My Best Friend, Jack ✓

21. All Together Now

I tossed and turned all night. It was probably the worst night's sleep I'd ever had in my entire life. As I walked in to school the next morning, I could envision myself falling asleep in art class and part of me didn't even care. I'd left early that morning so I could avoid Jack. I just didn't want to see him after my embarrassing overreaction the previous night. When I had woken up, there were seven missed calls on my phone, all from Jack. I'd put it on silent so as to avoid any awkward questions from him. 

I walked down the corridor and made a beeline for my locker. There was only a handful of students milling around as most probably hadn't rolled out of bed yet. Stifling a yawn, I opened my locker and emptied some books in to the empty space. I shut the door and leant against the cold, hard metal. I closed my eyes and felt myself drifting, my head beginning to feel heavy. Taking a deep breath, I pushed myself off and wiped my eyes, shouldering my backpack. 

I paled when I saw Jack walking down the corridor with Nick, deep in conversation. I glanced around hurriedly in desperation and darted in to the girls toilets, briskly walking over to a stall and locking myself inside. I sat down on the toilet and tried to calm my erratic breathing. 

"Get it together," I whispered to myself. "It's just Jack."

I rubbed my hands on my thighs and tapped my foot incessantly. I did that sometimes when I was nervous. I wasn't necessarily nervous of Jack, more at the thought of trying to explain myself and answer his probable questions about why I had run off last night. Truth be told, I didn't really know myself. It was stupid to think that he wouldn't be doing those sorts of things with Olivia. I wasn't dumb. I knew what being together meant. It was just a shock seeing Jack like that. I would get over it. After all, I had my own thing going on with Caleb and that was who I should've been focusing on, rather than the irrational thought of losing my best friend. 

Taking another breath, I pulled the flush and stepped out of the cubicle. I walked over to the mirror and stared at my reflection. I hadn't really brushed my hair that morning, just hastily pulled it back in to a ponytail. I didn't have any makeup on and I had dark circles under my eyes. I reached down and turned the tap on. I waited for moment, before scooping the cold water in to my hands and splashing it against my face. It shocked me, but felt refreshing after a second. After lifting up my shirt and wiping my eyes, I ran my fingers through my hair and hiked up my joggers. 

With one last look, I exited the bathroom, expecting to see Jack and Nick. I peered around, but they were nowhere to be seen. Expressing a sigh of relief, I made my way towards registration, all the while keeping a lookout discreetly. I made it in to the classroom without seeing him and I sat down, my head starting to ache. I spent the rest of the morning in a tired haze, barely being able to focus on anything. 

I jerked awake as the bell for lunch rang out. I scooped up my notepad and pencil and left Maths class to a scolding look from Mr Ricket. I bolted before he could even open his mouth to scold me for falling asleep in his class. I waited just down the corridor for Nick to catch up. I had already been sat down at the start of class when he made his way in, so we hadn't much time to talk or say 'hey.'

"Wow," he said, impressed, stopping beside me. "I've never seen you move so fast."

"I know, impressive huh?" I smiled, blowing a strand of hair out of my face. 

He looked down at me. "You okay? You look tired."

I shrugged. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Let me guess, hanging out with Jack again? You two have some serious inseparability problem, you know. You can be without each other for a day and not combust."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said, defensively. "I wasn't even hanging out with Jack. Did he say that we were?"

He held up his hands in mock defence as we entered the lunch room. "Chill, what's with the third degree?" He said. "Jack didn't even say you were hanging out all night, I just assumed. He mentioned he saw Olivia and then you afterwards. That's it."