A/N: I just wanna say, THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS! They make me really happy:D

His & Her Circumstances

Chapter 4

"There's a lot of symbolism in this book," Mrs. Lee drones on. "In fact, there is an evident symbol in this chapter." She then picks up her head and scans around the room for her victim while we cower behind our books. "Ah, Jackson. Do you know what it is?"

Right on queue, Jackson spits out the answer. "When the wine cask broke. It symbolizes the villagers' hunger both physically and mentally. Also, the red wine symbolizes blood. It sort of foreshadows the scenes to come with the revolution."

"Very good! You sure got a handle on this book, that's for certain," she praises.

Jackson gives out a faint laugh. "I try."

Mrs. Lee passes him one more grand smile and goes straight back to her lecturing. Without even realizing it, I have my back turned and I am staring at him. He senses the stare and looks up from the book, giving me a sort of grin that makes me cringe. I'm not stupid! I know exactly what that grin means. It says, "You are under my command now." That's right, I am Jackson's slave. Oh joy. Who would've thought I would stoop so low. Right now all he is making me do is his homework. But this is just the beginning. Who knows what foolish antics he'll put me through!

"Lisa."

I can see it now. I'll be serving him drinks, buying him food. He might even force me to do his friends' homework. Ack! What a thought indeed!

"Lisa Reisert!"

My head suddenly jolts up. "Huh?"

"Daydreaming are we?"

An apologetic smile forces its way onto my lips.

She sighs and repeats the question. "Who are the owners of the wine shop?"

"Madame Defarge and Monsieur Defarge," I say a matter-of-factly, hoping to compensate for my lack of attention. It seems to work. She nods, and goes back to boring us again. But that doesn't cover for the embarrassment I'm feeling right now. Stupid Jackson. If I wasn't thinking about him so much, I wouldn't have been put through such a situation. My reputation is going down the drain!

With this inquiry in my mind, I shove Jackson out of the way and focus on my schoolwork. Everything was going well—until lunch started.

"There you are Lisa!" I suddenly feel an arm snaking its way behind my neck, the hand resting on my shoulder. "You're not trying to hide from me are you?"

"No, of course not!" I push Jackson's arm off of me, flustered with the sudden closeness. "It's a nice day. I thought it would be nice to eat outside."

"Uh-huh." By the tone of his voice, I can tell he doesn't believe me. "Well did you finish the work I gave you?"

I fling the papers at him. "Here!"

"Now now Lisa, that's no way to behave."

"What do you expect! You're blackmailing me!"

"I wouldn't call it blackmailing," he says as he flips through the sheets.

"Oh it's blackmailing alright!"

"Okay, maybe it is. So what?"

"So I'm a girl. Are you supposed to treat a girl this way?" I try to conjure up one of Abby's famous angelic faces, but it fails. He simply laughs at me.

"That cute stuff won't work on me."

Infuriated, I moan and start to march away.

"I'll be meeting you after school!" he shouts out. "We need to go over a few things!"

Although I hear him, I choose to ignore him, hiding amongst the trees. I got to find a way to escape this kid.

My escape plan is not going to work out. He's here, sitting by the bleachers, watching my every move. Of course, my teammates are watching his every move as well. Great, another distraction, just what we need before the big game. Yeah so cheerleading practice goes on with girls swooning and the annoying kid looking and I can't help but be furious. Furious is a mood I have come to know pretty well by now. It'd be nice to have a new emotion for a change. But with Jackson on the prowl, I don't think that'll happen too soon.

"Good job out there," he says after I return from the locker room.

I grumble something inaudible.

"Let's get out of here before those girls get out, eh?" He leads me out into the school entrance and we start to head home. While we walk, he's giving me some more homework and certain instructions I decide to dismiss. I don't argue with him though. I'm far too tired for that. Plus it's almost five. I'm starting to get hungry.

Jackson comes to a stop. "Oh I forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"To get a book to read for history."

"That's not my problem."

"Yes it is. Stop walking."

Like a dog I halt. "What, you wanna pick something out of the library?"

"It's closed. I guess we'll have to get one from Barnes & Noble."

