CHAPTER ONE.
PRESENT DAY.
"God, Randy, you are so stupid sometimes." 15-year-old Jess James said, shaking her head as she and her best friend, Randy Taylor, sat in his kitchen.
"I'm the stupid one?" Randy raised his eyebrows, his blue eyes glittering the fluorescent lights, "You are the one who tried to pierce her own ears when we were thirteen, but I am the stupid one?"
"May I remind you that you were the one who told me I should try pierce my own ears with a needle?" Jess said, looking at him with a faint smile, "You were the one who was all 'Oh, Jessie, I'm sure you can't get sick or die from piercing your own ears with a sewing needle!'."
"But you were the one who listened to me." Randy pointed out.
Jess shook her head, "You were the one who gave me the idea in the first place, you were also the one who told your little brother that he'd get traded in because he broke your dad's wrench when we were nine, and you were the one who took that stupid dare and drove your brand new bike off that five-foot jump, and then lied to your parents about it, and you, my friend, were the one who told Jason Morgan that if he ever talks to me again you'll "break" him." She rested her head on her hands, "So, tell me, Randall Taylor, which one of us is the stupid one?"
"Ha-ha-ha." Randy said sarcastically, "Well, excuse me, for coming to my best friend's rescue in her time of need."
"Randy, I wasn't exactly dying, you know." Jess said as she took a sip from her soda.
"Well, sor-ree, Jessica, I wasn't aware you wanted that goon talking to you." Randy said, rolling his eyes.
"I didn't say I wanted that goon talking to me." Jess stated.
"What goon?" Randy's 17-year-old brother, Brad, asked, coming into the kitchen with his eyebrows raised.
"Jason Morgan." Randy replied.
"Ugh, why are you guys talking about him?" Brad looked confused.
"He wants to take Jess out on a date." Randy said, as Jess elbowed him.
"That guy's sleaze, Jess, you do not want to date him." Brad said seriously.
"I wasn't planning on dating him," Jess said, tapping her jagged, chewed nails on the counter, "But I don't think he's going to give up too easily."
"He's gonna back off." Randy said.
"Oh, because you had him shaking in his size 14 Nike shoes." Jessica said, rolling her eyes.
"What'd you say?" Brad asked, looking at his younger brother.
"I told him to back off from Jess or…" Randy let his voice trail off,
"Or what?" Brad prompted.
"Or he'd break him." Jess responded, shaking her head.
Brad scoffed, and Randy glared at them both, "It's nice to know you're both so supportive."
"Sorry, Randy." Brad coughed to cover up a snicker, and then he said, "Want me to talk some sense into him, Jess?"
Jess looked at Randy, who was a good foot and a half taller than she was by now, and he had become like another older brother to her, over-protectiveness and all.
"You'd probably be a tad more effective than Randy," Jess said nodding.
Randy looked offended, and said, "Jessica, remind me not to stand up for you again."
"Randy, don't get like that," Jess said, shaking her head, "Really, I appreciate you standing up for me."
"Even if you only come up to Jason Morgan's elbows." Brad laughed.
Jess hid her small smile by covering her mouth with her hand, as Randy glared at Brad, "I do not come up to his elbows, and he was intimidated by me."
"Uh-huh," Jess and Brad said in unison.
Brad was still grinning slightly, and he said, "Listen, Jess, if I see him tomorrow, I'll talk to him, okay?"
"Well, thanks, Brad, but has it ever occurred to you guys that I might be able to handle myself?" Jess raised her eyebrows expectantly.
Brad and Randy both scoffed, and Randy said, "Su-u-ure you can, Jessie."
"I can!" Jess looked indignant.
"We believe you, Jess." But she could tell from the tone of Brad's voice he didn't.
Jess frowned deeply, and Randy said, "Come on, Jessie, don't be like that. We know you're a tough guy, all right? We know you could take Jason Morgan."
"Jason Morgan?" The youngest of the three Taylor boys, 13-year-old Mark, repeated as he entered the kitchen, "I hate that guy."
"Join the club." Randy, Brad and Jess said in unison, before Mark came into clear view, showing a swollen bottom lip.
"Mark, what happened?" Jess asked, looking concerned.
"Jason Morgan happened." Mark sighed.
"At least tell us that you hit him back." Randy said, receiving Jess' left elbow in his ribs, as well as a nasty glare from her.
"Why did Jason Morgan hit you? You don't even go to school with him." Jess remarked, as Randy massaged his ribs.
"He ran into me… no, wait, I ran into him, and he… just felt like it." Mark sighed again.
