Jealous, Yet? | Another High School Romance Story | Ch. 1

by Anime Heat in her fantasy, dreaming of the day when she will become famous...or not.

A/N: Hello! I have decided to write a new romance story! I hope it’ll be okay…I give all my thanks to the commenters of my previous story! ^^

Chapter 1

I slowly made my way through the halls on the first day of my junior year. The flashback of my not-so-recent breakup with my former boyfriend still played in my head over and over again, giving me a massive headache. My feet dragged as I tried to forget about what had happened. But I couldn’t. I had been madly in love with him.

      I stared, frozen in shock, as I spotted my beloved boyfriend, Harris, making out with the most popular girl in our grade – Erika Thompson. Her long, golden hair floated in puffs around her, and her arms were around Harris’ neck. None of them had spotted me yet; they were too busy with their “moment.”

      Finally, they came up for a breath. Erika looked over at me. Her eyes filled with shock, but only for a heartbeat. Then, she went on pulling Harris towards her again. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I stormed over. He still didn’t notice me. I whirled him towards me, and he wiped his lips, looking annoyed. Then, when he saw me, his eyes narrowed. He didn’t look sorry or surprised; just irritated that I had spotted him.

      “Oh. You,” he said.

      “Yes, me. Your girlfriend? Wait, make that ex-girlfriend,” I growled.

      Harris shrugged and turned back towards Erika. They started kissing again. I ran down the halls. What a terrible way to spend the last day of school! My best friend, Riley, appeared out of nowhere and saw my eyes filled with tears. She looked over my shoulder and didn’t need to say anything. Instead, she murmured, “Oh, Tara…” and gave me a hug.

      I never had forgotten about that, even throughout the summer. I had never even received a kiss on the cheek for the four months that we had been going out, yet my boyfriend had given Erika a full-on make-out session? My fists closed. How could I face them? How could I even look at Harris without my heart pumping like crazy? I would still take him back. I didn’t know why. Maybe it was just because I had loved him for so long. The scars hadn’t healed for over two months.

      “Tara!”

      I turned slowly to see Riley running towards me. My mood brightened just a little as she threw her arms around me. She shook my shoulders eagerly. “Tara, have you met the new guy? Oh, my gosh, is he the cutest thing! C’mon, you should meet him. Maybe it’ll take you out of this trance you have going on.” She smiled gently at me, her eyes sympathetic. It’s hard to find a friend like Riley. “Tara, you should forget about him. Let him and that witch with a capital B be together. You’ll find someone better, I’m sure. Now.” She grabbed my arm and dragged me towards my homeroom. Apparently, I was in the same homeroom as Riley, which I was thankful for. But when I saw Erika twirling her lock close by, my excitement faded. Harris was walking down the hallways as well. He didn’t even look at me; he merely walked past towards Erika and hugged her around the waist.

      Riley tugged on me. “Come on. He’s in the classroom. All the girls are freaking out. At least Erika has Harris. Let’s go.”

      When I walked inside, sure enough, there was a huge crowd of girls around one desk. Popular girls, sporty girls, nerdy girls…everyone was there. Even girls that had never been interested in guys were around the table. Curious, I also joined the group, trying to see over their large heads. I was rather short – five-two, to be exact – so I had to push past everyone until I got a good look at the new student. By the time I could see him clearly, I was at the front of the crowd.

      He was looking bored, his chin on one arm, his other hand twirling his cell phone. His eyes were fixed on the window, which he could barely see through a small crack between the girls. His dark brown hair was shaggy in a purposeful way, and his eyes sparkled. The weirdest thing was that they were blue. Compared to his extremely dark hair, his eyes were intensely clear, like the sky.

      “So?” I whispered to Riley, who was standing next to me, bouncing on her toes. “Your point is…?”

      “Isn’t he the cutest? He is, isn’t he?” Riley clapped. “Hi. Can you tell us your name?”

      The boy sighed. “I’m Zane.” He got up. He wasn’t as tall as Harris – Harris was around six-two, while this guy was about five-eleven. “I have to go to my locker.”

      “Why? Don’t you have all your things?” cooed a girl I knew as Alice.

      He sighed. “I forgot something.”

