Before long, lunch time had arrived and I made my way over to our usual spot under the tree. Cee Cee ran up to me before I had even gotten there and started interrogating me with hundreds of questions about Jesse. She finally took a breath of air, and then finished by asking. "So, do you like him or what?"
"He seems... Nice" I said, not enjoying this sort of attention.
"C'mon Suze, he's absolutely gorgeous!" Cee Cee poked me in the arm as I sat down opposite Adam and took my sandwich out of my bag.
"Yeah Suze, he's absolutely gorgeous" Adam mocked Cee Cee as he took a bite from his apple. "Oh please! Guys that look like that, always end up having peas for brains"
Cee Cee slapped him.
"Well, actually the subjects he's studying are quite impressive…" I mumbled.
"And what, he just came out and told you all his impressive subjects?" Adam asked.
"I helped him work out his timetable"
"You've fallen for him already haven't you?" Cee Cee beamed with delight.
"Um, I don't really know the guy yet Cee. And besides, he's probably not interested in me in that way…" I said, picking at my ham and cheese sandwich.
"I don't trust the guy…" Adam blurted out.
"You don't trust any guy, that's why you hang out with us" Cee Cee reminded him.
"Yeah, but you of all people should know by now Suze… Guys like that are no good. I mean, take Paul for example -"
"He is nothing like Paul!" Cee Cee interrupted through gritted teeth, threatening to slap him again.
"Thanks a lot Adam!" I yelled, feeling rather annoyed. "Geez, I never said I was going to marry the guy!"
"Suze, where are you going?" Cee Cee called after me as I stormed off.
"Just leave me alone for a while, ok?"
I was well out of their sight, when I almost bumped into Kelly and her 'gang' of followers.
"Watch where you're going, klutz!" She spat rudely.
"Leave me alone" I said, trying to walk past her.
She grabbed onto my denim jacked and spun me around. It took every ounce of me to hold back from punching her right there in the nose. But I looked over her shoulder and noticed one of the teachers nearby. Lucky for her, I thought.
"How about you leave Mr. De Silva alone you little two timing bitch" She said.
"Two timing? I'm not going out with anyone you idiot" I said getting irritated, and feeling the need to punch her even though I knew the consequences.
"Oh, so you stole Paul away from me just so you could dump him? Now a new hottie comes along and you feel you need to have him too, eh?"
"It's not my fault Paul has no interest in you what so ever. I made a mistake giving him a chance though. So if you want him, by all means you can have him!" With that, I walked away but not before adding. "I'm sure he'll still be happy with his second choice"
What happened next actually surprised me. Kelly ran over and pushed me pretty hard into the brick wall. For a 'petite bimbo' she really was quite strong. I lost control and immediately retaliated by pushing her back but with even more force. She lost her footing and fell to the ground, scrapping her elbows on the concrete when she landed back on them. Needless to say, the teacher on duty only saw me pushing Kelly, so I was the one who ended up with an hour of afternoon detention. I wonder what would have happened if Mr. Walton had given me that other one earlier… Would I have had to have done two hours?
So there I was sitting in afternoon detention with a bunch of other juvenile delinquents, when I could have been down at the coffee clutch with Cee Cee and Adam. Even though technically, I was still mad with Adam for bringing up the topic of Paul.
Finally time was up and I was able to leave the school premises. I was halfway out the front gate when I heard my name being called by a male. Jerking my head around, I was expecting to see Adam there, but it was actually Jesse, calling me from inside his car. My legs involuntarily carried me over there, even though part of me knew what happened the last time I got into a flashy car with a good looking guy. But the other part of me knew that Jesse was different… and his silver car wasn't even close to being called flashy.
"What do you want? Shouldn't you have left school by now?" I asked, bending down to see him through the empty passenger's seat.
"I had an afternoon class… Extension maths. Are you alright? You look like you're annoyed about something"
"You would be too if you spent the last hour in detention"
"What? I thought I talked Mr. Walton out of giving you one…"
"This was for something else" I muttered. "Look I better get going, my friends are expecting me"
"Oh, well would you like me to give you a lift?" He offered.
I looked at him suspiciously. He wore a white collared button up shirt with the top two buttons undone, revealing a little of his tanned chest. Even though he didn't seem like the kidnapping type, you never can tell these days. "Um, I don't really take rides from strangers… learnt that from experience"
"What? Why, has something bad happened in the past?" He asked, his voice sounded full of concern.
I looked at my watch and noticed it was getting a little late. If I wanted to hurry and catch Adam and Cee Cee at the coffee clutch, then I'd better take his offer.
