I feel weird, after seeing that side of her. Maybe I'm overthinking 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 finds 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 of 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 quickly comes to my rescue.
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 as I drown in the embarrassment.
"What, you liked it," She giggles.
"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 has an unreadable expression before a flash of pain or hurt crosses her face and she looks away.
In bio, we have to partner up for an experiment. Jade and I usually pair up, when I look at 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. I sort of have to if I don't want to 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. I told her, that doesn't sound like the Jade I know," 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 I am loyal to you. To which I responded that she shouldn't 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."
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.
"Wasn't it your idea for Darleen to distract me while you set up all that stuff for me?"
"No, she volunteered. I didn't think you two would hookup." Jade snatches the paper from me and starts writing down the hypothesis aggressively.
"It sort of just happened. She told me she really likes me. I mean I wasn't so sure about it either, but... she's nice. I think I like her. Besides, I felt like you were blowing me off to be with Archer," I smirk.
She sighs then smirks before giggling and saying, "I guess we both felt like we were being blown off."
"Yeah, I guess so. You should have just told me, you know I'll always make time for you," I playfully bump shoulders with her.
"Yeah, best friend perks." She playfully bumps me back.
"Why don't you like Darleen?" I move to continue the experiment.
"She's so ugh! She's manipulative. I don't like how she gets away with anything because she comes from a rich family. You know she didn't like that Winston became the assistant director for the musical, so she said something about it. Next thing we know, Winston is a stagehand and Darleen is the assistant director. She doesn't have to work for anything, it's not fair. She pretends to have innocent intentions but then she goes behind your back and takes advantage of the situation to get what she wants," Jade was pressing her pencil into the paper so hard the lead broke off.
She takes a calming breath before finishing, "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."
"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 to 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 turns and gives me her full undivided attention.
I shrug.
"I just think she's not your type."
"Jade, I don't have a type. I've never even dated anyone," I grab the paper and start erasing the lead mark on the page to avoid looking at her.
"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," I set my pencil down and turn to look at her with a raised eyebrow.
"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 must 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.
This is why I will fail bio.
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