Do you know how I can tell when Jade is mad at me? She gives me the silent treatment. In the few years I’ve known her, this has only happened a handful of times, I am talking I could count on my fingers.
The first time it happened I was so confused. It was field day, middle school. We had only been friends for a few months. Anyways it was time for the relay, my time to shine, but we had to pick a partner to run it with. Only when both runners are across the line do you win. The prize, getting to be the first to go on the waterslide. Of course, I wanted to win, I picked Darleen as my partner. We hardly knew each other back then. The only thing I knew about her was that she was a fast runner.
She agreed, we had to hold hands during the race. It was weird because I didn’t know her then, but I thought it was worth it. Jade got put with some girl named Angelica, she moved away before high school. Angelica had breathing problems. We left Jade in the dust.
Thus, the first time I got the silent treatment.
I didn’t get it at first. I was just like okay, I guess she ran out of things to say.
Silly naïve young Skylar, Jade never runs out of things to say.
She would still be around me, she just wouldn’t say anything. It took me two whole days to figure out there was a problem. One whole day after that to figure out what the problem was. So how did I fix it? I gave her a hug and then we went to a wave pool together, with my mom and sister. To which I told her it was way better than that lame water slide. After that, she resumed being my friend like nothing ever happened.
So I guess you could say that Jade and Darleen have always had a small beef with each other. Though they keep it subtle. You wouldn’t know they were rivals by looking at them because around everyone else, they act like normal friends. At least I think that’s what the issue is.
You see this morning on our way to school Jade didn’t say a single peep to me. The silent treatment, which could only mean one thing. She’s mad at me. I don’t think I will be able to fix this one so easily. To be honest, I don’t even know what the issue is. I am just guessing here.
“Are you mad at me?” I ask as we pull into the school lot.
“Hmph.” She avoids my gaze and turns the car off, getting out without a word.
“Jade” I pout walking over to her as I got out of the car.
“Hey, Jade!” Archer calls her over.
Her face lights up in a smile and she runs over to him, once again jumping into his arms. Once again completely ignoring me. I feel like the green hands of jealousy have wrapped around my heart and gave it a tight squeeze. I have to look away to keep myself in check.
What did I do? I know it has to be about Darleen. What else would it be about? Ugh! Stupid Jade and the stupid silent treatment. I hate the silent treatment. There is nothing worse than a silent Jade. Especially when she is only silent towards me.
“Well if it isn’t the most adorable girl in the whole school.” Darleen comes up behind me and wraps her arms around me.
“Hey.” I force a smile.
“What’s wrong?” she reads me like a book.
I let my eyes drift back over to Jade who is now laughing at something Archer said. Archer is a nice guy, and technically he’s never done anything for me to hate him. But I do, I hate him. just looking at him makes me angry. What does he have that I don’t?
Everything probably.
He’s funny.
He’s charming.
He’s soooo romantic.
He’s outgoing.
He’s everything Jade wants.
He’s not me.
“Forget her, you have me now.” Darleen kisses me on the neck.
“She’s mad at me.” I find myself saying.
“Why?”
“I don’t know, every time she’s mad at me I get the silent treatment. She makes me figure it out on my own. Jade’s way of torturing me.”
“She’ll get over herself. Don’t let her bring you down, come on. Let’s go get something to eat before class.” Darleen drags me inside of the building.
At the table, Archer and Jade join us, along with Demarcus and Winifred. Archer gets up to go and get Jade something to eat. Jade is sitting across from me. Avoiding my gaze.
“I’m sorry.” I find myself saying to her, even though I have no clue what I am sorry for.
“For what?” Jade finally turns to me.
“For whatever you are mad about.”
She narrows her eyes and turns away again. Wrong answer. She wanted me to own up to something. But what did I do!? Just tell me!
“Don’t apologize. I am sure you did nothing wrong.” Darleen assures me.
Jade glares at her.
“What’s going on?” Demarcus asks.
“Jade’s pride is hurt, what else is new?” Darleen rolls her eyes.
I’ve never seen this part of Darleen before, she is always so nice around me, but that was mean.
“Don’t say that. I’m sure whatever it is, it’s my fault.” I defend Jade.
“No, it’s not. Don’t let her manipulate you like that. She just uses you to feel better about herself.” Darleen says.
“You are one to talk!” Jade shot back at Darleen.
“Yikes, this is taking a turn for the worst,” Wini commented.
“Get over yourself, Jade.” Darleen narrows her eyes.
