Jenna Broook’s POVAs Jeanette and Summer settled in, there was a noticeable tension in the air. Apart from Jeanette and me, no one else knew who Summer was."So, Jean, this is the first time I'm meeting your friend," Auntie Laurel started, as everyone's eyes stayed fixed on Summer, except for Conrad, who didn't seem to care."Yeah, Summer and I have been friends for a while now," Jeanette replied."Alright," there was a pause. "Let family game night begin!"We started with charades. Auntie Laurel and Jamie dominated the round, scoring ten points. Jeanette and Summer struggled, only managing to score five points. Conrad and I did poorly because I was terrible at playing charades, so we only scored two points."It's fine, Jenna. We'll do better next time," Conrad reassured me after the scores were announced.The next round was about French culture. I was excited when Conrad told me he had taken a French course before. We were confident we would win this round."We're going to win t
Jenna Brooks’s POVAs the night wore on, Conrad, Jamie and I decided to talk to Auntie Laurel on Jeanette’s behalf. She couldn’t possibly stay isolated in her room for so long. As we gathered nervously outside Auntie Laurel’s bedroom, we all exchanged uncertain glances.Conrad took a deep breath and rapped gently on the door. "Mom, it's us," he called out.Auntie Laurel’s voice, muffled and stern, floated from the other side. "What is it? Can't you see I'm busy?"Undeterred, Jamie stepped forward. "Mom, we need to talk about Jeanette. Locking her away won't solve anything. We need to address this issue maturely."Taking this as my cue, I shifted from foot to foot anxiously. "Please, Auntie Laurel, Jeanette deserves to be happy. We can't force her to break up with someone she truly loves."The door creaked open slowly, revealing Auntie Laurel, her face etched with frustration. Her piercing eyes surveyed us, "You think you can come here and lecture me about parenting? I have my r
Jenna Brooks’s POV “If high school love is like a candle in the rain, I, Liam, will hold an umbrella for you.” Liam said, as he took a dramatic pose and held an imaginary umbrella over my head.I shrugged with an eyeroll, and he understood immediately that I wasn’t in the mood. We were both in the student’s council room and were making copies of more flyers to spread the word about the school play. It was in four days.“You don’t seem yourself, is everything okay?” he said as he sat down back, stacking the flyers.“Do you think the flyers are enough?” I asked.“You’re changing the subject”“What subject?” “I just asked you if everything is fine.”“And I just asked you if the flyers are going to be enough.”Liam moved his chair really close to mine and took my hands in his. What’s with people trying to comfort someone by holding their hands?“You can tell me anything.” he said, his voice almost a whisper.I took in a deep breath and contemplated on what to do. I couldn’t possib
Jenna Brooks’s POV As I walked back into the students council room, Liam was already done with stacking the flyers.“They’re ready to be handed out,” he announced.I barely looked at him or made eye contact because he was good at reading me. He would easily see right through my nothing-is-wrong facade.“That’s good. We should hand…them out now.” My voice cracked. I walked to the printer by the edge of the room so I could stay far enough from him so he wouldn’t notice my eyelids.“Is something wrong?” he asked, more quicker than I had expected.“Nothing,” I managed to say as I felt the tears building up again.I glanced at him over my shoulder and our eyes met, briefly. I immediately lowered my gaze to the floor.“Something’s wrong, Jenna.” he slowly walked up to my side and stood in front of me, leaning forward to hold my hands but I didn’t allow him to.“Nothing’s wrong,” I replied staring down at my feet. The tears didn’t spill from my eyes. I was surprised, but it was just
Conrad Declan’s POV “Why is no one taking this play seriously? Opening night is in four days!” Tiffany, the president of drama club, yelled as she tossed her script across the room.She was fuming, angry that Jenna and Liam didn’t show up for rehearsals. Where the hell are they?As Tiffany paced back and fort the drama club room, everyone else stepped back. She was never to be pissed off when she was already angry.“I knew we should have made Anika the leading lady!” she yelled again and I could see Anika smiling at the other end of the room. She was obviously enjoying the whole thing.I quietly stepped out of drama club room to call Jenna. It wasn’t going through. I clenched my fists tightly as I made my way back to the class to check one last time. There, I met Lisa, seated on Jenna’s desk. You’re probably wondering how I know her. Lisa’s the school Dean’s daughter so everybody knew her. I had seen her once or twice with Jenna, so I figured she might know her whereabouts.
Jenna Brooks’s POV I took one look at Conrad’s furrowed eyebrows before I pushed my way through the growing crowd. I could hear some of them murmuring my name as I walked by.When I got to the ladies restroom, I let out the breath I wasn’t aware I had been holding. I leaned on the wall and slowly sank to my knees. I promised myself I wouldn’t cry. I sniffed loudly and looked up at tthe ceiling so the tears wouldn’t room down my cheeks. I did it every now and then until I calmed down. *****************“I’m really sorry, Liam. Please respond to my texts.” I typed, and my fingers hovered around the send button before tapping on it.I set my phone down and slowly laid on my bed like a lifeless person. That was the nineth text I had sent to Liam and he hadn’t responded to any. I knew he was angry and I desperately wanted to apologize to him and go back to being friends again.I sprung up when my phone beeped. I had anticipated it to be a text from Liam but it wasn’t. It was a
Jenna Brooks’s POVA few days later… It was finally here, opening night. The long awaited night. The night had finally arrived, and the stage was set for the school play. The enchanting ambiance of the theater buzzed with anticipation as the familiar story of Cinderella was about to unfold. I sat in the small dressing room, gazing at my reflection in the mirror. I had barely made it pass these few days because Liam wasn’t by my side and Conrad was giving me a cold shoulder. I know I said I was done but it wasn’t as easy as I thought because I had to see Conrad everyday. In the morning, during breakfast, at school, and during dinner. There was no way I could avoid him and it seemed as though he had been taunting me because he always seemed to be wherever I was. It remained just a few days for his girlfriend to return and then, he would forget I even existed.And even with that, I had chosen to go through with the performance nonetheless. I wasn’t going to give him room to th
Jenna Brooks’s POV He leaned in, tilted my chin toward him with his finger and kissed me on the lips. As I opened my lips, he pushed his tongue to meet mime, losing his breath as he did. He cupped my cheek to keep me in the kiss as long as possible. The kiss wasn’t supposed to be this long. I pulled away quickly and out eyes locked. The way he looked at me was different. It was pure lust. The crowd erupted into a thunderous clap as Conrad took my hand and we both faced the crowd and bowed. The other casts also joined.Finally, it was all over!“Oh my God, Jenna. The kiss at the end was lit!” Tiffany, the president of drama club grasped my hand after we got backstage. I had never seen her smile so brightly at me. “Thanks, Tiff.” I replied.“Did you guys like, practice the kiss scene?” She asked with furrowed eyebrows and I forced a smile.“No, we didn’t.”“Oh my God, you guys actually kissed! What’s your ship name now? Conna? Jenrad?” Jeanette came to me as soon as Tiffany le