The Great High School Love Game

by Marcia Carrington

  With this declaration, Francine and Chad struck together their drinking glasses, triumphant at achieving their devious act.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Oh my god, I’ve never seen so much rain!” Amy exclaimed, looking through her lounge room windows, and inspecting the buckets of rain that had mysteriously decided to fall.

  What began as a fine, almost cloudless day unexpectedly turned into a thundery, water-drenched one by late afternoon. Amy was at home after school, waiting for Jake to come over after his basketball training. She was searching for Jake through her lounge room windows, but, he was nowhere to be seen. While she wanted to see him more than anything, Amy knew the roads might have been busy due to the thundery weather. Amy looked away from the windows in disappointment, and frowned.

  “He mightn’t come. It’s not fair Jake should become all wet because of me.” Amy looked up at the ceiling in thought, and had a brainwave. “I’ll ring him not to come over,” Amy decided. She proceeded over to the phone, and tried ringing Jake on his cell phone. Amy waited to see whether Jake would respond, but, there was no answer. She hung up, and tried his number again, but, without any success. Amy shook her head, and thought maybe she should just wait it out, and see if Jake would ring her. She had just put the phone receiver back into its cradle when she heard a knock at the door.

  Amy scurried over to the door, and peeked into the peephole. She saw it indeed was Jake at the door, and excitedly opened it to let him in. While Jake looked a little frazzled, however, he was very happy to see Amy. Although he had an umbrella, his raincoat was very wet from the incessant rain. Jake took off his raincoat, shook the excess water outside, and did the same with his umbrella. After Jake did this, Amy closed the door, and he folded his umbrella, and placed it in the umbrella stand. With a great sigh, he said “Phew!” and smiled at Amy. The rain had also drenched his parka, which Amy noticed. Jake had forgotten to take it off, but Amy reminded him by looking at it.

  “How dumb. You prob’ly think I love it so much I wanna wear it, even when it’s soaking,” he said.

  Amy smiled at Jake’s comment, and moved closer to him. She loved it whenever Jake sent himself up; it made her believe life was not so serious after all, and did not have to be. One thing, though, was obvious about Amy and Jake; no amount of rain could dampen their enthusiasm for one another, and he embraced her with much eagerness.

  Amy felt so warm in Jake’s arms; it was as if nothing else in the world mattered to her. Jake thought the same way about Amy, and sighed in satisfaction. After a quiet spell, Jake detached himself from his embrace with Amy, and looked at her. She had never seemed so beautiful to him, and Jake believed Amy became more beautiful each time he saw her. Amy felt the same way about Jake, and looked at him lovingly. He had completed his ‘inspection’ of Amy, and, to her delighted surprise, pulled her again into his arms.

  “Do you know how much I’ve missed you? It’s like forever since I saw you,” Jake said to Amy, whispering in her ear.

  Amy pulled away from Jake to look again into his eyes, and replied,

  “I know the feeling.”

  Jake smiled at Amy, in full agreement with her. The expression on Jake’s face, though, swiftly changed from a smile, to a more serious expression. Amy instinctively knew Jake wanted to tell her something, but, was not sure quite what.

  “Amy, I’m sorry, but I can’t stay very long today.”

  “Why, what’s wrong?” Amy said, watching him in disappointment.

  “Well, I’ve got some work at home — some stuff I’ve been putting off for a while. You know what they say about stuff you put off — it gets worse, and builds up, and up. I’ll come by tomorrow to make it up to you.”

  Amy looked at Jake in frustration, sad their time together was to be cut short. Jake saw Amy did not respond to him, and sensed she was upset.

  “You forgive me, don’t you?” Jake asked, his face saddening at the concept of leaving Amy. Amy nodded to him after a few seconds, feeling she was about to cry, but resisting the urge.

  Of course I forgive you, but I wish you could’ve stayed a bit more.”

  “Me too, but I’ve gotta go. Like I said, I’ll make it up to you tomorrow,” Jake said, annoyance with himself registering in his voice. He went over to the hat stand, and picked up his parka and raincoat, and quickly put these on. As Chad and Francine had so carefully planned, the envelope which Chad had placed in Jake’s parka slipped out of his pocket, and fell onto the floor behind Jake. Jake and Amy did not sense the presence of the envelope in the least, as they were so absorbed with each other.

