A.N. Please guys, even if you hate it, review this, criticism is well accepted! As long as I know there are people out there still reading this :D
To most people, Krystal Beasley is probably one of the most famous models out there, walking the catwalk in Sydney or Melbourne or whatever big city. To me, she's simply my first girlfriend from when I was fifteen.
School ended not too long after the Cinderella play that year and me and Charlie still couldn't seem to find the right moment for some serious talking. Krystal, on the other hand, wouldn't leave me alone. She'd use the lamest excuses to just get me to talk to her and it actually took the whole summer before it finally dawned on me that she had been deliberately flirting the whole time. I still had no idea how in the world she ended up having a crush on me, but still, it got pretty obvious when one day she even asked me to help her pick out the right outfit for our first day of high school.
Oh, high school. Me soon becoming a freshman student really used to scare me to death, back to those days. I never had trouble in adjusting to major life changes - well, duh, I dare anyone to react as nicely as I did when chemo turned my sexy body into a bald, wrecking mess of IV's. But somehow approaching high school still made me feel uncomfortable for some reason. In middle school I was the cool kid making fun of the girls and just doing stupid stuff, carefree as could be, but that summer there I was, about to turn 15 and having to deal with a girl crushing on me, on the verge of something I had no idea of what to expect from.
On the other hand, Charlie being her perfect, always-planning-everything self, had decided to take some summer lessons to get high school extra credits already. Her tutor ended up being a soon-to-be junior student, Luke, who seemed delighted to have such a pretty blondie as his pupil. Yes, he'd actually call her 'blondie' all the time. AND walk her home after each lesson. I would be watching them from my room's window and the way she'd giggle – giggle – for everything he'd say made me feel like ripping the dude's guts out any time back then. Long story short, we were both ending up with the wrong person just because my stupid self was being stubborn refusing to discuss my feelings for her.
Charlie never really told me much about Luke so what I know of their relationship is mostly based on the times I'd randomly catch glimpses of them around town every now and then. When high school began me and Charlie hadn't spoken a word to each other for almost a whole month, the last conversation being a simple "hey" as we had met on our way home. As soon as I went through my first day as a freshman, I decided it was time to cut all ties with my childhood, and that included Charlie, too. Well, of course, seeing that Luke buddy taking her hand to walk her to her new locker sure helped me to make up my mind.
So basically after school I called Krystal up and simply asked her straight out. I was turning 15 in a month and kept telling myself it was ok to just enjoy my life as a young teen. That girl was one of the hottest chicks my age and she definitely liked me already, so why not give it a shot?. Now I know I was only trying to find the easy way out as jealousy was eating me alive whenever I'd see Charlie and Luke together, but back then, it only sounded like a good idea.
My first date with Krystal was probably one of the most boring dates I've ever been to. We basically just walked down the beach, as I let her rant about the most random things, most of them being about her and just how great she was. But I could tell she was glad she got to spend the day with me. From time to time she would stop to tuck some strands of my hair behind my ear as it was quite a windy day and the breeze would make my hair fall onto my face.
At some point I realized she could actually be cute when she smiled. She wasn't as mean as she tried to look like. She kept telling me how her mom had always pressured her to look perfect and stuff whereas she never really taught her daughter how to make people like you. I was about to say you can't actually "make" people like you when she simply leaned in and kissed me. Yeah, kissed me right away on the beach in front of the few people there. Not exactly what I had pictured the whole thing to be like, and plus I could tell she had no idea of what to do after she had pressed her mouth onto mine. Well, fortunately enough, I figured I'd just follow my instincts and parted my lips at the right moment, so that everything came out naturally after that.
Little did I know, though, all the drama that was around the corner.
The next day the whole school already knew me and Krystal were "a thing", as everybody would put it. "Jason, rumors can't be true… she's like… meanest girl ever?" Was all that Declan could choke out as he approached me at my locker. Let's just say he and Simon weren't exactly supportive of the whole thing, and honestly I couldn't blame them for that. I myself knew Krystal was probably going to turn out to be a pain in the butt at some point, but at that very moment, all I knew was that the kiss we shared had woken up my hormones, she was hot, liked me back and we probably all had the wrong picture of her. Deep down, she could actually find it in herself to be nice, at least to me.
"Man, uhm, look, I know this is probably none of my business but…don't you think that… uhm… this is probably not going to cut it?"
Simon Webster, ladies and gentlemen. Best pal ever if you were to ask me. I had never told him what Charlie truly meant to me all along, but somehow I knew he'd figured it out. Not that he ever openly confronted me on the subject either. Up until that day.
"Uh, what do you mean 'not going to cut it'? Cut what?"
He leaned onto the locker and looked at me, raising an eyebrow. "Come on Jase… don't play it dumb. I'm not Declan."
I put my sketchbook into my school bag, letting out a huge sigh. It was actually the first time I was finally letting it all out. And it did feel so awkward at first. Especially since we were standing in the corridor with a bunch of kids passing by. "Alright. Look, Simon. It's really no big deal. Liked the girl, didn't have the guts to tell her, she ended up with that Luke dude. End of the story. I just missed out. Things like this happen all the time…"
The way he was smiling at me really got to my nerves. I was finally telling my best friend about all the shit I had been dealing with ever since Charlotte Marie Alma Anderson got into my life and he was almost laughing into my face, seeming sort of amused at the whole thing. Definitely supportive.
"Jase… I don't see how getting together with none other than Krystal is going to solve this."
"It's not, that's the point. It's called moving on. Simon, come on. We're just in high school and Krystal is my own ticket to party-land. She's hot, dude. She likes me and I'm so gonna have fun with her. That's all I need for now. Enough of the Charlie drama."