“Me, me, Jake wants me to help him with his schoolwork, when he could have any girl at school begging him to do that. Maybe Carrie really is right; Jake may really like me,” Amy gushed.
Jake observed that Amy again seemed to be in another world, and asked her, with a puppy dog expression,
“That okay with you?”
Amy witnessed Jake’s face this way, and felt a twinge of unhappiness. She wanted to see him smile again, and knew only she could make this happen.
“Sure, how can I help?” Amy said.
“Great!” Jake said, his face immediately lighting up. Amy was very excited, and her smile widened considerably from before. She was happy with Jake in her company, and wanted to celebrate their time together.
“You hungry Jake?”
“Yeah, sure am. I wanna taste some of the stuff you’ve made today. You’re famous for making some great food,” Jake said. “I’ve tasted some stuff you made for school a while back, and it was yummy.”
Amy was bowled over by what she was hearing from Jake, and from all the compliments he had given her today. Again, Amy felt like no words were going to come out of her mouth, and stuttered a little. After another try, she finally found the courage to again speak, as she felt safe with Jake.
“Your wish’s my command. I’ll bring out the cookies and some drinks,” Amy told Jake, proceeding towards the kitchen. After entering the kitchen, Amy removed her hair net and apron, and washed her hands. Amy peered through the oven’s glass door to check if the cookies were ready. Both the chocolate and coconut cookies were done, and Amy took these out of the oven. Amy placed these in a large white platter, which made the cookies look even more delicious, and left the kitchen to serve these to Jake.
Jake greeted her with a friendly smile, which she readily returned. He took one of each cookie from the platter, and quickly devoured them, to Amy’s delight. After Amy put the platter on the table, Jake looked at the plate of cookies and said, looking doubtful,
“Is that all?”
Amy did not know what Jake meant, as the plate was still full of cookies. She looked at him with a sad expression, but saw that his expression suddenly changed.
“Oh, just kidding,” Jake said, winking at her. Amy smiled, and sat with Jake on the sofa. She was relieved that he was fooling around, and chuckled, as did he. After the joke had died down, Amy looked over at the books Jake had brought with him, and saw a number of them in a small pile.
“Now, what help do you need with English class?” she asked.
“You have enough hours?” he said, rolling his eyes.
Amy grinned at his comment, happy at Jake’s sense of fun. She did not know until now he was so enjoyable to be with.
“Don’t think it’s that bad. Anyway, we can go through whatever you want together,” she said, flicking back her long, blonde hair. Amy arose from the sofa, and proceeded over to her schoolbag, which was on a clothes hook near the stairwell, and retrieved her English textbook. She sat down again with Jake, and they began reading.
For the next hour, Amy and Jake ate cookies and studied together. Amy could not remember the last time she felt so contented, or at ease. Jake was also very happy, and pleased that Amy was responding to him so warmly. Amy noticed they had eaten most of the cookies from the platter, and asked Jake if he wanted anything else to eat. Jake nodded as he, like Amy, was still hungry, and wanted something else to eat.
“How ‘bout some popcorn? You know, like the stuff they have at the movies, with lots of butter,” Jake requested, with a sparkle in his eye.
“Your wish is my command,” Amy said, quickly walking into the kitchen. She washed her hands from the books she had handled, and searched for the popcorn. It was in a bright red canister, and Amy turned the popcorn machine on, and emptied in the corn kernels. Amy dropped some butter into it, and let it do its work. Amy felt like she was not walking on the ground today, but on air; Jake had that effect on her, and all the better. The very tasty aroma of buttered popcorn was making its presence felt, and its seductive tang hypnotized Amy even more.
Jake was in Amy’s lounge room, waiting for her to emerge from the kitchen. Jake arose from the sofa, drew all the curtains in the living room, and turned on Amy’s CD player. He switched on an overhead light, but dimmed it gradually, this bestowing to the room a romantic ambience. Jake was overjoyed that Amy had reacted so favorably towards him this afternoon, and wanted to show her exactly how he felt about her.
“Here’s my chance to see if Amy likes me as much as I like her,” he said, his gray eyes twinkling in the soft light. “Amy, can you come out for a sec? There’s something here I don’t understand.”