  “You believe me, don’t you?” Jake asked softly.

  Amy nodded her head.

  “Nothing could ever make me doubt you, Jake. Jake, I love you,” Amy said, looking at him with a burning expression. After a slight pause, he replied,

  “I love you too,” with a dreamy look in his eye. Jake slowly leant over, and kissed Amy. She was just as dizzy as the day Jake kissed her for the first time, after the fancy dress gala. Again, Amy felt she was in heaven, but Jake gradually broke away from her, and picked up his bag and umbrella. Amy looked at him in sadness, but Jake smiled, as if to say it would not be their final time together. In his haste, though, Jake almost forgot to take his raincoat, but quickly put this on. Jake headed towards the door, and, as he opened the door knob, looked at Amy with longing.

  “See you soon, Amy,” he said. Jake closed the door, and Amy immediately rushed over to the front windows. She saw Jake was walking quickly, trying hard to escape the rain before getting into his car. To Amy’s relief, the rain was still pouring down rapidly, though not as heavily as beforehand. Amy wished that Jake would get home safely, as it was not a day to be out.

  Amy observed Jake drive off, and moved away from the front window. She walked around the room as if distracted, thinking about how Jake just kissed her, and how gentle he was with her. Amy felt she had found her piece of happiness at last, and nothing, nor anyone, could take it away from her. She was dreamily cruising the lounge room when she spotted the envelope on the ground. Intrigued, Amy picked up the envelope to take a better look at it.

  Amy saw Jake’s name written on the face of the envelope, and found this rather odd. Amy believed if she was the intended recipient of the envelope, that it should have had her name on it. She considered maybe Jake wrote his name on it in a hurry, without thinking. Amy was standing close to the sofa, and looked at the envelope with much anticipation.

  “That’s funny; it must’ve fallen out of Jake’s pocket. He must be writing me love letters,” Amy said happily. Amy sighed at the thought of this, and eagerly opened the envelope, seeing that a letter was enclosed. The envelope was infused with a beautiful orange aroma, one which filled her nostrils, and was a delight to the senses. Amy became more and more excited, and finally pulled out the letter, beginning to read it aloud. Her heart was in full expectation of the sweet sentiments Jake would communicate to her.

  “Dear Jake, it’s been weeks since I saw you, or touched you. I’ve missed hearing the sound of your voice, that hot look in your eyes, and your firm hands, which you know how to use. I’ve lived without your sweet kisses, and everything else you do, long enough, and you from me. Please come see me again soon, I’ll be waiting.

  Love,

  Jane”

  Out of nowhere, there was a flash of lightning, which gave Amy a tremendous fright. Amy collapsed onto the sofa after reading the letter, and tears immediately sprung into her eyes. It was as if the whole world had come crashing down around her, without any rhyme or reason. Amy took another look at the letter, and re-read it, word for word. She could not understand how, and why, Jake would be with anyone but her, and shook her head in confusion.

  Amy remembered, though, how Jake was in a hurry to leave her today, as he had some things to do at home. She also recalled some other times they had been together when Jake was in a big rush to leave, such as the day they were at ‘The Place’. Amy put tw
o and two together, and believed she was now beginning to understand Jake’s actions. Amy had not felt this bad for a long time, and her insecurities, which had vanished over the last few weeks, returned with a vengeance. Amy dried her eyes a little with a tissue, and stared again at the letter.

  “So that’s why you wanted to leave me today, ’cause you had some important business to take care of,” Amy wailed, sinking into her sofa, crying. She could not understand how, and why, all of this had happened, and that maybe it was happening to someone else. Perhaps it was all a bad dream, but what if it was not a nightmare, but a reality? Amy was unable to draw the line where dreams ended and reality began, and continued to cry uncontrollably.

  To Amy’s complete bewilderment, the phone rang, and she instantly froze, not knowing what to do. Amy was afraid to pick it up in case it was Jake on the other end of the line, and let it ring for a while. Whoever was ringing, though, was clearly very persistent, and Amy, in the end, was forced to pick up the receiver.

  “Hello,” Amy said softly.

  “Hi Amy!” Carrie replied chirpily.

  After a slight pause, Amy spoke again into the phone.

  “Hello Carrie,” Amy said, her voice hoarse from crying.

