Disclaimer: IOOMOC
J.L.: Heading straight into this one.
Minutes later on the football field bleachers: Rebecca.
Strolling right up with binoculars in hand, I was feeling rather great. Let see how Mister Marine does his push ups. I then spotted Jill gripping on the bars of the bleachers for dear life. Oh no...what happened? She's never this disheaveled...or out this way after school...I walked up behind her and put my hand on her back.
"Jill, It's probably not good to let the ROTC see you in such a state, come on, take a seat and talk to me." I spoke and she looked at me, a couple of tears falling down her cheeks. She nodded and sat down with her back against the bars. I took a bleacher seat in front of her, setting my binoculars down.
"I...I broke rule number one." She admitted. Which rule was that one again? Oh, the no kissing. Hm. I would have thought that would have been a good thing. Those two have been playing with fire. So now then, who has the bigger burn?
"Okay, why?" I asked. She looked at me then back down to the bleacher flooring.
"Claire, actually...see, she's been...well, I'm not sure, but-" She started.
"She's been going around with Steve Burnside." I stated and Jill looked up for a brief moment. School's not too keen on keeping me entertained for long, I've got to find something to keep my attention.
"Yeah...well, I've spent all week keeping Chris from finding out. Distracting him with mindless chatter." She said, I nodded.
"Except?" I asked.
"Except this time, He saw Claire kissing Steve." She answered. Her shoulders raised up in worry, fell back in despair.
"Last resort kiss then. Jill..." I drifted off in thought, "Did you enjoy it?" I asked.
"Well...I mean, I was...um...see, the thing with Claire was more..." She started, a blush and another tear hitting the ground.
"Jill, It's alright to like the guy. He's hot, even I have to admit, and you two are really close...so don't be ashamed of admitting it." I tried to comfort her, kneeling beside her. She's probably worried about a million different things.
"He shot a glare at me." She said. I cringed slightly, then pulled my best friend into a hug. Poor guy doesn't know what to focus his anger on or when to cool down. So now, we're going to sit through a week or two of bad misunderstandings between them. Jill's going to be a wreck until this is resolved.
"Keep in mind he was probably caught completely off guard. You just lay it on him or give warning?" I asked. Jill intook breath and slowly released.
"I wasn't aware I was doing it until it was done." She said. Okay, so maybe she just doesn't like him, but...cute. Of course they'll be too stubborn to admit it.
"So then, think a little more. What was he focused on before that?" I inquired, pushing her to realize that it wasn't as bad as she was dreading it to be.
"Yeah, I know...it's just...I've ruined our friendship. Do you really think we can just ignore it?" She asked pulling back with a sincere look on her face.
"Jill, come off it. Admit to each other th-" I started.
"No. He's going Air Force, I'm going college. We have no chance and I appreciate the friendship I do have with him." She reasoned. So that's her reason for hesitation, fear for the future. The shouts of the ROTC drill instructor began.
"Then talk with him. I can't help you out beyond telling you that much. I'm sure he'll understand, just, give him time to relax and think this through, he'll be as confused as you. You know you still want your friendship, so offer him that when you do talk, okay?" I asked.
"Thanks Becca." She said, wiping her tears back a little and offering a small smile. Satisfied, I grabbed the binoculars and leaned against the bars of the bleacher, engaging in some quality espionage. I heard Jill stand up and lean against the bars.
"The one with the tattoo that says motherly love on his arm." I said handing her the binoculars. She looked and handed them back.
"You're a pervert." She said and smirked, heading towards her car.
"At least I'm going after what I want Jill." I commented just before she was out of earshot.
That night at the homecoming game: Jill.
I ditched the game. After three years of attending the football game religiously to watch Chris, Richard and Carlos play, I up and ditched. I had attempted to attend, but sitting there with Rebecca and Claire in complete silence, I excused myself to the bathroom and left. So here I am at the playground where we all use to play at back in elementary school. Sitting atop the slide looking out at the sunset, I tried clearly my throat and practicing my speech to Chris. I faltered time and time again.
