School Days - Chapter 7

Amy passed Wednesday morning in something of a daze, barely listening to the teachers. She just couldn't stay focused, her mind whirring with all the things she hadn't learned that morning. It seemed that there was much more to Jake than met the eye...maybe her musings on Saturday night weren't so far off the mark after all.

The three lessons before lunch slipped past in what seemed like no time at all. Almost before she knew it, she was meeting Tina and Ella outside their classroom on the way to get some food.
She had started to fill them both in during registration, but Tina - her mechanic father having brought her up on cars - had gotten distracted by Jake's huge car and started bombarding her with questions, most of which she couldn't answer. She had the feeling that Jake would be getting a grilling next time he saw Tina.

Her two best friends were nearly bouncing with excitement but she refused to answer their questions until they had food. Sleepless nights always made her hungry.
Having managed to negotiate the queue and find three seats together in near-record time They immediately pounced her on begged her to tell them what had happened. She had known them both for years and knew she would get no peace until she finished the story, but couldn't help teasing them. Taking a bite out of her sandwich and chewing slowly was enough to have steam nearly coming out of Ella's ears.

She laughed a little whilst Tina grinned. Not wanting to see Ella spontaneously combust from over-excitement Amy told them what had passed between herself and Jake in the car. She could almost feel their disappointment when car-driver-man - Pierce, she reminded herself, Pierce - had interrupted them once again.
"What I don't understand," started Ella the instant Amy had shut the car door in her story, "is who his Dad is. He has this apparently amazing car with a guy to drive him round all the time..."
"And Jake has that awesome phone," interrupted Tina.
"Yeah, that too," continued Ella. "It looks like he's super-loaded, so why is he living in the middle of nowhere? It just doesn't make sense! You'd think he would want to be in a city or something."

Amy shrugged. "I don't know. At this point, I have more questions about Jake than answers."
Tina looked at her with sympathy. "Aww, honey. It'll all work out." Ella nodded her head emphatically in agreement.
"It's so obvious he likes you. I'm sure he'll explain everything soon." A wicked glint entered Ella's eye and she grinned. "And then you have to tell us all about it."
Some of the tension left Amy as she laughed at Ella.
It was back in the next instant as she saw Jake approaching their table over Tina's shoulder.

"Jake's coming over," she murmured to her friends. "Don't say a word." Ella started to open her mouth. "Not one word Ella," she emphasized. "Or I will tell the whole school about Mr. Twinkles."
Ella narrowed her eyes into a smoldering glare. "You wouldn't" she growled. Mr. Twinkles was her childhood teddy bear, but so battered was he that he was barely recognizable as such. Ella couldn't sleep without him and knew that her image would be destroyed if this became public knowledge.
Amy raised her eyebrow in return, "Do you really want to test me?" she asked, making Ella scowl at her. She didn't want to resort to blackmail but knew it was for the best. She also suspected that Ella knew she would never do such a thing - her guilty conscience was the bane of her life sometimes.

Tina shook her head in disbelief. "You two are like five-year-olds."
Ella flashed her one of her dazzling 'look-at-how-gorgeous-I-am!' smiles. "But you love us just the way we are."
Jake reached the table at this point and effectively stopped the conversation. Ella turned to look at him and he caught the end of her dazzling smile. He stammered and was distracted for a while before focusing his attention on Amy.
This was a common reaction to Ella who was stunning. None of the boys their age had a chance when she put her mind to something.
Clearing his throat, Jake started nervously. "Hey."

Amy felt the blush rising up her cheeks again. She was really going to have to do something about that - it was really starting to annoy her. "Hey," she replied trying to keep the goofy grin off her face.
Tina leaned towards Ella and whispered something in Ella's ear before they both giggled. Amy was sure she heard something about 'conversational masters' in there which was enough for her to get the gist of what had been said. Deciding to ignore them, she turned back to Jake.
He was looking around nervously, careful not to make eye contact. "So, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a sec."
"Sure, what's up?"

Glancing nervously at Tina and Ella, Jake cleared his throat once again. That must be his nervous habit, Amy thought, much like her knuckle cracking. "Alone?" he asked.
Amy started to reply when Tina beat her to it. "Sorry, we're all still eating and Amy was saying just before how she was nearly starving so I really think that she should eat properly." She paused at this point. "I just sounded like her mother, didn't I?" she asked, slight horror evident in her face.

Everyone nodded in agreement whilst also trying not to burst out laughing.
"Oh no!" she sighed, putting her head in her hands. "Just go then! I don't care!"
Amy stood up, waving her sandwich at Tina as she stood to show that she was taking in with her to eat, and followed Jake out of the dining room once again. She had the weirdest sense of déjà vue. This feeling was only increased when he once again led her to the metal benches lining the path.
They sat in silence for a while, Amy taking bite of her sandwich to give her mouth something to do.

"I guess you have a lot of questions." Jake stated. Amy merely nodded in reply - her mouth was still full of sandwich. "And I guess Tina and Ella do as well."
Amy had finished her mouthful by this time and was able to reply properly. "Yeah, but I think most of Tina's are about your car." A small smile tugged at one side of her mouth when Jake looked at her with shock on his face. "Her dad's a mechanic and crazy about cars so she grew up around them. The situation wasn't helped by the fact that she has three older brothers also obsessed with cars."
"Ah, that makes sense then." They were both silent again.
Deciding it was her turn to break it, Amy began talking. "So, did you have a good morning?"

Jake glanced at her. "Not really. Haven't been able to concentrate."
"Me either," she whispered in reply.
She thought he hadn't heard him when he turned round to look at her properly. "Guess that's my fault, huh." He lifted his right hand and tucked a stray lock of her hair behind her ear before brushing the back of his fingers down her cheek. Amy's breath caught in her throat and her breathing hitched a little.
He looked away from her before he started speaking again. "The last two times, I've been interrupted," he started. Amy's heart carried on pounding, hoping he would finally get to the end of that sentence. "I want to be able to finish it when I'm sure there'll be no interruptions, but I also want to be able to explain everything to you."
Frowning a little, Amy realized he wasn't going to start asking the question again for fear something would stop him again. "Okay," she said slowly.

"But we can't do that in school," he continued. Jake turned to look at her again, some emotion she couldn't identify dancing in his eyes. "If you're not doing anything tomorrow night, I was wondering if you wanted to come round to my house after school? It'll be easier there."
Despite his earlier words, Amy had gotten very excited when he started asking the question. This wasn't a date, but it was a definite improvement on only seeing each other in school. About to say she would love to when she remembered something. "I can't," she nearly whispered. "We've got rehearsal after school and I've promised to babysit for my parents this evening. I'm free Friday, though?"

Jake's shoulders slumped. "I'm going away for the weekend. We're leaving at 5." He shook his head before starting to talk again. "I'm not waiting till Monday for this. What are you doing tonight?"
"Nothing, but my parents..." she started before he waved a hand in her face in dismissal.
"I'll get Pierce to give them a call and let them know where you'll be."
Amy nearly said no on principal at this but she really wanted to go, to spend time with Jake as much as get her questions answered. "Okay," she replied.
He grinned at her in pure happiness. "I can't wait."
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What's Jake's big secret? Who's Pierce? What kind of car does Jake's Dad own?

The answers to all these and more will be revealed in the next thrilling installment!

Well...maybe not the last one...I'm like Amy in that I don't know a thing about cars...