In Too Deep

“Jackie, you’re being really immature.”

Jackie continued to forcefully arrange her cosmetics at the bathroom sink as Stella and Lexi stood in the background. She kept her eyes locked downward. “Oh, am I?”

“Yes, you are,” Stella said, rolling her eyes. “Stop being stupid for five minutes and let us explain.”

“What is there to explain?” Jackie asked, turning around and leaning against the sink. “My lovely friend Max told me everything I needed to know.”

“Yeah? Well, he doesn’t know everything because he’s part of the reason we weren’t telling you stuff!” Lexi exclaimed.

Jackie stared at them. “What?”

Stella sighed. “You saw Catie, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Jackie said tightly. “Yes, I did.”

“We knew that if we brought up Lexi and Scooter or Jeffrey and Dina, we’d let it slip that Max got a new girlfriend. And we knew that would upset you.”

“Upset me?” Jackie asked, turning back around and angrily rearranging her things. “Why would you say that?”

“Because you’re gripping the sink and banging your toothbrush against the counter with every word you say,” Lexi pointed out. “And it’s kind of scaring me.”

Stella grabbed the toothbrush from Jackie’s hand and maneuvered her into the bedroom, plopping her forcefully on the bed. “Will you listen to us?” she asked.

Jackie crossed her arms. “Fine,” she grumbled.

“Look at it from our view,” Stella said. “You leave after Thanksgiving, and Max becomes a bigger jackass than he was before. He picks fights over the dumbest things. You show up and give him a nice goodbye kiss in the middle of December, and he starts to act a little more normal. You fly off to Paris. On the last day before winter break, Scooter and Jeffrey tell us that Max has a new girlfriend, and that’s all we know.”

Lexi took over. “We emailed you over winter break, and we asked what happened between you and Max when you visited him in December, but we didn’t tell you about Catie because it obviously angers you.” Jackie opened her mouth to retaliate, but Lexi cut her off. “Don’t deny it! Anyway, we were going to wait to tell you about Scooter and I when we had our next video chat, but we knew that if we mentioned couple-y things, we’d let Max and Catie slip.”

“You didn’t tell me anything just to avoid telling me about them?” Jackie asked.

“Maybe it was a stupid plan,” Stella admitted, “but we were trying to keep you happy. You’ve been so weird the past few months, and the only time you were truly happy was when you were with Max, oddly enough. We didn’t want to make you go into depression or something.”

“Thanks,” Jackie said softly, already regretting how rude she had been to them.

“You would do the same for us,” Lexi said with a shrug. “But that’s not the end of the story. After winter break, Max was totally different. He became Unpleasant-Max-of-Angst.”

Jackie frowned. “’Unpleasant-Max-of-Angst’?”

Stella nodded. “Or ‘Uma,’ as we started to call him. Anyway, once Uma appeared, Lexi and I emailed you asking if you knew what was up, and you replied saying he’d visited. Then you never replied to anything we ever sent again.”

“Sorry,” Jackie said. “I was just… really, really frustrated. Especially after Max came.”

“Why? What happened?” Stella and Lexi asked eagerly.

Jackie opened her mouth, fully prepared to reveal to her friends what had happened between her and Max (and then Max and Annette) when he visited, but something stopped her. The look he gave her earlier that day in the newspaper room… Please don’t tell anyone what happened.

“He’s just… a jackass,” Jackie replied, shrugging.

“Well, yeah, that’s pretty normal for him nowadays, but what happened?” Lexi pushed.

“We just fought,” Jackie said. It wasn’t the whole truth, but it wasn’t a lie. “We fought the entire time. Just like we always used to, and we probably always will from now on.”

Stella and Lexi shared a look, knowing Jackie was keeping something from them, but they changed the subject. “Why are you back? What happened to your Paris school?” Lexi asked.

Jackie shuffled her feet nervously. “Um…” she said, her voice rather high-pitched. “I sort of, maybe, kind of… pushed my roommate down the stairs.”

“WHAT?!” Lexi and Stella screamed simultaneously.

Jackie sighed. “Annette was being a bitch. I dealt with it for a few weeks, but I couldn’t take it, and I just… pushed her down the stairs. So they expelled me.”

“Between December and February, you’ve been expelled from a school in Nashville for not doing homework and a school in Paris for hurting another student?” Lexi asked.

“Maybe?” Jackie shrugged. “My mom sent me back here because Dr. Barrie at least knows I’m not a bad kid. I didn’t actually want to come back.”

“Because of us?” Stella asked.

“Partly… but mostly because of Max. Or ‘Uma’ or whatever you call him.”

“You really just fought with him? That’s it?” Lexi pushed.

Jackie paused. “That’s it. Nothing else happened.”

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

Max trudged slowly to his dorm after his study date with Catie. She was a nice girl, but never had Max been more annoyed by a person’s voice. He felt bad that he secretly rejoiced every time she shut her mouth, but it was the truth.

She was very flirty and perky, which Max wasn’t usually attracted to. But at least she wasn’t a heartbreaking bitch or a complete slut or anything like that. Her legs were freakishly long and her hair always smelled like smoke because she straightened it with a flat iron so much. And she was always chewing citrus gum. Max hated citrus gum.

As he turned the corner and continued to think of all the things he hated about his girlfriend, Max collided with someone and grabbed their arm to keep them from falling. “Sorry–” he started to say.

It was Jackie. She glared at him and pushed his hand away from her arm. “No, you’re not,” she muttered, moving past him.

“You haven’t told anyone have you?” Max asked, turning around. Catie had her faults, but Max didn’t want her breaking up with him because he kissed Jackie. Seriously, a sophomore dumping him? Not gonna happen.

Jackie stopped and whirled around. “What is it with you and kissing me when you’re already dating someone, huh, Leopold?” Jackie demanded angrily. “That’s twice now that it’s happened, and guess what… it’s bad. Wrong, immoral, unethical, dishonest…”

“What is it with you and reciting synonyms in my face, Bodello?” Max mocked, rolling his eyes. “That’s twice now, and it’s annoying, irksome, irritating, bothersome…”

“You know, because of you, I’ve become a huge liar to my best friends!” Jackie said angrily. “I’m keeping your stupid secret for you, just so your new girlfriend won’t dump you!”

“I’m not the reason,” Max said through gritted teeth. “You chose not to tell them about your dead sister and you chose not to tell them about when you visited in December. Leave me out of the fact that you're an obsessive compulsive liar.”

“Why the hell did I ever like you?” Jackie asked, stomping her foot in frustration.

“Vodka,” Max said coldly. “That’s why.”

He turned on his heel and continued down the hallway.