Dirty Journalism

One Month Later

Study hall was usually a class for completing homework, but Max decided to sleep instead. He’d been doing a lot of sleeping lately, as he found it was the only way to not have to talk to people. He was tired of being asked questions… Why did she leave? Are you guys broken up? Did she die from her headaches? I’m available, do you want me to take her place? No, sleeping was much, much better.

Max jerked awake when his phone beeped. After rifling through his bag, he pulled it out to see he had one new text.

From: Jackie cell
Hey, Maxwell. I’m outside.

Max stared at it for almost a full minute, shocked. “Mr. Leopold!” the study hall overseer said sharply. “Put that cell phone away this instant!”

Max obliged happily by throwing the phone into his bag and sprinting out the door. The overseer yelled one more time, “Mr. Leopold!” But Max was already halfway down the hallway.

He tore through the halls, faster than he’d ever run down the basketball court or in a track meet. He narrowly avoided knocking Miss Magaña over as he pushed through the doors into the atrium.

Max never realized how long the atrium was. The front entrance never seemed to get any closer. Max finally reached the big oak doors, flung them open, and–

“Fuck!”

The heavy door collided with something on the other side, causing that something to fall backwards and loudly shout a not-so-delightful expletive. That something was Jackie.

Max stood shocked for a moment. “Shit! I’m sorry!” he said quickly, crouching down beside her. Jackie held her hands to her head with a pained expression on her face, so Max added, “Are you okay? Can you see? Do I look like a moose?”

Jackie chuckled into her hands. “You are going to be the death of me, Maxwell.”

Max smiled and moved her hands from her face, examining the damage. He could already see a bruise forming on her forehead and there was a scratch where the skin had been broken. “Geez,” he muttered.

Jackie sat up slowly, her face only inches apart from Max’s. “What do you have against my head?” she asked with a smile.

Max changed the subject. “Why are you here?”

The smile on Jackie’s face faltered as she said, “We didn’t really end on a positive note.”

Max nodded, his gaze on the ground. “Yeah. You hung up on me.”

“I’m sorry, I just–“ Jackie began, but Max cut her off.

“Don’t be sorry,” he said, repeating the words Jackie had once told him before kissing him in the halls.

Jackie gave a small smile. “I should have told you I wasn’t coming back.”

“But, why are you here now?” Max pressed.

Jackie bit her lip. “I… well… I wanted to give you a proper goodbye… because I’m going to Paris.”

Max stared at her. “You–you’re… what? When?”

“This afternoon,” Jackie sighed. “I’m spending a semester at a girls’ boarding school there. Mom’s idea. She thinks I should put my six and a half years of French to use.”

“Ah.”

“And… I was kicked out of my school in Nashville.”

“What? Why?”

Jackie shrugged. “It was a fancy private school, and I wasn’t doing my homework.”

“Oh.” Max, realizing they were still crouched on the ground, stood up, grabbing her hand and pulling her with him. “So… you haven’t been doing your homework. You haven’t forgotten, have you? Is that why?”

Jackie sighed and folded her arms across her chest. “It’s harder than I thought it would be.”

They stood in silence, until Max changed the subject once again. “You grew,” he commented.

Jackie laughed. “It’s the heels,” she said, gesturing to her feet. She had on the red pumps she wore to the party all those months ago–the party where they had kissed for the first time… albeit drunkenly.

“I remember those…” Max said slowly.

“They still smell like espresso vodka,” Jackie said with a laugh. “No thanks to you.”

“I wouldn’t take giving you that vodka back in a million years. It was the reason you made out with me,” Max reasoned.

Jackie shifted her feet uncomfortably. “Yeah,” was all she said, though Max saw her smile.

“So, you came all this way to say goodbye to me?”

“Not just to you.”

Max reached for the door as he said, “Let me go get Stella, Lexi, and the guys–”

“Not them!” Jackie said quickly, grabbing his arm. “I already had to say bye to Stella and Lexi once. I’ll email them when I get to Paris.”

Max frowned. “Then who else do you want to say bye to? Dina?”

Jackie smiled sarcastically. “Oh yes, I’ll miss her dearly. Actually, I wanted to, uh, see the wall. One last time. I’m going to have to do homework in Paris, so… maybe this will help.”

“Looking at the wall won’t help you forget,” Max pointed out.

“Forgetting was a stupid plan,” Jackie said decisively. “Getting over it might be smarter. Will you go with me?”

Max smirked. “If it gets me out of study hall…”

Jackie hit his arm, but smiled. “I hate you.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Max stared in amazement at the words Jackie had just scratched into the wall of Room 304. They were lying under the bed, staring at the familiar carved words, but something new had just been added.

Michaela + Charlie 2001-forever
To Michaela– I will love you forever. Love Charlie. July 24, 2002
I miss you. Love Jackie.

“You think that’s good?” Jackie asked, her voice cracking.

“I bet she’d love it.” Max leaned over and kissed her forehead.

Jackie looked at Max oddly, before saying, “That hurt.”

“What?”

“You kissed the spot on my head that you just hit with the front door. It hurt.”

“Kissing it is supposed to make it feel better.”

“Well, your kissing sucks.”

“You know you told me once that I was incredibly good at it! Then again, you were shit-faced.”

“If I haven’t mentioned it recently, I hate you.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Max and Jackie once again stood on the front steps of James Academy. Slowly, Jackie reached down and removed her red heels.

“Here,” she said, handing them to Max. “Remember me.”

Max laughed. “Your shoes?”

“They’re killing my feet. I wore them for you.”

Max grinned, but his smile lessened when he approached the topic he knew they needed to discuss. “So… I’ve been confused the past month. What are we? Where do we stand?”

Slowly, Jackie leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. Max dropped her shoes and made to move his arms around her waist, but she pulled away before he could.

“When I get back,” she whispered, “we’ll see.”

“What about now?” Max asked as he moved toward her, confused. Jackie took a step back and shook her head.

“Not now, not before I leave,” she said sadly. She gave him a small smile before pressing her lips against his cheek, lingering there much longer than necessary. Pulling back, she walked down the steps, barefoot. Max watched her back.

“French guys are sleazebags!” Max said hurriedly, before she could get away. “Stay away from them!”

Jackie turned around and laughed at him. “I can’t make any promises. What if one of them offers me a fancy flavor of vodka?”

“Tell him to shove his foot up his stupid French ass.”

“As long as no one punches me, I’ll be fine. Because the only guys I like are the ones who make my head hurt way more than it should.”

Jackie pointed to her bruised forehead, turned around, and walked down the street. Max watched her go, and when she was just about to turn the corner, he shouted, “I still hate you!”

Jackie smiled. “The feeling is mutual, Maxwell!” she yelled back.

She turned the corner and was out of sight.

THE END