“You first.” Jade shot back.
“Alright, guys come on. Let’s make nice.” Demarcus butted in.
They both stare defiantly at each other. I get the feeling whatever is going on between them has nothing to do with me. I must have accidentally rekindled an old fire of resentment towards each other. But what? Why do they hate each other so much?
“I got food.” Archer came back with two trays of food, one for him and one for Jade.
“Awkward,” Wini comments as we all sit in silence.
“What did I miss?” Archer asks in confusion.
“Come on Skylar, we don’t have to sit here and take her crap.” Darleen got up and pulled me up with her.
I look to Jade who huffs and glares at me as if I have betrayed her. Then she turns to Archer and practically drapes herself over him. On purpose. While I am watching her. A pang of pain dings around inside of me, and I let Darleen drag me away.
“What’s going on, why do you two hate each other so much?” I ask Darleen as she drags me under the stairs.
“I know why I dislike her, but I have no clue what her deal is with me. I don’t like her because she is two-faced. She is always spreading rumors about me. About my family and my money. It makes me madder when she pretends she’s so innocent. She only does it to make herself look better. She can’t stand that someone might outshine her. Honestly, how can you even like someone like that?” She crosses her arms.
“She’s not like that around me.” I admit.
“Well no duh, she is using you. She thinks you make her look better. Haven’t you noticed that Jade surrounds herself with the stars of the school? And when they don’t want anything to do with her, she bad talks them. I hate people like her.”
“You’re wrong, Jade’s not like that.” I defend her.
“I love that you can see the good in people.” She smiles at me.
“I’ll talk to her, get to the bottom of this. I am sure it’s stupid. That’s just Jade being Jade. You shouldn’t talk bad about her, it only makes you the thing you hate.” I said.
She sighs and pulls me closer to her.
“I love how loyal you are. If only your loyalties laid with me.”
Her lips meet my own and she softly kisses me. I pull away, but she quickly pulls me in again. I feel weird, after seeing that side of her it has changed my view of her completely. Perhaps Jade has been right about her all along. Or maybe I’m over thinking it. Still, for someone so “nice” that sure was mean. But if what she is saying about Jade is true, then she might be in the right here. I don’t know what side to believe, I still haven’t heard it from Jade. Until I do, I will give her the benefit of the doubt.
Darleen pushes me against the wall and her tongue find its way into my mouth. A shiver of excitement runs through me and I can’t help but kiss her back. She hooks her thumbs into the belt loops of my shorts and pulls me as close as possible. Our bodies pressed tightly against each other. I let my hands run down her back and even lower.
We are totally skipping out on morning assembly, but I have a feeling we won’t get in trouble. It is Darleen Grayson after all.
Darleen pulls back and peppers kisses all over my neck. I breathe heavily as I try to get a hold on myself. I open my eyes and lock eyes with Principal Shoppe. I quickly push Darleen off, my face going red.
Principal Shoppe has her arms crossed and she is tapping her foot waiting for us to notice her. Darleen turns around in confusion and then gulps loudly once she sees who has caught us.
“Ms. Clifton. I figured after your close call, you would be on your best behavior. Instead, I find this.”
“I, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not her fault. It’s mine. I dragged her under here with me.” Darleen says.
They eye each other and Principal Shoppe sighs.
“Just get to morning assembly before I change my mind.”
Darleen smiles and quickly drags me away.
“Darleen!” I complain feeling really embarrassed.
“What, you liked it.” She giggles, a ten-watt smile on her face.
“That’s so embarrassing.” I run my hands down my face.
“Now that’s what I call a good start to the morning.” She smirks.
“Stop it.” I pout.
She kisses me on the nose as we walk back into the cafeteria. The morning assembly already underway. She wraps her arms around me from behind and rests her chin on my shoulder as we listen to the morning announcements.
I catch Jade’s eye, she is giving me the stink eye. Sigh.
In bio, we have to partner up for an experiment. Jade and I usually pair up, when I look to her, she is looking at me. By the time she decides silently that she doesn’t want to work together, everyone else already has a partner. So we get stuck together.
We stare at the vials of chemicals in front of us, neither of us moves to do the experiment.
“Ms. Tate, Ms. Clifton, Those Ph’s won’t check themselves.” Professor York says.
I sigh and grab the Ph strips. I silently do the work, being as I sort of have to so I won’t fail his class. Jade just sits and watches me. I fill out the paper for both of us, even though she isn’t doing any work.
