Chapter Fourteen
Jared
I wake up at five in the morning, shower, dress, and head into the kitchen where my dad is drinking coffee and my mom is making breakfast. Last night after my dad’s grueling lecture, I stayed up thinking about my next move with Juliet. Everything else has gone to total shit, and I’m not about to give up on the one thing that could possibly make me happy.
My dad peers at me. “You’re up early.”
“Yeah. Can I get into the weight room and lift?” I have no intention of lifting until after school.
He nods. “That’s the kind of dedication I like to see. Let me go get the things you’ll need to get in. You can take your mom’s car today but you gotta pick up Justin after school. I’ll give you a pass on staying for training. You gotta run the drills and write down the times.”
“Yes, sir.”
He gets off his stool and grabs the things I need to enter the school. I pass on breakfast even though it really smells amazing. It’s a test though. Rule number one, do not eat before heavy lifting. I grab my backpack and the keys to my mom’s silver Cobalt, and take off.
After a quick stop at the twenty-four-hour Walgreens, I roll up to school with plenty of time to spare. First period starts at eight on the dot. It’s only six-thirty. I told myself I wasn’t going to lift, but I’m worried my dad might check the room and notice I hadn’t been in there. I grab my backpack filled with supplies, a change of clothes, and the crap I need for classes. I made my way to Juliet’s locker. I grin at the black heart on the outside of it. I drop my bag beside me and pull out the tape and supplies.
I snatch the bag of individually wrapped-heart-shaped chocolates with romantic phrases on them. I begin taping them on the outside of the red metal-framed door. The finishing touches are a dog stuffed animal and a card that says, “P.S. This is not from Mark. I’m taller. Your, S. A.”
Hopefully, this works. I step away from her locker and head to the weight room. After forty minutes of lifting and sweating, I take a quick shower. I change and wait by my locker. Other students pour in through the doors. Some giggling girls stroll by; one waves at me. I give her a head nod and a small wave. This only makes her blush and giggle harder. Sometimes, I wish Juliet would act this way around me.
Where is Juliet? I feel like everyone in the entire freaking school has passed by already. I can’t wait to see her reaction when she gets to her locker. But now that I watch other students point, read the note, and then giggle, I’m thinking this is a bad idea. I’m half-tempted to go tear it all down but then Juliet and Adaline stride past. Selena and Mark are not too far from the display. I watch him pause. Adaline steers Juliet over to the lockers.
I can’t see Juliet’s face from this angle. I don’t hear any screams. I don’t see anything being chucked. I’m about to do a little happy jig when Austin throws open his locker blocking Juliet from my view. “What are you looking at a new freshman transfer?”
“Shut up, man.” I peer around him but instantly jerk back. “Shit,” I mutter.
“What’s going … Oh wow. You know I don’t think I’ve ever seen her pissed off before,” Austin says. He cocks his head in Juliet’s direction and shakes it. “Oh boy, Mark looks like he’s about to get it.”
“You okay, man? Please tell me you didn’t eat some bad food on the way here.”
I shake my head. “I’m good.” I’m anything but good. She hates it.
“All right, man. I’ll catch you later. I gotta go talk to your dad about something.”
I nod. “Okay.”
We head our separate ways, and I move toward Juliet. She looks like she’s about to say something to Mark but doesn’t. She’s carrying the card I taped in her hand. Her eyes are glued to it.
“Juliet, I’m telling you right now I had nothing to do with this,” I hear Mark say.
“I know. I can read.”
Mark spots me, narrows his eyes, and moves down the hall with Selena.
“Hey Addy and Juliet. Wow, that’s some display,” I say.
Juliet shoots a glare in my direction. “I hate it. The dog is cute, but I hate everything else. Whoever keeps doing this really needs to quit.”
Adaline rubs her friend’s back and says, “Hey Jared. Do you think you can do us a little favor and get us a small trash bag? Maybe the office has one.”
“Sure. Be right back.”
“Thanks, Jared,” Juliet says.