“Okay, coming.”
When Amy came out of the kitchen, she was wearing an apron, and her blonde hair was in a bun.
“Okay Jake what’s the….” Amy’s voice trailed off in mid-sentence, as she observed the dreamy atmosphere which Jake had created for the both of them. The room’s soft lighting, and the slow, gentle music, only heightened the lush atmosphere. This was the type of situation Amy had hoped she would be in with Jake for weeks now, especially after he almost kissed her in front of her home. Carrie knew what she was talking about after all — she was right about Jake, and that he really liked Amy. Amy was so happy she could not utter a syllable, but, eventually regained her composure.
“Let me guess — Mr Romance is at work.”
“You got it,” Jake said, smiling at Amy.
Slowly but surely, Amy and Jake moved closer to one another. Jake took off his leather jacket, and wrapped it around himself and Amy. Amy removed both her apron and hair clip, thus releasing her lustrous hair, through which Jake ran his fingers. Amy and Jake began to dance in unison to the slow, romantic music. Amy could not quite understand how she and Jake came this far so quickly today, but decided not to analyze it anymore, but just enjoy the experience. Jake felt that all was going perfectly, and did not want to jinx himself, either.
“You know,” Amy said, “I wish I could be in this dream forever.”
“Me too,” Jake replied, eyes closed, his face over Amy’s shoulder. Amy could feel his breathing, but it was almost a melodic type of breathing, and this relaxed her even more just listening to it.
The soft, soothing music unexpectedly came to a halt, to the disappointment of both Amy and Jake. Amy pulled away from Jake’s embrace, and looked deeply into his soothing gray eyes.
“Jake, the music’s stopped.”
Jake returned Amy’s gaze, and stared longingly at her, causing Amy to blush. He took a deep breath, and paused a little before speaking. While Jake kept Amy hanging onto his next word, she found more than enough compensation by consuming Jake’s magnetic, but friendly, glance.
“Doesn’t matter about the music Amy, we can make our own,” he said, eyes ablaze.
Their last few moments together had proven to Amy that she was rapt by Jake, and he with her. In their minds, they could not understand why it took them so long to get to this point. Jake stroked his hand over Amy’s face, and she smiled at him.
To Amy and Jake’s surprise, an extremely unpleasant aroma seeped from the kitchen into the lounge room, hampering the romantic mood. Jake pulled away from his embrace with Amy, and looked at her, puzzled.
“Is it my imagination, or is something burning?
Amy looked at Jake in alarm, the odor flowing in from the kitchen, and making its presence felt in the lounge room. Amy shook her head, and looked at Jake, realizing what was wrong.
“Oh no, I forgot the popcorn,” Amy said, looking pained. “Think I forgot to put it on the lower setting.”
“Okay, let’s see what’s happened,” Jake said.
Amy and Jake headed into the kitchen to inspect the popcorn. They saw that the popcorn had cooked for too long, as Amy accidentally put the machine on a higher setting. The corn kernels had been burnt to a crisp, and were pitch black. Amy looked at Jake, feeling that she had failed him, but he smiled, not looking worried. She sighed heavi
ly, and threw the charred popcorn ashes into the wastepaper basket. Amy was upset with herself, and said,
“Jake, I’m sorry — I mucked up big time.”
“For what?” Jake said, looking at her with a serene face.
“Whenever I forget about something, like taking the popcorn out of the machine, everything goes wrong,” Amy said, proceeding to clean the machine.
“Don’t worry about the popcorn, we can make it again another time,” Jake said, seeing Amy’s worried face. Amy instantly froze after hearing this particular comment from Jake. She was especially happy to hear Jake say not that she would make the popcorn, but that they would make it together — the mention of this one word made Amy warm inside.
“S’pose you’re right,” she said, after washing the popcorn machine, and putting it back into the cupboard.
“You know I’m right,” Jake replied, with another of his burning looks.
