You Saved Me

“Jessica was so cute Friday night. It sucks that you couldn’t stay for our impromptu sleepover. She wouldn’t stop talking about how Dave asked her to homecoming during half time.” Steph said, walking towards Econ with Brittany after lunch.

They ended up eating lunch together everyday so far since they first met. Along with Katie, the girl Samantha from their physics class and Whitney from Econ. Jessica was in a different lunch period than they were.

They all were seniors, which meant that if Brittany actually stayed next year, for her last year of high school, she wouldn’t know anyone.

Everyone she befriended in the short time of a week, thanks to Steph, were all seniors.

Maybe I could graduate early. I have all the necessary credits except for one more year of science and math and of course a semester of Economics.

“I heard all about it in Gym class.” Brittany said with a laugh, thinking back to Jessica rambling on about how during half time he went out into the middle of the football field when the band was playing and asked through a microphone if she would go to Homecoming with him in October.

Jessica ended up dropping her other gym class and got placed into Brittany’s. Juniors and Seniors have a lot of inter-mixed classes here, like Math, Gym, Econ…all the elective classes basically, which happened to be Brittany’s whole schedule. Also, it helped that she was placed in all higher classes because she was really good in school. Except for History. She dropped that. She didn’t need it to pass high school since she had enough credits, so in exchange she got a study hall. Which was nice. She had a feeling she would be hanging out with Steph and the girls a lot.

“That’s right. I forgot that she was in your gym class now. Along with a Mr. Joe Jonas.” Steph said, her voice going a little deeper, like she was telling a secret when saying that Joe was in her gym class.

“What about him?” Brittany asked casually, not that there was anything she had to hide. It wasn’t like she ever held more than a 2 minute conversation with the boy.

“Nothing…just thought something was there. He is really cute. And famous…” Steph drug out, trying to see if that changed Brittany’s reaction about him at all.

“He’s famous? For what?” Brittany asked urgently, already seeing the Econ class coming into view at the end of the hallway.

“He’s in a band with his brothers. Also just got back from filming a movie in Canada. I thought you knew and was just playing hard to get.” Steph said, sounding astonished that Brittany didn’t know that he was famous.

When you’re running all the time from a psycho killer and trying to keep your identity hidden, it kinda takes you away from all the gossip of Hollywood.

“What band?” Brittany asked, seeing the back of his head disappear through the doorway and then felt stupid for not realizing that such a gorgeous face as his would be famous. She should have at least guessed that he was model of some sort.

“The Jonas Brothers. Their really good too. I have all of their CDs if you want to listen to them sometime.” Steph said, stopping outside the door of the classroom when Brittany pulled on her arm.

“Why isn’t anyone flipping out then? Isn’t that what normal people do? Flip out when they see a celebrity?”

“Well yeah. But this has been his school on and off for the last couple of years. We’re just kinda accustomed to it and the freshman are briefed about it at orientation not to scream from him. That’s the reason why he choose a private school. To have a somewhat normal life. His brother, Nick, the second youngest is home schooled though. He doesn’t feel comfortable with the whole, public or private school thing. And Frankie, the youngest, is in public school. He’s such a cutie and a ham. He loves the attention. I swear, the boys fans like him the best. I know I do, other than Kevin.” Steph said, getting a small smile across her face but was quickly wiped away when the bell rang, making both of them jump from the loudness.

They both scrambled through the doorway to get into the class and took their seats that they had sat in from the first day of school.

“You’re late girls.” Ms. Meyer said in a false upset voice. There was no way that women could ever not be happy.

“Sorry Ms. Meyer. It won’t happen again.” Steph quickly said and threw a smile at her while Brittany nodded her head in agreement.

She turned slightly in her seat, like she dropped something and shot a look up at Joe who had a giant smile on his face, just trying to see if she might recognize him at all, but failed.

She smiled nervously back at him and then shot back up into her seat, ready to take notes for the day.

Ms. Meyer gave a brief introduction of what their notes would be about and then turned the lights off and started reading off of the projector what she already had written on there and clearing up any questions that some students were asking along the way.

When Mrs. Meyer turned her back, a little piece of paper flew over Brittany’s shoulder and landed right in the middle of her notebook.

What the hell?

She opened it up as quietly and quickly as possible and read in neat printed handwriting :

So you found out?

She knew exactly who it was from.

Joe.

She couldn’t help but smirk slightly before writing back : yeah, but how did you know that I knew? And why didn’t you just tell me yourself?

She tucked it into her hand so that when she reached up to make it look like she was scratching her head, he could grab it swiftly.

With a few minutes and another time when Ms. Meyer turned her back to the class again, the paper flew over her shoulder and landed on her notebook again.