“Are you mad at me because of Darleen?” I set the pencil down and turn to look at her.
She looks away from me.
“What is your deal with her?”
Again she says nothing.
Ugh! So frustrating, just talk to me!
I silently grumble going back to doing the work.
“Darleen told me some stuff about you. I don’t believe it though.” I say as I do the work.
She doesn’t say anything so I go on.
“She says you spread rumors about her because you are trying to make yourself look better by discrediting her and her family. I told her, that doesn’t sound like the Jade I know, and that she had to be mistaken.” I write down the next answer.
When I glance at Jade, she is looking at me now. A look of skepticism on her face. Almost like she thinks it is too good to be true.
“She told me that she liked that I could see the good in people and how loyal I was to you. To which I responded that she shouldn’t talk to you like that or talk bad about you because it makes her no better than the people she hates.” I finish.
She is silent as I move on to step two of the experiment, mixing in some stuff into certain vials. I grab the stir rod and mix it around.
“I don’t know why you are mad at me. But whatever I did, I’m sorry.” I set the stir rod down before checking the Ph again.
“You didn’t do anything.” She sighs.
I turn to her with a raised eyebrow.
“I was mad at you because I felt like you were blowing me off to be with Darleen. I guess I just missed you.” She admits.
“Funny, I felt like you were blowing me off to be with Archer,” I smirk.
She giggles.
“I guess we were both being silly,” I say.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Why don’t you like Darleen?” I ask again.
“She rubs me the wrong way. I guess I just don’t like how she gets away with anything because she’s rich. You know she didn’t like that Winston became assistant director for the musical, so she said something about it. Next thing we know, Winston is a stagehand and Darleen is assistant director. She doesn’t have to work for anything, it’s not fair. I don’t spread the rumors, but I don’t stop them either. If she didn’t throw her weight around no one would be talking about her.”
“I get that. She does the same in Track, she never gets in trouble, ever. She is like the golden child. I guess that’s just who she is. It’s not so bad, it got me out of trouble this morning.”
“Sure it’s not so bad because you get the perks of it, while the rest of us get the short end of the stick.” She grumbles.
“I can talk to her about it. I don’t even think she knows she’s doing it, to be honest. We have a lunch date today.”
“Of all the people to finally date, it had to be her.” She shakes her head.
“She’s the only one who’s ever showed interest in me. I’ll take what I can get I guess, besides she’s not so bad. A little pushy maybe, but I don’t mind.”
“You like her? Like, like her like her?” Jade asks seriously.
I shrug.
“I just think she’s not your type.”
“Jade, I don’t have a type. I’ve never even dated anyone.” I go back to doing the work.
“Of course you have a type, everyone has a type.” She moves closer to me.
“Oh yeah, then what’s my type since you obviously know me better than me.”
“Well, she has to be assertive, but not too much. You like it when you don’t have to be in charge, but not when you feel like you are being run over. She has to be attentive, able to read you because you don’t say much. She has to be patient. But most of all she just has to be there for you. Be by your side and just be comfortable with that. That is your type, and Darleen is none of those.”
This freaking idiot just described herself! Ahh! Why is she like this! Just love me already! You are my type Jade, you are my perfect girl. I must have been staring dreamily at her because she giggles and flicks my nose. I feel my cheeks heat up.
“Have your fun if you want, but mark my words you and Darleen won’t last.”
“Well, I’ll never know until I try. What about you, what’s your type?” I ask.
“Hmm. I like someone who can make me laugh. Someone who is confident in who they are. They have to be charming, in a sweep me off my feet kind of way. But most of all they got to be my partner in crime, willing to get into all sorts of stupid fun with me. Which is why archer is perfect.” She sighs dreamily.
Alright, if that’s what it takes then that is what I will become. I am not going to give up just yet, I will get Jade Tate to fall in love with me if it’s the last thing I do. I can be charming and confident, how hard can it be? Plus I’m funny by accident. And if it means spending more time with Jade I’ll do all sorts of stupid stuff with her.
“Have fun on your lunch date, but after school, we need to hang out. I miss you.” She pouts.
“I’m right here.” I giggle.
“Yeah but not really. Ever since you’ve been around Darleen when I talk to you, you are in another world. So come back to this world and pay attention to your best friend.” She moves even closer to me.
“Okay.” I smile like a big dummy.
The bell rings and I look at our unfinished work.
Sigh.
This is why I will fail bio.
Comments (9)
See all