CHAPTER FOUR.
The weekend went by without much activity from either the Taylor's or the James', and before Randy knew it, it was Wednesday and he and Jess were preparing to present their scene from Romeo and Juliet.
Things between he and Jess had been strange ever since Friday night. They, of course, had hung out over the weekend, but things between the two of them had been different. Randy could understand if she was kind of ticked at him, he had ditched working on their project to go out with Lauren. But it was Lauren, the girl of his dreams… Jess could understand that, right?
In English on Wednesday, Randy had a hard time finding Jess at first. Everybody looked different, in their various attempts at Shakespearean clothing, but he finally found her. She was sitting in her regular spot, by the window, with her hair in a low ponytail, and she was wearing… a dress.
This was the thing Randy found the hardest to believe. His best friend hated dresses, but Jill had said that Juliet would have worn a dress, and what he found even stranger was that Jess looked good.
"Hey." He greeted her.
Jess didn't look up from the book she was reading, "Hey."
"You, um, look nice." Randy said awkwardly.
Jess' dark brown eyes flicked up from her book. She blinked a few times before saying, "Thanks."
Randy sat down next to her, and was trying to think of something to say to break the awkwardness between them, when their English teacher, Ms. Waller, came over.
"Randy, Jessica, you two look very nice!" She exclaimed.
"Thanks, Ms. Waller," Jess said, almost smiling.
The teacher walked off, and Randy remained silent for a few moments before saying, "Are you mad at me?"
Jess raised her head and looked at him, "Why would I be mad at you, Randy?"
"Uh, I don't know, really." Randy nodded, "Its just… things are weird. I feel like you're mad at me… maybe because I ditched you on Friday?"
Jess rolled her eyes, "Yeah, that's it." Her voice was heavily laced with sarcasm, "I'm not mad at you."
"Oh, okay." Randy nodded. Things were still awkward between them, so he said, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Jess replied blinking at him, "Seriously. Are you okay? You're acting kind of weird."
"I'm fine." Randy nodded. "It's just… I feel like we haven't really talked since Friday."
"You've been busy with the paper," Jess responded, closing her book, "And I've been avoiding Jason Morgan."
"Yeah, I guess you're right… So, Jason Morgan is still giving you a hard time?"
"Unfortunately," Jess nodded, "Apparently Brad hitting him right in his stupid face isn't enough to tell him to back off."
"Do you want me to talk to him again?" Randy was being semi-serious.
Jess cracked a grin, "It's okay, I think I can handle it. I wouldn't want you to go and scare him too badly."
Randy grinned back, and said, "Well, okay, but if you ever need it, you know where I am."
Jess laughed, and said, "Rumor has it that Ellie Harmond is going to faint on purpose during this presentation."
"Really?" Randy looked surprised, "How do you know this?"
"Some girls told me at lunch." Jess replied, "They asked how I was going to get out of presenting it, and I said I wasn't going to."
"So they said…?"
"They asked who my partner was, and when I said it was you, they started talking about how much of a dream boat you are." Jess replied, "Not really my kind of conversation."
"Oh, come on, Jess, I know you think I'm a dream boat." Randy chuckled.
"Oh, you're right, Randy, you caught me." Jess nodded, blinking her wide brown eyes, "I've been secretly in love with you since the moment I met you when we were three years old."
"What did it for you?" Randy asked.
"I think it must've been the Power Rangers overalls you were wearing, or the way you were sucking your thumb." Jess maintained a serious face for a few moments after saying that, before cracking up laughing.
Randy laughed too, and felt as though a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He was glad that things between he and Jess were back to normal.
Their English presentation had been a success and they had gotten the full marks for it. Randy and Jess were walking down the hallway, towards Jess' locker, when suddenly their cheery mood was ruined… or Jess' was, at least.
"Randy, hey!" Lauren came sashaying up, her white blonde hair almost glowing in the fluorescent lighting.
"Oh, hey, Lauren." Randy smiled.
Lauren smiled at him and then spotted Jess, "Oh, hi, Jessica."
"Hey." Jess nodded in her general direction. She willed herself not to look directly at her, because she knew if she did, she would most likely end up saying something she would later regret.
"So, our article's almost finished!" Lauren said excitedly, "I was thinking that this Saturday, maybe, you could come over and we could finish it together."
"Well, I would, Lauren," Randy began, and Lauren's face fell, "But I have a backyard barbecue to go to."
"Backyard barbecue?" Lauren echoed.
"It's something all of the people in our neighborhood do every year." Jess piped up, seeing the obvious disapproval in Lauren's eyes.
"Yeah," Randy nodded, "Sorry, I can't miss it."
"Oh, okay." Lauren sighed, "I guess I could finish it…" She started walking away, when Randy said, "Wait, Lauren, I have an idea! Maybe you could come to the barbecue…"
Jess sighed deeply and frowned. Lauren had to ruin everything, didn't she?
Saturday morning, Jess woke up early to help her mother prepare for the barbecue, but she was automatically in a bad mood. She came downstairs, still in her pajamas and found her mother already starting the desserts.
"Good morning, Jessie," Veronica greeted dreamily.
"What's so good about it?" Jess grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Did somebody wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" Veronica asked, looking at her daughter expectantly.