You gave me the look. And why would I tell you? I thought you already knew and were just cool about it.

The look? I’m sorry. What does the look, look like? And even if I did know beforehand, what’s it to you?

She couldn’t help but laugh slightly after passing over the note to him, at her question.

The smile. I’ve learned that smile over the years. So…?

So? So what? What the hell does that mean? So instead of trying to figure out what he meant, she asked.

So what?

Aren’t you going to ask me out or gawk at me or do something? It is what normal people do when they find out. Aren’t you like everyone else?

She felt somewhat offended that he would think that way about her. Thinking that she was a normal teenage girl that would go crazy over him.

Hardly.

That was all she put and she heard him scoff from behind her, making her turn around and glare at him quickly.

Yeah. Ok.

That was it. It really ticked her off that he didn’t believe that she didn’t care if he was famous or not. She threw it back the paper at him, not even bothering to write anything back or to make sure the teacher wasn’t looking.

What? Can’t stand that I called you out?

No. It pisses me off to know that’s what you think I’m like. You’re you. Famous or not. I don’t care. Not that it matters. This is the longest conversation we’ve had and it’s on paper.

Right as she was about to fold it up, she had one last minute thought to jot down before giving it back to him.

Plus, does it really matter what I think?

She smiled smugly to herself, feeling somewhat good that he had noticed her smile and that she somehow got under his skin, when he clearly got under hers.

You’ll have to wait till tomorrow now, won’t you?

He’d written back to her, making her spin around in her seat right after she read it.

She looked at him confused and was about to ask him what that was supposed to mean when the bell rang, silencing and answering her question at the same time.

He smirked at her and then got up from his seat and left the classroom, cool and casual like their conversation didn’t affect him whatsoever.

She stared after him, mouth slightly open and then quickly shoved the paper into her notebook once she saw Stephanie coming over to her.

“What was that all about?” she asked, glancing back and forth between the door and Brittany, as if Joe was there to answer her question if Brittany didn’t.

“Nothing. Just…boasting about himself. He’s famous you know.” Brittany said, making it look like she was busy getting her stuff together when in all reality she couldn’t look at Steph when she lied. She already felt terrible about not even having the poor girl, that befriended her so quickly, not even know her real name, that she actually had a guilty conscious for it.

What was it with this place? Now I can’t even lie to someone’s face anymore and I’m getting feelings that I’ve never gotten before. Oaw Vay! This sucks!

“Ok. So you don’t like him then?” Steph asked cautiously, not really knowing what to make of the answer since Brittany had looked away.

“Of course not. I never liked him. Just a…friendly acquaintance is all. Let’s get to physics.” Brittany said quickly, trying to make it look like they needed to rush in order to make it on time, only because she wanted to avoid the rest of Stephs questions.

><

Surprisingly, Brittany was starting to make more friends as the week came to an end, causing her to have more friends she couldn’t have ever dreamed of having in the two weeks she was at school so far. She defiantly underestimated how popular her friend Stephanie really was.

It was like she ruled the school and Brittany was slowly but surely sharing the reign with her and Jessica.

Joe hadn’t forgotten his unspoken promise of telling her if it really mattered what she thought of him, and his answered shocked her.

She thought he would have been a cowardly boy and tried to find the easy way out and say, No. But that wasn’t the case at all.

What you think of me matters more with each day I know you.

She had read it off of the little piece of paper that he had shoved in her locker.

This was bad. It was really bad. The longer that he knew her, the more he cared what she thought of him. Which meant the longer he knows her, the more he cares or likes about her. This was worse than she thought it could have been which was why she tried to avoid him at all cost for the rest of last week.

But she couldn’t think about that at the moment. She needed to concentrate on the game of tennis that she was playing, and as Jessica as her partner, she was really going to have to concentrate. She may be good on a volleyball court, but she sucked on a tennis court. And it didn’t help that she was talking excitedly about the football game that all four of the girls went to last Friday. It was a close game to say the least.

The 4 girls decided that they would go to each of the high school’s home games. They basically became the teams cheerleaders, just from a different school.

And she also happened to be learn quite a bit about football from the last game. Like how many points touchdowns were really worth and why most of the time teams don’t go for a two-point conversion compared to the kick.

And to make it slightly better, she was learning it all from guys who were actually patient enough to teach a girl about a manly sport. Specifically Will. He was always the one willing to teach her something new about football, shoving whoever was sitting closest to her at the time out of the way to talk to her.

She couldn’t help but blush every time he smiled at her, but for some reason, it didn’t have the same effect as another boy’s smile.

Don’t think about him! He’s famous. That’s bad for you. He’d bring you more attention if you were to hang out with him.

