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This was it.
She’d really done it now. She’d ruined her life.
RIP Jacqueline Taylor, seventeen years young, future inmate at a correctional facility.
She’d started on this path. It was a slippery descent into hell now. It started with this then it was hardcore drugs and pickpocketing. Eventually, she’d be picked up by a gang and move onto the really sick shit like home invasions and whatever stuff gangs did. The FBI would probably get involved because Jackie Taylor may have gone off the deep end but she would do so with class and respectability. She would only join the most important and organised gang, the type that would already be on the FBI’s radar.
Either way, a gang was a gang and the FBI would pick her up one day. She’d take a plea bargain because Jackie really wasn’t made for hardcore containment and then she’d be shipped off to prison, locked away for most of her life before being released, shunned by society and die a horrible terrible death. Probably under a bridge somewhere.
And it was all because she cheated on her English test and landed in detention.
This was it. The path to criminality.
“Does she, like, understand she’s saying that all out loud?”
“Honestly, I don’t even know if she’s aware of where she is right now.”
“Do you think she’s caught psychosis?”
“I don’t think psychosis is something you can catch, Van. It’s not like chlamydia.”
“Why is chlamydia your go-to catchable disease?”
“I was studying with Lottie in the library earlier. It’s whatever, man.”
Jackie dropped her head down onto the table with a thud. A very long, very loud groan escaped her mouth. This was a disaster and now poor Shauna had to wait behind in the school parking lot for Jackie to finish this two and a half hour detention because she was Jackie’s only ride home. Maybe she should drop a text to tell Shauna to just head home without her. She didn’t want Shauna to get in trouble with Deb for arriving home so late. Jackie would just walk her way back to her place when this was all over.
It would give her time to plan out what horrible gang she should let recruit her and set her on the path of crime.
The door to the detention room cracked open and perhaps the oldest member of staff she had ever seen came shuffling in, nose already buried in the clipboard.
“Scatorccio,” He said gruffly,” My frequent flyer, always a pleasure to see you again.”
Jackie turned just in time to see Nat, wedged in the corner desk at the very back of the classroom by the window, give him a mocking two finger salute.
“Palmer,” Mr Bridges continued,” Nice to see you again too. I had a feeling you would be on my list again. I thought it was getting too quiet in here.”
Van was sitting on the other side of the classroom, on the side with the door. She’d wedged herself firmly into the middle row where she sent a pair of finger guns over to Mr Bridges.
“And…Miss Taylor, welcome to detention. First time?”
Jackie had taken the seat in the front row, slap bang in front of the teacher’s desk like being in his eyeline would make him take pity on her and let her leave early. She cleared her throat. “Yes, sir.”
“Then let me go over the rules.” Mr Bridges held out his hand. “Your phone, for one. I don’t allow any kind of electronics in this classroom while serving detention.” Jackie handed it over and Mr Bridges started shuffling over to the others.
Van surrendered her phone with little fanfare and Mr Bridges continued across the classroom to Nat. She slammed her phone and her cigarettes into his palm. He didn’t pull his hand away and Nat rummaged around in her pockets for her lighter, handing it over too.
“There will be no smoking or drinking of any kind,” Mr Bridges said as he shuffled back to the front of the room,” Only water is permitted. No eating.” He dumped the confiscated belongings into his desk drawer, locking it and placing the key in the back pocket of his trousers.
“This is not a social hour so there will be no talking. There will be no passing notes. No communication of any kind. If you have questions or you need the toilet, you ask me. You can get on with homework or reading or any side projects you can do in silence. Miss Scatorccio, I’m sure you will entertain yourself by staring off into space. I have no complaints about that.”
Jackie snuck another glance to the back of the class as Nat sent a smug grin her way and raised a thumbs up at Mr Bridges.
“Apart from that, ladies,” He said,” We’ve got two and a half hours together. Let’s get to it.”
It took Jackie ten minutes to be bored out of her mind. There was absolutely nothing to entertain herself with. She had no homework and she wasn’t Shauna so she didn’t carry a book with her. It was just Jackie and her thoughts.
She snuck a glance over her shoulder to look at the others. Van was first. She was leaning forward in her seat, practically flat against her desk. Her eyes were lasered in on Mr Bridges, who was relaxed back in his seat.
He was blinking slowly and a yawn escaped him.
Jackie turned to look over her other shoulder.
Nat wasn’t leaning over her desk but her head was tilted to the side as she leaned back precariously on two legs of her chair. Her eyes were focused on Mr Bridges too, waiting for something.
Jackie turned back to the front, running her nail over the groove of the desk.
Mr Bridges’ eyes slammed shut. For a moment, no one moved.
Then, he let out an almighty snore.
Chairs scraped and Jackie almost jumped out of her skin in shock as Nat appeared, power walking over to the teacher's desk. Van appeared on Jackie’s other side, smoothly sitting up on the desk next to her with a crooked grin and an energy drink already cracked open and halfway to her lips.