"Not really," Jess sighed and sat at the counter across from her mother.
"Then what's up?"
"Did you ever notice how high school seems to complicate everything?" Jess asked, resting her head on her hands.
"That's what high school's for," Veronica nodded, smiling slightly. "Well, that, and your education,"
Jess sighed, and Veronica said, "What's bothering you, sugar plum?"
"There's this girl at school."
"A girl?" Veronica repeated, her eyes widening, "Oh… okay. I didn't realize you were into that kind of thing, Jessica, but if it makes you happy—"
"Not like that, Mom!!" Jess exclaimed, sitting up straight, "She's Randy's "friend"."
"Oh, okay," Veronica nodded, "Well, what is it about Randy's friend that you don't like?"
"Everything." Jess muttered, and then said, "She thinks she's perfect, and she totally hates me. And she's all over Randy, but I don't think she's good enough for him, honestly."
"Well, Jess, did you ever think that maybe this girl might view you as competition and that's why she hates you?" Veronica asked.
"Competition?" Jess wrinkled her nose, "Competition for what?"
"Randy." Veronica clarified.
"I don't think I understand what you mean, Mom." Jess said slowly.
Veronica smiled slightly, "Well, you said she's all over Randy, right? Well, maybe the reason why she doesn't like you is because she views you as competition for Randy's affections."
"But I'm not," Jess said, looking confused. "Randy and I have been best friends since we were three, I'm pretty sure he would never see me like that."
"What makes you say that?" Veronica asked, "You're very pretty, Jessica, and you're a lovely person. I don't see why Randy wouldn't see you like that."
"He likes Lauren, Mom." Jess felt slightly embarrassed by her mother's words of praise.
"Lauren's the girl you don't like, I'm assuming." Veronica said, as Jess nodded, "Well, sunshine, if you get such a bad vibe from her, maybe you should talk to Randy about it?"
"Yeah, I don't think that's going to go so well," Jess muttered, "And to make matters worse, she's coming to the barbecue tonight."
"Randy invited her?"
Jess nodded again, and Veronica said, "Well, Jess, if you don't think talking to Randy will help, you just better keep your fingers crossed that she'll do something that'll prove that she isn't good enough for him."
Jess nodded, but remained silent.
"But, if she doesn't…" Veronica said, "You should try to talk to him. You guys are best friends, and I'm sure he'd listen if you told him."
That night, Jess spent most of her time with Mark and Brad. Brad was the first one to voice his confusion, "Why aren't you hanging out with Randy?"
"Why does it matter?" Jess asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well, I was just asking… I mean, you guys usually never leave each others sides at these things." Brad explained.
"Yeah, well." Jess wasn't sure how to respond to this.
"Why's Lauren here?" Mark asked suddenly, "She doesn't live around here."
"Randy invited her." Jess replied, sighing.
"Why?" Mark wrinkled her nose.
Because she guilt-tripped him into doing it, Jess thought bitterly. But she forced a smile, and shrugged, "I really don't know."
A little while later, Jess was standing by herself when she suddenly heard someone clear their throat behind her. She turned and found Lauren Weiss looking at her.
"Can I help you?" Jess asked.
"As a matter of fact, you can," Lauren nodded, "You can back off from Randy."
Jess gave a small sound of disbelief, "Excuse me?"
"You heard me," Lauren nodded. "Back off."
"And what exactly makes you think that you can tell me whether or not I should back off from a guy who's been my best friend for the past thirteen years?" Jess asked, raising an eyebrow.
Lauren rolled her eyes, looking unimpressed, "Look, I don't want to have to hurt you, but I will if it comes to that. I like Randy. And what I like, I get. Got it?"
"Randy's not somebody's personal possession, he's a person and he can make up his own mind who should be in his life and who shouldn't." Jess stated. "And, just a little newsflash, you don't scare me. I could take you in a fight."
"Who said I meant in a fight?" Lauren raised her eyebrows, and continued, "You know, Randy's told me a lot about you in the time we've hung out together. He's told me all about your parents, and all those lovely little things that happened before they got divorced. He told me how your dad left, and about your brother's little… problem. And he also told me that I should keep that on the down low," She smiled faintly, "It would just suck for that to go public, now, wouldn't it?"
"Randy wouldn't tell you that," Jess said slowly.
"Then how would I know about it?" Lauren asked, cocking her head to the side.
"You're crazy." Jess stated.
"Not quite," Lauren said, "I'm just someone who knows what I want, and I'm gonna get him. And you're going to back off, right?"
Jess just shook her head, and walked away, she frowned deeply as she heard Lauren call, "So great to have this chat!"
Jess was so wrapped up in her now fuming rage, that she wasn't paying attention to where she was going, and she ran right into Randy.
"Hey, Jess!" He greeted her, "Where are you headed?"
"I'm going home," Jess said softly.
"What? Why?!" Randy exclaimed, looking concerned.
"Why don't you ask your girlfriend?" Jess said in a low voice, before pushing past Randy and walking to her house.
Sorry it's been so long AGAIN, guys! It's been kind of crazy around here! But I swear I'm going to try my hardest to keep up with this story now! Thank you all SO much for the reviews, they mean so much to me! And a special thank you to Randy Taylor for coming up with the idea for the scene between Jess and Lauren! Please read and review!