"Damn it, what the hell was I thinking?!" I spoke aloud to no one. You weren't. You were just trying to get Chris's mind off Claire and...ugh...I probably couldn't even do that right...Claire was unusally silent tonight...is she mad at me too?
"I want to know that too." I heard her say and looked over to see Claire standing by the slide's bottom with her hands on her hips.
"Claire, I didn't mean too I just...I was tryi-" I started but Claire shook her head.
"Chris told me. Don't you ever put your friendship on the line for me again, okay? You two have something beautiful and to just throw it aside like that just so that I can get cozy with a boy...no Jill." Claire scolded me. I hung my head slightly.
"Yeah...I know. I fucked up. How mad is he at me?" I asked.
"Not as mad as I'm going to be if you win the homecoming Queen." Spouted another slightly shrill voice, Alexia's. Standing up, I saw her in her cheerleading outfit with Salazar and Nickholai in tow. Nickholai was brandishing a gun and Salazar was fiddling with an knife. Oh no...
"Trust me, no one wants you to win more than I, and you can tell Wesker that." I said, keeping an eye on Claire as Nickholai and Salazar walked up to Claire, just beneath me.
"Oh, but that's not Wesker's plan.However, if you're slightly disfigured, who would vote for you, right?" Alexia said. Claire was slowly backing against the playground set.
"Good point. How about this, what if I drop off the ballot?" I asked.
"Can't let you do that I'm afraid, don't you have a previous arrangement with Wesker on that?" Alexia asked back, smiling sadistically. One quick and smooth maneuver.
"Alright then, how about this? I drop off this playground here and run?" I said, the grabbed the bar and launched myself off, kicking Salazar's short stature down, knocking the knife out of his hand and grabbing it myself, throwing it towards Nickholai's gun. Unfortunately, Nickholai had a strong grip on it and the knife bounced off the gun. Fantastic. I stood up with my hands in the air in front of Claire. If one of us gets shot, it should be me, so Claire can run off and get help. She runs faster than me. The gun was trained at my chest. Salazar was out cold.
"Thanks Jill, that knife was really starting to scare me." Claire whispered. I snuffled a laugh. She was worried about some freshman with a knife. You have to be kidding me.
"So now, we'll just cut you up a bit, you lie and say you're a cutter. Then, I win homecoming Queen and everyone goes home happy." Alexia said. A slight thump and Nickholai was out on the ground, the newcomer holding the gun at Alexia. I scrambled for the knife and jerked my head at Claire. She took off running. Keeping my attention focused on Salazar and Nickholai, I listened to what Chris had to say.
"Rebecca told me you had taken off, and Claire had followed after you. This is the only place you flee to when something big happens." Chris commented to me.
"Less talking to me, more focusing on how to get out of this mess." I said.
"Alexia, you'll win homecoming. Jill doesn't want it. Everyone knows that, so don't worry." Chris said and Alexia nodded.
"Now, we're going to leave. Chris will drop the gun off here unloaded and throw the bullets away, I'll take this knife with me just in case you still do want to try something. We all go home in one piece." I ordered. Chris unloaded the gun and took it's barrel off quickly, pocketing the bullets, then drop the gun piece on the ground. I slid the knife neatly through my belt behind my back and we started walking backwards. No need to have that gun on us with the cops around. After we saw Alexia kick Salazar and Nickholai awake and grab the gun bits to leave, we turned around and started the uncomfortable walk home in silence.
"You need to work on your knife throwing." Chris said when we reached halfway home. I had kept my eyes mostly to the ground in front of me.
"You saw that?" I asked.
"Yes." He answered and didn't say anything more. Jilly, now is good.
"Chris...about that...thing earlier today..." I started and Chris stopped. I stopped and turned to him.
"Claire told me. Why have you been covering for her?" He asked.
"Chris, maybe you don't realize this but every time Claire gets interested in a boy, you go off and threaten that guy within an inch of his life and then Claire doesn't get a relationship with that guy. Claire's getting old enough and it's not healthy for her to go without a relationship if she wants one." I explained. Chris crossed his arms and looked to the side.
