"Jackson!" Ramona said, shaking the boy who was fast asleep in bed, "Get up! We're going to be late!"
"Go away," he grumbled, turning over in bed. Ramona groaned, "Get up! School starts in fifteen minutes, idiot,"
Jackson shot up in bed, "Wha…" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes and looking at Ramona.
"School starts in fifteen minutes, come on! Get ready!" Ramona said again, taking in his disheveled appearance with amusement.
Jackson nodded and sleepily got out of bed, "I'm going…"
He quickly washed up and changed out of his PJ's into a usual outfit. After quickly brushing hid hair, he ran downstairs to the kitchen.
Ramona was already there, munching on a cookie. Jackson jogged up to her, "Let's go,"
"Here, take your lunches," DJ said, handing them two paper bags. The two smiled at her, "Bye!" they said in unison, walking out.
"We're walking?" Jackson grumbled, looking down at his friend. Ramona shrugged, "Your fault we missed the bus," she replied.
Jackson looked thoughtful, "I guess," he said slowly, suddenly he remembered something Bobby had said to him yesterday.
His face scrunched up a little as he caught up with Ramona who had walked ahead of him. "Hey, Mona," he began.
Ramona looked back at him, "Yes?"
"Well… Do you like someone?"
Ramona's eyebrow flew up, "And why would you ask that…?"
Jackson cleared his throat, "Because… well.."
He didn't have the words to ask her, and this made her very curious.
"Speak up, Jackson,"
Jackson frowned a little, "Well Bobby and some other dudes were talking about you," he informed her, uncertainly.
Ramona's face visibly fell, but Jackson didn't notice. She truth was she hoped a little that Jackson was wondering so he could maybe be with her. But that would be impossible, he was all over Lola.
"Uhh..why?" she asked, her face scrunching up in disgust.
Jackson felt awkward all of a sudden, "Well… erm…" he paused, wondering what to say, "Okay… well I was wondering if you liked them. I'm just asking 'cause I'm like your brother, right?"
"Yeah, like my… brother,"
Jackson suddenly felt something weird inside him when she called him her brother. He was like her brother, right? He couldn't think of her like that. No way. Besides, there's always Lola. A thought came into his head, and he felt a little protective over Ramona, what if she did like them? Nah, she wouldn't. Besides, why would he even care?
"No gross! Why would I like them?!" Ramona said, shivering and sticking her tongue out in disgust. Jackson felt his heart do a somersault at those words, for some weird reason.
"Ohh okay," Jackson said, inwardly sighing contentedly. He still didn't know why he felt like this. And over Ramona.
They stepped inside the school gates, and were surrounded by a cheerful buzz. Jackson saw Lola in the crowd and rushed to meet her, completely missing Ramona's sad expression at this.
"Lola!" he exclaimed, wrapping her in a quick friendly hug. He turned around, realizing that he had just left Ramona alone without saying anything.
"Ramo…." His voice trailed off when he noticed that Ramona had disappeared, probably with her friends or something.
"Let's go in," Lola suggested, smiling at Jackson. He smiled back at her, shrugging off the thought of Ramona when he saw her.
Ramona herself had disappeared into a crowd of students, as soon as Jackson ran towards Lola. Glancing around, she looked for her other friends but couldn't see them.
Who she did see was Bobby coming towards her. She frowned in disgust and was about to walk away when he called her.
"Hey, Ramona," he greeted, grinning at her. Ramona bit her lip, wondering if she should go on or go to Bobby. The boy had changed a little, in looks.
He still had the old fashioned hat, but his hair was neater and brushed back. He didn't wear clothes with dust on them, and was a little cute too.
Ramona thought that Jackson was obviously better looking, but a lot of girls in school were also crazy about Bobby, for some weird reason.
"Hi," she replied coolly, smiling.
"Wanna walk to class together?" Bobby said, suddenly acting all proper (Not childish) around her. Ramona was surprised at this, but nodded in agreement as the two started walking across the path to the building.
"Here, I'll help," Bobby offered, reaching out and taking her book bag. Ramona was once again surprised at this, but calmly walked on.
The girl didn't really realize that she was pretty well known in school, even though she was new. She was pretty and had her own sense of style, which seemed to impress the students, including boys.
As they strolled down the path, Bobby dived into a fun subject of dance, not talking about himself as he normally would.
'Is he trying to impress me?' Ramona thought, eagerly joining into the subject. She loved dance, and was surprised that Bobby of all people was talking about it with her.
