Just Another Day

58. Just Another Day

🤍🖤🤍 Natalie 🤍🖤🤍

After breakfast, I take my bag to leave for Jacob’s house.

“Oh, you are leaving already?” Mom asks me, glancing at the oven. Oven-timer still has 5 minutes left. It smells delicious, though.

I shake my head in amusement and leave.

Ever since Amy’s meltdown about running errands, ‘I tried’. Please mark my words. ‘I tried’ and somewhat succeed in refraining from asking her to do my things. Mom nowadays avoids her if it involves another potluck. Many times Jacob comes here for studies but goes back home with hands full of food. That’s hilarious to watch. Although Mrs. Millier has done the same with me a few times. So I guess the laugh is at me.

When I reach his place, I see Jacob waiting for me in his driveway.

“How long were you waiting?” I ask him sitting in the car.

He shrugs, “Sometime…”

“You could have come to our driveway. You know… It would have saved you 30 seconds.” I say, grinning.

“Thanks… But no Thanks!”

“Dad knows I go to school with you, Jacob!” I tell him.

He looks somewhat shocked. “Ohh…”

I am amused. Was he expecting my parents wouldn’t notice?

“Are you scared of him?”

He doesn’t answer for a while. I see redness spread from his neck to his cheeks. “He is an intimidating man.” He mumbles after while focusing on the road.

“Oh, that he is...” I chuckle. “Especially to people who flirt with his daughter in front of him…”

His eyes widen, “I….I was NOT! You know… I wasn’t flirting. It was an innocent comment. Came out of my stupid mouth.” He somehow chokes the words out, and it makes me laugh.

“Yeah yeah… Laugh at me,” he says.

We reach school and walk inside together. On our first day going in together, we got so many looks. It literally made me nervous.

“You alright?” He had asked me.

I felt like holding his hand or hiding behind him.

“Stand tall Natalie. You are fine…” Just his words gave me the boost I needed. It’s odd. I never feel nervous alone. My Phobia of so-called rumors has hit me so deeply. I get anxious just thinking about it. That was the reason I didn’t want to be seen with Jacob or didn’t want anyone to know we were neighbors.

Now we don’t get as many stares. But it’s normal to get a shocked expression when someone sees me and Jacob for the first time together. Many times, a girl or two checks him out and sneers at me. It’s funny.

We don’t stick together the whole day. Sometimes He joins me in the library or supply closet but that is occasionally. It’s obvious we are not dating. So what’s up with these girls?

I hope even these stares and sneers will go away in a few weeks. Probably everything would be normal enough by a few months.

Maybe I will get a chance to go to the prom. Maybe.

I really cannot thank him enough. I wish I could do something for him. I am helping him with some of his classes, though. But it doesn’t seem enough.

We part our ways. When I reach my locker I see Millie putting her stuff in it. Since that party with Ira, I haven’t faced her.

Either she is really avoiding me or I have just been lucky.

That guy trying to grope me at that party still leaves my skin crawling. She probably doesn’t realize how low that blow was. What have I ever done to her to get this kind of treatment?

I keep my face straight and put my stuff from my locker and walk toward my class. I see Jacob sitting in his usual spot. I smile at him and walk towards the end to take my seat.

In the middle of class, my phone vibrates in my pocket, and I glance at Jacob.

Did he text me again?

He has quite some balls to use his phone even when he sits in the front row. I can wait till the end of the class, but I am eager to see what he has to say. Yesterday I couldn’t suppress my laughter after reading his stupid chemistry joke. Got called out by my teacher and everybody stared at me.

Jacob: ‘I acknowledged the electron particle, but he didn’t even wave.’

His jokes are lame, but they still make me laugh.

Jacob: ‘Sorry..’

Jacob: ‘In my defense, I thought you wouldn’t understand this smart joke.’

I should be angry at him for putting me in trouble, but it still made me smile.

I look at Mrs. Davis, as she turns her back on us to write something on board. I pull my phone out to check the message. I suck in a breath to see a notification from West.

Not sure why I never deleted or blocked his number.

I raise my head and glance in West’s direction. I see him looking at me.

What does he want?

I look down at my phone. My fingers quiver as I open the message.

West: ‘Good to see you getting along with Jacob real well.’

I feel anxious as I read his message.

What is this supposed to mean?

Is this some sort of threat or something?

What does he want?

I swallow and put the phone back in my pocket. I keep my head down for the rest of the class and just like that, my day is ruined.