Teenage Dirtbag

Jack’s POV
On Monday morning I was picking Haley up for school. She wanted to tell me about her and Alex’s date, which I did of course want to know every single detail about… Not. I pulled over in front of her house and honked. Within a few seconds Haley appeared in the doorway and she made her way over to my car.
“Hey you!” she exclaimed enthusiastically.
“Well, someone’s had a good night” I replied laughing.
Haley was hardly ever this happy in the morning. She wasn’t exactly a morning person. Haley opened the door to the passenger seat and got in.
“I sure did” she replied.
“So what did you do?” I asked.
I did not exactly want to hear the details, but Haley would probably save those for Cassadee anyway.

“We went to see 88 Minutes and went to some pub Alex liked” she replied while I started the car and drove off.
“Cool” I replied, while focusing on the road.
“We kissed” she continued.
“Oh really?” I asked grinning. “You’re going pretty fast don’t you think?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Well, a few weeks ago you didn’t even like Alex as a friend.” I answered.
“So? You don’t seem to have a problem with kissing people you’ve never seen before at parties” she protested.
“Yeah, but I’m not you. If it feels right, fine, but it’s not like you to jump into a relationship” I shrugged.
“We’re not even in a relationship” Haley stated.
“Yet” I answered. “You will be soon if it were up to Alex. And if you want to be, that’s fine, but I do think you should think about it.”
“What are you, my father?” she asked, slightly irritated.
“Oh, the irony” I replied skeptically.
I was pretty sure that, over the past few years, I had been more protective and caring towards Haley than her father had been. Haley sighed.
“I’ll think about it okay?” she answered. “Here I thought you were the one trying to hook me and Alex up.”
“I was, but only if you really want to. I mean, he’s the first guy you’ve liked since Jay and considering how that ended I don’t think you should rush into something. And if you’re not sure, you shouldn’t lead Alex on” I explained.
“What, you think Alex is gonna beat me up?” Haley asked skeptically.
“Of course not, he knows I’ll kick his ass if he does, but that doesn’t mean he’ll never hurt you and I want you to be sure you can handle that. I don’t want you to start… you know, cutting and stuff again” I muttered.
“Jack, I love you for being so protective of me, really, but I’m a big girl” Haley answered. “And besides, I promised you I wouldn’t do that again.”
I was silent for a moment. She had promised it and I had never caught her doing it since. I probably shouldn’t worry so much, Alex won’t hurt her, right?
“But I’ll think about it, maybe you’re right” Haley interrupted my thoughts.
“Okay” I answered, as I drove onto the school parking lot.
Haley and I went inside, to find Alex and Tay sitting at a corner table. We sat down next to them.
“Hey!” Alex exclaimed happily, probably not so much because of me.
“Hey” Haley and I both replied.
I sat down next to Tay while Haley sat down next to Alex.
“Oh Jack, I got a job for you” Alex said.
“Whatever it is, do it yourself” I replied.
“Oh okay, then I’ll just go bring the love of your life her backstage pass” Alex teased.
“On second thoughts, I’ll do it” I replied quickly.
“That’s what I thought” Alex replied and he handed me Aimee’s backstage pass.
I searched the cafeteria for her. I spotted her on the other side of the room, sitting all by herself. Thank god, I didn’t feel like walking up to her sitting with all of her friends. I made my way towards her. When I got closer I noticed she had earphones in.
“Aimee?” I asked a bit louder than usual so that she would hopefully hear me, when I was standing next to the table.
She did indeed look up and took out one of her earphones.
“Oh hey” she answered smiling lightly. “Jack right?”
I nodded. “I have your backstage pass for the festival Saturday.”
“Oh right, thanks!” she answered.
I handed her the pass. I wanted to say something, but I didn’t know what.
“You’re excited?” she asked.
For a moment I didn’t know what she was talking about. Then I realized I had just given her the backstage pass so she was probably talking about the festival. I’m such an idiot.
“Yeah, it’ll be great. A good way to get more people to know us” I replied.
“Yeah definitely” she replied, taking out her other earphone and pausing her music. I saw the art work of Dookie by Green Day on her MP3 player.
“You listen to Green Day?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yeah they’re cool.”
“What else do you listen to?” I asked curiously.
“Anything really. Pop, punk, country, I just love music” she replied.
“I didn’t know that” I muttered.
“Yeah well, we don’t exactly know each other, now do we?” she replied laughing.
It wasn’t a mean laugh though, like she was making fun of me.
“That’s true” I replied, smiling a bit awkwardly.
The school bell then rang. I would have biology now, which I didn’t have with Aimee.
“Hey, I have to go, but I’ll see you Saturday then? I promised Zack I’d be there all day” she said, while getting up.
“Yeah see you then” I answered.
“Cool” she said smiling.
Aimee then walked away and I turned to walk back to my friends who were still waiting for me, probably because they wanted to know what Aimee and I were talking about.
“Took you long enough” Haley said irritable.
I raised my eyebrow. Someone was suddenly in a bad mood.
“Yeah well, we talked” I answered.
“About…?” Tay asked.
“The festival… Green Day” I replied.
“She knows Green Day?” Alex asked surprised.
“Apparently” I answered. “Shall we go to class now?”
I had biology with Alex, so the two of us headed for the class room, parting ways with Tay and Haley.
“Do you know what’s going on with Haley?” Alex asked.
“What do you mean?” I replied, looking at him.
“Well, yesterday everything was cool and now she’s acting all weird” he replied.
Damn, I must’ve scared her off earlier. Or she realized I was right and she didn’t want to be with Alex and didn’t want to lead him on. I figured I shouldn’t say what I told Haley, just in case she does indeed not want to be with Alex.
“No, I don’t know man” I lied, looking straight ahead since Alex would be able to tell I was lying if I looked at him. “You should probably just talk to her later.”
We had arrived at the classroom. I should probably talk to Haley after school, before we head for Rian’s to practice. Well, those are worries for later.