"Great, now I have two reasons to hit this guy!" Brad sounded more excited than he probably should've about his impending fight.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, nobody's going to be hitting anybody!" The boys' mother, Jill Taylor, exclaimed as she entered the kitchen, and then she spotted her youngest son, "Mark! What happened to your lip?!"
"The guy I'm going to hit happened to his lip." Brad replied.
"Don't respond to violence with violence." Jill advised.
"Can we respond to comments he makes about Jess when she isn't around with violence?" Randy asked.
"Comments? What comments?" Jess snapped her brown eyes onto her best friend, "You never mentioned anything about him making comments, Randy!"
He cringed, "Yeah, well, uh, that kind of, um… slipped my mind?"
"What does Jason Morgan say about me when I'm not around?"
"Wait a second, Jason Morgan? The half-back from the football team?" Jill looked at the four kids for confirmation, and when they nodded, she said, "Oh, that boy's mother is vile. Wait a minute, did he hit you, Mark?"
"Yeah, Mom," Mark nodded, "But it's no big deal."
"Sweetie, this is the definition of a big deal." Jill said.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Mrs. Taylor, you'll have the definition of a very huge deal, right here, in your very own kitchen, if Randy doesn't tell me exactly what Jason Morgan says about me." Jess said, smiling, as she looked at Randy seriously.
"It's nothing, Jess." Randy said, looking a little bit nervous, "He… he just says you're really in shape."
Jess raised her eyebrows, "Really?"
"Sort of."
"I said exactly, Randy." Jess said, blinking.
"He may have mentioned the phrase "nice rack" once or twice," Randy said, bracing himself to get hit.
Jess' eyes widened, and she looked as though she was going to throw up, "Seriously?"
"I think he was over-exaggerating." Randy said, patting her shoulder.
"So you don't think I'm in shape?" Jess raised her eyebrows.
"Well, uh," Randy started stumbling over his words and Brad clapped his younger brother on the back, "Quit while you're ahead, Randy… and Jessie, I happen to think you're very in shape."
Jess rolled her eyes, and Mark said, "Brad, if you're going to hit Jason… I think Jessie and I both agree that you should aim for the face."
"You are not going to hit him, Bradley." Jill said seriously, "Mark, if he hits you again, you talk to me, and I will call that vile woman he calls his mother, and Jessica, sweetie… stay as far away from him as you possibly can."
"Thanks, Mrs. Taylor." Jess smiled weakly as Jill walked out of the kitchen. Once she was out of earshot, Randy said, "You're still going to hit him, aren't you?"
Brad nodded, "Oh, yeah."
The next day found Jess and Randy sitting outside at lunch, with Jess working on her math homework, and Randy telling her of the latest drama in the Taylor household.
"So, my mom walked into Brad's room and found him with Angela… on the bed." Randy said, shaking his head.
"How much trouble is he in?" Jess asked, looking up from her homework.
"A lot," Randy nodded, "Enough for my mom to call my dad while he was out on an aircraft carrier."
"Ooh, nice." Jess nodded, "How long is he grounded for?"
"Until further notice," Randy chuckled, "So, I guess he won't be going to Nick's party on Friday."
"What a shame," Jess said sarcastically, "Like we were going to be there anyways."
"We aren't?" Randy raised his eyebrows.
"Um, no." Jess looked at him strangely. "Why would we go? It's just going to be my brothers and their dumb jock friends. Not really my scene, I don't know about you, though."
"Nah, not really." Randy shook his head, "So if we aren't going to Nick's party, what are we doing this Friday?"
Jess looked thoughtful, before responding, "Well, we could work on our scene from Romeo and Juliet, along with our dialogue to share our opinion on the characters, so it'll be done."
Randy shook his head as he looked at her, "You party animal, you."
Jess rolled her eyes and nudged him with her shoulder. "Come on, Randy, we might actually be able to get this project done a week before, unlike our Bonnie and Clyde project for history, which was finished, when?"
"A day before." Randy felt slightly guilty for this.
He and Jess had been in each other's class every year since they started school, and now that they were in high school they had strangely chosen all the same courses (by accident), and had every single class together.
And in every single class, whenever there was a project, they were always together. But Jess had a great work ethic, wanting to get it done in advance, where as Randy liked to procrastinate.
"So, my mom wants to make our costumes for our Romeo and Juliet reenactment." Randy said, "If you come over on Friday, I bet she'll be able to work on your outfit… while we work on our project."
Jess smiled, "Sounds like a plan, I'll be there."
**
There you guys go, the first real chapter. (: Thank you so much Baxxie, HomeImprovementLover, and Randy Taylor for your reviews, they made my day! I hope everybody enjoys this chapter, please read and review. (: