Chapter 1
6/18/23
Jay Pov.
I’m Jay Johnson and my BFF since… Wellforever is Sophie Smith. Everytime She gets her heart broken, I’m there for her, with a tissue and support. When your best friend gets their heart broken, and you see how it leaves them, you’d want to try your best to go down a completely different path. If you followed the same path, your heart would never be in it; knowing you’d only end up broken. So for the entirety of my 17 years of life; I’ve been single, refusing to date. I know to some people it’s sad to be single for your whole life, but I’m perfectly happy. The only time when I feel lonely is when I see Sophie dating. As long as she’s happy though, I leave it be.
The fact that I’d never dated was always fine with me but not with Sophie. She never failed to realize that I’d never dated anyone, and she’d always try to make me give it a try.
“I can’t do it,” I say. “I can’t date someone I have no feelings for”. Sophie never ceased in trying to get me to go on a blind date. I would say no evertime and she’d walk away, muttering, “Doesn’t wanna date”.
We went to the same school, Alcatraz High. I find our school name kinda funny, considering school’s just like a prison, but Sophie always rolls her eyes and walks away when I make fun of it, and I follow after her, chuckling.
After Sophie's most recent break up with a jerk named Bobby and several nights of bawling her eyes out, Sophie, like a lot of other girls at school, started getting googly eyes for Luke. Puberty hit him like a Double Decker bus. You probably think I'm exaggerating, but trust me. If you’d seen the before and after, you’d think I’m not exaggerating enough.
No one was more shocked than me by the fact that Luke was suddenly beloved by everyone. Luke is in Junior year with me and Sophie, so we’d known him since his Very Awkward phase. Surely for the fast approaching prom, newly Mr. Popular would get voted prom king. I normally don’t really care about that kinda stuff, so I don’t know why him being voted king leaves such a bad taste in my mouth. “-ay. Jay” Sophie shakes me violently, “EARTH TO JAY,” she says loudly. “Lunch time”. I run after her, to stand in the lunch line, surprised that I hadn’t heard the bell.
When I have my food, I go to sit with Sophie, who’s eyeing Mr. Popular. I slam my tray loudly on the table and Sophie looks up at me in annoyance. Even though she knows I can tell she’s staring at him, she’s not gonna try to deny that she likes him. She knows I know.
She continues looking at Luke, so I stare at her while she stares at him. I love her light brown wavy hair and the way it goes just to the end of her back. I love her light blue eyes and the way they light up when she sees me. I love the way she laughs when I make a stupid joke and the way her brows furrow when she can’t figure something out. I love her gentle voice and perfect lips, I love her soft touch. I love everything about her, even her flaws. I love the way she looks past me, at the person she likes. I just wish she would look at me like that. I want her to love me, like I love her.
Sophie shakes me. “Only 10 minutes left for lunch, you should eat. Why are you looking at me like you just found out I murdered your family?, and why is your face cherry red?”. Instead of answering, I shove food into my mouth, so she won’t ask me anything else.
Sophie Pov.
Jay shovels all of his food down and runs out of the cafeteria, as if running from someone hot on his heels. I know there’s no point in chasing him. He’s much faster than me and is on the track team. Jay has longer legs than me, I’m 5’7 and he’s 6’2. He has blond hair and green eyes, he’s funny, wears glasses sometimes, but mostly contacts because he says glasses fog up too easily.
Why did he run off? Did he have to use the bathroom? Did he want to get to class early?. I decided the latter must be it. When the bell rings, I hop up, clean my lunch up and dash to class.
In geometry, I can’t stop thinking of all the reasons why Jay would leave like that. Though me and Jay had been best friends all our lives, I’d never seen him act like that. Did he like someone?. The new girl, Lilly had walked in just before he’d started acting weird. The clues clicked into place. It’s obvious he likes her, but doesn’t know how to approach her.
I knew Jay wouldn’t tell me if he liked someone because he knew I’d make fun of him, granted, if he had told me I would’ve, but that’s not the point. I would have to help him get her, without letting him know I know. I would have to be the captain of the ship (Jillian) until they took control of the helm themselves. Until then, I would have to build the ship and keep it from crashing (like a certain ship we all know about) and burning. I have to make sure they notice the iceberg, before it’s too late…phie!...ophie!...SOPHIE!. I look up to everyone staring at me. “Can you tell me the answer,” the teacher asks, as I stare, dumbfounded. My face flushes, as I realize we’re supposed to find the area of the triangle with the information provided. Lily answers the question for me, before I get in trouble for not paying attention, giving me the perfect opportunity.
The moment class ends, I walk up to Lilly. “Thanks for the help”, I say.
“It’s no problem, anyone would’ve done the same”, she says flustered. “You wanna hang out sometime”, I ask nervously.
“Sure”, I chuckle at how fast she responds, “here’s my number I say, handing her a paper. “See you later”, she says. “Bye”, I say, skipping with glee to my next class. The moment I enter Spanish, all of my newfound energy immediately seeps from my body.
I approach my desk with a heavy sigh, as I plop in my seat, the girl next to me says “who died?”.
“Very funny”.
I know it’s disrespectful to say (so let's keep it a secret just between us) but my Spanish teacher is a grade-A Asshole. I try not to let my mind wander to keep him off my case, yet he’s always trying to find a reason to send me to the principal's office, AKA “home”.
I flinch as a big slam is heard all across the room. My teacher “The A+ asshole” had slammed a book on my desk. “Wanna share whatever the hell you’re daydreaming about!”, he yells, spitting his lunch all over my face. I resist scrunching my nose when the smell of fish hits me. I wipe his leftover lunch off my face.
I bite my cheek and pinch myself under the desk to stop myself from snapping back. “Sorry”, I say. “Sir”. “Better be, damn it”, he says. “Just be glad you’re cute”, he whispers in my ear, so that only I can hear. I bite my cheek harder, to prevent me from doing something rash.
I run to the bathroom the moment the bell rings. I glance in the mirror and it looks like I aged fifty years in a few hours.
“Ugh”, I groan as the last bell rings.
Honestly I’m starting to agree with Jay about our school name.
Speaking of Jay, he hadn’t talked to me since lunch, and that had mostly been him spacing out. Even in the classes we had together, he’d sat as far from me as possible. There was never a time when he’d went out of his way to avoid me.
The moment I reach the door leading outside; to the cold, rain filled air, I see Jay walk past my view. The moment I reach out to tap him, Luke appears in my view, with a sign and at least six people standing behind him holding signs, saying “Will…You…Go…To…Prom…With…Me?”. Another person appears and hands him chocolates and roses. I smile and kiss him on the cheek, “yes!”. The moment I pull away, Luke kisses me back, handing me the chocolates and roses.
Is this chapter boring? 🧐
