Description: An argument leads to hidden feelings being confessed.
"So who do you reckon Jessica's going on that date with?" Nick and Lucas both inwardly groaned. Toby had been asking the same question for the past fifteen minutes and, to be quite frank, they were both starting to get rather annoyed.
"For the last time, we don't know!" Nick all but shouted at his brother, his patience finally snapping. Toby stared at his brother and, to their great relief, stopped his constant questioning.
"Hey, guys!" Jessica said cheerfully, sitting down next to Toby. She looked at them curiously. "What were you talking about?" She added, regarding them all with suspicion.
Lucas and Nick both frantically shook their heads at Toby, silently warning him not to say anything but he ignored them and asked, "Who are you going on that date with?"
Jessica reached for a piece of paper and at first, chose not to reply. When she saw Lucas and Nick's faces, however, she sighed and said, "Well, not that it's any of your business, but I'm going with Nate Roberts."
There was a stunned pause before all three boys yelled, "What?" Nate Roberts, who had floppy brown hair, sparkling green eyes and a cheeky smile, was the second-most popular boy in their year. He had a reputation for dating girls, making them think he liked them before humiliating them in front of the entire school. Everyone knew that, which was why Nick, Toby and Lucas had reacted so badly.
Jessica raised an eyebrow. "What's up with you?" She asked, frowning. She hadn't expected them to have such an extreme reaction but she also hadn't expected them to be over the moon either.
Toby looked at her incredulously, "Surely you know what he's like?" He asked, Nick and Lucas nodding in agreement. "You must remember Amy Fisher."
Amy Fisher had been one of Nate's girlfriends but, after he humiliated her which led to her being bullied on a regular basis, she moved to Canada along with her family. This had been a similar fate for lots of other girls who had been taken in by his charm and good looks.
"Things have changed since then!" Jessica insisted stubbornly. "He's different now and he actually cares about me!" She got up and moved to sit next to Nate.
Toby watched her go before muttering, "Sure he does," under his breath. He then proceeded to glare at Nate, his expression stormy.
"What's his problem?" Nate asked Jessica as she sat down, jerking his head towards Toby. Jessica looked over and saw him glaring relentlessly at Nate.
" Just Toby being Toby," she sighed before turning back to Nate and adding, "So what time are we meeting again?"
Nate smiled at her, "Four o'clock at my house."
Jessica nodded and got up as the bell rang, signalling the end of the lesson. There was a sudden rush as everyone in the classroom fought to get out for lunch. She smiled at Nate before hurrying to catch up with Toby, Nick and Lucas.
" Hey, Jess!" Lucas greeted, Nick smiled at her and Toby merely nodded. She smiled back at them and sat down, picking nervously at her food. "Are you okay?"
"I-I don't know," she admitted, before dropping her fork. She disappeared under the table to retrieve it and emerged red in the face. "I guess I'm a little nervous; this is my first date after all. I just want it to be perfect."
Toby opened his mouth to say something but Nick, fearing that it might set off another round of bickering, swiftly kicked him under the table. Eyes watering, he glared at his younger brother who gave him an almost unnoticeable headshake.
"You guys coming up to next lesson?" Jessica asked, having finished her lunch. They had History in ten minutes for their final lesson of the day.
"We'll be there in five minutes," Nick replied. "Go on up and we'll meet you there." As soon as Jessica had left, he turned to Toby and asked, "Seriously, what is your problem? Can't you at least try to be happy for her?"
"Yeah sure," Toby snapped sarcastically. "I'm thrilled that she's going on a date with a guy who gets his kicks from breaking girls' hearts. People like him never change. So yes, I'm pleased that she's making what I'd call the biggest mistake of her life!" It was the most he had spoken all lunchtime. "Anyway," he added quietly. "We'd better get to History before we're late. I don't think I can take another lecture from Mr Smith for tardiness."
In the lesson, Toby sat absorbed in his own thoughts. He was annoyed with Jessica because she was naive enough to believe that Nate had changed. He was frustrated with Nick and Lucas because they had completely dismissed his opinion at lunchtime completely, telling him that he was worrying for nothing. Most of all, however, he was mad at Nate because-. Well, to tell the truth, he wasn't quite sure why he was mad at Nate. He figured it was because Jessica was his best friend but that made him sound jealous and he definitely wasn't jealous. No way.