“So, after school today we were thinking, and when I say we, I mean Steph, Katie and myself, and of course you, that we should try out of the play."

Private schools were defiantly weird. They didn’t have a lot of extra curricular activities you could join to do and they only had ones that went with the curriculum. Like, since there was an acting class, there would be plays. Since there was a volleyball section in all the gym classes you could choose from, there was a volleyball team.

But no football, soccer and track. Even though it was in the curriculum. At least the soccer and football were. Soccer and football apparently brought violence and you couldn’t really teach people how to run for track, so….therefore since no part of curriculum, no team.

“That sounds fun. I didn’t know that any of you were actresses.” Brittany said and then served the ball over to the net to the opposing team while Jessica babbled on about how they weren’t very good, but it would give them something to do during Volleyballs off season.

Coach Turner, he refused to be called Mr. Turner because he thought that teachers don’t teach sports, Coach’s do, blew his whistle, signaling it was time for the losing team to move to the next court to their right.

Brittany had found out she wasn’t bad at playing tennis, well good enough to only have had to move once with Jessica, putting them on the 3rd place court. Coach turner said that for each team that didn’t move around much would get a chance to be on the 1st place court in due time to see how well they were and that would determine the tennis champions.

Brittany really didn’t care though. She loved gym class. Even the sweating wasn’t gross to her. She never really got to go out and jog, because that could put her in danger, so whenever she had the option of gym class, she always took the most physical one to keep her in shape.

“Well, well. Look what we have here. Seems to me that someone isn’t participating in class today as much as she would if it were volleyball.” Rose, a skinny blonde haired girl said, making her little lemming, Mary, next to her laugh evilly.

Rose was the only person that Brittany didn’t befriend. Why you ask? Because she was the child a Satan. She was a really mean person, always getting into people’s business and spreading rumors that were unnecessary. Yeah…Brittany tried to steer clear of people like that. She couldn’t afford rumors to be thrown around about her.

Jessica rolled her eyes and said, “I am participating. I’m just not as good as my partner. Just Like you. I see you’ve got around to almost all the courts except maybe one.” and cast a quick glance towards the court to the right which had the team of Joe and a black haired boy name Jon.

Brittany had to stifle back a laugh at the double meaning behind her friend’s comment.

Rose also happened to be…a slut. She got around to almost all the senior guys at school. And then there was the other stab in Jessica’s words. The ‘one’ she was referring to was the one and only Joseph Jonas. Apparently he didn’t want anything to do with her.

Both girls watched as Rose glared at the two of them and then looked at her friend, Mary, and said, “I think we’re supposed to move one more court down.” and then continued their walking past their court.

Brittany looked at Jessica and then the two busted out laughing and high five-d each other while shaking from their laughter.

“Girls, I don’t see you two playing tennis. Why’s that?” Coach Turner barked at them, making their laugher come to an abrupt halt.

“We scared away our competition. I think we need to play against somebody who’s not afraid.” Jessica said, trying hard to not crack into laughter again.

“Fine.” Coach Turner said, then yelled, “Jonas! Hawks! You play against Coppers and Holly! Janzen and York, you play Burns and Rydell!” and then turned and stalked off to watch the other teams play.

A wave of nervousness washed over Brittany as she saw Joe walking towards her court along with his partner.

“You girls can start. And before I forget….” Joe said and then jogged over towards Jessica and Brittany, slapped Brittany’s swinging hand and Jessica’s hand, already up high, waiting for his high five, “Nice comeback.” and then jogged back over to his side, winking quickly towards Brittany before getting into position for her serve.

Brittany sucked in a deep breath from his wink to try and relax her heartbeat from his smirk and wink combo.

Right as she threw the ball up into the air Mr. Turner blew his whistle again and then yelled, “Since you guys played well today, you get 15 minutes instead of 10 to get ready. Class dismissed.”

Most of the girls cheered, happy that they had extra time to fix themselves. Brittany was cheering, that’s for sure, but not to make herself look ‘pretty.’ She would’ve defiantly lost that game if she had to play against Joe. He would have unknowingly distracted her so much that it would look like him and his partner would’ve been playing against two rocks instead of people.

This was getting bad. Out of control. And that scared Brittany more than ever not being able to have that control. She could only have so much control over her life since she belonged to the W.P.P.. Like who her friends were and her feelings.

What was so damn special about this boy anyways?

I need to know what is about him that makes me….this way. That way I can become immune to it. Like a counter-attack. But…I like the way his winks make me catch my breath and his smiles make me feel like I’m flying. Oh my gosh! This is getting utterly ridiculous. I need to find out and then get a defense to it. It’s the only way.