“I’m beginning to see that,” Amy said softly, entranced by him, and he, by her. Again, Amy and Jake’s faces gradually came closer together, and they were about to kiss when there was yet another unwelcome interruption. The alarm on Jake’s watch sounded, and its insistent chime upset the calm atmosphere. Jake looked at his watch in annoyance, and it seemed as if Jake wanted to swear at it, but refrained from doing this.
“Oh Amy, I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Amy asked.
“I forgot — I have late training at school. The coach’s coming later today.”
“Oh,” Amy said, disappointed.
Jake quickly walked out of the kitchen, and into the lounge room to pick up his schoolbooks.
“Thanks for everything Amy,” he said, smiling at her.
“Thank you,” Amy said.
“You’re welcome, see you at school. Bye Amy,” Jake said, speedily making his way out the front door.
“Bye Jake,” Amy replied dreamily, closing the front door behind her. Amy pressed her forehead against the door, and paused for a moment.
Jake’s visit today was a beautiful experience for Amy, and made her see herself in a new light — Jake did like her, and wanted to see more of her. Nothing, nor anybody, could bring her back down to earth, as if she wanted this to happen. Amy approached the lamp table where she had left Jake’s bouquet, and picked it up.
“Whoever invented watch alarms should be feeling really bad right now,” Amy said, smiling solemnly. She closed her eyes, and blissfully inhaled the bouquet’s full, deep mixture of aromas. After enjoying her flowers, Amy placed the bouquet in a spare space near the window seat, and tidied up the lounge room. Amy noticed that Jake, in his haste, had forgotten one of his schoolbooks. Before she had a chance to react, the doorbell sounded, to Amy’s surprise.
“Oh, must be Jake for his book,” Amy said, rushing to open the front door. Amy was very excited to see Jake again, and felt that any excuse to see him would do. She opened the door in anticipation of him, and said,
“Jake, you forgot your…”
Amy failed to finish her sentence, though, as she was startled by who her visitor actually was.
“Expecting company?”
To Amy’s astonishment, it was not Jake at the door, but Francine. Amy was taken aback by Francine’s appearance at her front door, and could not reply. She pondered why Francine would come around to see her, as they hardly spoke at school. While they were about to act together in a Theatre class play, this was the extent of their relationship. Amy’s interest was aroused by seeing Francine, and she stared at her with interest.
“Can I come in?” Francine asked. Amy thought that this was surprising on Francine’s part, but, despite feeling this way, fully opened the door to let Francine inside. Francine looked around Amy’s lounge room, seeing the room’s curtains drawn, and Amy holding Jake’s book in her hands. Amy was becoming annoyed with Francine’s inquisitiveness, and glared at her.
“Something I can do for you?”
Francine looked at Amy, and emitted a shy smile.
“Yeah, Amy, there is,” Francine said, becoming comfortable on Amy’s sofa, to Amy’s wide-eyed surprise. Amy returned Francine’s shy smile, and stood with hands on hips, a number of thoughts zooming through her mind about Francine. Francine sensed that Amy was suspicious to find out why she came to see her, and began talking.
“Look Amy, we’re in many of the same classes at school. I just thought, well, how can I say this? We hardly talk at school, so I thought I’d try to fix this,” Francine said.
Amy was amazed by Francine’s admission, and believed that she was hearing things. She could not believe that Francine wanted to be her ‘friend’, and shook her head in disbelief. Amy remembered she had not heard positive things about Francine in the past, and was not sure what to say. Francine noticed Amy’s hesitation, and asked her,
“Well, what do you say? After all, we’re gonna be acting together in the same play. It might help us with our performances if we get to know each other better, don’t you think?” Francine said.
Amy witnessed Francine’s pained expression, and thought about whether everything she had heard about Francine was really true. Amy considered that people, being people, might have made up stories about Francine, as they did not understand her. Amy supposed that maybe she needed to stop listening to everyone else, and make up her own mind about Francine. Amy decided that someone who took the time to do what Francine was doing, after all, could not be that bad. Amy nodded her head, and held out her hand to Francine, accepting her offer.
“Oh thanks Amy, thank you,” Francine beamed, to Amy’s cautious reception. Amy sat on the sofa near Francine, and smiled at her.
“Know what Francine?”
“What?” Francine asked.
