Years after leaving high school behind, Jessica walks into a new career opportunity and comes face-to-face with Jake, the boy she once quietly loved. But his shocking offer for her to quit hints at something that neither of them truly understands.
Back in high school, there was this boy I had the biggest crush on.
His name was Jake, and he was basically every teacher’s nightmare.
He skipped classes, never did homework, spent half his life in detention, and I honestly don’t even know how many times he had to retake the same courses.
At some point, I think even he lost count.
And of course, because teenage girls are not known for making smart emotional choices, I thought he was the most interesting person alive.
I was not the type of girl who usually liked boys like Jake.
I followed the rules.
I color-coded my notes. I knew the difference between studying hard and pretending to study while refreshing social media every five minutes.
Jake, on the other hand, treated school like an optional waiting room before real life began. He would stroll into class ten minutes late with his backpack hanging off one shoulder, hair messy, eyes tired, and a look on his face that said he had already decided the day was not worth his effort.
Teachers sighed when he walked in.
Girls whispered.
Boys either laughed with him or tried to act tougher than him.
And I sat there pretending not to notice him while noticing absolutely everything.
“Jessica, are you listening?” my chemistry teacher once snapped when I accidentally looked across the room instead of at the board.
“Yes,” I said too fast.
Jake, who had been half asleep with his cheek pressed to his fist, glanced over at me and smirked.
That stupid smirk stayed in my head for the rest of the day.
We were sort of friends, but nothing ever happened between us. I liked him from a distance; he barely noticed anything around him, and eventually we graduated and life moved on.
That is how I always explained it to myself, anyway.
It sounded cleaner that way. Simpler. Less embarrassing.
The truth was that Jake and I had existed in that strange space where we spoke enough for me to convince myself it meant something, but not enough for me to ever know where I stood.
He borrowed pencils from me and never gave them back. He copied my notes before tests that he had no chance of passing.
What happened next changed everything… FULL STORY on the next page.
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