Jessica pushed her way through the hallway to her locker in a haze. Bradin now fully knew what he had done and he still didn't look sincerely remorseful. When he couldn't even respond to that one simple question, a sharp pang had invaded her already battered heart. There had been a faint glimmer of hope that Bradin would prove her wrong about him and that just made things all the more painful. She wished desperately to just move on.
"Hi." A male voice greeted her. She recognized that it wasn't Bradin's.
"Hi." She said, glancing over to see Jason. She looked away and continued shuffling things in and out of her locker.
"Are you all right?" he asked her.
"I'm fine. Bradin's just being Bradin," Jessica answered.
Jason held back a sigh but questioned with sincere concern, "What did he do this time?"
"It's nothing," Jessica shook her head. "I just let my guard down for a moment. I made the mistake of believing he wasn't as big of an ass as I had thought."
"It doesn't look like nothing," Jason peered closely at her.
"I'm fine, okay Jason?" she snapped, slamming her locker and walking to class without another word.
Jason frowned and heaved an exasperated sigh. It was always about Bradin, wasn't it? He had seen the pain etched across her face in the moment before she noticed him, in the moment before her mask of indifference reappeared. How did Bradin always do this to her?
In that moment, Jason saw Bradin walking oddly alone. He felt his raw bruise once more, recalling the force in which it was exerted, and took a breath. Even if it got him another punch in the face, he had to do it. Jason strode over to Bradin and apprehensively blocked his path.
"What'd you do to her this time?" Jason bit out.
"Not now," was Bradin's edgy reply.
"No, actually, now's good," Jason said, "I don't know what the hell your issue is but don't take it out on Jessica. Stop hurting her!"
"You think I mean to?" Bradin rasped.
"It doesn't matter if you mean to or not. I thought maybe you cared about her. If you do, just stay away, seriously. She's in enough pain," Jason retorted.
Bradin shoved Jason aside, "I don't need some tenth grader telling me what to do."
"Maybe if you weren't acting like such a moron, you wouldn't need one to," Jason muttered. "Stay away from her, dude, she does not want to see you. Don't make her life any worse than you have."
Bradin didn't reply, he just walked around Jason and joined some of his friends near the lockers.
Bradin tried to put Jason's words out of his mind but he couldn't. Obviously, if Jason had noticed how upset Jessica was, she had to be really hurt. He hadn't meant to pause; the words just really couldn't surface. Through the day, Bradin tried again and again to make it up to her but Jason was guarding her like some sort of dog and hadn't allowed him passage. The distanced look of covered unhappiness lay on her face and Bradin knew he couldn't talk to her unless he had something big planned to make it up to her. He wouldn't chance hurting her again.
Damn it though, Bradin really was getting surpassingly annoyed at Jason. He admitted that Jason was being a fairly good friend to Jess in trying to look after her, but honestly. Obviously, if she had felt the same way about Jason they'd be dating by now, wouldn't they? Bradin convinced himself that Jason wasn't a threat…that he would still have time. He wasn't cocky or anything, but he did sort of believe that if she had the opportunity to choose from Jason or Bradin, she'd choose Bradin without hesitation.
In between dodging Bradin, Jason tried to gather up enough courage to ask Jessica out again. Maybe this wasn't the best time to do it, but at the same time there could be no better timing. After all, she was upset but the person whom she was upset with was Jason's main (and hopefully only) rival in her affections. Meaning, his competition was obliterated. Besides, Jason had a feeling that Bradin would soon come up with a stunt that would blind Jessica to all his past mistakes and cause her to dive into his evenly tanned pretty-boy arms once more.
It was after school and Jason had personally seen Bradin walk out the door and onto the bus resignedly. Now was the time. But she wasn't even paying attention to him last time he tried, should he really embarrass himself again?
Jason opened his mouth to speak, "Jess…I know you probably don't want to dive into a relationship right now, after Bradin…"
"Yeah, I am not going to waste another minute of my time worrying about guys. No offence, I don't mean you," she answered.
"I don't think you should be so quick to swear off us guys. There are lots of us out there who would appreciate you and treat you so much better than Bradin," Jason told her. "You should give us a chance to redeem our kind. You need to get your mind off Bradin, any ways."
"I guess," Jessica shrugged.
"No really," Jason continued, "It'll be good for you to see what's out there. You don't even have to start anything serious. Just a casual thing. And who knows, if you like him and he likes you, maybe you'll find yourself with a boyfriend and your Bradin blues will be a thing of the distant past. Go out there, don't let Bradin stop you from doing anything."
Jessica smiled, "You're being really supportive, Jason… I know you've got so many other friends but you spent all day with me to make sure I was okay. I don't know what I'd do without you." She hugged him. Jason hugged her back, a little awkwardly, feeling as if a major break through had been won. Now's the time!
"Jess-" he said. She looked upon him expectantly. Before he could continue on, a guy who shared a class with Jessica walked up to the pair with a nervous look on his face.
"Uh, hi, can I have a word?" the guy asked Jessica. She smiled and nodded.
"I'll catch up with you later, okay?" she told Jason. Jason gaped at her as she walked off. Damn it! Would he ever get his chance? Would he ever be able to ask her out without interruption!
Jessica walked beside the guy who had pulled her from Jason. His name was Will Burke and they took art together. She had spoken to him a few times but she didn't know him too well. He was very nice and extremely talented artistically as well as intellectually and was a bit on the shy side, like she was.
"What's up, Will?" she questioned with a smile.
He looked at the floor, then forced himself to meet her eyes. "Er, Jessica, I really, uh, okay, I suck at this…and I don't even know why I'm here, I mean, you're friends with Bradin Westerly and everything…but I-um, do you want to go out with me sometime? Playa Linda is, um, having this festival thing to celebrate it's bicentennial and it could be kind of fun…"
Jessica couldn't hide her surprise. Will was always friendly towards her, but she hadn't hung out around him much at all. She considered the things Jason told her and considered the fact that Will was such a sweet person and how it would've taken a lot for him to take the plunge to ask her out and smiled.
"That sounds good," she answered, "But, uh, I just think you should know. I'm not really looking to start anything right now. I just had a tough few days and I'm not sure if I want to be in anything serious…"
Will broke out into a smile, "Not a problem. Let's just see how it goes. God, I've been thinking about asking you out since October! I didn't I had a chance."
"Why's that?" Jessica asked curiously. After all, he was attractive and nice.
"You just seem to have a broad array of guys to choose from," Will said sheepishly, looking at Jason who was standing down the hall.
"Oh, no, me and him are just friends," she shook her head, "You're the first guy to really ask me out at all this year, actually. And how could I say no to Will Burke, honour student, artistic protégé, and one who has lent me a pencil for the past ten art classes?" she added with a laugh.
After making arrangements with Will, Jessica headed back to Jason. "Guess what? I decided to take your advice. I'm giving guys another shot. Will and I are going out next week. Thank you so much, Jason, if it wasn't for you, I totally wouldn't be doing this." She hugged him, missing the shattered look on Jason's face
He was in cold shock and disgust. His pep talk had softened her up for another guy. Now Bradin didn't matter. He had been so preoccupied with stopping Jess and Bradin getting together that he had not even considered that someone else would be interested. Now neither Bradin nor Jason would have her.
A/N: Mwhaha, Jason and Bradin were too slow! Thankies guys for reviewing! New goal: to reach 200 reviews! Thanks so much for your support!