"We'll?" Too late. He's got my hand and now we're heading for the bus stop on the side. We wait there for about ten minutes, and during that time I sneak peaks at Jackson. He really is handsome, I admit. He has style, with his snug jeans and T-shirt. Some band name is written on it, but I've never heard of them. He must've been lying when he said he liked classical music. He probably got that CD from his mother, I'm sure of it.

The bus arrives and we hop in, Jackson willing to pay for me. I give him a thanks and we look for an unoccupied seat. There's a slight problem though. The bus is packed full of people and there's only two seats left, one in the front as well as the back.

Jackson immediately goes to the seat in the front. It's one of those seats stationed against the bus wall. "Well, sit down," he says.

"Where? There's no place to sit."

He pats his lap.

"Are you kidding me?"

His response is an evil grin.

"No, I'll just stand."

"Look over there Leese. You see that kid? She's from our school and I'd be happy to tell her about our lovely Lisa."

He's got me. With clenched teeth I sit awkwardly on his knee. His arms embrace me, making sure I won't fly out of the seat from sudden stops.

"I can't believe you did that." He says this more to himself than to me, so I don't reply back. I just sit quietly, looking down at my feet. I don't know what it is, but I have a bubbly feeling in the pit of my stomach. Could it be that old expression 'butterflies in your stomach?' My cheeks suddenly go hot. I can't actually be enjoying this closeness with my arch nemesis! But, for some reason, his arms around me feel so comforting—so warm and safe. Wonderful. Just wonderful. No way am I falling for Jackson!

The bus slows down until it comes to a complete stop. "This is it," he says.

I clamber off his lap and we exit the bus. I'm still blushing from the whole incident. He notices, but decides to lay off on the nasty comments. We stroll past a phone booth, which suddenly reminds him that I have a family to go home to.

"Do you need to tell your parents where you are?"

"Nah," I say as I kick an empty can. "They probably think I'm doing something important at school."

"Ah, I see. Same here."

That's right. We're both model students, the sort of kids that never do anything wrong. No one ever worries about us slipping up. We're definitely not your average teenagers. All of the sudden I find we both share a lot in common.

In Barnes & Noble we head right to the history section and Jackson starts going through the titles of the books. Nothing seems to catch his attention though. They're either too long or too short; too small a print or not an interesting subject at all.

"What book did you choose?" he asks me.

"Some biography on John Adams."

"Sounds boring."

"It is."

He's spots another book. Picks it up. "Why did you choose it then?"

"It looked like a challenge. Teachers love a challenge."

A laugh escapes from his mouth, but he soon traps it in, putting yet another book back into the shelf. Ten minutes fly by and no success.

"Will you hurry up!" I'm growing impatient. It's probably half past six and my stomach is growling.

"Well maybe I would get this done faster if you actually help."

I reach for the closest book and throw it at him, which he catches. "Read this."

He turns the book to its back, reading the summary. "Okay. This looks good."

What? He actually likes the book? Man, if I did that sooner this would've been over with! Whatever. What's done is done. I just want to get home.

After Jackson pays for the book we go outside and the smell of fries greet us. There's a Wendy's just a few blocks down and I desperately want a burger. Jackson seems to be reading my mind, for he says, "How 'bout something to eat?"

Wendy's definitely beats my mother's casserole, but of course, I can't give into Jackson so easily. "I got to get home."

"Why? Something important tonight?"

"Perhaps."

"Well it's gonna have to wait. We're going."

God, Jackson's assertive. I never recalled him being the pushy type. I place my feet stubbornly on the ground refusing to go any further. No one bosses Lisa Reisert around!

He suddenly realizes that I'm not following him. He looks back, frowns, then chuckles. "Lisa, aren't you coming?"

I give him a hateful glare.

He walks back towards me. "Sorry," he whispers, his eyes sparkling in the sunlight. "It won't take long. Aren't you hungry?"

"I guess…"

"Then let's go. I'll pay for you."

"You don't have to do that."

"Oh really?" He smirks. "How much money do you have on you?"

I dig into my pockets and remember I spent my last dollars at lunch. "None."

"Exactly. Now come on," he coaxes, "Let's go."

My feet give in before I can make a solid decision. I guess they were just following my inner want. Jackson and I walk side by side, following the scent trail of Wendy's fries as we part the sea of sea gulls. There is a new feeling inside me I just can't put a finger on, but I don't dwell on it for very long. My only focus right now is satisfying my whining stomach.