“You’re right — we hardly talk at school. We’re always busy doing something else. Now’s as good a time as any to become friends.”
“Great!” Francine said, pleased that Amy was taking her intentions at face value. Amy was happy that a barrier which had existed between her and Francine had finally been broken, leaving her more comfortable with Francine. Francine was sure she had convinced Amy of her sincerity, and thought it time to begin what she hoped her visit to Amy would accomplish.
“So Amy, I saw Jake on my way to you. He looked like he was in a hurry,” Francine said.
“Yeah, he forgot his book here. I was helping him with his studies this afternoon,” Amy admitted, smiling as she thought about Jake.
“Oh,” Francine replied. “Do you do that often?”
“No, just today,” Amy said. Francine’s question seemed a little odd to Amy, but she reasoned that Francine was just trying to be friendly with her, and brushed it off.
“I’ve heard you and Jake’ve become close lately.”
“Yeah, we have,” Amy said happily. “Jake’s the most romantic person I’ve met in my life,” she said. Amy recollected to Francine Amy and Jake’s dance to the slow music, and how Jake almost kissed her in the kitchen. Francine gulped as she listened to Amy’s admission, her throat becoming dry. This was all Francine needed to hear, especially when she thought she was coming so close to getting Jake for herself.
“Really?” Francine said, looking a little worried.
“You wouldn’t believe what happened here today,” Amy said, pleased to be sharing her happiness with Francine. Amy proceeded to recount to Francine of her afternoon with Jake with much delight. Throughout Amy’s talk, Francine felt that she was about to burst into tears, but abstained from doing so and instead, kept up a calm front.
“I’m very happy for you, Amy,” Francine said. Francine was infuriated that things were not going in her direction with Jake, and could not understand why he liked Amy, and what he saw in her. Francine was unable to take anymore of Amy’s gushing about Jake, and arose angrily from the sofa. Amy looked up at Francine in surprise, finding her actions strange.
“Amy, I’ve stayed too long. It’s time I left. I’ve stayed too long. I’ve probably stopped you from doing
other things,” Francine said icily.
“No Francine, don’t go yet. There are many things we could talk about. I made some cookies this afternoon; maybe we could have some together,” Amy said.
“Thanks Amy, but I’ve really gotta go,” Francine asserted, looking a little frostily at Amy. She had heard enough of Amy’s rantings for the day, and began walking towards Amy’s front door. Amy was disappointed that Francine wanted to leave, and got up and followed her. Upon reaching the door, Francine turned around, and flashed her sincerest smile to Amy.
“I wish you and Jake the best of luck,” Francine said.
“Thanks Francine, I’m really happy we had the chance to talk,” Amy said.
“Me too,” Francine said, nodding her head. Francine was happy as she discovered more about what was going on between Amy and Jake, which was a great help. “I’ll see you at school,” Francine said, turning the knob to let herself out.
Just as Francine was about to leave, she spied the bouquet arrangement which Jake had brought Amy, and fumed inside. Francine gave Amy another kind look after this, acting as if she was happy that Jake had brought her flowers.
“Bye Amy, it’s been an interesting time with you. I’ve found out some great things about you.”
“Thanks Francine, I feel the same way. Take care,” Amy replied, as Francine exited her home. Amy gently closed the front door, and stood silent for a moment. She was relieved that her talk with Francine had gone so well, but still not believing that Francine had actually come over to see her.
“Who would’ve guessed Francine would wanna be my friend? Well, life’s really full of surprises,” Amy said, shaking her head, as she headed back into her kitchen.
Francine was outside of Amy’s front door, and thought about what Amy had told her about Jake. Although this had thrown a wrench in her plans to get Jake, Francine knew that she was far from giving up on him. Francine was happy that she had come to visit Amy today, as she now knew what she was up against trying to win Jake away from Amy. Francine thought about Amy, her green eyes seething with uncontrolled passion.
“I want Jake, and’ll do anything to have him,” she said. Francine recalled her time with Jake at his house, and how well they connected that day. Francine then thought about Amy, but, her thoughts were of a very different nature.
The Great High School Love Game Page 8