Disclaimer: I do not own Phantom Stallion and I am not Terri Farley… too bad.

I'll Always Like You More

Jake found himself glaring across the cafeteria at the pair. The blonde-haired Ryan was talking to his best friend Sam, and she ran her fingers through her red hair and laughed and laughed and laughed.

What could be so funny? She didn't laugh that much when he tried to talk to her. It was boys like Ryan that made Jake mad. Guys like Ryan who had it all, but didn't seem to appreciate it. Boys like Ryan who could make a girl like Sam laugh, but didn't really think much about it, as they walked away and made countless other girls do the same. He had em' all wrapped around his finger… and Jake didn't like it. Ryan had it all… the good looks, the rich family, the popularity. Jake didn't have any of that. Or else he didn't think he did. Some people said he was good-looking, but he figured that they were just trying to make him feel better about his bad-looks. And he certainly knew that without a doubt he was not rich, and he was absolutely not popular. Jake had always thought that beautiful people didn't have anything to be proud of though, because really anyone who was beautiful had just won the genetic lottery. It's not like they had to work for it, like he had to work on his tracking skills. He wallowed in his thoughts of hate toward Ryan Slocum for a minute more when Sam slip into the seat across from him.

"Jake?" she asked. He hadn't noticed her sit down, and he was startled by the sound of her voice.

"What?!" he said, snapping at her, trying to mask his surprise by a sharp voice. Her eyes widened, and then she rolled them.

"What's wrong today?" she asked. He shook his head.

"Nothing, really." Jake told her, even though he had just a moment ago been harboring an intense hate against the person she had recently been talking to.

"Come on, Jake, tell me." Sam urged, knowing that Jake didn't talk much, unless he was urged to at beyond an annoying amount of times. Jake sighed. She could be annoyingly persuasive sometimes. Jake stayed quiet for a while, but then mumbled out a quiet Jake-like response.

"He just annoys me, that's all…" he said, and then his voice trailed off into nothingness.

"Who? I'm not a mind-reader you know, Jake." Sam said, sounding slightly annoyed, but really it didn't bother her that much. Jake had been like this as long as she could remember. She just wanted to keep him on his feet.

"I know you're not a mind-reader… because if you were you wouldn't do half the stupid things that you do now." He said sarcastically and she rolled her eyes. "Oh, I meant Ryan Slocum, though." He looked down at the table, as if he was ashamed that he had voiced his opinion on something. Now it was Sam's turn to sigh.

"Please, Jake. I wish that you'd give him a chance. He's really a nice kid, even though he's got a bad family." Sam told him, knowing that he wasn't going to change his mind.

"It's not that, Sam. He's got every single person at this school, guys and girls, wrapped around his little finger." Jake insisted. Sam had been right that he wasn't going to change his mind. He didn't like Ryan Slocum… and that was final. Sam, though, looked confused.

"Who?" she asked.

"Who, what?" he asked, now being confused himself.

"Who does he have wrapped around his finger? I mean, obviously Jen acts a little desperate around him, but other than that…?" It seemed that everyone was confused now.

"You, Sam. He has you wrapped around his finger." Jake told her, which was met by much shock by Sam.

"Me?" she asked, pointing a finger back at herself, "Me? Honestly, Jake Ely! In what way does he have me wrapped around his finger?" Jake rolled his eyes.

"Sam, all you ever do around him is giggle and laugh, and giggle and then laugh some more, and then maybe you could add a coupe thousand smiles in there." Jake said, almost in a normal-talking voice, which was very loud for Jake. But Jake was getting angry, and he didn't care if Sam knew about it. Unfortunately instead of looking offended like he had hoped she would, a smirk appeared on her face.

"Sounds like someone's getting a little jealous…" she smiled even bigger now, as Jake began to protest.

"No, no I'm not. You're just acting like a ridiculous little girl." Jake told her, hoping that maybe this would offend her, if his last comment hadn't. But still she smiled, maybe even larger this time than the last.

"Well, you've always told me that I was a ridiculous little girl, so I might as well start acting like one, huh? At least I can have more fun that way…" She raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips, in a questioning glance. She turned to walk away, and then she twisted around, and added one last thing: "Oh, and by the way, Jake. Don't worry, because I'll always like you more than I like Ryan… so you don't have to be jealous anymore." She said seriously, and headed out into the hallway, leaving Jake in a daze.

Okay, so what did you think? This is only a one-shot, because I don't really have a ton of time to start a bunch of multi-chaptered fics. But bowling season is over, so I should have a little bit more time and I was thinking I might do a sort of sequel to Phantom Stallion in London, which a good number of people have asked me about. I'm still not sure about it, but if any of you haven't read that fic, I'd really appreciate it if you would, and you'd give me some feedback on the sequel. So ya… you know the drill… read and review!

Thanks for reading,

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