9 09: The Day I Had A Cold

JADE

As Jade blew her nose in a tissue, Maxine set down her cup and stared at her with wide eyes.

"So how do you plan to find your guitar?" Maxine asked when their conversation drifted to Jade's missing guitar. Her face softened to something sympathetic.

Jade shrugged and gave a nervous chuckle, feeling an itch at her nose. She grabbed the tissue box she brought to lunch and pulled two pieces of tissue to sneeze.

Wiping her nose and sniffing, she admitted, "That's the problem; I don't really have a course of action."

"Don't you wanna try checking stores for a new one?" She plucked a strawberry from Jade's cake as dessert and swallowed it whole. "Sorry to say this but your old one's so busted I honestly won't be surprised if someone chucked it away once they see it."

Jade gave a wry chuckle, knowing her friend to be right.

"And also, what's up with your nose? You've been blowing and sneezing the whole day I'm getting worried," Briar said, her eyebrows furrowing in concern.

Jade waved a hand and laughed to try and deflect her worry. Gah... she just had to run in the rain yesterday after finishing work in the library.

"Ran home after my shift in the library. It's cool though."

Maxine raised a disbelieving brow.

"What's cool about getting a freakin' cold? Your nose is either stuffy and runny or no snot won't come out which makes you unable to breathe!"

"Maxine's right," sighed Briar. "You have to take care of yourself. Rest up and then we can all search for your guitar; sounds good?"

Jade inhaled through her nose and gave a smile, rolling her eyes after.

"Yes Mom."

"Say what!"

They erupted into laughter at the lunch table.

"Hey ladies," said a cool, smooth voice, the trio turning to see Jett winking at them, his other friends behind him grinning. Briar giggled and Maxine snorted good-naturedly. Jade smiled.

"Hi," she greeted coolly. Her eyes slid over to Jackson before snapping back to Jett. "You boys wanna sit with us again?" she asked with a sweet smile.

"Ooh I feel like I'm in a romance movie and I'm the protagonist," gushed Briar. She turned to Maxine excitedly and shook her shoulder. "Am I right?"

Maxine only rolled her eyes and smirked at the boys.

"Yo, what's up?" Her eyes found Dirk and they both leaned forward to do a handshake, almost all of them laughing at the friendly display. "Since Dirk here perfected the handshake we'll allow you access."

"Aww Maxine that's so sweet," Rodney said as he took a seat.

The others followed and Jade found herself sitting beside Jackson, blinking in bewilderment and screwing her face into a scowl.

Should she act indifferent to seeing him in a restaurant uniform or what? Did his friends even know he worked as a delivery person sometimes?

Hmm... maybe it would be better to pretend it never happened so she shot, "Why're you so close to me? Scoot over, will you."

He only raised an unamused eyebrow at her.

"What's your problem? Can't handle a hot guy like me sitting next to an average girl like you? You should be grateful."

She gave him a dirty look and scooched closer to Briar instead, who stifled a giggle.

"Hot guy?" She smirked. "You better get your eyes checked."

"No, you're the one who needs to get her eyes checked," Jackson said, eyebrows frowning. He sighed and relaxed his stance, Jade blinking in confusion.

He turned his upper body to her and said, "Oh right... about the tutor thing... you free today? As you know, I work part-time during Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays so it'd really help if you choose neither of those days, all right?"

She blinked, mind having to process the change in conversation.

Right... Mister Simmons wanted her to help Jackson study for Math so he'd at least catch up to the lessons. And it was Friday. Hmm... how convenient his work days coincided with her own work as a part-time librarian in a public library.

"Uh sure."

"What?!" Briar then exclaimed, Jade turning to her and thankful for the distraction that she didn't have to focus much on Jackson's piercing gaze. "You didn't tell us you were gonna tutor Jackson Arden!"

The whole cafeteria then fell into deafening silence, Jade looking up and catching the stares of the other students. Then whispers sounded through, Jade shooting Briar a scolding look. At least the blonde had the decency to sheepishly smile and whisper an apology.

Jade took a second to rub at her temple and say, "B, he needs help with Math. No need to exaggerate."

Jett then whistled, most of them turning to him. He gave Jackson a smirk and then turned to Jade.

"Whoo you're gonna be the talk of the town for a while, Jade," he said. "I'd say Jackson here's the second most popular guy in school and he's got his own fans who admire him and got a crush on him."

Jade let out a frustrated groan and bemoaned, "Ugh this is exactly why I don't like to be in the limelight." She gave Jackson a hard look. "I know it's not your fault you're insanely popular but still, I loathe you."

"Wow that's a strong and aggressive word," remarked Lyle with an impressed nod. "Jackson, what does it feel like to have a girl outwardly state her hatred towards you?"