      “You can borrow mine!” everyone offered at once.

      He pushed his way through. “No, thanks. You don’t even know what it is. It’s one of a kind.” I could tell he was lying, but I was intrigued. Where would he go? I told Riley to stay in the classroom, telling her I also needed to get something. When I walked outside, I saw Harris and the new kid standing face-to-face. Harris was taller, of course, but the new guy didn’t seem intimidated at all.

      “Watch it, jerk. You bumped into Erika – say sorry.”

      Erika placed a hand on Harris’ arm. My heart twisted angrily. He never defended me, I thought with pure fury. “Calm down, Harry,” the blond beauty crooned. “I can forgive, you know.” She beamed at Zane, showing off her laser-whitened teeth. “My name is Erika, as you probably heard. It’s nice to meet you. You must be new.” She held out her hand after flipping her hair, but Zane ignored it.

      “So, in every school there’s at least one jerk per grade. You must be that jerk,” Zane said in a nonchalant voice. “Okay.” With that, he walked away, ignoring Harris’ death threats. I was purely fascinated by this. Harris and Erika passed me, walking into the halls arm-in-arm. My neck tingled as they walked by without even a gesture of acknowledgement. Controlling myself, I followed Zane.

      By the time I turned the corner, I could see him. He was sitting in front of the wall, looking bored and annoyed. I felt impulsive as I walked over.

      “Hey. Zane, huh? Sorry about all the trouble.” I tried to smile.

      Zane looked up. For a moment, I thought he was going to tell me to back off, but then he gave me a genuine smile, surprising me. It was half-polite, half-weary. “So, there’s someone who understands.” He sighed and got up. “This happens everywhere I go. I can’t go to the gym or the park without being badgered by girls from about ten years younger than me to ten years older.” He rolled his eyes.

      “Don’t worry; I won’t bother you. Some girls in our class are idiots.” I stuck out my hand. “My name’s Tara.” For a moment, Zane hesitated, so I drew back my hand. “You don’t have to shake it if you don’t want to,” I laughed.

      He stuck out his own hand, to my surprise. “You know me already. Nice to meet you.”

      I shook it slowly. “Right. That guy you just met that was with Erika? That’s Harris. He was my ex until last year, when I saw him cheating on me with that –” I quickly stopped myself.

      Zane raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

      I let out a breath, letting my anger subside a bit. “Yeah. I’ve been trying to show him what a huge mistake he’s making with that chick, but he acts like I’m invisible. In fact, he’s acted like I was invisible since the moment we were going out. I don’t even know why he asked me.” I shook my head, and realized that my fists were curled. I let them loose, realizing that my fingers were sore.

      Zane ran a hand through his hair and then shook his head quickly to straighten it again. “If that’s the case, I now know for sure that he’s a jerk.” He looked at me with sparkling eyes. “I’m good with plans. If you want, I’m sure we can think of one that’ll make him want you back. You don’t seem like a bad-looking girl at all.” He cocked his head at me and gave me another small smile.

      I ducked my head shyly, letting my straight jet-black hair hide my heated face. Would he be saying that if he knew that I wore contacts for my extremely near-sighted eyes and that there were at least five pimples on my forehead that were being covered by my front bangs? I turned my head away; I didn’t wear makeup and I didn’t wear fancy clothes. My usual outfit was just jeans and a shirt. Why would Zane say such a thing, especially after seeing Erika?

      “You seem lost.” Zane grinned now, looking happier than he had ever been. “If I go into class with you like this, he’ll get jealous, won’t he?” He placed his arm over my shoulders, and I tried not to flinch.

      “How about this?” I took his arm off of my shoulders and scooted my hand into his.

      He shrugged. “If it works, then it’s good, isn’t it?”

      So we walked into class like that. It was awkward, but his hand was warm and I wasn’t sweating like I did when I held hands with Harris. Mostly, it earned us dirty looks from every girl but Riley – Erika included. However, it did catch the attention of Harris, who had been chatting with his new girlfriend. He struggled to hide his surprise and abruptly turned his head away.

      Zane sat in the seat next to mine, which was next to Riley’s. He was nearly choking. “Did you see that guy’s face? I want to die of laughter.”

