Chapter 5 | Part I

Monday Morning- Jason

7:52 A.M.

It was now April and school was going to be out for the summer pretty soon. Prom was coming up and I decided not to attend. I mean, the only girl I had any interest in has a boyfriend— well there is Onise, but I still haven't heard from her. However, I did meet this really nice girl named Penny Janecki. Turns out, she's a teenage model. We have a few classes together and we talk often, but it's not the same as talking to Tamia.

On a positive note, Tamia and I truly are really good friends. We talk every single day and we're always over at one another's houses doing homework. I even met her parents, and they have no idea that I'm a celebrity!

Caiden and Vie are still dating, and Raymond and Morrissa are... well I'm not exactly sure what they are, but they spend a lot of time together. They're way more intimate than Tamia and I are, so there's no way they're just friends.

By the time I arrived at school Monday morning, Tamia was already there. She and Larry appeared to be happy, but I wasn't buying it. Still, she was my friend, and if she was happy, I was happy.

"Jason you've got to ask someone to prom," she said as she put her backpack in her locker. For the past week, she's been trying to get me to ask a girl to prom. Like I mentioned before, she was the only girl I wanted to take, but I couldn't.

"I told you I'm okay with not going," I laughed.

"But you have to experience prom!" she argued. "You...you may not get a chance to attend your senior prom." She said with fake sadness.

"Oh, stop," I said, still laughing.

"What about that model girl you told me about... Jenny?" she asked.

"Penny," I corrected.

"Yes, her. Ask her!" she said. "I have homeroom with her, and she seems pretty nice." I did tell Tamia about Penny. Mostly to see if she was okay with me dating someone... I mean I still haven't heard from Onise, and Tamia even said that I should move on. The thing is, at this point I wasn't sure if I was moving on from Onise or Tamia.

"You really think I should?" I asked.

"Yes!" she replied with excitement. "Then you guys could double-date with me and Larry!"

That thought actually made my stomach turn. Larry still wasn't my biggest fan (and I'm not too fond of him either), and I'd rather not be around him— especially when he's with Tamia. Still, I chuckled at the idea. Tamia's super smart, but was totally oblivious to the animosity between Larry and me. Or maybe she was just pretending we got along. Either way, I guess I could try for her.

"Okay, I'll ask her," I finally said. "But I'm only doing this for you."

"Yay!" she said, hugging me.

Sigh.

So since I had my first period class with Penny, I asked her to be my prom date. Secretly, I was hoping she already had one, but she didn't, and she accepted my proposal. Oddly enough, I didn't feel as uneasy as I thought I would when she said yes. I was actually kind of excited. I had a prom date! I had to let my best friend in on the good news, so as discreetly as I could, I pulled out my phone and texted:

Just asked Penny to prom...

and she said yes!

I waited a few minutes, but there was no reply. Hmm... Tamia always texts me back, even when we're in class. Something's up. Or maybe her phone died... or maybe she's trying to get me off her back. She probably wanted me to ask out another girl so I wouldn't be breathing down her neck anymore. No, that's not Tamia. But I couldn't help from assuming the worst.

I asked my teacher if I could be excused to go to the restroom. What I really wanted to do was take a peek in Tamia's class to see what was wrong. As I walked by her classroom, I saw that she wasn't in there. Where could she be? As I made my way towards the bathrooms, I was startled by someone crying in the girls' bathroom.

"Hey are you okay?" I called.

"Jason? Is that you?" said a familiar voice.

Without thinking, I walked in. My heart sank when I saw Tamia, standing at the sink, crying.



Monday Morning- Tamia

8:40 A.M.

I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. Larry. Lawrence Marion. My boyfriend kissing Lanna Jonas in the hallway!

Alright, let me back up. After I got to my first class, I realized that I completely forgot to put my clarinet in my locker. My calculus teacher was more than happy to let me go back and put it up. It was then when I caught the two.