* * * * *

“Why you little…Mother![b/] She stole my sash!” Katie laughed out, reading from the script that was in her hands.

“She stole my necklace! Gimme it!” Jessica laughed out as well, doubled over in laughter, making Mrs. Creole very upset.

“Girls, Girls….Let’s give our dearest Cinderella time to explain.” Steph said in an authoritive and yet wispy voice towards Jessica and Katie and then turned, folding her arms across her chest and glaring at Brittany.

“I…it was….I’m sorry. I thought they didn’t want them anymore. They said to get rid of them….” Brittany stammered out, looking nervous and scared as Cinderella was supposed to look.

Yes, she was auditioning for her schools play.

Stupid right?! Especially if you don’t want or need attention drawn to you. Well, those girls, which she calls her friends, can be very persuasive. They changed their mind and said they were only going to go and watch people audition. But then they changed it an hour later saying that they were gonna sign up for stage crew, which Brittany didn’t object to. Stage crew meant that you were never seen. At least, not by the audience. Plus, she would sign up for something that involved very little of her time, like lights or something. Something that she could learn to do three days before they performed. But…nope. The girls decided last minute, as in walking to the auditorium, that it would be fun to audition for a part in the play.

They quickly chose a scene that they all could be in and then decided who would audition for who…without consulting Brittany at all.

Jessica and Katie insisted that they wanted to be the step sisters, just so that they could yell and throw hissy fits. They thought it would be fun to try. And Steph joined in on their thought process of being mean, making her the evil step mother and leaving Cinderella, the lead character, for Brittany.

Then to actually get Brittany worked up enough and want to prove that she was a good actress they said, that it was obvious that she liked Joe.

And she thought she’d hid that so well. Even from herself but apparently that wasn’t good enough.

“I want my necklace back!” Jessica yelled and then stepped toward Brittany and pretended to rip off a necklace that was around her neck while Brittany jumped, acting as if she really did rip the necklace off.

“And I want my sash!” Katie yelled once Jessica took a step back, allowing her to be in front of Brittany now and taking her turn at pretending to rip away a fake sash.

Then Katie and Jessica started to pretending together they were tearing away at the make believe dress that Brittany was wearing while Brittany turned around in circles, letting gasps and muffled, “No’s” come from her as if watching a dress getting destroyed right in front of her eyes.

Stephanie stood off to the side, a smug smile coming across her face as she lifted her chin into the air a little bit higher, trying to look incompetent with her arms still folded across her chest.

“End Scene!” Mrs. Creole cried out, tears in her eyes, making Brittany doubt her acting capabilities.

“You were wonderful!” she cried out, clapping her hands briskly together and flitting up the stage steps to Stephanie and cupping her face with her hands, leaving a little bit of space though to not make contact.

“And You!” she said after a couple of seconds and then flitted across the stage to Brittany, doing the cupping thing with space still between Brittany’s face and her hands and said, “You’re our new Cinderella! You’re Brilliant!”

Fear ran through Brittany’s body.

Fear at the fact that this was supposed to be something fun and stupid to do with her friends, not actually something serious.

But a little bit of happiness ran through her body right afterwards. She’d never have gotten this opportunity if Daniel and Margaret got rid of her in boring old Oklahoma. She’d never have gotten to meet Stephanie and Jessica and Katie and all her other friends that she made so quickly.

“But…she can’t be Cinderella! I’m always the lead!” Rose yelled, storming her way up from the audience area and making her way onto the stage.

“Well, I’m sorry. You never really had competition. How about you be her understudy!” Mrs. Creole said, more than asked and then flitted of stage, in a dancing sort of way.

Rose screwed her face into a look of disgust and anger before letting out a sigh of defeat and stomping her way off the stage.

“Well, Mrs. Coppers, would you like to meet you’re Prince Charming? I knew he would be perfect when I first saw him on stage and read two lines.” she gloated about herself, looking up to the ceiling as if it all was coming together perfectly.

“I guess.” Brittany said quietly, trying to figure out a way to get herself out of this mess she created.

“Oh Prince Charming!” Mrs. Creole sang loudly.

“He’s coming. We just had to finish his measurements.” a petite girl with short spiky hair came out and said quickly before disappearing into the back of the stage.

Jessica, Steph, and Katie all ran to Brittany’s side to quietly congratulate her about getting the lead when they heard a male voice say, “What‘s up Mrs. Creole?”

Brittany turned around to look at her Prince Charming and nearly had a heart attack.

“Mr. Jonas, I’d like you to meet your Cinderella.” Mrs. Creole said happily, and then clapped her hands together saying how well we looked together, contrasting each other perfectly and what not.

This CAN NOT be happening!