Presently the two reached the classroom, and Bobby handed her the book bag with a smile, "See you later,"
Ramona waved once then disappeared into the classroom. She scanned the room with her eyes and saw Jackson sitting with Lola. She didn't say anything, but focused on the door instead, wondering when the teacher would come.
After a few days
Ramona noticed that Jackson always hung out with Lola when they got to school, and he talked about her all the time when they were alone. She felt more unwanted and began avoiding him in school hours, and instead spent her time hanging out with other friends and sometimes Bobby.
The boy acted more civil around her, he helped her get her bags, sat with her at lunch and did other things with her, trying to make her like him.
Ramona simply agreed to hanging out with him because she didn't really have anyone else to hang out with. And since Jackson was caught up with Lola, she might as well go with Bobby. And since he was acting better to her, she began liking him a bit more.
Jackson on the other hand didn't really notice Ramona's absence for a few days. Mainly because Lola was always with him, and took his mind off Ramona.
Thinking that she was probably with her friends, and not really caring if she was with another guy, he shrugged off her disappearance. However he began missing her after a week, thinking that she was also good company.
He hardly ever saw her in school because she was either with some other friends when it was a break, or she was busy at her work in class.
True, they did hang out a little at home, but usually it wasn't only them anymore. One or more of the family member was with them, or Lola was over.
Ramona still hung out with Lola, but that was when Jackson wasn't around. When he did some, she made an excuse and left the room.
Ramona was about to leave school in a few minutes. She hardly ever walked back home with Jackson because he used to walk Lola home. She lived on the next street.
After quickly dumping everything into her backpack, she slung it over her shoulders and was about to leave the school when a voice called her.
"Wait up!" Bobby panted, running towards her, when he reached, he flashed her a grin, "Can I walk you home?"
Ramona raised an eyebrow at this, but simply nodded. The walk home was pretty quiet, but Bobby told her about funny things going on at school.
With Jackson
"Hey Fuller!" Andrew called, waving from across the large grass area. Jackson looked up and jogged up to his friend.
Lola wasn't with him today because she had gone to a friend's house.
"What's up?" Jackson asked, grinning at his friend.
"We're going for a baseball game in the park, wanna come?" Andrew asked, jerking his head towards their other friends who were sitting on a bench nearby.
"Yeah, sure," Jackson agreed. His face turned a little thoughtful, "Where's Bobby? Isn't he coming?"
Andrew grinned a little, "Nope," he replied.
Jackson looked dumbstruck. Bobby never missed out on games. "Is this Bobby you're talking about?" he said unbelievingly, "Wow, must've been something that kept him from staying,"
Andrew nodded, "Yeah, but more like someone,"
Jackson's ears perked up, "What'd you mean?" he demanded, "Did Bob-ko get a girlfriend?"
Andrew nodded again, "Yeah, that awesome girl you live with," he said, pausing in the middle, "Ramona, was it? Bobby seemed interested in her,"
Jackson's grin disappeared, "Ramona!?" he said, baffled. Andrew simply nodded again, "Are you coming or what?" he asked, walking forward.
Jackson gritted his teeth, "I forgot I have something to do," he lied, "You go on,"
Andrew shrugged and went away, leaving Jackson to his thoughts.
'So she used to ditch me for him? Not that I care, but that's just shallow of her,' he thought, running out of school and walking to the direction of his home.
Meanwhile in the kitchen
Stephanie looked up from the table and saw Ramona through the back door, she was with some boy. This got Stephanie curious, so she craned her neck to see. And low and behold, there stood Bobby Popko.
Stephanie was shocked, but laughed to herself, "Someone's hittin' on Ramona,"
She saw Ramona wave once to Bobby, before walking inside. Stephanie smirked, "Who was that?" she asked innocently.
Ramona shrugged, "Just Bobby," she replied, putting her book bag onto the table.
Stephanie raised her eyebrows, "Just Bobby?" she said.
Ramona looked at her, wonder in her eyes which turned into horror when she understood what Stephanie meant.
"Oh, it's not like that!" she exclaimed, putting her hands up in surrender, "Okay.. maybe a little," she admitted after the look Stephanie gave her.
The older woman laughed, "Tell me all about it!" she said excitedly, pulling Ramona down to sit next to her.
Ramona began telling her how different Bobby had been treating her, kind of nicely. Too nicely, at least for Bobby standards. She told her about how much fun it was at school, now that someone talked to her.
"What'd you mean, someone finally talked to you?" Stephanie asked, wondering what was going on when that sentence slipped Ramona's mouth. She had overheard a conversation Ramona was having with her friend, and was curious and worried at the same time.
