Knowing Jude

Simon leans towards me during lunch, awkwardly scratching his eyebrow.

"Lilly's home?" he asks, keeping his voice low.

I hold back a smile. I know he doesn't want anyone else at the table to hear him because they would make fun of him. He has had the biggest crush ever on my elder sister for years. "Who told you that?" I ask, humouring him.

"Trey told me she said hi," he replies, now touching his frames.

"He lied."

He actually looks crestfallen for a second, and I feel awful. I pinch his cheek lightly to show I'm joking.

"Just kidding, buddy, yeah she said hi," I say, though I'm pretty certain Trey was lying to him. "She came home yesterday. Want to see her?"

He flushes, and I chuckle.

I lean in further towards him and sigh. "Come on, Simon, you're still not over her? I know she's pretty and all, but she's older and most likely looking for older campus guys. Have you looked in a mirror of late, or have you seen the looks Kate over there has been throwing your way? You're a catch, and it's time you started putting those looks of yours to use."

His grey eyes widen behind his glasses as he gapes. "What? Kate?"

Of course, that's the only part of my speech that registered in his mind. I nod.

He turns to look at the table where the popular girls are seated. Simon turns back to me again.

"You don't mean Katherine Johnson, do you?"

I nod. "The one and only."

He turns back towards the popular table, and so do I. Katherine is seated beside Jennifer, and they are peering into each other's phones and giggling. I roll my eyes and look down the other side of the long table. I see Jude, with the girl from morning on his laps. Tired of rolling my eyes, I turn back to my food.

"You're crazy," Simon says, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes with his knuckles. "She's a stupid cheerleader."

"I'll remember you said that," I tell him.

He scoffs and puts his glasses back on, going back to his lunch.

Simon might have been a full-out nerd when we first started school, but he is not the scrawny teenager he was two years back. He has since filled out his clothes, and his face has acquired angles that make many girls stare. Then there's his dark hair, thick and coal-black, with those waves that I mentioned earlier, which makes one just want to touch and run their fingers through it. I know I want to.

To make it short and not sound like I've got goo-goo eyes for my good friend here, Simon gets a lot of attention, but he doesn't know that.

"HEY GUYS!"

I literally jump out of my seat and stumble backwards. Simon reaches out and holds onto me, laughing along with everyone else at the table. I straighten up and glare at the yelling newcomer, who is now laughing her ass off at my fright. "Go to hell," I grumble, settling back into my seat.

Even after everyone else's laughter has died, Nicki continues laughing, producing deep belly laughs that make her sound like a dying donkey. I hear Simon start to chuckle, then wait for it...

He bursts into laughter again because somehow, Nicole Ashley Cooper's laugh is not only boisterous but also infectious. I've known Nicki for close to four years now, and it's rare to see her anything but happy. I roll my eyes and stab my fork into my food because I don't think stabbing my two annoying friends is a nice thing to do.

Finally, after what feels like aeons, the two stop laughing, and Nicki takes an empty seat two places from me, which is good for her. Her short dark hair is sticking up into the air, her brown eyes lit up in ecstasy. Like always.

"What took you so long?" Simon asks after regaining his breath.

"Ms. Fernandez decided she could continue the lesson until whenever," she says, placing her tray on the table. "Talking about this Math contest or what not. Who cares about that?"

I immediately perk up at that and, pushing aside the fact that I'm still slightly mad at her, ask, "Math contest?"

She grins at me, and my eyes zero in on the pencil sticking in her hair. She's a weird one, and I stopped wondering about the things she does a long time ago. Most of the time, she is hyper like a kangaroo on drugs, but sadly, there isn't a thing sane people like me can do about it.

"You would be interested in that, wouldn't you, genius?" she teases, bouncing in her seat.

Before I can answer, Betty, the girl sitting beside her on one side, slaps her bare arm. "Keep still, woman!"

Nicki turns to her with a pout. "Can't a girl be happy?"

Betty rolls her eyes and ignores her. I decide to let the contest thing go. If there's anything like that, I'm sure to be hearing from Ms. Fernandez soon. Before I can focus back on my food, Nicki's eyes shoot back to me in excitement.

What now?

"I heard you were in detention yesterday?" she asks, her eyes narrowing, waiting for my reply.

"Simon was there too," I reply.

"Simon is always there," she dismisses. Simon snorts. She raises an eyebrow at him. "What, I'm not lying, am I?"

"Shut up," Simon orders and gets back to his lunch.

I look at my phone and check the time. "Time is running out, Nick. How about you eat first, then you'll tattle later."

She could have called me out on calling her 'Nick,' but her eyes shoot to one of the large clocks on the dining hall's wall and she curses.

As you reach the final pages, remember that 000005s.com is your destination for the complete story. Share the joy of reading with others and spread the word. The next chapter is just a visit away! Finally, she quiets down, allowing the rest of us to go on with our lunch peacefully.