“So,” Van said with that teasing grin,” I heard you got busted for cheating on the English test. I have no idea how you cheat on an English test but respect. Especially Mrs Wiley’s class. Bold. Terrible idea but bold.”
“Don’t remind me.” Jackie spared another glance at Mr Bridges. He was out cold, completely dead to the world. “What’s up with him?”
“His allergy meds make him sleepy,” Van said with a shrug,” You’d think he’d stop taking them right before supervising detention but, whatever, means we don’t have to suffer as much. Nat? You get that thing open yet?”
Nat’s mop of messy blonde hair popped up from behind the desk. “Nearly!” She popped back down again.
“What are you in for?”
“In for?” Van laughed,” It’s not prison, Jackie, and it’s not going to ruin your life. We’re not criminals. Well…Natalie might be.”
“Are you really a criminal if you haven’t been charged?” Nat asked and Van rolled her eyes, pointing a wagging finger over in Nat’s direction.
“Don’t try to confuse me with Lottie’s philosophical mumbo-jumbo. I refuse to partake.”
“Your loss.”
“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, we’re not criminals, Jackie. Nat was busted for skipping class as per usual.”
“Yeah?” Came Nat’s teasing voice from behind the desk. “Well, you got done for not having your homework done, Palmer, which is way lamer than skipping class.”
“Wait…” Jackie glanced up at Van. “You’re suffering in jail-”
“This is detention, Jackie, hardly jail.”
“-For two and a half hours over missing homework?!”
“The time is Nat’s fault!”
Nat’s unruly head of hair poked up above the desk again. “You can’t blame me for everything, Palmer!”
“But we can blame Nat for this one thing,” Van said and Nat just stuck her tongue out before ducking back down,” Nat flies solo in detention usually so the two and a half hours thing is because of her. Mr Bridges just makes us all suffer it because he can’t be bothered to stay awake for it all.”
“Got it!” Nat announced before Jackie could say anything else. Victorious, she dumped the confiscated items onto the desk. Jackie snatched up her phone, shooting off a message to Shauna to just go home and Jackie would see her tomorrow.
“You can pick locks now?” Jackie asked as she set her phone face down on the desk.
Nat, cigarette halfway to her mouth and lighter in her other hand, just shrugged. She sighed, placing both items back in her pocket before slipping out her lockpicks.
“You don’t have enough money for lunch but you can buy lockpicks?”
“Lottie bought them for me,” Nat replied plainly.
Jackie felt a bit like she was buffering like back when her Dad tried to cheap out on the wifi and a ten year old Jackie could no longer watch her favourite YouTube videos because it took so long to load. That long, dragged out buffering is what Jackie’s mind felt like now, that little circle of death spinning round and round and round until her mind finally caught up with what had just been said.
“Lottie bought them for you?!”
“Keep it down!” Nat hissed, sparing a glance behind her at Mr Bridges.
Everyone held their breath but he merely snored a little louder and stayed mercifully asleep.
“But yes,” Nat continued when the coast was clear,” She did.”
“But…Why?”
“Because Lottie’s a criminal too?” Van offered up. She obnoxiously sipped on her drink. Jackie wasn’t even sure where she got it. The cafeteria didn’t sell any and the vending machines didn't stock them anymore since Randy Walsh nearly had a heart attack after being dared to drink as many in one sitting as possible. Jackie was sure Van didn’t have it this morning at practice.
“Lottie’s not a criminal,” Nat said but it was a little weak as she winced,” She returns everything she steals! She’s sitting on a small mortgage of TJ Bucks.”
Jackie’s brain buffered again, neurons firing off but not making any connections. “Lottie…”
“Isn’t a criminal,” Nat insisted,” She’s just a kleptomaniac and that’s okay. She can’t help it.”
“She can’t help it,” Van said with a grin,” But she certainly didn’t have to buy you a lockpick set. Lottie’s a kleptomaniac and an enabler.”
“Lottie likes when I pick locks.”
“That’s because Lottie’s unhinged. In the nicest way possible, love the girl, but she’s not exactly the paragon of good decisions.”
“Paragon,” Nat repeated with a small nod,” Nice word.”
Van brightened. “Thanks. Tai taught it to me. She said I need to expand my vocab or something and I was all ‘my vocab is-”
“Sorry.” Jackie tentatively raised her hand. “I’d like to circle back to the Lottie and Nat thing? Nat, Lottie bought you lockpicks because she likes to see you picking locks? Why do you even know how to pick locks?”
Jackie must have been going crazy because Nat just shrugged, eyes on Jackie’s face like she was the one blowing things out the water for watching her teammate pick the lock on the teacher’s desk and then confess that she did it routinely enough that another one of their teammates bought her a lockpick set.
“I got bored one summer,” Nat said, completely at ease and not at all nervous to be confessing such a thing,” And it turns out I’m really good at it.”
“And Lottie’s…stealing habit?”
