Okay guys, I'm having a bit of writer's block with my other story so I've started another one so I can do them both. I hope you enjoy this. And please review!
Jess woke up to the sound of her alarm clock and it took her several attempts to shut it up. After knocking her lamp, photo and phone onto the floor, she succeeded and rolled back on to her back. She sighed and closed her eyes again. Who would it hurt if she laid in bed for an extra five minutes?
Jessica Collins was an average girl. Well, okay, maybe she got above average grades. And maybe she had 'below average' social skills. But generally, she was average. Jess never tried to stand out from the crowd. She would just walk by with everyone else, blending into the background.
It was safe to say that Jess felt like there was something missing in her life. She had a family, she had food, she had clothes... and yet she didn't have any true friends. The social side of Jess' life wasn't as amazing as she wanted it to be. No parties, no shopping trips, no random trips to the cinema. Once upon a time, Jess had a very very very close friend: Ally. But when Ally and her family moved to England when they were thirteen, Jess was left with no other friends.
Once Ally had left, it was hard for Jess to make new friends. Everyone else was already in their little cliques. No one really accepted her into their group, leaving her on her own. But Jess didn't mind too much. She spoke to Ally every day – every evening at 8. That reminds me, Jess thought, I need to ask mum if I can go out at 7 to the new studio across the street!
When she finally forced herself to get up, Jess walked towards the bathroom and showered. She washed her troubles away and tried to forget the fact that she still had the rest of the week to go before the weekend. She chucked on some leggings and a denim shirt, scraping her hair back into a messy bun. "Mum, I'm going to school!" she shouted as she grabbed her bag.
"What about breakfast?" her mum asked her, walking from the kitchen to the hall. She raised her eyebrows at her daughter. "Don't you want to eat with me?"
Jess laughed. "Mum, of course I want to eat with you, but I can't. Do you want me to be late for school?" she asked.
"Hmm, I suppose not." Her mum chuckled. "Text me when you get home." She kissed her daughter on the cheek.
"Will do!" Jess shouted back as she stepped outside, closing the door quietly behind her.
She then turned around and walked back into the house, "Before I forget, there's a new studio just opened in town and I need some exercise, so can I go at 7?"
Her mum nodded and Jess finally left the house.
She started walking the normal path to school. She enjoyed her morning and evening walk, she liked to listen to music and daydream about nothing in particular. She looked across the street to an old couple shuffling along together. She 'awwwww'ed in her head at their cuteness. They were laughing and sharing a muffin. She smiled and continued her walk.
When she arrived at school, Jess headed towards her locker. She took out a couple of books and looked at herself in the mirror on the inside of the locker door. In her hurry to get ready, she had completely forgotten to put any make-up on. She grabbed some mascara and eyeliner and applied them to her eyes. Satisfied, she closed her locker and headed off to her history class.
Once she was seated, she got out her books and took out her earphones. It was that exact moment that Mr Harvey walked into the classroom. "Jess, phone." He said.
"But –"
"You should not have your phone out in my classroom. No buts!" Mr Harvey interrupted.
Jess sighed and handed her phone over, making sure to turn it off first. She hated to think that Mr Harvey could go through her phone while he had it. She knew he probably wouldn't but she was still conscious of the fact that he could be a ridiculous perv and want to go through her pictures and what not.
Just then, four boys came running down the corridor at lightning speed, being way louder than they should've been. They were shouting and joking around, but they all skidded to a halt in front of Mr Harvey's classroom.
"Er, hi sir. Sorry we're late." said the one standing at the front. He seemed to be slightly panicky at the idea of being late to a class, but he tried his best to keep his cool. Jess thought he looked kind of cute (you know the type): brown hair, brown eyes, great clothes... The boy turned to look at the class and caught Jess staring at him. He gave her a smile, showing off his dimples. That would be another thing to add to the list, Jess thought.
"Yeah, car broke down, won't happen again." another one said quickly, walking in and taking one of the empty seats. He was really tall and Jess couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated by him. He looked friendly enough though. He sat down next to one of the cheerleaders who must have been saving him a seat. She smiled flirtatiously up at him and the guy quickly got a comb out from his back pocket and smoothed down his already perfect hair.
