Veronique and Aaliyah were tired of hearing me, but I had to tell India, because she hadn’t come to church yesterday.
“It was so amazing,” I said, ignoring the way Aaliyah rolled her eyes. “We went to the movies and then we hung out at Starbucks.”
“Wow!” India was impressed. “So, are you and Jax like boyfriend and girlfriend now?”
I must’ve looked ridiculous the way I grinned, but I couldn’t help it. “Not on paper. But you know, that’s where we’re headed.”
“That’s so cool.”
“You left out the part where you almost got caught,” Veronique said.
Aaliyah frowned. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“Yeah,” Veronique said. “She saw her next-door neighbor in Starbucks and almost had one of her heart attacks. Seems to me like the whole night was chaotic.”
“Don’t listen to her,” I said, holding up my hand in Veronique’s face. “It wasn’t like that. Being with Jax was like magic.”
Veronique and Aaliyah said, “Oh, brother,” together.
I ignored them and said to India, “I had a great time. I loved being with Jax.”
India said, “That sounds so romantic.”
Aaliyah said, “Hope it was worth it.”
“It was. Trust. I spent over four hours alone with Jax.”
I was trying not to be pissed. I always expected Aaliyah to take away my happy, but my girl Veronique was supposed to be on my side. Instead, she had to bring up all that other stuff, messing up my story. I didn’t care about anything except that I had gone out with Jax and now we were practically going together.
“So, have you heard from him?”
I wasn’t even going to be mad. That was just Aaliyah, doing what Aaliyah always did; she was born to give me grief.
“No, but I told him that I was rehearsing with you guys all weekend. So I knew he wouldn’t call me.” I left out the part about how I’d been texting him but he hadn’t texted me back. I’d been upset at first, but all I had to remember was the way he looked at me and put his arm around me. And the way he wanted to kiss me.
“Speaking of your boy….,” Aaliyah said.
I looked up to see Jax strolling toward us, bouncing his ball, his crew following him.
I couldn’t wait to show my girls. I waved. “Hey, Jax.”
He leaned back, pointed his index finger at me … and then kept right on walking. As if he barely knew me. As if we hadn’t gone out together.
“Wow,” Aaliyah said.
I waited for her to say something else; I waited for any of my girls to say something. But Veronique just plugged her ears with her headphones, and India stared at her lunch as if her plate might disappear if she stopped looking at it.
“He’s just with his boys.” No one had asked, but I needed to give an explanation. I needed one myself. “You know how guys are when they’re with their boys.”
“Yeah,” was all Aaliyah said. But at least she said something. The way India and Veronique did their best not to look at me made me want to crawl into the ground.
I couldn’t believe Jax played me like that. I picked up my sandwich and pretended to be as focused on my lunch as India was on hers, but I couldn’t stop peeking across the yard at Jax. He was at a table in the center, where all the athletes sat, surrounded by his boys. But what got me was that there were girls all around him, too. The way he laughed and talked and bounced his ball, I could tell he wasn’t thinking a thing about me.
I thought about everything that had happened on Friday. He’d seemed happy; I know I’d been. Maybe it was the kiss. Maybe if I’d kissed him, he’d be sitting next to me right now.
When I looked up again, I wanted to scream. A girl who was on the varsity cheerleading squad had her hands all over him. I wanted to go over there and slap her away even though I knew I couldn’t. Jax would think I was crazy. And my crew would stop me before I got halfway across the yard.
But I wasn’t about to give up. This was the beginning for Jax and me. I was going to do something—something that would keep Jax’s attention on me. Just me. Always me.
I didn’t know what that was yet, but I’d figure it out. Once I did, Jax and I would be a couple for real—and for a very long time.