Chapter 5

It was Monday morning. Jeremy and Kylie spent most of Sunday talking on the phone and getting to know each other more. They had even started to say “I love you” multiple times every time they talked. Kylie shared this with Skyler, who was overjoyed about her friend finally being happy.

Jeremy arrived at school first, as he had baseball practice before classes began. He met with his friend Bob on the way in.

“Hey! Bob!” Jeremy yelled to his friend.

“Hey man, where were you this weekend? The team met at the beach on Saturday.”

“I was on a date.”

“Oh really...”

“Yep, and she’s now my girlfriend.”

“You happy?”

“Extremely!”

“Good! That’s what matters. Now, who is this girl?”

“Kylie.”

“Kylie. Really? She’s liked you for a while.”

“How did you know?”

“I am observant.”

“Clearly,” Jeremy responded while laughing.

“I can’t wait to get to know her more. You should set me up with her friend Skyler?”

“I may just do that. But remember to take it easy on me during the practice game this week.”

“Not on your life, bro,” Bob responded, now joining in on the laughing.

“Let’s get to practice. We don’t want coach mad at us,” Jeremy said as they were walking toward the locker rooms. What Bob did not realize was that Kylie and Jeremy were already planning to set up a double date with Bob and Skyler for later that week.

Skyler was walking with Kylie on the way to school. They were discussing the date, and Kylie could not stop smiling.

“You are really happy. I can tell,” Skyler stated.

“I am,” Kylie responded. “I really did not expect things to go that well. I thought it would take a few dates to get to where we are.”

“You two are just meant for each other. I knew the second he asked you out.”

“You really think that.”

“I do! Now only if you could get Bob to notice me, I would join you in your happy mood.” Skyler added while giggling.

“You know. I heard he likes you.”

“WHAT!” Skyler shouted and stopped walking.

Kylie saw this and just started laughing. She had talked with Jeremy yesterday about it and found out that they both liked each other but were scared to make a move.

“Yes, he does. Now, if you would let me continue,” Kylie stated as she resumed walking. Skyler slowly followed, now recovering from the shock. “We were going out to eat on Wednesday at a restaurant in the valley. We are inviting you and Bob to come along. It’s going to be a double date.”

Skyler was freaked out. She really had no idea if what Kylie said was true, but she was super excited to finally go out with Bob, even if the date was set up by her best friend. “Okay. Let’s do it!” Skyler stated, finally getting over her nerves.

Kylie texted Jeremy, “She’s in.”

He quickly responded. “He’s in. :)”

Kylie started to smile until they reached the entrance to the school, where she saw Janelle waiting.

Janelle had a terrible weekend. She was trying to gather information to use against Kylie, but her every effort had failed. No one she asked had anything bad to say about her. She quickly realized that she was the only one who really spread any information around. Everyone already knew everything that she had scattered around before, so she could not just re-use the same details. She decided that her new plan was to confront her head-on and hope others would back her up. She was dead wrong.

“Good morning. Bitch.” Janelle said as Kylie approached her. What surprised her was how both Kylie and Skyler decided to walk past her without engaging. She was not going to let that slide. She then decided to go grab her backpack to pull her back, but before she even attempted to do so, Jeremy appeared from around the corner and walked up to her face.

“You should not call my girlfriend a bitch. It’s rude.”

“Ah, so she’s your girlfriend now?” Janelle responded rudely.

“Yep. I know you’re going to try to keep taking her down so you can get back to being Miss Popular around here. But guess what. Do you want her? You go through me.” Jeremy said with the strongest and meanest voice he could make. “If you want a deal, here it is. You leave us alone; we leave you alone.”

Janelle was scared. She knew that she could take on Kylie alone, but if Jeremy was involved, he had a strong ability to gather support from other students. She decided it was best to play the long game. “Fine. It’s a deal,” she responded with a very irritated tone. Jeremy just smiled and ran to catch up to Kylie. Janelle had no intentions of honoring the deal. She had to take down Jeremy first.

“She took the deal,” he said once he was walking alongside Kylie and Skyler.

“Shame. I would have loved to destroy her further,” Skyler responded.

“Listen. I know she bullied me for a long time, but she does not deserve her whole senior year to be a disaster. As long as she leaves me alone, I won’t allow anyone to bully her back.” Kylie wanted to be the better person and give Janelle a change.

Jeremy and Skyler could only nod. Kylie was the one running the show. What she says about Janelle goes.

Bob was able to join them on the way to their first class. It was one that they all shared. Advanced Placement English.

“Hey, Skyler,” Bob said as he started to walk.

Skyler could only blush and say, “Hey, Bob,” back.

“So I hear we’re joining the two love birds for a date this week.”

“I heard about that. Listen, can we make it a date between us too?” Skyler whispered. “If not, we can just go as friends.”

“I would love to go as your date,” Bob responded happily.

“Great! I can’t wait!” Skyler said with a large smile. Both Jeremy and Kylie were grinning happily as they walked into the classroom.

The class went fine until the PA system made an announcement. “Jeremy and Kylie, please report to the main principal’s office.” The school was small, so every student knew who they were. They got the traditional teasing as they walked toward the office. They both had no idea what awaited them.