Page 8 of Giving In

“It’s nice to know you keep track of my attendance though,” he adds. I can feel myself blushing at his statement. He leans back and looks at me from my toes to my blushed face. “I think we’re going to have fun this year, Jamie,”

I ignore him and look ahead to notice only Rose, Chris, Emily, and Camila are left standing. This is just not going well for either of us. Emily has always had this weird crush on Rose. She’s not interested in girls, God knows she’s all about boys, except for Rose. It seems like it’s the case for a lot of girls.

Em is staring at Rose and the latter catches her. Instead of looking away, her eyes widen, and she mumbles a few words looking for an excuse to justify herself.

“I...I..,” Emily scratches her throat. “I really love your shirt.”

Oh Em...I shake my head feeling bad for her. Rose looks down at her crisp white shirt, the exact same one everyone else around the class is wearing, then back up at Emily with a cocky smile. It’s identical to Jake’s.

“I wore it just for you,” she replies in her raspy voice. She adds a quick wink and Emily’s face dots with red patches. I shake my head as Jake lets out a low chuckle.

“Joly and White, and Murray and Diaz. Come on get to your seats.”

Camila huffs and barges Chris’ shoulder as she gets to her seat. He only rolls his eyes at her attitude, showing that they still don’t particularly like each other. Emily quickly follows Rose to their seats, her face still blushed from her interaction with her.

I knew it. I knew this year was going to be anything but fun.

???

By the time Em and I are sitting for lunch, I’m exhausted. Jake and Rose are in my English class, scienceandcalculus. In English, I couldn’t focus because Jake was too close. His masculine scent was disturbing me and my heart beats too fast when he’s close. My eyes kept drifting to his long lashes and the way his Adam's apple goes up and down when he chuckles at something. I think it also has to do with sitting next to someone popular. I’m not used to it.

In science, he was sitting next to Rose and I can’t stand how noisy they get. They don’t care who they disturb, and his laugh is too loud, too enchanting. In calculus, he was next to Chris who forced him to stay still and keep quiet. Jake was so focused on the class and taking notes, his jaw kept ticking every time he started losing focus and Chris had to tell him to get back into it. Too close, too loud, too...hot. I simply can’t focus when he’s around.

As I dig into my food, I notice Jake and his friends are at the table right behind ours, I’m facing them while Em is facing me.

“You’re drooling,” Emily mocks, still looking at her plate. I let out a small laugh and look back at her. “Which one are you looking at?” she adds.

I can’t help but roll my eyes, why are we all so into them? Are the girls and boys in this school really that weak and unoriginal to justallbe in love with them?

I’m not in love with them.

I just can’t deny undeniable attractiveness. Especially Chris. Even if he made things clear a long time ago.

As if Emily could read my thoughts she starts again. “He rejected you in fourth grade, ‘Me, that was practically eight years ago.”

“He’s not interested. Otherwise, he would at least try to spend time with me,” I reply.

“He’s just too busy being a babysitter for the rest of his group. Being responsible for the twins is a full-time job.”

“He’s not responsible for them. His parents are.”

She looks at me intensely until I admit, “Yeah, ok he is but if he was even slightly interested in me, I would know.”

“Please, ‘Me, this is our last year, I beg that you make it more interesting than studies and lacrosse.”

“I-” I’m cut off by the loud sound of something hitting the floor. Jake is looking at his tray on the floor in shock. Luke is sitting next to Jake, and Rose is facing Luke, both almost falling off their chairs laughing. Chris, sitting opposite Jake, is looking at the situation shaking his head.

“You’re an absolute bastard, you know that?!” Camila is whisper-shouting at him, and we’re close enough to hear everything.

Em’s gasp matches her widening eyes. “I’ll be too obvious if I turn around, are they breaking up?” she whispers.

I shrug, still looking at them. “I don’t know.”

Camila and Jake have been a thing for years. The whole school is well aware that he cheats on her constantly. Every time she catches him, they go through a very public argument, break up for half a day, and get back together. I think the last time they broke up at lunchtime, they were back together by the last period. She usually does something to make him jealous and he comes back running.

Camila is a gorgeous Latina with caramel eyes and long dark hair. Her body comes straight out of a photoshopped magazine. In short, her family is from Dominican Republic and her dad is a big property developer who basically built everything that is new in Stoneview.

Her mom is a court shark aka a defense attorney for all the bad guys around. No one can become rich enough to live in Stoneviewandstay clear of illegal business. The wealthy are power hungry, and power comes with secret handshakes, dishonesty and criminality. Stoneview is full of illicit businesses, and run by rich gangs who control politicians and leaders. Camila’s mother, she defends those people. She defends the underground circle of our town.

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