“I’ll figure something out,” Jesse said as he closed the hood and wiped his hands on a rag.
“What year is it? After school, I’ll check around at a few of the junkyards to see what I can find,” unknown guy said as he took the rag from Jesse and wiped his hands on it.
“It’s a ’98 Jeep Cherokee,” Jesse said as he took the rag back and glanced up at me. “By the way, Emma, this is Andy. Andy, this is Emma.” I held out my hand, and Andy shook it. “Nice to meet you.” “You, too,” he said as he looked me over.
I stared back, taking in his appearance. He had the same surfer guy look as Jesse, except where Jesse’s hair was longer and blond, Andy’s was a dark brown and cut short. His eyes were dark brown, too.
Both guys were both extremely tan and really attractive. Standing next to each other, they made quite the pair. Andy seemed nice enough, but there was just something about the way he looked at me that made me think he was a player.
“Well, I’d better get to class. I’ll see you inside, Jesse. It was nice to meet you, Andy,” I said as I looked away from Andy.
“See you in a few,” Jesse said as he walked to the passenger side of his car and pulled out his bag.
I knew just what to do to help Jesse. I smiled as I pulled out my phone and dialed the number to the repair shop that my mom had me take my car to for services.
––––––––
Frustrated, I slammed my books down on the desk. I had no idea how I was going to come up with the cash to get my Jeep fixed. It pissed me off even more to know that every single one of these kids had enough money in their pocket to pay for the repairs without even thinking about it. I wasn’t usually a whiny asshole, but that really sucked. I hated them all for it right now.
“You okay?” Emma asked as she took the seat beside me.
“I’m fine,” I grumbled. I wasn’t in the mood for small talk.
“No, you’re not. You’re upset. Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.
“Not really.”
She sighed as she set her books on the desk. “Fine, I’ll leave you alone. I was just trying to help.”
I instantly felt bad about being a dick to her. She was only trying to be a friend to me. “I’m sorry. I’m just in a bad mood, and I’m not the best company right now.”
“It’s fine. Seriously, don’t worry about it. We all have those kind of days.” I looked up to see her smiling at me. She really needed to stop doing that. I’d spent half of my night talking myself into ignoring whatever I felt when she was around. When she smiled, she made that really hard to do.
“It seems like I have more of them than most. I can never catch a break,” I replied.
She opened her mouth to speak, but the teacher walked in just then, and we were forced to pay attention to him instead of our conversation. I caught her glancing over at me several times throughout class, and I couldn’t help but grin when she’d look away quickly, pretending that nothing had happened.
Instead of having the end of the period free like last time, we worked right up to the bell, leaving no room for conversation. I was actually kind of glad. I didn’t want to have to explain to the rich girl that I didn’t even have enough money for a fucking car part. It was embarrassing.
I had no idea what I was going to do. I needed to pick up more hours, but I didn’t see how I could with school. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if I were at my old school, but this one was so much farther away, and it took me longer to drive there.
As soon as the bell rang, I grabbed my books and started walking to my next class. I was completely zoned out, and I didn’t even notice when Emma started walking beside me.
“Jesse? Hey, Jesse? Anybody home?” she asked as she poked me in the side.
“What? Oh, sorry. I was in my own head there for second.” “Yeah, I noticed. What are you thinking about?” she asked.
“Nothing, just thinking.” There was no way I wanted to tell her that I was broke, not that she didn’t already know that.
She frowned but said nothing as we continued to walk down the hallway. I started walking a little bit faster, hoping to avoid her. She finally took the hint and left me alone as we settled into our seats in our second class. I ignored her as she turned in her seat and started talking to her friends behind her, and she did the same to me. My aggravation increased when I noticed Todd walking in before he sat down beside her.
“Hey, Emma,” he said as he looked over at her.
Her cheeks turned a light shade of red, and I couldn’t help but groan. I had no idea what she saw in the guy. He was nothing more than the shallow, stereotypical jock, and she could do better than that.
“Hey, Todd,” she said.
“Are you doing anything this evening?” he asked her.
I clenched my teeth to keep from saying anything. It wasn’t my place to tell her that he was a douche bag. Not that I was sure he was a douche bag, but he just seemed like he was.
“I have practice after school, but other than that, I’m free,” she said shyly.
“Cool. Do you want to grab something to eat after you’re finished with practice?”