Jake looked at her.
“Mind your own business,” he said.
He was so cold.
Lily’s smile faded.
“I’m just being nice. What’s with you?”
I didn’t want to watch anymore.
Someone tapped my shoulder.
“Sarah.”
It was Josh.
“What’s up?”
He smiled. “I have a car, can I drop you off?”
Everyone heard that.
<
“Oh, Josh likes her!”
“Why only Sarah? We can’t get a ride?”
“I knew something was going on!”
Josh was red.
I paused.
Someone grabbed my waist.
Jake.
Josh froze.
Everyone went quiet.
Jake held me tighter.
“Sorry, man,” he said, “I can take my girlfriend
home.”
Everyone stared
<
Everyone stared.
Jake laughed.
He snapped his fingers.
A black car pulled up.
Everyone gasped.
“Whoa, I knew it!”
“Jake said she was his girlfriend! Am I
dreaming?”
“Wasn’t he dating Lily?”
Lily looked pale.
Then, with everyone watching, Jake pulled me
into the car.
I looked back.
<
Jake pinned me to a tree by my apartment and
kissed me.
His kiss was rough, it was like a punishment.
I wanted to bite him, then stopped.
I touched his face.
That seemed to please him.
He let me go.
We hugged under the moon.
After a moment, I pushed him back.
“You shouldn’t say that I’m your girlfriend.”
Jake looked mad.
“Should I just watch you go with someone
else?”
<
12:14
“I wasn’t going to go with him.”
Jake didn’t care.
“Sarah,” he looked at me, “Am I too nice to
you?”
I looked away. “You do what you want.”
“Yeah, I do.”
Jake laughed.
“You think I’m just a player. Dating me makes
you ashamed, right?”
“No, I just want to be calm.”
“Calm? Who are you, some saint?”
I was silent.
く
“I wasn’t going to go with him.”
Jake didn’t care.
“Sarah,” he looked at me, “Am I too nice to
you?”
I looked away. “You do what you want.”
“Yeah, I do.”
Jake laughed.
“You think I’m just a player. Dating me makes
you ashamed, right?”
“No, I just want to be calm.”
“Calm? Who are you, some saint?”
I was silent.
<
I felt something was wrong.
I walked to my room.
It was a mess.
Lily was ripping my curtains.
“Sis, I lost something. I thought it was here.”
I closed the door.
Lily stopped being fake.
She grabbed my hairpin.
“Jake got this for you. I knew it. That’s why you
have all this stuff now?”
She looked at me.
I shrugged. “Here, take it.
“”
<
12:14
824
I looked at her, “What if I said it was because
of your diary?”
“I knew it!”
Lily was so mad, she threw everything.
“If it wasn’t for the diary, he wouldn’t have looked at you!”
“You lied to him!”
She had forgotten she was the one who put it
on me.
I moved out.
I found a job with a room and board.
Jake didn’t talk to me for two weeks.
<
I saw him in Finn’s photos.
Golfing, clubs, cruises…
Jake’s life was too rich.
It was something I’d never have.
[Sarah, if I don’t talk to you, you won’t talk to me.]
Jake messaged. I was waiting outside the test.
He always had to play the victim.
I left the exam, and a black SUV was there.
Jake was leaning on it, in a black shirt.
He had his usual cold look.
I opened my phone. He got here fast.
<
12:14
Jake had a cigarette but wasn’t smoking.
He watched me come over.
We just looked at each other.
I said, “You aren’t quitting?”
824
He laughed and looked at the cigarette. “I don’t
need to kiss you anyway.”
I froze.
“Then,” I blinked. “Are you breaking up with
me?”
Jake frowned.
“Why do you ask so many questions? I look bored to you?”
“…Sorry.”
12:14
He looked past me at the people walking out.
“Why are you taking that test?”
I flinched.
“Just because.”
Jake looked at me, but didn’t say anything.
I got in his car.
He didn’t start the engine.
He tapped the steering wheel.
824
“Sarah, want me to teach you how to make up
with me?”
I looked at him.
“Come here.”
<
12:14
…Okay.
I was hot.
I leaned in.
Jake turned his head.
The kiss was on my neck, near his throat.
I stopped.
Jake started breathing weird.
I stopped and moved back.
Jake closed his eyes.
Then he opened them.
“Okay…”
<
I looked away.
He got out of the car.
A minute later, he opened my door.
He leaned in and grabbed my wrist.
Then he kissed my neck.
My heart was racing.
“Jake…” I said. “That tickles.”
He let me go.
I looked at the mirror. There was a mark on my
neck.
Jake went back to his seat. He winked.
“We’re even.”
0866
827
Г
And just like that, we were okay again.
He dropped me off.
I didn’t say I moved out.
I walked the opposite way after he left.
The next day, Jake took me to the theme park.
I was all dressed up, with rabbit ears and
plushies.
Jake took a million pictures.
Then he stopped.
He looked at something.
It was a plush choker.
It matched my ears.
<
I coughed.
“No,”
“”
He turned away.
“You’re such a grump.”
Jake was extra clingy.
I was so uncomfortable.
Luckily, school started.
- 25.
Jake dropped me off at the dorms.
He hugged me.
“Ugh, this sucks.”
<
“I’m buying a place. Move in with me.”
دو
I patted his back.
0000
827
“It’s okay. We go to the same school. We can meet up.”
I left. I ran into Lily.
She was looking mean.
“Sarah, you won’t be happy for long. I’m going
to tell Jake who you really are.”
“Okay, I can’t wait.”
Training started fast.
The sun was hot.
lake came
<
Jake came.
He stood in the corner.
He looked cold and intense.
When we stopped, I ran to him.
“Did you wait long?”
“A long time. It’s hot.”
He took my water and drank it.
I gave him my fan.
“You said you weren’t coming?”
He didn’t answer.
He leaned on my shoulder.
He looked tired
<
He looked tired.
824
“I bought two houses. Move out soon,” he said.
I pushed him away.
“Jake, I said no.”
