Three

"Oh my God! I don't care if he hit me with the door. That man is still so cute!" Chrissie whispered in awe as she peeked around the girl in front of her to look at Jessie. Go figure, he just had to be in another one of my classes.

"Jules! Do you know what this means! I mean, I haven't seen him talk to any other girl all day, just you. That has to mean something!" She repeated for what I believe to be the tenth time. Well, I mean she worded it differently each time, but she was dead set on the fact that after our stare down, he had to be interested in me. But I mean, we didn't actually talk. We just passed a note.

"Chrissie, sweetie, you need to breathe. I mean... yeah, he is kind of cute, but I don't think he is worth it with his attitude. I'll stick to my little bubble, of which, he is not a part of." He was sitting only two seats in front of me, so we had to be quiet to prevent him from overhearing us.

"Jules, I love you and everything but sometime soon, that bubble needs to get bigger. The only people in it are me, your sister, and your mom. You're in high school. Sooner or later, that bubble has got to go." She was grinning like a little kid, probably proud of herself for that little speech.

"Well, what about your bubble Chrissie? The only people in it are your brother, me, your parents, and Cole." Cole was just like us, except he was in love with Chris, but she never noticed. He doesn't talk to me when she is around. All he does is stare at Chris. I'm pretty sure I caught him drooling at one point.

"Ms. Sanders!" I looked up to the teacher's cold hard stare. "Is there something you would like to share with the rest of the class?" Oh great, first Jessie comes to my school, and now I'm getting in trouble because of him. Well, it wasn't really his fault, but we were talking about him, so I'm going to blame him.

"No ma'am." I sank down in my chair and let my hair cover my face.

"Then zip it!" She turned back to the board, and I lifted my head a little bit to see Jessie grinning back at me. Ugh. What an ass. He turned back to his desk, and Chris nudged my arm.

I turned towards her.

"What?" I mouthed.

She just nodded her head in his direction and winked back to me. She won't let this go, will she?

Throughout the rest of the day, I couldn't walk by anyone without hearing his name out of their mouth, well the girl's mouths anyway. It was like he was the shiny new toy that everyone wanted to play with, and I don't mean that in the PG sense.

We ended up having four classes together! The day was so long because of it, and my temper rose every time I saw him.

During lunch he sat with the group of guys who liked to make my life hell. They didn’t just torment me. There was a handful of us that they would target. After I saw them all looking at me while Jessie was talking to them, I was sure nothing good would come of it.

When I finally got home, I walked up to my room and cleaned up my now trashed closet.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" My sister burst into my room. "I was trying to be nice! I took the time this morning to go through your shit. I had two nice piles of the stuff you should keep and the shit you should throw away! It was just taking up room and making it impossible to find anything."

She turned and walked away. I knew exactly which pile was which. The pile with all of my favorite things was the pile she was going to throw away, and the pile of stuff I never wear was the pile that she was going to make me keep so she could wear it.

My phone started to vibrate, so I leaned over and picked it up.

"Hello?" I knew exactly who it was. A picture of me and Chrissie had illuminated the screen.

"Hey, Jules! You should come down to The Ice cream shack with me. I've been craving it all day." She said cheerfully. I pursed my lips as I debated, but the sound of my sister stomping back up the stairs made up my mind for me. I just needed to get out of the house.

"Yeah. Okay, that sounds good. What time?" I asked as I walked into the bathroom to brush my hair.

"In maybe 10 minutes?"

"Sounds great. I'll be there." I left my room and went downstairs to the kitchen. When I couldn't find anyone, I called out, "Mom?!" I looked in the living room, the office, and the kitchen.

"I'm out here sweetie!" I followed her voice to the open door that led to the backyard, where she sat in a recliner chair with a drink in hand.

"Hey, I'm going to go meet Chris at The Ice Cream Shack. Can I please have some money?" I feel bad asking her for money, but I don't do it often, so I think I'm okay. My mom makes a lot of money, and we got a good sum from my father's life insurance after his car accident too.

"Take a twenty out of my wallet on the counter. See you later, but do me a favor and don't come back until late tonight. I have plans." Of course, she was trying to get rid of me. It was fairly common that she would have friends or coworkers over and ask me to go stay at Chris's house.

It was not as common for her to have a date over, but it still happened from time to time. I wasn't mad about it. It actually saved me from having to spend my time listening to them gossip or from having to share small talk with any of her visitors. The worst was when I had to overhear her and her dates, and I'm not talking about a conversation here, either.

I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a twenty out of her wallet and left.

'You here yet?' I read off of my phone and replied with a yes.

I walked in and saw her sitting there with Cole.

"Hey, Jules!" Chris got up and ran over to me. "Oh my god! I have been craving ice cream for like ever!" She grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the counter to order.

"Um, I think… we have… a customer. We need… to stop!" A girl said from the back, giggling the whole time. The girl walked forward, and she was fixing her shirt. She looked to Chris.

"What can I get you?" Chris took a second, looking at the menu. I let out a breath of relief that she wasn’t touching my ice cream.

"Yeah, can I have a scoop of the brownie mix blizzard?" She smiled at Chrissie.

"Yes, one moment, please. I need to get more brownie mix from the freezer." She turned and walked away.

I heard her talking to whoever was back there, and began to scan the menu knowing they would be taking my order next. "Okay, I'm already serving the brown-haired girl. You can serve the chick with black hair while I get the brownie mix from the freezer." I heard an annoyed groan followed by footsteps as they came our way.