His thoughts were rudely interrupted by someone incessantly tapping on his shoulder. Nick and everyone else in the classroom was staring at him. Mr Smith cleared his throat and turned to address them.
"Well, now that you've decided to grace us with your presence, Mr Tripp, perhaps you'd like to tell us the names of Henry VIII's wives and what their fates were?"
Toby sighed with relief. It was lucky for him that he actually knew the answers to this question, thanks to his mother having drilled the rhyme into his and Nick's heads when they were younger.
"He divorced Catherine of Aragon because she had a daughter, Mary I, and he wanted a son to rule as king after he died. He had Anne Boleyn beheaded after accusing her of being a witch as she also gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth I. Jane Seymour died after giving birth to Edward VI. He divorced Anne of Cleves because she didn't look very attractive, he said that she resembled a horse. Catherine Howard, who was only nineteen, was beheaded for flirting with other men. Finally, Catherine Parr survived because Henry died before her, aged 55, and she went on to marry Thomas Seymour."
Mr Smith nodded, satisfied with the response and ordered the class to pack away their things as it was almost the end of the lesson. The bell rang and when he announced, "Class dismissed!," the students all left.
The four friends walked home together as usual. Jessica felt more nervous than ever. She turned to the others as they approached her street. "Well, bye guys," she said as she prepared to go to her own house to get ready for her date.
Lucas and Nick both wished her luck and invited her over once she was free. Toby didn't say anything, hurting Jessica's feelings a little but she tried not to show it. She hadn't been able to keep the sad look off her face for long enough as Lucas and Nick both noticed it. After she left, Nick demanded, "Okay, Toby, what is wrong with you? I know you don't like Nate but this is starting to go a bit far. You really hurt Jessica's feelings just then."
Toby turned and grabbed Nick by the collar frustratedly, responding angrily. "Do you know what, Nick? I don't know what's wrong with me! Of course it has nothing to do with the fact that my best friend is going to get her heart broken because he doesn't care about her! I don't trust him; you may have all convinced yourselves that he's changed but I can see past his charm and good looks! He doesn't deserve Jessica and she definitely doesn't deserve him!" His sudden burst of anger slowly ebbed away and he said awkwardly, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"
"Don't worry about it, Toby," Lucas interrupted. "If anything happens to Jessica, we'll make Nate pay for it, right?" The brothers both nodded. "Alright then, now let's get home, I'm starved!" The three boys raced toward the Tripp's house, their worries momentarily forgotten.
Jessica sat across from Nate in the posh restaurant. She was wearing an off-the-shoulder knee-length pale blue dress, which had sequins around the waist. She had her blonde hair up in an elegant updo, complimented by a blue butterfly hairclip.
The conversation between them was rather stilted at first. They talked about what they liked and didn't like, what they wanted to be, etc. "So what do your parents do?" Nate asked, smiling charmingly at her.
A little flustered, Jessica stuttered, "W-Well, my dad's an architect a-and my mom is a midwife." She silently cursed herself for sounding so stupid in front of him. She managed to clear her head as she asked, "What do your parents do?"
Nate responded easily, "My dad is head of a massive engineering firm and my mom is Chief Sergeant of the local police force. They technically don't need to work because they both inherited millions from their parents but my mom was raised to believe that you have to earn your money so she got a job and convinced my dad to get one too so he'd understand her ethic."
Jessica nodded and smiled. Nate cleared his throat and stood up, "Well, I have one final suprise for you." He laid a twenty dollar bill on the table and waved the waiter over. After they'd paid, they left the restaurant, Jessica wondering what else he could have in store.
The two of them walked down the street toward what looked like the park. Nate turned a corner and went in the opposite direction toward the hills that overlooked it. They both walked up the path on the hill until they found a bench to sit on. Jessica gasped as she looked around her. The scenery looked so beautiful with the glowing red of the sunset accentuating each and every part of it.