"I know. I just don't want my sister to wind up pregnant to a no good scumbag who'll ditch her." Chris said.
"I don't want that either, but she's old enough to make her own decisions. Chris, please, let her date a little bit. Set up a reasonable curfew, talk to the guy...and I mean talk, not shout. Please Chris. She'll just go around and sneak behind your back if you don't." I pleaded, walking up close to him.
"Fine. Curfew's at five." Chris said. I put my hands on my hips.
"We get out of school at two thirty. That's not long enough." I said.
"Six." Chris said.
"Ten thirty. Don't forget about Cafe Mirage...it doesn't close until eight and you know she stays long enough to clean up a bit." I said.
"Fine, but if she gets pregnant, you're taking care of it." He said.
"Yeah, I'll even marry her just so that the kid's not born out of wedlock. She's not that irresponsible." I said. Chris rolled his eyes.
"Alright, she's got a good head on her shoulders. I give her that much, but-" He started.
"No buts. Now, we still have one more thing to settle." I said. Chris looked at his watch.
"It's almost eleven, you'll be breaking your curfew." He stated.
"No, my curfew's at two now, Dad changed it." I responded. Chris sighed and sat on the ground, and I followed suit.
"Breaking rule number one?" He asked. I bit my lip and nodded.
"Look, I couldn't get you to stop going after Steve. I'm terribly sorry about it, and I really do still want to be friends Chris. It's important to me." I reasoned. Chris sat there for a few second, then pushed me over.
"You worry too much. One little kiss isn't going to ruin our friendship." He said as I lay on my back. I smiled.
"What about telling Dick?" I asked.
"Well, he doesn't have to know does he? Who else knows?" Chris asked, and pinned me down when I tried to get up. He's teasing me...for the love of God Chris...the term butterflies in my stomach could well be applied here. His face was only inches from mine. I did a goofy grin.
"Well...Claire and Rebecca..." I said.
"Rebecca?" He asked. Crap. This...alright, think of things non sexual...um...cars...no...um...sand...no...Christ, is there any place people don't do-School! Bingo, think of Math, that's boring as hell! 2+24...2+35...
"You run to Claire with your problems with me, and Rebecca comes trotting up the bleacher stairs to spy on the ROTC and finds me." I answered. 3+58 3+69...69...shit! Okay...um...I gritted my teeth. Luckily, Chris backed off a bit in thought, still sitting stop me though.
"Rebecca was spying on the ROTC?" He asked. I didn't dare sit up and be any closer. I resolved to cross my arms over my chest instead.
"Yeah...she likes the one guy with the tattoo on his arm." I said. Chris smirked.
"We can't really call her the nerd of our group anymore can we? She'll be dating that guy before we know it and you'll have to fill in the nerd position." He said and again got close to my face. Don't think about going in for round two Jilly.
"Fat chance. We'll just eliminate the nerd position." I stated. Chris smiled widely and my eyes shot wide open. The next thing I knew, I was laughing hard as Chris was tickling me. That was until my cellphone rang. Chris grabbed it from out of my pocket. Running his hand along my thigh in the process...this is torture now.
"Hello? Oh Claire! Yeah, we're okay. Wait, what?! Dick's got popcorn and Dawn of the Dead?! We're on our way!" He said and we both hopped up and took off running for my house. You just need to control your libido a little bit better. Chris suddenly stopped though, and I did too. What's this? He grabbed me and pulled me into a hug.
"You're the best, you know that?" He whispered. I smiled, confused but hey, I was enjoying the hug.
"Probably." I admitted and he released me and ruffled my hair.
"No more sacrificing this for Claire, got that?" He demanded.
"Yeah yeah...she already chewed my ass out for that. Now come on Jockstrap, we've got a zombie movie to watch you know very well that Claire's going to try and eat all the popcorn before we can." I said and started jogging until he caught up.
"Race you." He said and took off running.
"Hey! Not Fair! You know I'm a slow ass!" I yelled back, laughing as I chased after him.
J.L.: Nothing much to say here.