her eyes behind her mother’s back as she climbed into her own car. Donna rarely said I love you to her daughter anymore. Ever since things changed between Philip and Jessa, things have changed between Donna and Jessa, too. The latter wasn’t expecting it to be this way, but it is, and she tried her very hardest not to let it affect her as much anymore.

Jessa put the car in reverse and moved to look through the back window as her mother pulled out of the driveway and she quickly followed, their cars heading in two separate directions as Donna went right and Jessa went left.

The drive to school was probably the most peaceful time of the day for Jessa. The early morning air was crisp and cool, and there was barely anything to plague her seemingly always cluttered mind. It was nice, always had been. Unlike any other morning, though, she was startled out of her peaceful drive by a catchy tune she recognized as ‘Sweet Child o’Mine’. A groan left her lips as she arched her back a little in order to pull her phone from the side pocket of her jeans. She read the name on the screen and grinned a little as she answered it.

“You just can’t wait to see me, can you?” Jessa asked the girl on the other line.

“Oh. My. God. Jessa, you have to get here like now!” She shrieked into Jessa's ear.

“Why, what’s going on?”

“Your crazy ass boyfriend is about to go start a fight with one of those scummy, drug-dealer kids!”

“Wait, wait, what? Why is he doing that? Never mind, I’m pulling into the school parking lot right now so just tell Scott to hold on and I’ll be right there. Where are you guys at?”

“We’re near his locker right now but he’s saying he’s about to go walk down the hallway and start beating the crap out of this other kid.”

“All right, I’m parking and getting out right now so I’ll be there in like two minutes. Don’t let him do anything!”

“I’ll try.”

“Okay, bye.”

Jessa hung up and retrieved her bag from the passenger seat before exiting the car, clicking the lock on the keychain, and breaking into a jog toward the school. Her idiotic boyfriend was always trying to find ways to draw attention to himself, so this particular act of stupidity didn’t really surprise her all that much. The only thing Jessa was a little worried about was the fact that if he was going to start a fight, he would most likely end up seriously hurt. If they were referring to the same druggie kids Jessa thought they were referring to, then there was no doubt in her mind that he’d end up in an emergency room.

Jessa made it to the hallway where she was told everyone would be, and low and behold, there stood a swarm of kids and the only thing able to be heard were heightened voices being spat back and forth, along with shrieks of encouragement. She pushed her way through, most of the kids stepping out of the way for her in knowing who she was and where she placed on the popularity chain.

“Jessa!” The same girl who Jessa had just spoken to minutes before pulled her the rest of the way through when she saw her. Jessa's eyes now had a better view of the events taking place, and she was quick to walk over to her boyfriend, who was getting entirely too out of hand with the heated argument.

“Scott,” Jessa began, as she stood at his side. “What are you doing?”

“This motherfucker right here sold cocaine to my little brother last night. Can you believe that shit?” He growled, pointing over to the other teen standing across from him in the pileup. Jessa recognized him almost immediately, although his name seemed to escape her at that moment.

“Hey, man, he came to me. I was just doing my job. Maybe you should keep a better eye on your brother if you don’t want him buying that shit,” The other replied, his arms flexing with each hand gesture he made to Scott. They were quite big, which Jessa somewhat admired, but other than that, she could just tell what kind of scum he was.

“Maybe if you didn’t choose such a disgusting job then you wouldn’t be in this situation with me right now, DiMera. Regardless of what you say, you’re getting your ass beat today.”

“Don’t make me laugh, kid. If you want to make an attempt to kick my ass right now, I won’t stop you. But maybe you should listen to your girl and leave while you still can.”

Jessa's eyes lifted to meet the other boy’s, and she almost gasped as she saw his staring right back into hers. His hazel eyes, Jessa made a note of, held malice and hate to the whole world. It scared her to no end.

“Yeah, go ahead and stare all you want at this sexy piece of ass next to me. Everyone knows you won’t be getting any of this or any other girl in this school. You might as well go gay like your two faggot friends over there,” Scott said, pointing toward the two other men guys not too far behind DiMera. Jessa wanted to slap Scott silly for talking about her like that; like she was his piece of meat, and making her sound like some slut that gave it up to any guy who passed her way. Not to mention, his use of the word ‘faggot’ was utterly degrading, especially because the guys he had been talking about looked more like brothers than boyfriends.

“Keep running your mouth, kid. I think everyone standing around us right now knows that you won’t do shit. You talk like you’re big and mighty because you’re the quarterback of the football team,” DiMera started, walking toward Scott. “But we all know the pussy you are deep down inside. Come on, I’m standing right here in front of you. Hit me, I dare you, hit me.”

He, Jason DiMera as Jessa came to realize, was now standing right in front of Scott and herself. Jessa could tell Scott was intimidated. Who wouldn’t be? Jason was tough, and obviously ready for a fight if one was thrown at him. Scott wasn’t going to do it, and Jessa realized she should have known that from the beginning.

“You’re lucky I don’t want to lose my scholarship, you crack head, or I’d be all over your ass right now. Come on, guys, let’s go,” Scott muttered, walking back over to where his school bag was left. Jessa still stood in the same spot, though, and let her eyes wander over the man before her. He stared right back, no longer menacing, but she still felt somewhat nervous locked under his scrutiny.

“Jessa, let’s go!”

She jumped a bit at Scott’s tone and snapped out of her daze. She quickly caught up with her descending unit of friends as they pushed their way back through the slowly dying crowd.

“Come when I call you,” Scott growled at his girlfriend. Jessa flashed him a dirty look but held in the string of cures she wanted to spew at him for treating her like his property. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Jason DiMera, still standing in the same spot. She looked back at him and was a little startled at what she saw.

His eyes followed after them, and Jessa tried in earnest to look away, but she found herself unable to, and she couldn’t help but think this was going to be a problem.