  “How are you?” Carrie asked. Amy did not reply, and Carrie became concerned by Amy’s silence. This hush continued for several seconds, and Carrie knew in her stomach when Amy was not her usual self. “Amy, what’s up? You okay?”

  “Oh nothing, I’m okay,” Amy said blankly, her voice drowned out by her tears.

  “Amy, you’ve been crying,” Carrie said, shaking her head, and eyes widening in puzzlement.

  Amy again paused before speaking, Carrie giving her a chance to respond.

  “No, I’m okay,” Amy said.

  Carrie sensed something was definitely wrong with Amy. She could not understand why Amy was crying when this should have been a wonderful day for her, after being with Jake. Carrie was beginning to sense something had happened for Amy to be upset in this way, and assured her,

  “I’m coming over now.” Carrie quickly closed the phone to head over to Amy’s house. Amy put the receiver back onto its cradle, and cupped her face in her hands. She still could not believe what she had read in the letter, and shook her head in disbelief. With tears streaming down her face, Amy said,

  “How could Jake do this to me? What’d I do to deserve this? Did I do something wrong? Did I take everything too seriously? Or am I just too naïve?”

  After a few minutes of nonstop crying, Amy arose from the sofa, knowing she needed a change of pace, and walked towards the front windows, looking out of them. The weather had now improved considerably from beforehand, and the sun was starting to re-emerge out from behind the dark clouds. The heavy storm had now dissipated, leaving only some light sun showers in its wake. This, though, was of no relief to Amy, as she felt anything but sunny in her heart.

  Amy’s ponderings were interrupted by a knock at the door. She cautiously checked to see who it was in the peephole, but, was relieved to see it was Carrie, and Amy gradually opened the door to let her in. Carrie’s eyes widened in alarm when she saw Amy, surprised to see her in such a miserable state. Carrie placed her coat on the hat stand, and left her umbrella underneath in the box. She quickly pulled Amy into an embrace, and asked her,

  “What’s wrong Amy? You didn’t sound good over the phone.” After hearing what Carrie said, Amy again began to cry, and Carrie wiped away Amy’s tears with her hands. Amy did not reply, ashamed to tell Carrie what had happened. Carrie pulled away slightly from Amy, and looked at her. “You’ve been crying, and you’ve been crying a lot,” Carrie observed, looking at Amy’s red eyes. “Over what? Thought everything had gone so well over the past few weeks,” Carrie said. Amy choked back her tears, and dabbed her eyes with a tissue whenever she had the chance.

  “Everything was a dream — a big, beautiful but unreal dream,” Amy declared.

  Carrie looked at Amy, and frowned.

  “What’re you talking about?” Carrie asked, squinting her eyes in bafflement.

  “I knew it was too good to believe Jake’d ever like me,” Amy said, shaking her head.

  “Why? What happened? Did you and Jake have a fight?” Carrie queried, lightly stroking Amy’s hair. “If that’s all it is, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Me and James do that all the time — if I didn’t fight with him sometimes, we’d fight all the time,” she said, trying to make Amy laugh.

  Amy, though, was in no mood for humor, and shook her head in disagreement.

  “No Carrie, something else happened, something major.”

  “What?” Carrie asked, dumbfounded. Amy broke away from Carrie’s sympathetic embrace, and proceeded over to the sofa, where Jake’s letter to Jane was sitting. Amy picked up the letter, and walked back to Carrie.

  “This happened,” Amy said, handing the letter over to Carrie. Carrie looked at Amy in panic after reading it, and appeared stunned.

  “Where’d you get this?”

  “Today, when Jake came over,” Amy sputtered. Carrie shook her head, unable to understand what the letter meant.

  “I can’t believe Jake’d ever do anything like this to you. He’s…he’s just not like that,” Carrie asserted. For Carrie, it did not seem right Jake would act this way towards Amy, especially considering their difficulties in getting together in the first place.

  “How can you be so sure, Carrie?” Amy said, looking at Carrie in confusion. “Do we ever really know someone? Did I really know Jake?” Carrie watched Amy with sympathy, not knowing what to say. Amy walked around the room, and stomped heavily with her feet. “I knew something like this was gonna happen. Everything that happened was too good to be true,” Amy said.