"I can trust you can't I?"
"Of course you can, Susannah" He reassured me, and then let out a brief chuckle. "I'm not going to drive off with you"
"Look, ok I'm meeting some friends at the coffee clutch. It's not far from here. So if it's not too much trouble…"
"Ah Yes, I think I know the place you're talking about. I'm sure I saw it on the way to school this morning"
"Great" I smiled, hopping in the passenger seat when he reached over and unlocked the door. "It must be great to have a car. I wish I had one, and then I wouldn't be so late in the morning"
Jesse chuckled as he drove away from the school. "This isn't actually my car. It's my father's… Do you have to walk to school?"
"Oh no, one of my stepbrothers drives us… but his car isn't what you'd call reliable"
"One of your stepbrothers? How many do you have?" He asked, keeping his eyes on the road.
"I've got three… unfortunately. Although the youngest one, Doc, isn't all that bad. There's one who's my age, Dopey, he's a complete moron, hence the nickname. And Sleepy, he's got his own job now…"
"I like the nicknames" He smiled.
"Yeah. So what about you? Any siblings?" I asked, looking over at him.
"Yep, I've got five younger sisters"
"Wow that must be interesting"
He looked over at me briefly and studied my face as we waited to give way for a pedestrian at the crossing.
"It can be a lot of hard work at times… But they are all well behaved"
I nodded and had to avert my eyes away from his gaze as I started to feel butterflies in my stomach.
"If you don't mind me asking, what did you get the detention for?"
I stared out the window and tried to make myself sound casual. "Oh it was nothing, really. Just got into an argument with someone…"
"Kelly Prescott?" He asked, almost as if he'd read my mind.
I sighed and told him to make a left turn as I noticed we were getting closer to the coffee clutch.
"She doesn't seem to like you very much" He stated.
"Yeah well, the feeling is mutual"
He glanced over at me is if waiting to hear me elaborate, but I didn't want to talk about it.
"Don't ask" I said, looking ahead and seeing the coffee clutch before us. Jesse turned into the car park and stopped the engine.
"Susannah…" He started, keeping his eyes on the coffee clutch. "There's something you said before that's kind of… worrying me"
"I said a lot of things, which one in particular?"
"Um, when you were hesitant about getting in my car – which I suppose you should have been, I mean, you don't really know me…"
"What are you getting at?"
"Susannah has someone… I mean, has something happened…"
"You don't need to worry about that" I interrupted him. "It's in the past… I just don't really trust guys until I get to know them, that's all"
"You got in the car with me…"
"Well, you seemed different" I said, feeling a little awkward.
"Different in a good way?" He asked.
"Um yeah, maybe. Listen, thanks for the ride" I said as he turned in his seat to look at me. I wish he wouldn't look at me like that; it's making me feel lightheaded.
"It was my pleasure" He smiled.
"Um, so I'll see you around school tomorrow" As I fiddled with the strap on my bag, I couldn't help but notice that he suddenly looked a little disappointed about something.
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow" He responded, looking away from me.
I gave him a weak smile, even though he didn't see it, and then opened the door to get out. As I made my way over to the front door of the coffee clutch, it suddenly dawned on me. I didn't even ask him if he'd like to come in… Maybe that's why he seemed a little cheesed off. I slowly turned back around to see if he was still there, but Kelly Prescott had already set her eyes on him. She had just arrived with Debbie, and they made a beeline straight to Jesse's car. Ignoring them, I decided to go inside and meet up with Cee Cee and Adam… Except it turned out that they weren't even in there. I pulled out my phone and dialed Cee Cee's number.
"Hey, where are you? I thought you'd be down at the clutch"
"Oh, hey Suze. You never showed up at the gate. We thought you'd gone home with your brother or something… Anyway, I didn't think you were speaking to Adam at the moment"
"Yeah alright then, well I'll see you tomorrow"
"Ok Suze. See ya"
I hung up my phone and turned around to see Kelly walking into the room with her arm wrapped around Jesse.
"What's the matter Suze? Friends didn't show up?" She giggled, running a hand down Jesse's arm.
Debbie stepped forward and added. "By the way, how was detention?"
I breathed in and exhaled my breath in frustration. Without causing a scene, I ignored them and stepped outside without looking in Jesse's direction. Maybe he wasn't so different from the other guys after all.
The long walk home was excruciating. Most of it was uphill, and the wind had picked up which was making it even more difficult. When I arrived home I was absolutely exhausted. I trudged up the stairs, reached for my iPod and flopped down on my bed.
Little did I know that tomorrow would be so much worse than today...