Okay, now: I stormed over to them, but then stopped in my tracks. What was I going to say? What could I say? 'How dare you!' 'How could you?' No words seemed right. I was about ten feet away from them, but they hadn't seen me. As far away as I was, I could hear them clearly.

"So, when are you gonna dump her?" Lanna asked, breaking the kiss.

"Just give me some time babe," Larry answered. "We've been together two and a half years. We have history. I have to find a way to break it to her easy."

"Come on baby, we've been together for a whole year now," she said, to my surprise. A whole year?

"I know, I know," he said calmly, "but I can't just hurt her like that. Man, I wish I'da met you before me and Tamia started going out."

"Well you know..." Lanna said with a slick tone in her voice, "She and that Jason guy are really close."

"So?" said Larry.

"So, she's probably doing him!" Lanna exclaimed. "You're not the only one's who having sex on the side."

My heart sank. Sex? Larry and I promised each other that we'd wait till we were married— not that he was a virgin; that I already knew, but still. He and Lanna were sleeping together... and she thinks I'm sleeping with Jason?! Now I was really heartbroken. Just as I was turning to walk away, Larry looked over in my direction. I froze. We locked eyes for a good ten seconds, then I finally got the feeling back in my legs and started to walk off.

"Tamia, wait!" he yelled after me. I kept walking, but he caught up to me. "Tamia, I-I was gonna tell you, but I didn't know how," he said sweetly.

"How could you?" I said with tears welling up in my eyes.

"Wait, what do you mean how could I?" he said, his tone changing to rage. "How could I? How could you?!"

Now I went from sadness to rage, "What do you mean how could I?" I said echoing him. "What did I do??"

"Oh don't play dumb," he said. "I know you and that Jason guy have been sneaking around!"

"I can't believe you're turning this around on me!" I said, furious.

"You thought I wouldn't find out?" he said. "Well, I did. And that's when I started doing Lanna. So don't play innocent when you're not."

I couldn't believe that he was turning this around on me! And lying in the process. I was ready to scream, but we were still in the hallway. I'm surprised that no one had heard us at this point. I gather my composure, and as calmly as I could I said,

"You know that's not true. I have been nothing but faithful to you. Just because Lanna thinks that me and Jason are having sex, does not make it true." I said.

He had a look of shock on his face at this point.

"Oh yeah, I heard her," I continued, "and I also heard her say that y'all have been hooking up for a whole year now. A whole year, Larry? Really? So you started cheating on me a year into our relationship, but didn't have the courtesy to even break up with me? So don't try to turn this around on me, because I haven't even known Jason for as long as you've been sneaking around with Lanna!"

Larry stood there in silence. I started to walk away, but more anger came over me, and I decided to turn around and say, "You know, I've even had plenty of chances to get with Jason. But I've never acted on any of them because of you. I loved you. And just so we're clear, it's over— for good this time."



Aannndd, that's how I ended up crying in the bathroom. I decided to go back to class first to let my teacher know that I wasn't feeling well (which wasn't entirely a lie), and that I was headed to the nurse. Instead, I went to the bathroom. I'm not sure how long I was in there, but I heard footsteps. Oh no. I hate crying in public, so I tried to dry my eyes.

"Hey are you okay?" a voice called. It was a male's voice and it sounded so familiar... so comforting... so... Jason!

"Jason? Is that you?" I said.

The next thing I know, Jason comes into the girls' bathroom. He just stands there for a few seconds, looking at me, maybe processing the fact that he just ran into the girls' bathroom. Then he comes straight to me and pulls me into an embrace. It felt so good. He doesn't even say anything, he just holds me, stroking my hair.

After what seemed like hours, Jason walks me out of the bathroom. "Come on, let's go," says to me quietly.

I was so disoriented at the moment; I wasn't fully aware of what was going on. The next thing I know we were sitting outside of the school, Jason was on his phone, and then a few minutes later, a black car pulled up.