  Carrie reasoned that Amy’s quick belief in Jake’s guilt was not the right way to take care of things, and asked her,

  “Have you, or do you plan to, face Jake about all this, and hear his side of it? Do you even know this Jane, or does anyone come to mind?”

  Amy shook her head, and stated,

  “No Carrie, and I’m not going to.”

  Carrie looked at Amy, recognizing Amy was jumping to conclusions.

  “Why Amy? You don’t know the letter’s real. You don’t know if Jane really exists. It could be a joke someone’s making on you and Jake,” Carrie said, pleading Amy to listen to her view.

  Amy looked at Carrie, drying her eyes, and composing herself a little more than before.

  “No Carrie, I believe it isn’t a joke. As far as I’m concerned, Jake’s made up his mind what he likes. It’s obvious one person’s not enough for him. As for me, I’ve made up my mind — if Jake wants me to be second to someone else, then, he never knew me, at all,” Amy spat.

  Carrie shook her head after listening to Amy, all the while feeling her pain.

  “Don’t say that Amy. You shouldn’t make up your mind so fast without speaking to Jake. This’s something you and him have gotta talk about, so you can work it out together,” Carrie said. Amy shook her head, as if to say this was going to be of no use. Carrie picked up on this, and made Amy an offer.

  “If you like, I can talk to Jake. Maybe we can work it all out that way,” Carrie proposed, with a slight smile. Amy, though, raised her head with determination, a little more together than before.

  “No thanks Carrie, I was stupid enough to believe Jake’d ever like me — he was probably just using me when Jane wasn’t around. I was dumb enough to believe he was as shy as he seemed,” Amy said, glowering. Amy had never felt so humiliated in her life as she did right now.

  Carrie frowned, and shook her head. She suspected Amy needed some time alone, and might settle down if she had some time to think about everything. Carrie walked over to Amy, and cupped Amy’s sad face in her hands.

  “I understand what you’re going through, but please Amy, don’t rush into anything. You might regret it if you do.”

  Through her tears, Amy smiled gratefully at Carrie. She r
eally was a great friend, through both thick and thin, Amy concluded. Amy thought about what Carrie said, and nodded to her, and said,

  “Okay Carrie, I’ll see how I feel tomorrow.”

  “You gimme your word?” Carrie asked quietly.

  Amy looked out the front windows, and turned back to Carrie. After a modest pause, Amy said,

  “I’ll try,” beginning to cry a little again, but, controlling herself from doing this. Carrie again dried Amy’s tears, whilst choking back some of her own.

  “Feel a bit better now?” Carrie asked.

  “Yeah, I’m okay, not 100 percent, but okay,” Amy said. With this, Carrie embraced Amy, and stroked her long blonde hair. Carrie sighed, and wiped another tear from Amy’s ashen face.

  “Okay, take it easy now.” Suddenly, a thought occurred to Carrie to help soothe Amy’s worries, and Carrie’s face lit up at the idea. “You wanna stay with me for tonight? I’m sure your folks wouldn’t mind.”

  Amy smiled in appreciation of Carrie’s offer, but shook her head.

  “No, I’m okay, I’m prob’ly better off alone — I wouldn’t be good company for you.”

  Carrie realized maybe it was better to leave Amy to think of some things alone, and patted Amy on the shoulder.

  “Amy, if you need anything, anything at all, I’m only a phone call away,” Carrie said, releasing herself from Amy’s hold, and slowly making her way to the front door. Carrie sensed Amy was indeed a little better after her visit, and felt happier for this. Amy smiled at Carrie, extremely appreciative for her support.

  “Thanks Carrie,” Amy said softly.

  “See you tomorrow Amy,” Carrie said, smiling as she left Amy’s house.

  “Bye Carrie,” Amy said softly, closing the front door. After Carrie had left, Amy sat on the sofa, and considered what had happened today, and what the letter meant for her and Jake. Amy leaned her head into the lush softness of the sofa, and looked up at the ceiling.

  “This can’t be happening to me, it just can’t be. Why would Jake ever do this to me? I can’t understand him — I can’t understand him at all,” she sighed. After sitting still on the sofa for a few minutes, Amy picked up the letter, and began to re-read it. The effect of Jane’s loving words to Jake became too much for Amy, and she threw the letter away from her. Amy again began to cry, unable to figure out how, and why, all of this had occurred in the first place.