How it looked

I own nothing...Since the majority of you seemed to want me to update this one first, here it is. :)

April 1995

Angela, in a hurry, is running down the steps. She's late for third period biology again. As she reaches the landing, the person in front of her stops short and she runs into them. All the books and papers in her arms go flying.

Angela VO: This is just great. I'm late for class, my report is now being trampled on and I don't see my biology book. And where is Jordan? Can this day get any worse?

Angela had woke up late. She'd forgotten to get breakfast. Danielle had been a major pain, not wanting to share the bathroom. She'd almost missed the bus, remembering just in time that Jordan wasn't picking her up this morning. Krakow had stared at her all the way to school, making her feel uncomfortable.

Not having seen Jordan since Friday, she was looking for his car in the parking lot when she got off the bus, but didn't see it. In the weeks since they'd gotten back together, his car had always been there when she went looking for it. Walking into the school by herself, she had headed straight for homeroom.

Since all of her friends were pretty much mad at her for choosing Jordan over Rayanne and Brian, she didn't hang out with them in the bathroom as much anymore. Already having a bad day, she goes out of her way to avoid them by going to the bathroom on the north hall. She was paying for it now. There was no way she was going to make it to class on time.

Watching helplessly as everyone walks on her work, kicking her books around, she leans against the window to wait for the halls to clear out. When almost everyone has went to class and she can actually see her things, she bends over and starts to pick everything up. As she spies her biology book in the corner, she bends down to pick it up just as someone else bends to get it.

As she straightens, she looks up to see Corey holding her book. Giving him a smile, she takes her it as he holds it out.

"Hey, Angela. Have an accident?" Looking around, he takes notice of the papers still strewn about.

"Thanks, Corey. Yeah, I was in a hurry and I bumped into someone coming down the steps. All my stuff went flying." As Corey bends to help her pick up her papers, the tardy bell rings.

"Great. Now I've made you late for class, too." Sighing loudly, she tucks her hair behind her ear. "Today has not been a good day so far."

Laughing, Corey holds her papers out to her. "No worries. I'll just head to the office and get a late pass."

Since Angela had to go to the office for a pass, she falls in step beside him. "Thanks again, Corey. I appreciate your help. I think I stood there for like 5 minutes watching people kick my stuff around."

"It was no problem." They continue down the hall toward the office, an awkward silence settling over them.

Just before they reach the office, Angela puts her hand out to stop him. "Corey, I just wanted to say, I'm sorry for what I did. There was no excuse for it."

"Angela, you don't have to apologize. I understand. Ricky explained to me about what happened." Smiling down at her, he nudges her arm. "No hard feelings, I promise."

Tucking her hair behind her ear, Angela looks up at Corey, giving him a smile in return. "That's a relief. I really felt bad afterward. I was in a bad place back then, you know." Not seeing Jordan, who had just walked out of the office with his tardy slip, Angela takes Corey's hand, giving it a squeeze. "That makes me feel better."

Corey, holding her hand in his for a second, says to her, "Catalano is a lucky guy."

Still smiling, they both drop their hands to their sides before turning back to the office. Finally noticing Jordan, Angela stops in her tracks. Corey nods to Jordan and continues on into the office. Angela and Jordan stand across the hall staring at each other.

Seeing the dark look on his face, Angela takes a deep breath and walks up to him. "Hey. Where were you this morning? I was looking for you."

At first, Jordan doesn't say anything. For a long time, he just stands there looking down at her. When he finally speaks, he says, "I had something to do. I'm late for class. Later." He turns and walks the other way without a backward glance.

Angela VO: Crap. This day just got worse. I can only imagine what he's thinking. This isn't going to go well.

After watching Jordan walk down the hall, she turns and walks in to the office.

Jordan spends most of the day avoiding Angela. He'd had a shitty weekend, followed up by a shitty morning. He'd fought with Tony all weekend because he had went into Jordan's room and taken what little money Jordan had stashed. Tony said it was to pay the electric bill, but Jordan knew better. His dad had sat at home all weekend, getting wasted.

He'd been late to school that morning because he'd spent the night at the loft so he wouldn't have hear his dad's mouth. He'd waited until Tony was gone before he went home to shower and change. He'd already been in a foul mood, but then he walked out of the office to see Angela smiling up at Corey and then he saw Corey touch her. Then Angela took his hand.

He hadn't been close enough to hear what they were saying, but he hadn't needed to. They were both standing in the hall, late for class and flirting with each other. Not wanting to deal with it, he'd left her standing there. He'd avoided her locker, skipped out with Tino for lunch and only returned for Katimski's class.

As he walks in, he could see her sitting in her seat. He walked by without making eye contact with her. Instead of taking his usual seat behind her, he goes all the way to the far back corner of the room.

As he sits, half listening to Katimski talk about the play the weekend before and the turn out they got, he watches Angela. She sits slouched in her seat with her chin propped on her hand. Her notebook is open in front of her. She doesn't seem to be paying attention, either. She just stares at one of the posters on the wall. Jordan puts his head down on the desk and for the rest of the class he pretends to sleep.

When the bell rings, he walks by her desk, brushing her arm. When she looks up, he doesn't say anything, he just motions for her to follow him. Walking into the hall, he leans against the wall and waits for her. Coming out of the room, she gives him a nervous look. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she bites her lip and stands in front of him.

Taking her backpack from her, he starts walking toward the side door. He doesn't wait for her to follow because he knows she will. After he walks outside, he heads toward his car. Opening the passenger door, he tosses his book and her backpack in the seat. Shutting the door, he turns and leans back against it.

