Don't Make This Easy, I Want You to Mean It

Jack Barakat. Jack Attack. Jack-y Boy. Jackster. Jackosaurus Rex. What can I say about this boy? He’s been my best friend since I started going to this god forsaken place. The only boy who hasn’t tried getting into my pants at some point or other; the only boy who took the time to become my friend without an ulterior motive. We’d been lab partners since the beginning and no teacher had ever seen fit to change that. Initially, we’d started out with just Science together, but in the years that followed, we’d slowly added on classes until it was easier to check which classes we didn’t have together. Out of the entire week, there was maybe about 5 hours where I didn’t have class with him. Those seemed to be the ones he shared with his male best friend, and the ones I generally tended to skip.
Unfortunately, this year, that included English. I’d been placed in a middle set for the class, being told that my grades simply weren’t up to scratch for the higher level classes. I’d have been fine with this, if they hadn’t stuck me with the teacher who’d had it out for me since Freshman year. The office didn’t believe me, nor did they have space in another class ‘on my level’, so I’d spent most of the last month and a half arguing in the office to get myself moved. It wasn’t going well.
That’s where I currently was, tapping my feet with my arms crossed in a chair facing the head of timetabling. By this point, I was hoping she was so sick of my face every day and the fowl look on it, that she’d just move me to get rid of me. That plan was failing, I noted, as she continued to smile sweetly at me. The bell rang, signalling the end of the period.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I growled, pushing myself up from my chair. She waved my off, smile still planted firmly on her face. I outright despised that woman and her false, sickly sweet smile. It was infuriating.
“No luck?” Jack asked, smiling at me sympathetically as I sat down on the chair next to him.
“No,” I snorted, pulling my books out of my bag. “They don’t believe Warren has it in for me. I mean, I could give him the best written piece of work and he’d still mark it as a D just to spite me.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’ve spent the last hour with Alex.” I raised my eyebrow at him, trying to establish why this was an issue. He often told me about his best friend and the things they did together, but it had never been a case of making me feel better when he spent time with him.
“I’m not sure why that would make me feel better, but go on.”
“You mean you haven’t heard?” I shook my head. It was only a couple of lessons into the day, and usually I heard this week’s gossip from one of my friends at lunch, providing Jack hadn’t beaten her to it. “Jeez, Jasey. It’s the best gossip we’ve had all year and you still don’t know it?” I laughed, shoving him lightly.
“I’m the creator of gossip, not the spreader of it. That’s your job.” Jack laughed at me, shoving me back and glancing at the front of the room to make sure we hadn’t yet been caught out.
“Okay, so you know the party at June’s house on Saturday? Where I saw you and Marissa?” I nodded, trying not to laugh at the way he was gushing like a teenage girl. “Okay, so you probably know that Alex is the shit when it comes to parties. Like, he could have anyone he chooses at any given party and he just bounces around so chilled out about it while girls follow him around. I mean, he could have been with June on Saturday night and I still don’t know why he didn’t!” I snorted. June was, supposedly, the prettiest girl in school. Admittedly, she was the richest and the most popular girl in school, but she was only popular because her parents were frequently out of town, so she opened up her house for huge parties. Honestly, that was the only attraction I saw. Other than that, she just looked like a pig in designer clothing to me. “So, he was on his game. Girls were falling over their feet to get to him.” I laughed again. I knew where this part of the story was leading. Alex has basically ran away from the girls and hid out in the kitchen, where he’d found me. Jack paused, pondering how best to continue. “You know what he’s like, right?”
“I’m not sure what you mean, so let’s just say no.”
“Well, he’s basically the one-night-stand king, I swear it. Honestly, the best description I’ve ever heard, is that he’s basically the male version of you,” he smirked. I laughed, hitting him arm playfully at the description. It was apt, and had actually been the description Marissa and I had used only yesterday, but I could still pretend to be offended. “Back to the point. He’s never, ever had a girl walk out on him before in his life. Believe me, I’d know. So, Sunday morning, he wakes up, expecting to see some stunning girl laid next to him, but no. He’s naked and alone in June’s spare room. He’s devastated. He’s not used to it, so he doesn’t know how to react. So, I see him later that day and, oh my God, this guy’s going crazy already. It’s been hours and he’s already going insane over her. He can hardly remember a thing about her, but she’s still driving him crazy. He says all he remembers is that she’s the best he’s ever had, and that he remembers thinking just how stunning she was. Like, better looking than June kind of stunning, but he can’t actually remember what she looks like. Everything’s a blur for him. I shrug it off, figuring he’ll be over it by the end of the day. No such luck. I met him this morning and he’s practically ripping his hair our trying to think who this girl is and why she walked out on him.”
“So, he hasn’t found her? No one’s owned up to it yet?” I asked, knowing that if anyone had, they would be lying about it.
“Nope. And he’s the most irritating person I’ve ever met right now. He can’t shut up about this girl. I hate her already, Jase.” Jack pouted at me, making me laugh quietly. I glanced to the front of the room, noting that either our teacher hadn’t noticed our gossiping, or was choosing to ignore it. “So, what about you?” I tapped my pencil on the book in front of me, glancing quickly at Jack.
“What about me?” He rolled his eyes at me, looking at me as if I was an idiot.
“What do you think? Which boy was your lucky pick this week?” I snorted at his description. A better description would be ‘what drooling idiot got you drunk enough this week?’
“No one,” I shrugged. “If I’d had one, it’d be on everyone’s lips the same way it is every week. Marissa dragged me outta there before I made a really stupid mistake.” Or, rather, that's what I wished had happened.
“So, you’re telling me that the biggest party of the year so far, and you didn’t hook up with anyone?” He narrowed his eyes at me and I gulped quickly. I hated lying to Jack. I’d always been at least a little honest with him, and it killed me that I was actively lying to him about something. Admittedly, he would run and tell Alex in a heartbeat and I’d be branded the girl who was worse than Alex Gaskarth and I couldn’t handle that. Jack wouldn’t hate me for it, nor would Marissa, but I couldn’t bear the thought of being worse than him.
“Well, yeah. Like I said, Marissa got me out of there before I was too drunk.”
“Why are you lying to me, Jasey?” He asked slowly. I’d lied to Jack only once before and he’d caught me before the story had fully left my mouth. He always caught me. Whether I was outright lying or simply exaggerating a truth or two, he always knew. “Who did you hook up with?” He hissed at me, eyes narrowing even further. I was almost sure he couldn’t even see me at this point.
“No one of any importance.” I looked away from him, trying to discern what I was supposed to have been learning this lesson so I could have a flip through the book at home later on. Jack tutted loudly at me, making me turn to him again.
“He’s obviously important if you feel the need to lie to me about him.” I sighed, rubbing my temples. Of course he wasn’t going to make this easy.
“Just drop it, Jack. Please.”
“If you’d started with ‘I don’t want to talk about it’, maybe I would drop it. But you didn’t, Jasey. You lied to me. I want to know who he is.”
“I didn’t get his name!” I let out, barely even thinking of my response. I noted the girl in front of us turning to look briefly at the pair of us before turning back to her book. I glared at the back of her head. Of course she wanted to know too. At least Jack would only tell one person, she would probably tell the entire school.
“You always know their names. Why are you still lying to me about this?!” I opened my mouth to let yet another lie roll off my tongue when the bell ran to signal lunch. I breathed a sigh of relief, not sure how much longer I could continue my charade without giving in and finally telling him everything I didn’t want him to know.
“I’ll talk to you later, Jack.” I told him, grabbing my books and my bag and walking out of the room before he could utter another word.

Notes