The dimples one went and sat in front of him, next to one of the nerds. The nerd shuffled away from him slightly and made sure his desk was straight. The dimples guy laughed at his awkwardness and smiled at him in a friendly way. Jess found this sweet and she summed up that he must be a nice guy.
A third friend walked in. He was the smallest of the four and Jess thought that he was probably Hispanic or Latino. She admitted to herself that he was also kind of cute, like the other two. He sat next to the class suck-up, right at the front. She squealed out a hi and started blabbering on in an annoyingly high-pitched voice. The latino grimaced and looked back to see his other two friends quietly laughing at him.
Finally, their fourth friend walked in. Jess hadn't really been able to see him before as he was standing behind his other friends. He walked into the classroom and Jess gave him a once over in her head: blonde, nicely dressed, smiling, and dark eyebrows. She thought that he was also probably fit, but she couldn't see his abs underneath his t-shirt.
He glanced across the classroom and found the only other spare seat, and lucky for Jess, it was next to her. She took her bag off of the seat next to her and chucked it onto the ground beneath her desk. He slid onto the chair next to her and smiled. "Hey," he said.
"Hi," Jess said back. Hi. Hi? Was that the best thing I can say? No one ever usually sat next to me! Then when one guy does, all I can say his hi?!, she inwardly shouted at herself.
He flashed her a smile before saying, "I'm Kendall."
"Jess." She said, smiling back at him.
"Ah, Jess. Is that short for Jessie or...?" he asked.
"It's short for Jessica." She said, "But I hate that name so I don't use it very often." Jess didn't know why she was telling this to Kendall. Maybe because he was the first person to have sat next to her in a while and she was all excited. I'm probably boring him with my life already, she thought.
"Well, I like it. But, I'll call you Jess, if that's what you want?" he questioned her. He'll call me Jess if that's what I want?! Is this guy suggesting that he's gonna start talking to me more often? Er...
"Whichever you like best." Jess shrugged. This Kendall guy seemed alright, and Jess started to relax. She leaned back slightly on her chair to listen to Mr Harvey.
After a little while, Jess felt her eyelids slowly closing. History first thing on a Monday morning was enough to send anyone to sleep. Mr Harvey was never usually one to worry about students falling asleep or doodling or whatever, as long as they weren't distracting anyone else. Normally, Mr Harvey was actually a pretty cool teacher, it was just a shame that he happened to teach history.
When the lesson was over, Jess quickly said goodbye to Kendall and headed towards her locker. She put her history book back, swapping it for her french one. She stuffed it into her bag and looked back into her locker mirror. She rearranged a couple of a hair pins. Pleased that her hair was still perfectly messy, she closed a locker door and turned around, only to jump out of skin when she saw Kendall leaning against the locker next to hers. "Oh my god, you scared me!" she told him.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to," he said, pulling himself off of the lockers, "So, what class have you got next?"
Why is he paying so much attention to me?, Jess thought to herself, He's never spoken to me before and suddenly he's waiting for me by my locker? And all because his car broke down?
Guys never usually waited for Jess after history. Or any class actually. In fact, guys never paid her any attention full stop. Generally, Jess kept her head down at school and avoided talking to people. Whenever she made friends, she would fall out with them after a month and then they would start to ignore her or call her names. She never had 'social luck'. So when she saw Kendall, she was really surprised.
"Er, Jess?" Kendall said, waving his hands in front of her face.
Jess' brain snapped back to attention and she stammered, "Er, sorry, err... French."
"Aw, cool. So have I. You wanna sit with me?" he asked her.
Jess looked at him in shock. Why was he asking her to sit with him? "I, err..."
"Great! See you in class!" he shouted as he walked away.
Jess spent the rest of the day sitting with Kendall. It seemed that he had almost all his lessons with her. She wondered how come she had never noticed him before, and how come he had never noticed her? She never did get to find out who his friends were as he didn't sit with them, apart from when he disappeared off to see them at lunch.
Walking down the usual path that took her home, Jess got out her earphones to do her usual evening ritual of listening to music. It was then that she realised. Mr Harvey still has my phone!
Jess turned quickly on her heels and marched straight back to school. She pushed open the big double doors at the main entrance and found her way to Mr Harvey's classroom. She opened the door and saw him sittin at his desk, marking papers.
"Ah, Miss Collins, come in." He said, as she entered the room cautiously.
