Chapter 6 - The book

27 days to her birthday

Tuesday

"I can't believe you are leaving for school this early" I said to Jack who was rushing out of the house

"Sarah was angry at me yesterday"

"Uuuuhhh"  I hummed

"You can't understand"

"And I don't want to understand. If this is what it feels like to be in a relationship, I don't want to be in one"

"It's just a matter of months, Irene"

"Says you"

"Alright bye. Love you"

"I love you too"

I watched through the window as Jack drove and  I wondered when Liam was gonna ask me out

My phone rang, it was Liam

"Hello" I said into the receiver

"Good morning" Liam said

"Good morning, how was your night?"

"Okay, yours?"

"Fine"

"Where are you?" He asked

"Home" I replied and wondered where this conversation was heading to

"Is Jack home?"

"No, he just left"

He sighed heavily and paused for some seconds before speaking "I wish I can come pick you up but I can't"

"Why?"

"I'm in a very tight situation right now and I can't leave where I am"

"Where are you? Aren't you coming to school?"

"I will but not now. I'm going to miss the first two periods I guess"

"Am I now going to trek to school? mttchew, oooooohhhh" I said frustratedly

"I'm sorry"

"You should have called me earlier. School is like fifteen minutes away and..."

"I'm sorry, I will make it up to you"

"It's okay. I will call Jack"

"Okay, bye"

"Bye, call me when you're on your way to school"

"I will, bye bye"

He hung up the phone and I wondered if I should call Jack or not. Finally I gave up and called Jack, I wasn't ready to trek fifteen minutes to school because of Sarah

"Irene" Jack called

"Hey Jack, where are you?"

"On my way to school. Is there a problem?'

"There might be"

"Wait let me park my car"

"Okay"

I waited for almost a minute

"I'm back" he said "I'm all ears"

"Can you come and pick me up?"

"Wait, why?"

"Because Liam is kinda busy right now"

"Hold on for a second"

I heard him talking to Sarah but I had no idea of what he was saying. He must have put his hand on the mouthpiece

"Okay, we're on our way"

I rolled my eyes in annoyance "Okay"

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Jack car horned in front of the house and I picked up my bag, made sure to lock the house and went to him

I opened the backdoor, which felt really weird since I've never sat there before

"Irene" Jack called when I was fully seated in the car "meet Sarah, my girlfriend. Sarah meet Irene my sister

"Hey" Sarah said and waved at me. It was one of those waves that weren't really from the wavers heart but they just had to do it for doing sake

"Hey" I said and waved back

She looked at me shockingly as if I had just stepped on her. What was she expecting me to do? Was she expecting me to bow my head in front of her because she was Sarah Sanguine, the most famous girl in our school

Jack must have noticed that we didn't really like each other because he changed the topic and started talking to Sarah about one of there classmates. And with that, I was being forgotten

Some minutes before we got to school, Sarah asked one stupid question which got my attention

"What does it feel like to be single at sixteen?" She had asked Jack

"It's normal. It's felt normal" Jack replied.

I eyed her through the front mirror while she smiled

I had knew that that question was meant for me since the moment she had asked it but I wasn't really worried about it because I knew that I meant more than being an ordinary girlfriend to my best friend, Liam

"Jack" I called and I saw her eyes penetrating my skin through the front mirror

"Yes" Jack answered

I looked straight into her eyes through the front mirror and asked Jack "What does it feels like to loss your virginity to the school gatekeeper inside the men's toilet at eight?"

She turned red instantly and Jack was as frozen as a statue

"Bro, please stop the car, I think I will be getting down here"

Jack parked and I got out of the car

"Bye bro and thanks for the ride"

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"Where are you?" Liam texted

"Inside the library. Are you in school?"

"Yes, on my way to the library"

I was using my lunch break to go through my mathematics note

"Serious student" Liam whispered into my ear as he took the seat next to mine

"Hey, what's up?"I asked

"I'm good and what are you doing?"

"Mathematics"

"I'm so sorry for disappointing you"

He dropped a book on the table and continued talking

"I was extremely busy"

I picked up the book and read it. It's smelled like hundreds of years ago and it backcover was almost crumbling under my touch "Sargon"  I read out load. That was the title of the book "What does that mean?"

"I heard it means True king"

"Wow, that is cool. What is the book about?"

"I found it inside my car this morning, I have not read it myself"

"The book is going to be interesting. Can I lend it?"

"You mean like today?"

"Yeah"

He thought about it for some seconds

"I also want to read, so, no"

"Okay" I shrugged

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"What was that all about" an angry Jack said to me as soon as he stepped inside the living room

"What was what all about?" I asked confusedly

"The drama you pulled this morning"

Holy cow, that was true. I had forgotten about this morning drama inside Jack's car

"She started the drama" I defended myself

"And you couldn't let it go"

"Why should I? Why couldn't she just keep shut and enjoy the ride"

"But she wasn't talking to you. She was talking to me"

"And I wasn't talking to her too, I was talking to you"

"This is the main reason why you don't have a boyfriend. Nobody will date you  if you continue acting like this"

"Jack, me?" I asked quietly and gestured to myself by touching my chest

"Yeah, you Irene, Irene Cage"

He walked passed me while I watched him as he climbed the stairs

"I might not have a boyfriend but I have someone that I mean so much more to" I said

"In your dreams"