"It's not going to happen, I'm sorry..." Mara looks at Jerome, and he's stunned. She can tell she hurt him, but she just doesn't know what to say. "I'm really truly sorry, Jerome. But it can't happen. It's not going to happen, and I'm sorry." Mara walks off, leaving Jerome scarred and broken.
He hates how it worked out. She's supposed to say yes and love him forever, because that's what he wanted. For the first time, he wanted someone to love him forever. He knows it's too much to ask, though, to be happy. It's a stupid question, because it just doesn't happen.
He sat down on his bed, and it didn't feel that soft anymore. It just felt broken. And he hated feeling broken. He's supposed to be stronger than that. He's not supposed to be the stupid old drama queen. Jerome Clarke is supposed to be strong, and he's not going to get torn down from his almighty position by some girl.
Even though he knew she wasn't just some girl, though. She was so much more than "some girl", and he knew that, but he pushed it to the back of his mind and picked up his iPod, like he usually did. He stuffed the stupid little buds in his ears and laid back into his pillow.
He didn't really notice what song was playing. His mind wouldn't shut up and all he could think about was how Mara just shut him down. He couldn't stand himself. It's all his fault that it didn't work out the way he wanted it to.
"Jerome?" A little voice came from his doorway. Jerome didn't hear much of it with his music so loud, but a flicker of light went off in his brain, praying that it was Mara, fresh from dumping Mick on his sorry little arse and coming for him to sweep her off her feet.
Yeah, it wasn't Mara.
He took one look up and noticed the long waving hair in his doorway. He took a deep breath and looked back down at his hands. "What do you want, Amber?"
"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go out to town with the rest of us. Patricia and Alfie are doing something, Fabian and Nina will be at some sort of nerd shop and Mara and Mick are too busy being gross and gushy." She pleaded, looking kind of uncomfortable.
"Why me? What about Joy? Ring her up." He turned back to Amber, raising and eyebrow.
"She's with Poppy and Patricia and Alfie. Please, Jerome? You're my last hope." He didn't look very enthusiastic. Amber sighed. "I promise I won't drag you into any pretty dress stores, and I won't make you look at me while I try on dresses, okay? I'm just really bored, and I want to get out of here for a few hours. And I know you do too."
Jerome looked back at his iPod, and then back at Amber, who was almost on her knees. "Fine. But no dress shopping. We do what I want to do."
"Deal," Amber squealed. She walked out from the doorway and Jerome sat up from his bed. "Five minutes. Bring money. Meet us by the door."
Jerome got up and changed out of his school clothes and into something he could walk around in. He got his wallet and walked out into the hall, where everyone else was in pairs. Amber was up front, explaining the rules to everyone. About how they all had to stay together until they told Amber otherwise. To stay in pairs and be able to contact each other- Victor's orders.
On his way to Amber, he knocked into Mara. She looked up sympathetically, mouthing a 'sorry', but he blew it off and continued onto Amber.
They went off, all signing out and walking into town. After a while of walking, they passed a book store that Nina and Fabian left to, and a little cafe that left Jerome and Amber alone with Mick and Mara. They walked in silence until they reached a sports shop the Mick just had to go into.
Once they left, Amber turned to Jerome, both of them still walking. "So how long have you liked her for?"
Jerome rolled his eyes, "What?"
Amber smiled wider. "You know, Mara. You like her. Since when?" She poked him in the shoulder playfully. "Don't pretend you don't, Jerome. I can tell. You couldn't even look at her. It's like when Mick, Alfie, and I are in the same room together. Only I think that," she pointed back about twenty-five feet, "was more awkward. And it wasn't just me. When did you start to like her?"
Jerome looked around. It was really no use arguing with Amber about these things. "I don't know, a while ago, maybe?"
Amber smiled, "Did you tell her?"
"Yup."
"It's a no?" Amber asked, touching Jerome's arm lightly.
"Yup." He looked around again. "So where are we going, exactly?"
"Oh!" She smiled. "I think you'll like it. It's up about another block. Come on!" And then she started running, which wasn't unusual for an excited Amber. Jerome quickened his pace lightly and followed Amber until she was facing him, jumping up and down in front of a loud building.
He looked over to the building with running children and lots of 'clings' and 'dings' coming from big machines. Stressed out parents chased their kids around with tickets coming from every-which-way and plastic cups and golden coins were sprawled across the checkered carpet. "You've brought me to an arcade?" Jerome had to raise his voice just to hear it himself.
"Yeah! It's gonna be fun!" She grabbed his hand and led him to a coin generator. "We'll both invest the same amount of money, and the person who loses the most games has to pay for more coins, okay?" She put her crinkled money in the slot and a loud "You're a winner!" erupted from behind them, followed by an even louder boy screaming at the top of his lungs for his mum.
"Yeah, okay!" Jerome responded, not sure whether he liked this place or not.
The next forty-five minutes consisted of Jerome winning two out of the three ski-ball competitions and losing all four of the basket-ball shoot-outs. The two of them tied in the go-cart track and then tried virtually, where Jerome won one competition and Amber won the other. The last thing they tried was "Dance Dance Revolution".
They both stood in their squares and waited for the music to begin, laughing. Jerome yelped at Amber, reaching across and poking him in the stomach, giving her a laughable lead. He rolled his eyes and danced to the music. "What kind of song is this?" Jerome asked.
"I dunno, something Japanese, maybe. I like it!" She looked at him, losing balance for a moment before getting steady and back on track.