Jackson scoffed.

"Means nothing to me. I've got hoards of girls telling me they like me. If I let one commentary from some girl affect me then I'm just pathetic, right?"

Hmm... not bad. As much as Jade initially disliked him, she couldn't deny that he had his own intelligences. So she let their petty arguments slide and said amicably, "All right we can study today. I'll let you pick the place, buster boy."

"Ooh is this a date?" teased Maxine.

"Max!" Jade sighed exasperatedly, her friend sniggering. "Please, it's not like that."

"And you're not my type," Jackson said, shaking his head as he made a show of surveying Jade.

Dirk chuckled. "I believe types don't really matter. It's the heart that sees, not the mind."

Seriously... why were all these guys here again?

"Remind me again why I let you join us," Jade said to Dirk, who raised his hands in surrender.

When lunch and the afternoon classes had finished, a classmate called over Jade to tell her someone was asking for her. She already had an idea as to who it was so she rolled her eyes and slung her bag over her shoulder, waving towards Maxine and Briar and stepping out of the classroom to see Jackson playfighting with another guy. He had black hair in a crewcut, was taller and had a slightly larger build than Jackson. Both boys were smiling and laughing even as students passed by.

Huh... Jade guessed this was how 'boys will be boys' should really be depicted as; not as an excuse for ****, sexual harassment, and abuse.

"Hey Jackson."

He turned at the sound of his name and released himself from the other boy, greeting, "Oh hey." He turned to the boy and said, "This is Jade. From now on, she's my Math tutor."

"Oh what? Mister Simmons made you get a tutor?"

He shrugged and gave an easy grin. Jade couldn't help but think how attractive that was but still, she told herself to get a grip and just not... do anything reckless. They weren't exactly enemies and they certainly weren't friends from the get-go but still, Jade thought it was weird if she suddenly warmed up to him and was just downright friendly.

Pushing those thoughts aside for a later time, she outstretched her hand and smiled cheerily.

"Jade Alderson. Pleased to meet you uh..." She turned to Jackson for help but luckily the guy took her hand and chuckled.

"Grayson Katz. Nice to meet you too." He pointed to Jackson with a thumb. "I'm the class president of his class."

She retracted her hand and made a noise of recognition, definitely remembering seeing his face around the halls and in gym that day she and Jackson had their first official encounter, even if it was by a ball to her head. She could still feel the bruise and she totally held Jackson accountable, regardless if it was a mistake or not.

"Oh yes yes I know your face. Nice to know I can finally put a name to it."

They both laughed. Jackson rolled his eyes and walked forwards to grab her shoulder and steer her towards the opposite direction. Before she was fully turned however, she thought she saw a glimpse of something dark pass through Grayson's face but she was facing the front before she could think too deeply about it, Jackson already prattling off to her ear.

"Seriously, why does it seem like you're nice to everybody except me?"

She huffed and shook her shoulder so his hand would fall off, narrowing her eyes at him and taking bigger steps. She internally groaned at how he kept up easily, cursing the fact boys had longer legs.

"Maybe it's because you hit my head with a dodgeball and didn't think to apologize even after kicked your groin."

"You didn't apologize for that either!"

"Are you going to be petty or what?" She prepared to ramble but then felt a sneeze coming on, stopping in her steps and hurriedly pulling the tissue papers she had stored in her jeans, turning away from most of the students and sneezing into the tissues, hacking and blowing her nose on them.

"That sounded terrible," said Jackson as Jade abruptly stood and stuffed the sodden tissues inside her pocket.

She sniffed, nose partially blocked.

"Yeah I know. But still... I can tutor you. Little cold's not gonna beat me." She wiped her nostrils with her palm, suddenly self-conscious. "Anyway, I told you you can pick the place so where is it?"

"I was thinking by a restaurant not too far from school." He rubbed his chin in thought then met her curious eye. "You okay to go home by yourself or what?"

"Yes I'll be fine. Let's go before the day's over."

They both exited the school and Jade let him lead as they chatted about mundane topics such as the few teachers they hated, their friends, and fast-food chains. Nothing personal. Jackson wordlessly opened the glass doors when they reached the small establishment, Jade going straight to the counter and unconsciously waiting for Jackson to be by her side.

"What do you wanna order?" Her eyes scanned the menus, hands poised to pay.

"Tell me what you want and I'll pay," he said as he gently pulled her wrist once they were next in line. He flashed a smile toward the cashier and said, "A soda and burger for me please. And what the lady wants is also on me."

Jade didn't know how to take his sudden kindness but still cleared her throat and said, "Strawberry milkshake and burger please."

As Jackson handed bills to the cashier and waited with a small smile, Jade couldn't help but think maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

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