She walked over to stand in front of his desk. "I presume you wanted this." He said, as he handed over her phone, "Have a good evening Jess."
"Thank you sir." Jess mumbled quickly as she left the room. Jess scurried down the hallway. She needed to get home before her mum as she'd be wondering where on earth her daughter had got to.
It was when Jess was walking along the corridor towards the main entrance that something came charging into her and knocked her onto the hard floor. Jess stayed on the floor, clutching her head and wondering what had pushed her over so forcefully. Her eyes were closed tightly with pain and she couldn't see anything that was going on. Suddenly, she felt someone lean over her.
"Carlos, you just knocked someone over! I keep telling you not to run in the corridor because someone will get hurt, but do you listen? No!" she heard a voice yell. They were right up close to her and their loud voice made her head feel worse.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know that there would be someone walking down here! I thought everyone had gone home!" another voice shouted back. Jess heard some shuffling and felt that someone else was also now leaning over her. "Is she okay?" the voice continued.
"I don't know," the first voice replied, "I think she's unconscious."
"No I'm not," Jess half-whispered back to the voice, "My head just really hurts."
"She's alive!" a third voice shouted. Jess squinted to see that the guy who owned that voice had thrown his arms up into the air in mock celebration. That's when she saw Kendall walking over with a look of concern.
"Guys, what happened –" Kendall began but he cut himself off when he recognised the person laying on the floor. "Jess?"
"Dude, do you know her?" one of them asked. Jess looked over to see one of Kendall's friends from earlier.
Kendall ignored him. "Jess? Are you alright?"
"Er..." Jess started, trying to get up. She got herself into a sitting position but she quickly brought her hand back up to hold her head, "I guess I could be better."
"Here let me help you." One of Kendall's friends said, holding out his hand. Jess recognised him as the one with dimples from earlier. She attempted to smile at him as he pulled her up.
"Thanks." She said.
Meanwhile, James had been staring absent-mindedly at a poster on the wall. When Jess stood up, however, he turned around and walked slowly towards her.
"Well, hello." He said, grinning and showing off his teeth, "I'm James. And you are?"
"I'm Jess." She quickly said, looking down at her shoes.
"Oooh, so you're the Jess that Kendall hasn't stopped talking about yet? It's nice to finally meet you." He laughed.
Kendall gave him a glare to end all glares. If looks could kill, eesh! Kendall walked over to stand beside James. "Jess, these are the guys who are supposedly my friends. Er, Logan," he said, pointing at the dimples guy. Jess looked at him and found herself still thinking he was cute.
"James, who I guess you've just met," he continued, pointing at his friend.
"And this is Carlos, who I think owes you an apology." Kendall looked at him with his eyebrows raised.
Carlos walked forward, towards where Jess was standing, "I am so sorry. I don't know why I ran into you! Usually, when I see a pretty girl, I stop dead still, but I guess today that wasn't the case."
Jess blushed a deep red.
"I was probably thinking about the ice cream waiting for me at home to be honest. I was in a rush to get there first. I'm sorry I knocked you over."
"Oh, it's okay." Jess smiled shyly up at him, "No one got hurt so there's no need to worry about it."
Carlos smiled back at her, "Okay, you know what? Since I knocked you over, I feel that it is my duty to at least give you a ride home." He said to her.
"Er, dude," James interrupted, "It's my car."
Carlos ignored him, "So, what do you say? Fancy a ride?"
"I thought your car broke down this morning?" Jess stared up at Carlos.
He laughed, "No, we just needed an excuse."
"Oh, well in that case, yeah sure." Jess said as she began walking out of the door. Carlos draped an arm around her shoulder as they walked down the grey school steps.
"Yeah! I've been looking forward to seeing you again since our last class!" Kendall said; as he draped an arm around her (as well as glaring harshly at Carlos) in an attempt to impress her more than he had.
Carlos just knocked her over and now she's blushing?, Kendall thought. Dude's got skills and he doesn't even realise it. What the hell? He then began to daydream about Jess and how long it would take for her to fall for him.
Well, I hope you like this. I'm going to try and update my stories more often, it being the Christmas holidays and all that. Please review!
Review question: Do you prefer stories about BTR before the band, or while they're famous?
Lots of love, PerfectPiranha