By the time evening rolls by, I feel like I've run a marathon-that's how tiresome school feels. To make everything worse, it's a Thursday evening, so I have a journalism club meeting. Then as if that wasn't enough, Ms. Fernandez decided to invite me to her Math club meeting. Even though I'm not part of it, she still involves me when it comes to contests. Something that doesn't sit well with some of the members since she literally puts me in charge of everything. I'm finally done with those two, and I'm at an empty table at the library balcony, already having sent Jude a text for him to meet me here after his practice, which...

I lift my phone and check the time.

...must have ended like twenty minutes ago.

I'm giving him two more minutes, then if he is not here by then, I'm leaving. The weather doesn't look promising.

I sigh and slouch on my seat, lying my top half on the table, my cheek against the cool wood. I lift my phone again, but there's no new text. Lilly hasn't talked to me yet, and I know if it was good news, she would have reached out already. I decide to text her.

Me: Hey, how's everything?

I watch the two ticks appear, but after thirty seconds of no reply, I turn the phone over on the table and retreat to my thoughts. If she doesn't reply soon, I might have to call her.

I sigh as my mind decides to take a trip down memory lane, reminding me of how I would spend my afternoons after school a couple months back. When Angeline didn't have practice, we would sit out here, on this same balcony, doing our homework, determined to be through with it before going home. Jen would join in sometimes. Other times, Nicki would come along, promising to be quiet but always ending up dragging us into lengthy narrations. When we wouldn't talk, she would start jumping all over the place because staying still isn't something that girl has ever heard about. Simon would sometimes come too because he was in Computer class with Angeline, and they would work together.

Now, nobody comes back here with me, because after Angeline was gone, the tradition broke. We had all loved the balcony because we could make noise if we wanted, unlike the inside of the library. Maybe it had been an 'Angeline' thing to do. Whenever I come back here, I feel even more lonely, and thinking about her makes me sad. There aren't many students who use the balcony space, so I'm often alone, which allows me to let out a tear or two at times. The library balcony is my little sanctuary, where I can sit and pretend everything is okay. I also remember treasuring our time here because it was one of the few times I had Angeline all to myself, with no Jax around. I'm not going to lie that some part of me didn't feel as if he had stolen my best friend from me.

You don't get from spending all your free time with a person to them spending it with another person and not feel a smidgen of jealousy, anger, and a whole lot of loneliness.

"Are you crying?"

My upper body shoots up from the table, my teeth biting down on my tongue and sending searing pain throughout my body. I shoot up from my chair and hop around, my hand covering my mouth.

What is it with people startling me today?

"Ava? Are you "

I shoot him a glare, and he shuts up. I can feel my tongue getting swollen, and I try to rub it against the roof of my mouth and teeth to try and ease the pain. Jude places his backpack on the table and unzips it. He thrusts a bottle of water towards me. I grab it and unscrew the bottle top and take a gulp. The coolness eases the discomfort.

"I'm so sorry," he says when I finally place the bottle on the table. "I didn't mean to scare you." Well, he did.

I want to retort back, but I don't feel like lifting my tongue. I sit down on my seat and glare at the table, not sure if this session will be happening.

As you reach the final pages, remember that 000005s.com is your destination for the complete story. Share the joy of reading with others and spread the word. The next chapter is just a visit away!

Jude lets out a loud sigh and takes a seat on the other side of the table. "So, were you?" he asks, and I give him a confused, angry look.

"Crying," he expounds. "You looked so sad."

I huff. The nerve. He made me hurt myself, and now he is comfortably back to snooping into my private matters. While...

I try to tap my tongue against the roof of my mouth.

...my tongue gets bigger.

"You're late again," I point out, my voice muffled.

He shrugs, and I notice that his hair is wet. "Coach had me do extra stuff for missing practice yesterday. Then I had to take a shower. Unless you like me all sweaty, and I'll show up like that next time."

I glower, but he is leaning into his backpack again, digging around. His hand reappears with a lollipop in red wrapping. He reaches out to hand it to me. "This will make you forget the pain."

I narrow my eyes at him, unsure.

He arches an eyebrow, then draws back. "Okay." He unwraps it, exposing a red ball. "I love my candy and will definitely not force it on anyone." I'm honestly too tired to roll my eyes.

I reach for my bag. "Let's do this tomorrow. I can barely form words," I say, not sure he can hear me right because my words are a garbled mess. "Remember I said tomorrow is a no-no? It's Friday," he says.

"See you next week, then," I say, getting ready to leave.

At the same time, the previously heavy clouds decide to let go of what they have been holding, and the rain starts pouring. The cold rushing into the balcony increases tenfold. I pull my sweater around me and groan. "I can give you a ride," Jude says, coming to his feet.

I was going to walk home, and there's no way in a thousand worlds am I going to turn down that offer.

"Really?" I ask, looking back at him. He's pulling on a heavy jacket over his tee that looks much warmer than my thin sweater.

"Yeah," he says, zipping it up. "But I have to pass through somewhere, and you'll come with me."

"Where?" I ask.

"The mall."