New Girl in Town Pt. 06

All characters are over the age of 18 unless stated otherwise. Thanks for reading, voting, commenting and sending feedback. I appreciate all of it.

****

MONDAY

"Thanks for the ride Bobby," I state as I awkwardly attempt to climb into his pickup truck. It's an ungainly attempt as I forget that my book bag, which I usually have on my left shoulder, is now on my right. I have to slide back out, put the bag in, and then climb back in.

"Clumsy fucker," He comments as I reach for the seat-belt.

"At your service," I state as he pulls away. "If you thought that was bad you should see me trying to get a shirt on."

"Ugh, no thanks," He makes a face then laughs.

"Keep that up and I'll tell Jessica to only say bad things about you to Marybeth." I point out.

"Oh shit," He exclaims. "She's not really going to say anything to Marybeth is she?"

"I dunno," I answer. "She was talking about it in our texts last night."

"Oh fuck man, why do you tell me these things?" He questions.

"Because I'm injured and you can't hit me or else you'll feel terrible about yourself." I laugh.

"Speaking of feeling terrible, how are you feeling?" He asks.

"More irritated than sore so far," I answer. "It sucks that I can barely dress myself and can't drive myself at all."

"We've all driven one-handed before," Bobby announces.

"Dude, you do know that there are some things that you can keep to yourself right?" I chuckle.

"Oh fuck you Jake," He says but laughs despite himself. "I see that blow to your noggin didn't help your sense of humor any."

"Nope, they missed my funny bone completely." I answer.

"I figure by the way most of your jokes fall flat that they took yours out when you were a baby," he fires back.

"Look at you, firing on all cylinders already this morning and on a Monday no less. You must have had a good weekend."

"It was good; not taking a certain hot, blonde, tall volleyball player to the Thunderbird good, but it was good," He laughs.

"Does everything that happens in this town get plastered on social media or something?" I sigh.

"Just the interesting stuff," he states then proceeds to explain once I grumble at him. "I tried calling your cell yesterday and when you didn't answer, I called your house. Your mom said that Jessica came over and you two went to the drive in."

"To talk," I state.

"Just talk," He asks.

"Just talk," I confirm.

"Pffft," He blows out. "What happened in my head was better."

"What happened in your head was probably pornographic." I point out but he ignores me.

"So you really took her there to talk," He asks.

"She took me there but yes, all we did was talk."

"Well, did you talk about the weather or what?" He asks when I fail to elaborate.

"She went to Patrick's party Saturday night so he could tell her about this whole thing between him and me." I explain.

"Damn it Jake, you've got to let us tell her about all of Patrick's bullshit now. In fact, fuck your whole keeping her out of it plan, I'm telling her as soon as I see her." He tells me angrily.

"Calm down Bobby," I urge him. "I told her already."

"Everything," He asks regaining a bit of his composure.

"Well no, not everything," I tell him. "I just clarified some of the things that he told her about."

"About Jennifer," Bobby asks and I nod. "So she knows then?"

"She knows about her," I answer.

"Well what did she say about it?" He asks.

"That she was pissed at me for not laying it all out for her when we became friends."

"Well now that she's joined the club I'll have to show her the secret handshake at lunch today." He states.

"Club," I ask.

"The "Pissed off at Jake for being an idiot club"," he explains.

"Oh ha ha," I deadpan.

"We were thinking of getting t-shirts made but now that you've cleared the air with Jess I guess we'll have to disband."

"Don't disband yet. It's only Monday after all and I'm sure that I'll piss most of you off again by the end of the week."

"End of the day is more likely," Bobby shoots back.

"Man, I am going to have to tell Jess to let Marybeth know about this quick wit of yours." I answer with a grin.

"Change that to end of this car ride."

****

Jessica is leaning against the railing that separates the senior parking lot from the sidewalk waiting when she sees Marybeth walking up.

"Marybeth, hey," She calls out causing the raven-haired girl to look up.

"Um... hi," Marybeth answers a bit confused.

"I'm Jessica," Jessica tells her. "We met at the game on Friday. I'm Bobby's friend."

"Oh right, sorry Jessica," Marybeth apologizes.

"That's no problem; you guys were really busy that night so I'm not surprised you don't remember me." Jessica assures her.

"I usually have my head down getting orders together. I'm not used to anyone calling me to specifically take their order." Marybeth explains.

"Sorry about that but when I found out that Bobby has a crush on you, I just knew that I had to meet you." Jessica shares then keeps a close eye on Marybeth to gauge her reaction.

