Beautiful Lessons

by Rebecca Brooke

  “Hey Brendan,” she says with a smile.

  “Hey.”

  “Jayceon.” Her tone holds none of the friendly warmth she showed Brendan, just seconds earlier.

  “Hi.” I can’t explain why, but the way she said my name doesn’t sit right with me. It could be after seeing a different side of her the other day, I expected more. It made me question keeping her at a distance, but not enough that I thought it was a good idea to let her get any closer.

  Immediately, she launches into a conversation with Brendan, completely ignoring my presence. Maybe I’ve been right, the rumors always win. Either way, I need to meet my dad at the field.

  “Hey man, I gotta run. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Sounds good. See ya tomorrow.”

  One of the guys talking to Chaz points in our direction, showing him that Seona is over here instead of getting her bag. His head snaps around, looking around trying to figure out where she is his eyes narrowed and his fists clenched at his sides.

  Turing to go, Seona calls my name. “Yeah?”

  “I’ll see you in history tomorrow,” she says, her voice full of sarcasm.

  Giving the room a brief glance, I notice Chaz on his way over to us. I don’t have time for this shit.

  “Sure, Seona.”

  “Hey Seona, what are you doing talking to that asshole? I thought you were going out with the girls?”

  If I wasn’t paying attention, I might have missed the slight roll of her eyes. “Don’t--” she starts to say and immediately clamps her mouth shut. “I was talking to Brendan before we left. Are you happy?”

  “No. Stay away from him,” Chaz says to Seona, while he’s pointing at me.

  “Knock it off Chaz,” Brendan says.

  “Whatever dude. You’re the one that refuses to listen,” Chaz snaps and turns his attention towards me. “And when are you going to get the hint that we don’t want a lying dick like you around?”

  My hands ball into fists as the blood pounds through my ears. It takes every ounce of control I have to keep from smashing Chaz’s face to a bloody pulp. Brendan must notice that I’m struggling and steps between us.

  “Don’t you have somewhere to be Chaz?” Brendan asks, his posture tense, like he’s bracing in case he needs to break up the fight.

  Chaz turns his attention back to Seona and I wish I could say that he’s looking at her face. Instead, his eyes seem to be glued to her chest.

  “Yes, I am. Which is why I don’t have time to spend with this loser.” Chaz walks towards the bleachers, shoving his shoulder into mine, pushing me back.

  “Shut up, Chaz. The only loser here is you.”

  I can’t explain why, but her defending me pisses me off.

  She smiles at me and I’m so disgusted by the whole display, I turn and walk out of the gym without another word.

  My phone buzzes immediately, but I ignore it. At this point I’m too pissed off to deal with anyone. And mostly I’m pissed at myself for letting my head get away from me and thinking that she might be different. The memory of the way she spoke to Brendan makes me want to punch something.

  Dad noticed the minute I arrived at the field that something was wrong, but didn’t ask. Instead, he found a million ways for me to push my body and forget about the day I had. When Travis comes up to me at the end of practice to ask about Seona, I’m glad that my body is too tired to get worked up again.

  “She was going somewhere with the girls when I left.”

  “All right. I’m glad she’s making friends.”

  “I think so,” I say with a shrug, not wanting to worry about who Seona is friends with.

  “It’s fine man. I’ll talk to her when I get home. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  “Yeah. I’ll be here.”

  Travis waves on his way to his car. Jumping in my truck, I head home, needing to eat. After all of the aggravation and workouts today, I’m absolutely starving. The minute we step into the house, Mom sits us down to eat.

  Dinner’s delicious and now that my stomach has stopped growling, I can concentrate on my homework. As I’m sitting on my bed, I remember the texts from earlier and pull out my phone.

  Seona: I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shit on you

  My fingers linger over the keys, deciding if I should answer her. What would I even say to that? This is stupid. I delete the message and move onto the next one

  Brendan: Chaz is an ass. Ignore him

  Brendan: See ya tomorrow

  Whatever the motivation behind Seona’s text, I wasn’t interested. Hopefully Brendan would see her true colors soon.

