Jason watched the interaction between the girl he had become so fond of and his recent arch-nemesis with anger. It really did not seem fair in his mind that a guy such as Bradin, he who could get any girl in any grade, he who had girls in freakin' university and girls who were seriously model/actress calibre flirting with him, wanted to snatch away one of the few girls he could actually have a chance with. Of all the "pretty people" who stood in Bradin's league, why, oh why, did he decide he wanted Jessica? Why couldn't he just stick to his own league? And Jason couldn't understand Jessica, either. He couldn't comprehend how she would openly forgive him after doing so many stupid things. She was smarter than this. How could she let one stupid corny gimmick blind her from all else? Jason couldn't take this anymore. All his life he had been forced to watch the Bradin's of Playa Linda woo away every girl he had ever liked. He hardly ever got the girl. The problem Jason had was simple. He wasn't unpopular, on the contrary he had quite a large amount of friends. In fact, he was on friendly terms with most of the people in the school. Not a lot of people disliked him, not counting the members of the absolute elite in the school. The problem Jason had was that he was always looked upon as the nice 'friend'. He was 'shoulder-to-cry-on' guy. Which was why when Jessica came, Jason had made a big effort to really get to know her before the other people could pounce. At one point, Jason really thought he was making leeway. But it turned out that he had fallen into the same trap again. He was viewed as a good friend, nothing more. With Bradin here it would always be that way. But if he could get rid of Bradin, perhaps Jess would be able to see him in a new light.
He didn't like lying. Jason was a pretty good guy. He looked like a pretty good guy, at least. Normally he was decent and played fair. But years upon years of frustration were finally taking a toll on him. The bitterness was starting to shine through.
"Hey Jess," Jason called. She turned and smiled at him. She said good-bye to Bradin and strode over. Ha, that was a small victory, he was chosen over Bradin.
"What's up?" she asked, walking with him to their lockers.
"There's actually something I wanted to talk to you about…" Jason started, putting on a hesitant look of appraisal.
"…What?" Jessica questioned, peering slightly warily at him.
"It's, uh, it's Bradin." Jason took in a breath.
"Am I going to have to prod you every step of the way or are you ever going to tell me what's on your mind?" Jessica said somewhat impatiently.
"Look. Bradin, Bradin threatened me." Jason looked down. "He hit me and warned me to stay away from you." He carefully tilted his head so that the fading but still visible bruise which Bradin had given him a while ago was in Jessica's line of vision. "And, er, I was talking to Will earlier and…Bradin threatened him too. Will didn't want to make a thing of it so he'll probably deny it if you confront him about it, he didn't want to interfere with you and Bradin. And I know that you two are getting on well and I'm really sorry to rain on that but I just really thought you should know that Bradin is sort've possessive. He doesn't want you to spend time with any other guy… he's trying to kill what he thinks is the competition. Maybe I'm making this into something bigger than it is but I just need you to know how physical and possibly abusive he could be. If he's so jealous when you guys are just friends, I don't want to know how he'd be if you started getting more serious. I think he's got the personality of an abuser. I'm worried about you."
"Bradin wouldn't-" Jessica protested in shock.
"Jess, he would. A lot of abusers have a double personality…they may appear sweet and caring but inside they can be down right dangerous." Jason said firmly. He shifted his eyes to the ground. "I know this is probably really hard to swallow and I totally understand if you choose not to believe me…but please, just watch out, okay?"
"Did he do this to you?" Jessica touched the bruise on his cheek.
Jason gave half a shrug. Inside his stomach did a little flip. Truth was, Bradin had indeed punched him there but the majority of the swelling came from the hard landing Jason had encountered when he had stumbled out of bed and banged his face onto his dresser last morning. It was coincidentally in the same spot. Technically, Jason wasn't lying… "I'm just concerned that your face is the next he'll be hitting."
Jessica blinked a few times and shook her head. She looked absolutely crushed. "I can't believe he hit you because you're my friend." She bit down on her lip and mumbled, "He was so sweet. He was being so great. I thought-I thought things were good again."
"I'm sorry, Jess," Jason said, looking appropriately contrite. "I wish I didn't have to tell you this."
Jessica numbly hugged him. "Thanks for telling me about this. I'm so sorry our friendship got you hurt."
"So you believe me?" Jason asked hopefully.
"Yeah, yeah of course." She was still looking incredibly detached. She swallowed and pulled away and when Jason caught another glance at her face he realized she had tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "I don't understand this. God, I am such a moron! I let him convince me that he was a good person. Even after everything that's happened, I let him do it."
"You're not a moron," he interjected.
"Jason, I really thought-" Jessica stopped and shook her head. "I liked him so much. How could he be so different? God, and this is just when I thought that-" she stopped again. "Damn it!"
"Jessica-" Jason muttered.
"How the hell could he do that? That son of a bitch! Who does he think he is? Threatening my friends? I really thought he was different." Jason was relieved to see the anger start forming.
"Yeah-" Jason started. But the anger wasn't enough to fully cover the sadness. She looked downright crestfallen. "There's so many others out there who would treat you so much better. Don't let Westerly get you down. Really."
But she didn't hear him. She didn't hear anything. She gave a numb goodbye and entered class, looking like a part of her spirit had left.
Jason bit his lip. This wasn't exactly the reaction he had anticipated. He didn't think she would be so hurt. He really thought mainly anger at Bradin and gratitude towards Jason would be her main emotions. But she was vastly depressed. She had liked him more than Jason had thought. He really didn't want to hurt her like that. Those tears in her eyes definitely surprised him. The guilt was entering in. But really, this was what Jason had wanted, wasn't it? She wasn't taken with Bradin anymore. So shouldn't this be a victory? Jason shook away the guilt. He'd be there to make things right. He'd make Jess see how much better off she was. He'd help her see how much better he was than Bradin. He'd help her forget about Bradin. She wouldn't be crying for long.
A/N: Mwaha. Yeshi, Jason is an ass. Okay, I've got some good news and I've got some bad news. Good news: I'm on spring break so I might (if I'm not lazy) be able to update every week day this week starting tuesday-which could mean 4 chapters this week. Bad news: I'm not sure how much longer I'll be writing this story. I'm considering ending it soon. Which means that the quick-in-coming next four chapters could be the last. BUT: if I do end this story soon, there's excellent chances of me writing a sequel once I make more leeway on my other stories. And now I say, thanks for reviewing! Keep doing it, please!