Nate smiled at her, "Well, what do you think?" He asked, not sounding nervous at all. Jessica gulped as he approached her, his green eyes fixed intently on her, waiting for her response.
"I-I love it. It's amazing!" She stammered, a little uncomfortable with the fact that he was moving closer toward her.
Nate continued to move toward Jessica until there was only a small space between them. "This has been a great night. I really enjoyed it." He told her, before leaning in and kissing her. Jessica, confused by what was happening, allowed him to kiss her before gently prising herself out of his embrace. He smiled at her, not noticing the frown on her face. "Would you like to do this again sometime?"
Jessica looked at him in alarm. "I-I'll think about it. B-Bye, and thanks for the meal and everything." She said before leaving as quickly as possible. She felt very conflicted; he was a nice guy but she hadn't felt anything at all when he'd kissed her. Nothing, not even a single spark. Not that she believed in true love, mind you.
She arrived at the Tripp's house and let herself in, upon seeing that the door was unlocked and the car was nowhere in sight. As she entered the living room, she was slightly dismayed to see that Toby was the only one there. "So how did it go?" He asked, sounding as though he couldn't have cared less.
"I doubt that you actually care but it went really well." Jessica told him, trying to keep her voice as mild as possible. "In fact, he asked me out-"
"What?" Toby interrupted incredulously. "Please tell me you didn't say yes."
"No, I said I'd think about it." Jessica responded, frowning. "Anyway it's none of your business whether I go out with him or not!"
"You can't seriously have deluded yourself into thinking he actually cares about you!" Their voices were starting to get louder and louder.
"Well, maybe he does care about me!" Jessica yelled, sounding close to tears. "Anyway why do you care so much anyway?"
Toby turned around and yelled, "Because I love you, you-" He trailed off awkwardly as Nick and Lucas walked. His confession had shocked them both into a temporary silence.
"What's with all the yelling?" They asked together.
"Y-You love me?" Jessica asked Toby who nodded numbly in response. "Yeah, right! This is probably another one of your jokes and it really isn't funny!" She gulped as Toby approached her slowly, his hand reaching for her arm. She tried to dart out of his reach but he was too fast for her.
"Well, if you think I'm joking, I may as well take advantage of it," he murmured before cupping her face in his hands and kissing her.
Jessica was now more confused than ever. Unlike Nate's kiss, Toby's kiss awakened feelings in her that she had tried to hide for years. She figured that part of the reason she had been so determined to make things work with Nate is that it would make it easier for her to hide her growing feelings for Toby. It hadn't worked though. As soon as his lips had met hers, she felt all the sparks that she hadn't felt with Nate.
Eventually they broke apart and Toby said, "Do you think I'm joking now?" He then walked away. Nick and Lucas watched Jessica carefully as she approached Toby, who was expecting her to hit him or yell at him. What he wasn't expecting, however, was for her to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him with equal passion. He responded with such enthusiasm that he practically lifted her off her feet.
"I don't understand those two sometimes," Lucas told Nick, shaking his head. "One minute they're at each other's throats, the next they're kissing like the argument never happened!" Nick laughed loudly, causing Toby and Jessica to jump apart, as they realised where they were.
"I have to tell you something," Jessica told Toby who gave her his undivided attention. "The reason I went on that date with Nate was to hide the fact that I'd fallen for you. I didn't-"
"You didn't know I'd fallen for you." Toby said softly, holding her in his arms. Jessica rested her head against him, feeling as though she belonged there and always had.
"What are you going to tell Nate?" Nick asked curiously.
Jessica frowned. She hadn't thought about that at all. However Toby had an answer, "Easy! Just tell him you've found someone better! Tell him you've had some time to think and you really don't feel the same way." She looked at him, smiled and nodded as he hugged her.
"By the way," he asked, smiling at her. "I know this is probably the wrong time to ask but will you-"
"Yes!" She said enthusiastically, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back and saw Lucas and Nick exchange grins.
"Yeah! Woohoo!" They cheered. Finally, after years of what they had believed to be unrequited love, they knew of each other's feelings and over time, that love would only strengthen.
"Who'd have thought all that would come from an argument?" Lucas asked, causing them all to laugh heartily.