  Finishing my homework, I decide to draw for a bit. Pulling out a pad and pencil, I sit on my bed, letting the music from my phone wash over me. Like it always happens, the pencil moves across the paper as if it has a mind of its own. When I’m done, it’s surprising to see the image that has taken shape in the middle of the paper.

  Staring back at me is a confident looking Seona at the top of her pyramid today. Whatever my obsession with this girl, it needs to end. Deciding I had enough of today, I climb under the covers and let exhaustion take me.

  My sleep is restless that night, as my dreams are filled with Seona and no matter how many times I wake up and fall back asleep, I see her. I guess I can’t really call them dreams.

  The beginning of the day is a nightmare, trying to keep myself awake and alert. Luckily, I stopped on the way to school to grab a coffee. Throughout the day, the caffeine kicks in and now I only have to deal with Chaz instead of both him and a lack of sleep.

  He’s been especially douchey today, trying to trip me or knock my books out of my hands every time he sees me. It’s childish, but it’s enough to annoy the ever loving shit out of me. Then I have to deal with Seona flirting with Brendan all throughout lunch. Their conversation from yesterday keeps replaying in my head. It shouldn’t make me crazy, but it does. I keep telling myself I don’t want her, except every time I see her with another guy, I want to fly off the handle.

  By the time I reach my history class, I’m done. I want the next fifty minutes to fly, and I can get out of here. My annoyance level is so high, I don’t realize it’s the first time I’ve been to class on time since Monday.

  The minute I step through the door, I see Seona sitting in my seat instead of her own. Heading in that direction, I hear her softly say, “Can I talk to you?”

  “Not really in the mood right now, Seona.”

  A frown appears on her face, but before she can say anything, Mr. Harris comes into the room to begin class. What could she want to talk about?

  The time for the classes seems to move faster than lightning, so it surprises me when the bell rings. I hadn’t packed up all my stuff yet, giving Seona the perfect opportunity to stop me in class. Here she is, blocking my path to the door.

  “Jayceon, I really need to talk to you.”

  “Well, I have practice, so I’m afraid I don’t have time.” Even though it’s rude as hell, I push past her and head out the door. All throughout practice, my mind keeps wandering to the incident in the classroom and hoping that Seona will leave it alone. Not that I think I’m that lucky. There was a look of pure determination in her eyes.

  After a quick shower and change I leave the locker room, ready to head to the university, when Seona stops me right outside the door. I know for a fact Chaz was in there laughing it up about all of the bogus passes he threw at me today.

  “Brendan is still getting changed,” I say, without any preamble.

  “I’m not waiting for Brendan. I’m here for you.”

  “That’s funny, because it didn’t look like that at lunch.” It’s out of my mouth before I can stop it and now I sound like a jealous asshole over a girl I keep telling myself I don’t want.

  “Jayceon...

  “Seona, whatever this is, you really need to let this go.”

  In my attempt to walk by her, she grabs my arm, forcing me to spin around when I wasn’t prepared to de
fend myself.

  “You need to listen to me.”

  “Seona, let go.”

  “Not until you listen.”

  “Fine, what is it that you want?” The second she lets go, I cross my arms over my chest.

  Taking a deep breath, she sighs, “I’m sorry for the way I acted yesterday. I was trying not to make things worse by defending you to Chaz and his mouth.”

  “It’s fine. I gotta go.” After everything that happened yesterday, I’m not going there with her again.

  “But I don’t think it is fine. You said we could be friends and I’d really like that. But I’m not sure how we’re supposed to be friends if you avoid me at every turn.”

  “Seona, maybe us being friends is not that great of an idea. You’re hanging out with the popular crowd and trust me when I tell you that they are not going to want us to be friends. In fact, they are going to want you to stay as far away from me as possible. Besides, Chaz seems to really want to take you out.”

  “Well, that’s just too bad for them, because I want to be your friend and there is no way in hell I’m going out with him.”

  I can’t help the laugh that escapes my lips. A girl that finally resists Chaz and his lies and it happens to be the one I can’t get off my mind. One look in her eyes, and I can see the truth written all over her face.