"Uh.. It's nothing!" Ramona lied, trying to get out of the mess she put herself in.
Stephanie put her hand on the younger girl's one, "You can tell me,"
Ramona sighed a little, and then began telling how Jackson and Lola only hung out together, instead of with her. This broke Stephanie's heart, but she told Ramona to continue.
Ramona said that she hardly ever talked to Jackson at school anymore, because Lola was always there.
"It's okay," Stephanie comforted, pulling the girl into a hug. Stephanie had noticed the little sad expression Ramona wore when she usually got home, but she always wiped it away before anyone else saw it. She also noticed that Jackson and Ramona didn't come home together anymore, and once she dropped the two in her car. On the way there, no one really talked much, so everything Stephanie now heard fit together.
"Do you like Bobby?" Stephanie asked suddenly, grinning at Ramona.
Ramona was about to reply but Jackson stormed into the kitchen, looking annoyed. He glanced at Ramona.
"Why didn't you wait for me to come?" he asked, frowning a little.
Ramona shrugged, "'Cause you usually don't come with me," she replied frankly.
Jackson frowned, "We go to school every day together, forget that? Besides, I was going to come today,"
"Well, it's not my fault you usually drop L-lola first. I just thought you were gonna go with her,"
"Why didn't you just ask? You could've waited instead of going on with Bobby,"
Ramona frowned, "How do you know that? And why do you even care?"
"That doesn't matter. What I'm saying is that you could've waited. I would do the same for you," Jackson said, avoiding both questions.
Ramona rolled her eyes, "You wouldn't have 'waited'. Every time I got out of class, you were already gone with Lola," she argued.
Jackson's face scrunched up in annoyance, "Drop it, alright?"
"I'm not going to just 'drop it'!"
"I wonder why Bobby hangs out with you. No wonder I stopped,"
This remark cut Ramona hard. She glared at him, "That's right. You stopped," she said, "That's why I went with Bobby, at least he doesn't act so mean,"
This fired Jackson up, "Yeah, whatever. Go hang out with your boyfriend, for all I care,"
"He's not my boyfriend!"
"That explains why you're always with him at school," Jackson said, sarcasm dripping from his tounge.
"I'm not. But why do you even care, huh?"
"I don't care,"
"No, I want to know," Ramona argued, "Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? First you ditch me, then you want to hang out?"
Jackson frowned, "I didn't ditch you! You could've always come along. It's not my fault you suddenly started acting stupid and outcast again!" he shouted.
Ramona bit her lip, "I would have, but you're always with Lola, being all…. Never mind," she didn't finish what she was going to say. Feeling her eyes fill up at his words, she grabbed her book bag without a glance at him.
"I n-need to study, bye," she said, walking off without another word.
Jackson immediately noticed the tears in her eyes and felt terrible and guilty.
"Feel better now?" Stephanie asked, sighing, "Sit down,"
Jackson wordlessly sat down next to her.
"Why did you do that?" she asked him gently.
Jackson bit his lip, "I don't know,"
"I think you do,"
Jackson sighed, "She didn't spend time with me anymore," he began, "She started hanging out with … Bobby,"
"You're saying she ditched you?"
Jackson frowned a little, he knew that he left her for Lola, "No," he said finally, staring at his hands.
"Can you tell me?"
"I guess I left her first, but I never thought I'd miss her – uhh I don't miss her?" he sighed, "I don't even know,"
Stephanie put her hand on his shoulder, "Jackson, you got jealous of Bobby, and you know it,"
"I'm not! I have Lola," Jackson persisted, lying to himself as well as his aunt.
"Think what you want," Stephanie told him, "I can assure you one thing though. Ramona doesn't like that kid,"
Jackson's eyes widened in joy, "Really!?" he exclaimed, jumping up a little. His ears immediately turned red, "Uhhh, I mean, alright. Whatever," he quickly covered up, but it was too late.
"Surrrre," Stephanie said sarcastically, a smile playing on her lips, "You know you like her,"
Jackson didn't reply, but his face turned blood red in embarrassment. "I'm going to…uhh… you know,"
Stephanie nodded, "Go, you big goof,"
She silently watched her nephew run upstairs, skipping two steps in his hurry.
Hi y'all! Sooo this fic is a little OOC and maybe a little dramatic, but don't give me flames because of that.
Also, I know that I haven't been updating my other fics, (DC, superhero, etc) but I will continue pretty soon. So please wait for a bit until I do, and I hope you like this!
Thefanster out!