"Bobby... Bobby Lang has a crush... on me," Marybeth asks as a mixture of shock and happiness plays across her face.

"He sure does. I got it straight from..." Jessica answers but before she can continue, a voice calls out her name.

"Hey Jessica," Patrick calls out. "That's sweet, you waiting for me out here."

"I'm not," Jessica answers. Marybeth looks like she's about to leave but Jessica grabs her wrist so she can't. "So Marybeth what are your plans for lunch?"

"Um... I guess... I don't really have any," Marybeth answers while Patrick stands there dumbfounded.

"Jessica, we were talking," Patrick says.

"Yes we were and you're interrupting," Jessica tells him then turns back to Marybeth. "You should hang out with us in the stadium today. It's really great to sit outdoors especially on a day like this and of course, Bobby is always out there with us."

"Really," Marybeth answers no longer caring about Patrick's presence. "That sounds pretty fun actually."

"I told you what kind of guy Jake is Jessica." He warns her.

Jessica turns to face him. "Are you still here?"

Patrick glares at her for a moment before turning and heading inside the school.

"Wow Jessica, I've never seen anyone treat Patrick Greene like that before." Marybeth tells her. "That was pretty impressive."

"He tried to turn me against someone really special. He's lucky that ignoring him is all I've done," Jessica states.

"So how is Jake," Marybeth asks and Jessica laughs.

"Oh you are sneaky smart Marybeth. I love it! You are going to fit right in with the rest of us misfits."

****

As we pull into the senior parking lot, Bobby nods towards the school doors. "There's your Jess waiting on you." He points out.

"Hey wasn't that Marybeth walking away from her?" I ask.

"Seriously," Bobby asks snapping his head so fast to look that I'm afraid he'll give himself whiplash.

"Dude will you relax? Jessica likes you. She won't say anything bad about you to Marybeth." I point out.

"Despite what you tell her to say," He asks.

"How many times have you bailed my ass out by now? Do you think I'd sabotage your chance with Marybeth?" I ask.

He thinks about that for a second. "You shouldn't but then you have gotten your brains scrambled so who knows what you might say."

"Very funny," I state as my door is opened.

"What's funny," Jessica asks as she holds open my door.

"Bobby thinks he is," I answer.

"Says the guy that made the one-handed driving remark," Bobby points out.

"That was you. I simply pointed out that I didn't want to hear about it." I state.

"Do I even want to know," Jessica asks.

"Probably not," I answer.

As I get out of the truck, Jessica grabs my book bag from my hands and slings it over her back.

"Uh, aren't I the one that's supposed to carry your bag. We've kind of established that as tradition around here." I tell her.

"You have a bad shoulder and injured ribs," She points out.

"Don't forget his scrambled brains," Bobby adds as he falls into step with us.

"I thought that he had those already," Jessica jokes.

"It's nice to see that my grievous injuries hasn't garnered me any sympathy from my friends," I state.

"Yeah, they definitely knocked something loose in his head," Jessica states. "He used grievous and garnered correctly and in the same sentence. I'm thinking he got a brain transplant."

"That they can do but then they didn't replace his funny bone. Bunch'a quacks," Bobby adds.

"His body probably rejected it." Jessica states.

"I'm about to reject my current group of friends," I tell them.

"Hey you can't do that. I drove you here," Bobby states.

"And I'm carrying your books," Jessica adds as we enter the school.

"And you're both picking on me," I tell them.

"Oh poor baby," Shelly jumps in as she joins us in the hallway followed closely by Jody.

"Do you need me to call you a waaahmbulance Jake? I've got nine whine whine on speed dial." Jody tells us getting a laugh from the group.

"I need new friends," I sigh.

"Nah, you love us too much," Jody tells me as we stop at their first class. She leans in and gives me a hug, careful not to hurt my arm or ribs. "I'm glad you're okay Jake."

"Same here cuz," Shelly states then hugs me as well.

"I'm not hugging you," Bobby informs us then a thought strikes him. "Uh Jess, were you talking to Marybeth when we pulled up?"

"I might have said hello to her Bobby," Jessica grins telling me she said a lot more than that. I think Bobby senses it too as he turns a shade red before he nods and heads inside the class.

"Okay if I look like that when you guys pick on me, I can see why you do it," I tell her as we round the corner towards Ms. Simpson's classroom.

"Yeah, your cheeks get all rosy and it's so cute," Jessica tells me. "We just can't contain ourselves around you."