  “Seona, I’ve got to get to the university. Do you want to ride with me and we can talk on the way over?”

  “That sounds good.”

  We walk towards the parking lot and Seona looks up at me through her lashes.

  “Okay, Seona. I’ll give our friendship a chance, but I have to warn you, you might put up with some shit being friends with me.”

  “Alyssa and Brendan seem fine.”

  “Yeah, well Alyssa doesn’t like those guys anyway and Brendan gets it, just look at yesterday.”

  “Sorry about all of that.”

  “It’s fine. I’m used to the bullshit.”

  She stops in her tracks. “Why do you put up with it?”

  “I learned a long time ago that it’s just easier.” I didn’t elaborate, not wanting to tell her that story. She may have just stood up to Chaz, but it didn’t mean she was ready to hear what happened that night.

  “I guess you’re not going to tell me what happened, are you?”

  “What makes you think something happened?”

  “Because I’m not stupid. I’ve seen bullies and trust me, Chaz is the definition of bully, but he’s totally fixated on you.”

  I sigh. “Trust me. It’s a story you don’t want to hear.”

  “Fine.” She drops my arm and takes a few steps away before she turns back to me. “You know, at some point you’re going to have to let someone in.”

  Watching her walk down the sidewalk, I think about what she said. Besides Alyssa, I hadn’t let anyone in in a while. So many people had tried to screw with me and it sounded girly, but I wanted to protect myself. The everyday garbage was enough without adding extra bullshit. Seona is different though. At every turn she has proved that she isn’t dealing with their crap. The time to give someone a chance is here. I look up and see that she’s heading towards the city bus stop. Making the decision to give her a chance, I run to catch up.

  “Seona, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to push you away; it’s a bad habit of mine.”

  She doesn’t look at me. “It’s fine.”

  “Come on. How about that ride?”

  “All right.”

  We turn back to the parking lot and continue our walk to the car. The minute we get in the car and I start the engine, she turns in her seat to face me.

  “I get that you don’t want to talk about whatever happened, so let’s agree to drop it for now. How about you tell me why you didn’t text me back last night?”

  I peek at her out of the corner of my eye. “Cause dealing with Chaz’s friends isn’t always worth it and I wasn’t sure I could trust you.”

  “Even though I don’t like it, I kinda understand it.”

  “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to be a dick.”

  “It’s okay. We agreed to start over, so that’s what we are going to do.”

  The drive to school gives us a chance to fall into that easy conversation we had on Monday. When I let my walls down, I find that things are just easy with Seona. I don’t have to be someone I’m not. Maybe being friends will be a nice change for me.

  Chapter 8

  Seona

  “Travis!” I screech, running around the house, trying to find Mark’s car keys. I look all over and can’t find where they could be. “Damn it,” I mutter to myself. I knew I should have been listening to Travis when he told me where the keys were.

  “Travis!” I yell again, before remembering he had to leave early this morning for a study group. How the hell am I getting to school?

  I pull out my phone and text Claire. Grabbing my messenger bag and a banana, I wait for her to respond.

  Me: Claire please text me back!

  Claire: Hey sorry what’s up?

  Me: Is there any way you can come pick me up?

  Claire: Oh shit! Sorry girl I’m already at school. I had a meeting with my science teacher. I’m sorry! I mean I can leave real quick and come get you

  Me: No it’s okay...I’ll figure out something

  Claire: I wish I could come get you =( I feel bad

  Me: Don’t! It’s ok!

  Then a thought hits me.

  Me: Hi Jayceon! I’m so sorry to ask you this, but is there any way you can come pick me up and take me to school?

  Jayceon: Sure

  Me: OMG thank you so much!

  Jayceon: No problem. I’ll be there in 5 minutes

  Me: K!

  Me: No worries! Jayceon’s picking me up

  Claire: Ooooooo ;)

  Me: Stop!

  Claire: I didn’t say anything :p

  Me: See you in English!