I’m almost to the office when Tyler steps into my path. “Bro, why didn’t you tell me you didn’t need a ride? I could’ve had time to stop and get me and Layla donuts. But we were running late thinking we had to pick your sorry ass up. Here you weren’t even there.”
“Sorry about that. I … um did some lifting this morning.” I shrug at him and smile at Layla. She eyes me up like she knows something is wrong with my story.
“Whoa. You feeling okay? Or is this another one of your dad’s busting your ass type moves?” Tyler asks.
I shake my head. “Nah. I lifted.” That’s the only story I’m sticking to for now. “I gotta go to the office then to class.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Talk to you later.” Tyler waves me off but Layla is watching me.
After I grab the trash bag, I run it back to Juliet and ask if they need help. Technically, it is my mess. I feel responsible for cleaning it up.
“It’s fine. See you in first. Thanks,” Juliet says.
I slip into first period and rush over to my assigned table. I feel stupid. Like really, really stupid. Tyler is right. I should just man up and tell her face to face not using candy as a ploy to tell her how I feel.
She enters class just before the tardy bell sounds. Juliet still has the stuffed dog, but I don’t see a bag full of candy. “You’re keeping the dog?” I ask.
Juliet sets him on the desk and shrugs. “It’s cute, and I’m a sucker for dogs.”
“What happened to the rest of it?”
“Trash.”
Right. Then my stomach growls.
“Wow, do you have a bear in there?” she asks.
“I wish.”
She cocks her head to the side. “Oh, all right some of it is in the trash. Do not tell a soul about this but these are my favorite and I couldn’t throw them out.” She pulls out some chocolates and slides them to me.
“Thanks.” Our teacher enters the room and starts writing down the project we will be working on. Juliet sets off to gather the ingredients while I work on the two pages of calculations. Then map out the theories of what reaction we expect to have at each stage versus what actually happens.
“How do you think the combination of sodium and chlorine and a drop of water will react?” I ask.
“I don’t know just put down whatever.”
“No.”
She looks up at me and says, “Why not?”
“Because lately you’ve been going along with whatever, but I know you. What do you think?”
She rolls her eyes. “Fine. I think it will change the solid to a liquid when we add the water.”
“Cool. I think it will burn bright and turn into a gas. Get to pouring and let’s see who’s right.”
She smiles. It’s her genuine one, the same smile that’s been absent since she and Mark broke up. I grin back, and she tips the contents into the small pot that’s on the Bunsen burner.
Three minutes pass, and she open the lid to reveal its empty. She scowls and pours the next compound into the pot then places the lid back on. “Are you going to gloat?” she asks.
“Why would I do that? We can’t always be right all the time. It would make life pretty boring, don’t you think?”
She rolls her eyes. “I guess. Can I ask you something?”
“Yeah.” I write down the conclusion that happened trying hard not to show her I’m excited that she’s talking to me.
“Why don’t you let people know you’re smart?”
“I don’t care what people say about me. I know I’m smart. I also know that football won’t be my whole life.”
She nods. “That’s good. To have a fallback plan.”
I shake my head. “It’s not a fallback plan. I don’t love football.” Her mouth hangs open. “Why do you look so shocked?”
“Because you seem to love it.”
“No. My dad loves it. You wouldn’t understand.”
She shrugs. “I guess. Chase loves playing.”
“What’s the deal with you two?”
Juliet scrunches up her face. “What do you mean?”
I shrug. “I mean you two are just friends, right?”
“Why does everyone ask me this? Chase is my best friend. He’s practically my brother. I don’t have feelings like that toward him.”
I hold up my hands. “All right. Damn. It was a simple and purely curious question.” I do feel better hearing it from her that she and Chase are strictly friends.
“I’m sorry. I just hate that question. It’s like a girl can’t even have a guy friend anymore. Mark always said crap like Chase only hung out with me because he wanted down my pants.”
I clench my jaw. I feel like a jerk for thinking something similar. “It’s rare. That’s all.”
Our conversation continued from here, mostly we talked about random things, but I did get her to laugh once before the bell rang. If only I could tell her how I felt as easily. How would she react then?