****

"There's that Wildcat," Antoine aka Tank calls out as he spots Jessica and I passing him.

"Hey Tank," I call back.

"That is one hell of a lady you've got there Jake. This Wildcat here has got claws," He tells me. I look confused and feel even more so as I see Jessica shaking her head at him.

"What is he talking about," I ask her.

"He doesn't know what you did, well almost did," Antoine asks.

"Not yet," Jessica answers.

"I thought we were in this new not hiding things stage after this weekend," I ask her.

"We are," she states then turns to Antoine. "You might as well go ahead and tell him Antoine."

"Yeah, tell me Tank," I echo. "What did this Wildcat do or almost do with her claws that she neglected to tell me about?"

"Antoine, are you over here getting our new friend Jessica into trouble," Twanda Barker asks joining us. Twanda has been Antoine's girlfriend since eighth grade and they make the strangest looking pair with Tank standing at six foot four and her coming in just shy of five foot one.

"Not on purpose baby," Antoine answers.

"His mouth overruns his brain sometimes Jessica," Twanda shares then gives me a smile. "How are you feeling Jake?"

"More confused then anything else at the moment," I answer truthfully.

"Let me see if I can help you out with that if that's okay with you Jess?" She states.

"He and I came to an understanding this weekend. He's not keeping anything from me anymore so he deserves the same from me," Jessica tells her so Twanda launches into her explanation.

"So we were at the party on Saturday night. We hadn't yet heard that you had been hurt Jake so Antoine was looking for you."

"Yeah, I wanted to congratulate you on the win." Antoine jumps in. "Coach Yates yanked us off the field so fast after that loss and yelled for a good half hour in the locker room."

"I'm not sure if I should say thanks or apologize," I tell them.

"Hey you played a great game, don't ever apologize for that." Antoine says with a laugh.

"Anyways, we couldn't find you but Antoine spotted Jessica with no problem." Twanda pulls us back to the story.

"Being six one makes me hard to miss," Jessica shares.

"That and your hair color made you easy to spot," Antoine points out, then says, "And damn Jake, she looked pissed."

"Is the bell running late today," Jessica interjects looking around a clock.

"We have plenty of time so please continue," I tell them.

"Anyway, Jessica is stomping towards Jamie and a couple of those other guys that he and Patrick hang out with when we stopped her." Antoine picks up.

I glance at Jessica and she's looking everywhere but at me. Before they can continue however, my cell phone chirps out that I have a message. Then Jessica's phone makes a similar sound followed quickly by Antoine's and Twanda's. In fact, the entire hallway becomes a cacophony of cell phone message alerts. Antoine is faster at pulling his phone than the rest of us and clicks the message.

"It's a video," He announces confused.

"I thought it was a school wide alert was for a lockdown? Why is there a video?" Twanda asks, as she too is looking at her phone confused.

"I'm hitting play," Antoine says as Jessica and I pull out our phones.

****

The video is titled "The Shadow knows... how to get knocked out."

"Assholes think that they're clever," Jessica mutters as she reads it.

"It must have taken them hours to come up with that and it's still not that great," I add.

On my screen, I watch myself lining up in the shotgun formation.

"This is that last play," Antoine comments while watching his screen. "Look, you can see a bit of scoreboard that shows it's the fourth quarter."

On screen I drop back a couple of steps then step into my throw. As the ball flies downfield, the camera operator stays on the backfield for some reason. I find out that reason a moment later when Jamie crashes into me, lifts me off my feet, and then drives me into the ground. Just watching it, I flinch from the hit.

From somewhere down the hallway I hear several gasps and one solitary chuckle that dies quickly as several heads snap angrily in that direction.

"Oh my God Jake is that what happened?" Twanda asks looking at me.

"I guess that it is," I answer shaking my head.

"He doesn't remember what happened after calling the play," Jessica adds.

"Man Jake, I didn't know. I was halfway downfield covering Kendall." Antoine states. "Hey, how come they didn't flag that hit?"

"Game was over maybe," I answer as the first bell rings.

"We should get to class," Twanda tells Antoine.

"I'll check in on you later Jake and god help Jamie when I see his ass." Antoine tells us as the pair head off down the hall.

"Don't let him get into trouble Twanda," I call after them.

"I've got him Jake, don't worry," She calls back then flashes a dazzling smile before disappearing into the crowd.

All heads look at us as Jessica and I walk into Ms. Simpson's room.

"Jake, you're here," Ms. Simpson says sounding surprised.

"Mostly," I answer nodding towards my sling.