  Making sure I have everything I need for school, I hear Jayceon’s truck and run outside. Opening the passenger door, I climb in.

  “Thank you again for picking me up! I’m so sorry to ask you!”

  He reverses out of the driveway and starts driving. “Not a big deal.”

  My attention is suddenly pulled to the music playing from Jayceon’s phone. Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars is playing and I can’t help but laugh.

  “You like Bruno Mars!”

  Jayceon looks at me then back on the road. “Kinda. I like this song. I don’t know, something about it is catchy.” I restart the song, turn up the volume and sing along. “Are you gonna dance too?”

  “I sure am!” I raise my arms in the air, moving my head side to side and bounce in the seat. I hear Jayceon laughing and it makes me laugh too.

  “You’re ridiculous.”

  “I’m taking that as a compliment.” I sing again and in the corner of my eye, see Jayceon watching me. I’ve never been as drawn to someone as I am to Jayceon. I know I don’t know him, but there’s something about him that makes me feel protective. He takes the bullshit from Chaz and doesn’t fight back. And to me, that’s so much sexier than being a dumb jock who likes to fight.

  When we get to school and walk in together, I tell Jayceon I’ll see him later and quickly head to study hall.

  The day finally seems to pick up after gym. Heading to the lunch room with Claire, we get salads from the cafe and bring them to our usual table. I look up and don’t see Jayceon at the table where he normally sits. I look at Brendan and he shrugs. Setting down my food, I take a seat next to him.

  “I heard you had car issues this morning.”

  “Kinda. I couldn’t find Mark’s car keys so I had to ask Jayceon to come get me.” This gets Chaz’s attention, but he doesn’t say anything. “Have you seen him today?” I take a few bites of my salad and wait for Brendan to answer. Before he can, Chaz makes Claire move so he can sit next to me. “Excuse me?”

  “Hey girl.” He leans in and kisses my cheek and I�
��m about to throw up. “Some of us are heading to get pizza tonight. You down?”

  “No thank you. Now move! Claire was sitting there.”

  “Take it easy. I’ll be done soon. So, what do you say about you and me tomorrow night? My dad put in a nice sound system and I have movies we can watch.”

  This is so romantic. Honestly, thinking about going on a date with Chaz Hartman makes me want to throw up. He’s rude and creepy and I don’t even want to be friends with him. Since he’s the quarterback on the football team and I’m on the squad, we have mutual friends and I don’t want to make things weird, so I put up with him.

  “No thanks. I’m going to the store with Brendan because he’s helping me paint my room.”

  Brendan looks at me and I plead with him to agree. “Yeah man, sorry. She needed help and asked me this morning.”

  “Don’t be lame, Seona. You can paint anytime. Come on girl, you know you wanna come over.”

  “Mmmm no I don’t, Chaz.” He looks at me and I swear this boy is dumber than dirt. I wave my hand, telling him to leave. “Please go now.”

  He moves from his seat and heads to the other side. Claire moves close to me with wide eyes and her mouth slightly open.

  “What?”

  “I think you’re the first girl to ever turn down Chaz.”

  “It’s not a big deal. Anyways, I kinda wanna ask Jayceon out.”

  “So you’re bailing out on me?” Brendan holds his heart and pouts, “I’m hurt. I thought we had something special.”

  I nudge him with my shoulder. “You’re a dork. But do you think I should ask out Jayceon?’

  He shrugs. “I say yeah, go for it.”

  “I think that’s so cute,” Claire gushes.

  I look again at the table and still no Jayceon. Taking out my phone, I send him a text.

  Jayceon: Decided to stay in the art room today and get work done

  Me: Oh okay. I hope you’re having a good day

  Jayceon: Yep

  I finish my salad and check out the time. I have fifteen more minutes until dance. I tell Brendan and Claire I’ll see them later. Getting up from my chair, I grab my empty salad container and water bottle. Tossing both out in the trash, I rush down to the art room. I’m not a stalker, I don’t think, but I want to talk to him more. Obviously he’s not big on texting, so if I’m near him then he has to talk to me.