"This is so weird..." He mumbled. "Thanks, though!" Jerome looked at her quickly, spinning around.
"For what?" She mimicked his movements almost falling over onto him.
"For asking me to come here. It's more fun than I thought I'd have." Jerome smirked, "I thought you were going to drag me into some boutique.
"No, I figured you'd just leave. And I love a good arcade game." she reached down and slapped the upper right square. "And I guess so do you." She looked over at his score. "Only, you kind of stink at this game."
Jerome mocked being insulted. "I beg to differ! You're about 3,000 points behind me, Ms. I Think I'm Good At Everything!"
"So? You're still terrible! I never said I was good! I can't dance like this, everyone knows that. All I'm good for is shopping and the waltz..." She spun around and stomped on the last beat.
"You're better than shopping and waltzing. Look at you. You brought me to an arcade." Jerome replied, catching his breath. "You're a great friend, Amber."
Amber looked around, her smile growing. "I know. Thanks!" She smiled wide and gave Jerome a hug.
He patted her back and led her over to the prize table. They only had enough tickets between the two of them for a teddy bear or a few of the small prizes. Jerome and Amber looked at each other and laughed. "Can we take the big vat of candy?"
On the way out of the noisy arcade, everything was quiet. And it wasn't an awkward quiet like with Mara and Mick. It was just that it was much louder in the game room than out on the streets, and they cherished the silence.
They walked into a coffee shop and sat down. Amber smirked. "I imagine you don't really want to eat anything, with all the candy we've devoured. But I'll get you a coffee. What do you want?"
"Is a Hot Chocolate okay?"
Amber nodded and walked off. Jerome thought about everything. He thought about how Mara was with Mick and hr'd just have to deal with it. He thought about how there's so much more without her. That if she doesn't want him, he can't waste all of his time on something that won't happen. He can't be a depressed drama queen. He has to be as happy as he was today.
It hit him.
He was happy today.
Actually, truly happy. Not thinking about how to get Mara to dump Mick, or how he'll probably fail his French paper he handed in this morning. He was thinking about just being happy.
Which, if you're Jerome, is something to treasure.
Amber sat back down at the table, handing Jerome his hot cocoa and smiling. "So how'd you know I liked Mara?"
Amber looked up at Jerome questioningly. "Well, for one thing I'm not stupid," She teased. "I can just tell. It's like a radar. I can tell Mara likes Mick, sorry to break it to you."
"Yeah, I know. It's obvious. And she told me this morning all about how it's never going to happen." He rolled his eyes and took another sip of his hot chocolate. "Either way, though, it's not like it'd ever work out."
"Why say that?"
"We're not interested in the same things. For one thing, I'm interested in dating her, and she's interested in dating sports-ey, annoying, bone-head losers," He smirked while taking another sip.
"No comment, as he was my boyfriend a while back. I love him like a brother. I just don't know... It's complicated. All of that mess ruined Mara and my friendship, and now I'm stuck out of the little loop of theirs..."
"Well you've got Sibuna." Jerome suggested. "We think you're pretty awesome. You're the one who came up with the name, after all."
"Thanks. I know..." Amber looked off into the street, where she could see Fabian and Nina flirting through another shop window. "Jerome, am I stupid?"
He almost choked on his drink. "What? No! Who said that?"
"Well I don't know. Everyone, I guess. People just assume I'll do everything wrong. Look at Mick. I was too wrong for him. And I was too wrong for Alfie. And I was too wrong for Mr. Winkler..."
Jerome choked again, "Correction, Amber. You were too good for Mick, too incompatible for Alfie, and too young for Mr. Winkler. Considering he's about ten years older than you and has dated just about every female teacher in the school." Jerome looked up at her. "You're not stupid, Amber. People who think otherwise are ill in the head, honestly."
"But I always mess things up. Everything. The recordings and the election, and my friendship with Mara..."
He looked up at her and put his hand on her shoulder, "You don't mess things up. Ever think that if things were supposed to go another way that they would have? That if you were supposed to win the election or be Mara's friend, that you would be? I think you're just fine, and you should think so too. You're not stupid, Amber. You're human."
Amber blushed and looked down. "Let's head back. Text the others and tell them where we're going." They began their walk back to the house, alone. The rest of Anubis were about twenty minutes behind them, so they weren't in any hurry. By the time they reached the door it was dark out and when they god inside Victor was asleep in his room and Trudy had left a note letting everyone know that she went to sleep also, wishing everyone a happy day out in town.
They signed in and stood there for a moment, both worn out from the long day. "Goodnight, Jerome." Amber hugged him around the waist and laughed into his chest, thinking about the day.
"Night Amber." He kissed the top of her head, patted her shoulder and let her go. She turned around to walk up the stairs for bed and he turned around to do the same. Before even she knew what she was going for, she ran back down and grabbed him by the elbow.
The front hall was in slow motion. She was on her tippy-toes and he was swooping down capturing each other for less than a moment. Or perhaps a little more than an hour. And then she was gone, and so was he. And he wouldn't stop thinking about it, no matter how badly he wanted to sleep-
And this was so going in her diary.
Hey! I hope this was good, and not completely OOC, and you didn't click out the moment you realized how un-Jara this would be... But if you're reading this, I really hope you liked it!
*Happy Belated Birthday, Tammy* Sorry for the late notice. Grr, I stink.
Please leave a review and tell me what you thought of it! Please, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! :D
With love,
~Bubbles