"Did you see the video too Ms. Simpson?" Jessica asks nodding down towards her phone.

"It popped onto my phone at the same time as it did you kids," She answers. "The whole class got it."

"I think the whole school got it," Jessica shares.

"Of course they did," I sigh.

****

"I'm amazing," Jessica proclaims as we sit in the stadium at lunch. Marybeth had come out to join us and she and Bobby had just walked off to chat.

"Modest too," I quip.

"Ha ha," she remarks then sticks out her tongue at me.

"Jake!" Staci shouts as she and Ray join us.

"Hey Sta..." is all I manage to get out of my mouth before my lips are covered by hers when she plants a kiss on me.

"Staci!" Jessica shouts. "What are you doing kissing my... Jake?"

" Your Jake huh Jess," Staci teases. "Is there something the two of you need to share with us, hmm?"

"Yes... no... I mean... why are you kissing him?" Jessica stammers.

Staci giggles at Jessica's frustration. "That was just a small way to tell him thanks." She answers then turns to me. "I still owe you big time mister and I pay off my debts."

"Why do you think you owe me anything?" I ask still tasting her cherry lip-gloss on my lips. Ray clears his throat and gives me a nod and it falls into place for me causing me to chuckle. "Oh that. I'm just glad that it worked out for you and I didn't get thrown under a bus." I laugh.

"Not a chance Jake," Ray grins.

"Is everyone else as confused as I am?" Roxie asks.

"I'm confused," Shelly answers.

"Ditto," Jody states.

"Verging on furious at the moment," Jessica snorts angrily.

"Oh Jess," Staci says launching herself at her then wrapping her in a hug. "I envy you sweetie," she whispers into her ear.

"Okay, now I'm less angry but more confused," Jessica announces as Staci pulls back still sporting a huge smile.

The outdoor intercom crackles to life at that moment. "Jake Gibson, please report to the principals office. Jake Gibson to the principal's office."

"What do you think that's about?" Ray asks as I get to my feet.

"I dunno," I answer. "Maybe they want to expel me for daring to start first team off with a loss this season."

****

As the remaining group is leaving the stadium after lunch Bobby and Marybeth rejoin them.

"Did I hear them calling Jake to the office," Bobby asks.

"Yep," Roxie answers.

"What for," He asks.

"No one's sure," Shelly answers for the group.

"I'd guess that it has something to do with that video from earlier." Ray concludes.

"That was a terrible hit," Marybeth states. "I hope they're doing something about it."

"I wouldn't count on it," Bobby answers.

"I should be getting to class." Marybeth tells them.

"I'll walk you," Bobby offers. As the pair are walking away, they clasp hands and Bobby looks back over his shoulder. He mouths a silent "thank you" to Jessica before disappearing inside.

"What was all that about?" Staci asks.

"Just me being a great matchmaker," Jessica smiles.

"Speaking of matchmaking," Staci pounces. "I don't know if you've taken notice but there are a lot of girls that are looking at Jake a lot different today. You need to lock him down as yours ASAP."

"It seems that you're one of them. What in the hell was that kiss about anyway?"

Staci flushes slightly and Ray chuckles.

"That's my cue to make myself scarce I think," He says before giving Staci a kiss. "I'll see you in class."

"You know it baby," Staci grins then watches Ray's backside as he heads down the hallway.

Jessica clears her throat causing Staci to bring her attention back to the conversation.

"Sorry Jess, where were we?" She asks.

"You were about to explain why you placed a lip lock on Jake." Jessica tells her.

"That was more of a peck than anything Jessica."

"Uh huh," Jessica sighs.

"You know, you're awfully jealous about a guy that you aren't dating," Staci teases.

"More explaining, less teasing," Jessica responds.

"Fine," Staci giggles. "Remember that thing I was talking about in French class?"

"How you didn't understand how learning to diagram a sentence would help you speak French?" Jessica asks.

"Yes Jessica, exactly that," Staci answers as she shakes her head. "The thing I was telling you about before class, remember?"

"The sex thing," Jessica asks a little loudly causing several nearby students to look at them but she ignores them.

"Make sure you yell that a little louder Jess, I don't think they heard you on the third floor." Staci tells her.

"What does that have to do with Jake though? I don't get it."

"Ray went to him for advice and let me tell you, for a virgin, Jake knows a bunch more than most of the guys I've ever dated." Staci explains.

"A bunch huh," Jessica asks as her mind whirls through a myriad of interesting scenes. "Wait, Jake's a virgin? That's true?"