      I giggled, but then was interrupted by Riley, who was tapping my arm.

      “Are you two going out?” she asked suspiciously, but she was smiling.

      “No, it was part of a plan to make Harris mad,” I laughed softly. Riley threw me a you sneaky rascal, you, look and shook her head.

      “I’m impressed,” she said. “Though I think you’ll be hated on by the other girls for the rest of your life. I’m sorry.”

      I shrugged. “If it means making Harris angry, I’m all for it.”

      Riley laughed and we quieted as the teacher entered. She introduced herself as Mrs. Sterling and said that she would be passing out schedules. Our school was relatively small – we only had about three hundred people. Each grade had around seventy-five people, so they split us into two homerooms. As I received my schedule, I studied it carefully.

SCHEDULE – Myrtle, Tara (1^st Semester)

HOMEROOM – Mrs. Sterling, Lillian :: 7:30 ~ 7:50

PERIOD 1 – Gym … Mrs. Wallace, Darcy :: 7:55 ~ 8:35

PERIOD 2 – Graphic Arts (Computer Technology) … Mr. Wood, Harlow :: 8:40 ~ 9:20

PERIOD 3 – Biology … Mr. Lamb, Robert :: 9:25 ~ 10:05

PERIOD 4 – Trigonometry … Mrs. Corey, Heather :: 10:10 ~ 10:50

PERIOD 5 – World History … Mrs. Lawrence, Patina :: 10:55 ~ 11:35

LUNCH :: 11:40 ~ 12:20

PERIOD 6 – Language Arts (English) … Mrs. Sterling, Lillian :: 12:25 ~ 1:05

PERIOD 7 – Literature … Mrs. Sterling, Lillian :: 1:10 ~ 1:50

PERIOD 8 – Physics … Mr. Lamb, Robert :: 1:55 ~ 2:35

PERIOD 9 – Study Hall … Mrs. Hawke, Taylor :: 2:35 ~ 3:00

      It was just as terrible as last year. School was super long, and the most important class – study hall – was the shortest. I felt totally annoyed. I leaned over towards Riley and asked her what her schedule was. When she showed me, my heart dropped. Everything was in a different order besides gym, trigonometry, and lunch. Either that or Riley was taking different classes. 

      I stuck out my lip in a pout, and Riley threw me a WTF is up with this? look. I turned towards Zane, wanting to see what he had, but he had already taken my schedule and was looking at it. When I snatched it back, he threw me a grin.

      “Wow, Tara. We have the exact same classes,” he said. He looked back at Erika and Harris. “What did you guys get?” he asked.

      Erika flipped her hair. “Harry and I got the same classes.” As she listed them off, my heart fell even more. She had the same classes as Zane and me. Zane turned to me with a raised eyebrow. This could be useful, and this could end up turning into a total mess. I looked over at Riley, who was slouching in her chair.

      “Cheer up, Rye,” I told her. It was my nickname for her.

      “Oh, really, Tar?” she retorted. She didn’t like that nickname, since it was apparently “not the yummiest plant in the world.” She went on in her complaining tone, “I can’t believe me luck. You get Zane and your plan gets to keep going, since Harris and Erika are in your classes, but I miss out on all the good stuff! What’s up with that?”

      “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “Don’t worry. We’ll see each other in Gym, Trig, and Lunch.”

      “That’s not enough!” Riley whined.

      I laughed. Good ol’ Rye. She’d always be upset about things like this. That’s what best friends did, right? I nudged her. “It’ll be okay. I’ll tell you about everything that happens. In the mean time, you try your best and get straight A’s like you always do. Then, you can help me with my homework, right?”

      Riley smacked my arm. “You get straight A’s too, you hypocritical little Asian!”

      I smoothed my straight hair. “I try.”

      Riley and I giggled for a few minutes until the bell rang for the first class. Gym. Apparently half of the grade would have it first hour, and the other half would have it some other time. It was unlike last year, where everyone took gym together (though that had been a total mess). I sighed as I pushed freshmen aside, dodged seniors, and then ran towards the gym. Riley and Zane followed after.

      I took in a deep breath as I walked inside.

      Initiating Plan Make-Harris-Mad.

      Oh, yes. This would be good.