Frowning, he looks at her standing a few feet away, nervously chewing on her bottom lip. "Angela, what the hell was that?"

He watches as she reaches up to tuck the hair that is already behind her ear. "It was nothing, Jordan. I swear."

Crossing his arms over his chest, he clenches his jaw. "I didn't look like nothing."

"I was running late to class. We ran into each other, that's all." She's looking at the ground, nervously pulling at the hem of her shirt.

"When I walked out of the office, you were holding his hand." Moving his hand to his mouth, Jordan starts chewing on his thumb.

Now looking up at him, Angela is shaking her head. "No, Jordan. I wasn't holding his hand." She takes a step toward him. "I dropped my stuff on the stairs. He stopped to help me pick it up. We walked to the office together because we were both late."

"I saw you holding his hand. And you were smiling at him." Turning away, Jordan sighs. "Have you been talking to him again?"

"What? God, no. Jordan, I swear. He helped me. I was thanking him. You saw me squeeze his hand, but I wasn't holding it." About to cry, Angela ducks her head. "I wouldn't do that to you."

Smirking, Jordan says, "You did it before. The first day I don't make it to school on time, I come in to find you touching him and smiling at him. What do you expect me to think?"

"God, we weren't even together then. And I expect you to trust me. I don't flip out every time a girl comes near you." Walking closer to him, Angela puts her hand on his arm where it's crossed over his chest. "Jordan, I stopped him just outside the office so I could like apologize to him or whatever."

"Apologize for what?" Looking down into her face, he searches her eyes. Something in her expression makes him relax. He drops his hands down to his side. "Imagine what it looked like to me."

"That was the first time I've talked to Corey since the day I found out about you and Rayanne. I was very upset that day. I tried to kiss him, but he pushed me away. I was apologizing to him." Closing her eyes, she continues. "He told me not to worry about it. He said that you were a lucky guy."

"What? You tried to kiss him? When were you going to tell me that?" Shoving his hands in his pockets, Jordan turns his back to Angela. "That's just fucking great!"

Reaching out to him, Angela puts her hands on his sides. "Jordan, you can't get mad about that. Nothing happened." Laying her forehead against his back, she says, "It doesn't matter anyway. Corey doesn't like me."

Stiffening, Jordan says, "How the hell do you know he doesn't like you?"

Very softly, she says, "Because I'm not a guy."

Jordan spins around quickly, catching Angela off guard. He has to grab her arms to keep her from falling. "What did you say?"

"I said, Corey likes guys. He and Ricky have been seeing each other." Seeing that blank look come across Jordan's face, Angela smiles up at him. "Didn't know that, did you?"

Frowning back at her, he says, "Damn it, Angela. I've been going through hell all day thinking you liked him. You could have told me that before now."

Stepping into him, she moves up and kisses him on the chin. "I didn't tell you because it's none of our business. Besides, I haven't been speaking to Ricky too much lately. He is friends with Brian and Rayanne, too."

He wraps his arms around her, turning so that he's leaning back on the door with her against his chest. She slips her arms around his waist. "This is all still new to me, you know? I was jealous as hell. I'm sorry. I guess I shouldn't have like got all mad."

Giggling, she says, "You were jealous? Jordan, you have nothing to worry about."

Kissing her on top of the head, he pulls her closer. "Yes, I was jealous. It's not funny. I came out of the office and my girl was holding hands with another guy." Rocking from side to side, he says, "And from now own, you aren't allowed to smile at any other guy."

She huffs and tries to pull out of his arms. "Jordan! You can't tell me that. How am I not supposed to smile?"

Laughing, he lets her go, only to steal a kiss. "I was just messing with you." Reaching up he tucks her hair back before caressing her cheek. "I just keep thinking you're gonna wise up and get rid of me."

Rolling her eyes, she says, "Jordan, I finally got you. I don't plan to get rid of you anytime soon." She moves her arms up around his neck and pulls him down to her. Just before she kisses his lips, she whispers, "I love you."

Slipping his hands down to her hips, he pulls her against him again. Deepening the kiss, he nips at her lips before pushing his tongue inside her mouth. For several minutes they stand against his car, lost in each other. Neither of them notice that the bell had rang and students were piling out of the building. They don't break apart until Shane plops down on the hood of the car beside them.

Clearing his throat, Shane laughs as they break apart. "You guys are so fucking cute!"

Angela, blushing, buries her face against Jordan's chest. Angela mumbles, "Shane, you're an idiot."

Jordan shakes his head. Laughing he bends over and whispers so only she can hear. "I love you, too, Red."

When she goes to pull away, he holds her in place. Shifting her in his arms so that she's facing Shane but still leaning against his chest, he and Shane start talking about practice. After a while, Shane jumps down from the hood of the car and says he'll see them later.

Jordan tilts Angela's head back and kisses her softly. She looks into his eyes. "Promise me something?"

"Anything, babe." Taking a piece of her hair, he twirls it around his finger.

"Promise me if something like this happens again, we'll talk about." She bites her lip.

"I promise you."

Running her finger under the edge of his collar, she says, "But we have to learn to trust each other, too. You've got to know that I wouldn't cheat on you, right?"

Laying his forehead against hers, he sighs. "I know, but I guess I'm still scared that this is going to fall apart."

"We won't let it." She hugs him tight before letting him go. "I need to get home. I'm supposed to be watching Danielle this afternoon. If we leave now, we can still beat the bus."

Opening the door, Jordan stands back as she climbs inside. Smiling, he walks to the driver side and gets in.

So...how many of you are ticked because I left you hanging again? LOL I'll make it up to you! REVIEW, please! :) ~gagirl29