“It’s only TJ Maxx. It’s not like they’re missing out on much. She’s like a Robin Hood except instead of redistributing the wealth, she hoards it as TJ Bucks…Oh, maybe she’s nothing like Robin Hood then.”
“Maybe we can say her buying you the lockpicks is like being Robin Hood?” Van wondered aloud. She drained the rest of her energy drink, crumpling up the can and shooting it into the trash. It hit the rim for a moment but ultimately fell in. Van pumped her fist into the air.
“Yeah but I don’t know if it counts,” Nat said,” Because it’s not like it was bought with the TJ Bucks, you know? Just her regular money.”
“Huh.” Van pulled a face of deep thought, tapping a finger on her chin. “I’m not sure now either. We’ll have to get her opinion on it at some point.”
“Yeah, sounds like a good idea.”
Jackie was officially lost, head ping-ponging back and forth between Nat and Van, completely at ease and comfortable in detention with Mr Bridges fast asleep on his chair and snoring loudly. There was too much information being thrown around and treated like it was common knowledge when it definitely wasn’t.
Nat and Van talked about Nat’s lockpicking and Lottie’s stealing habit like it was the weather, just a bit of detention small talk like how Jackie’s mom would ask about someone’s baby after bumping into a person she knew while at the store.
“So,” Van’s grin shifted from jovial to feral in an instant and Jackie was surprised she didn’t get whiplash from the change. “Did you bring the stuff?”
“Did you?”
Jackie glanced between them again. She cleared her throat and Nat and Van looked down at her in shock, like they had completely forgotten she was there, like she had melted into the furniture or something. Which, first of all, rude, and second of all, she really didn’t like the sound of where this conversation was going.
“Is this a drug deal?” She asked warily,” Because I really don’t-”
“What the fuck?!”
“Jesus Christ, Jackie!”
“What happened to keeping it down?!” Jackie hissed. She jerked her chin over to Mr Bridges, whose snoring had stopped for a terrifying moment before resuming like nothing had happened.
“Snacks, Jackie,” Van said,” We’re talking about snacks.”
Jackie frowned. “Is that some kind of slang…?”
“No,” Nat said bluntly. She’d returned to her desk briefly to grab her bag, which she upended on Jackie’s desk. There wasn’t much in there. Trailer keys. A singular notebook. Two ballpoint pins, one that looked to be on its last legs and one Nat had clearly borrowed from Lottie.
Apart from those things, there was a mountain of snacks. Cookies. Chips. Little sponge cake things. Wafer bars. Chocolate and candy.
Jackie reached for a bag of chips, turning it over in her hands. “You stockpiling for the apocalypse or something? You even got Twinkies. You know they say these things last forever.”
Nat flashed her a grin, shoving her hands into her pockets. “Yeah,” She said knowingly,” After the zombies get us all and rot away, it’s just going to be these things and cockroaches. Picture that, a wasteland full of cockroaches and Twinkies.”
“Sounds depressing,” Van muttered. She’d also moved while Jackie had been distracted, dumping her own selection of snacks onto the desk. “What’s the exchange rate for chips today?”
Nat pulled up a chair, settling into it easily as she tore open a Twinkie pack with her teeth. “Two bags for every one chocolate bar?”
“I can agree to that one.” Van dragged her chair over to Jackie’s desk too. She slipped a pack of cards from her pocket, beginning to shuffle. “Candy and chocolate worth the same?”
“Yeah.”
“Excellent.”
Nat snapped her fingers, thumb hitched in Jackie’s direction. “Pass them to her. She can shuffle.”
Wordlessly, Van dropped the cards into Jackie’s hands.
“Van rigs the cards,” Nat said.
“I do not.”
“You so do.”
“I don’t.”
Jackie started shuffling the cards, eyes darting between her two teammates and confusion clouding her features. “Is this what you two do in detention? Play cards?”
“Poker!” Van said brightly,” We have to use snacks now because Tai doesn’t like us using actual cash.”
“Buzzkill,” Nat muttered,” Make sure you shuffle those well, cap. I’m going to crack Van’s winning streak today.”
“You wish.”
Jackie dealt the cards, fingers drumming against the wooden grain of her desk.
Van and Nat both had impressive poker faces. Her own experience came from her father’s game nights. Every so often, he would invite his work colleagues over and they would play well into the night.
Jackie’s Mom would always complain. She hated all the noise and the gambling but she still never shut it down. She just popped a few sleeping pills and was dead to the world by ten. Technically, she’d also forbidden Jackie from going to watch but when Mom was asleep, she was dead to the world and Jackie would creep down the stairs to sit and watch.
Sometimes she played.
Two cards for Nat. Two cards for Van. Two cards for herself.
Nat and Van exchanged looks of surprise.
“What? I can’t play?”
Nat turned away to hide her smile and Van let a delighted laugh escape her, clapping Jackie on the shoulder.
“Alright, Jackie,” Van cheered with that same laughter,” Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Apparently, quite a lot.
Jackie set down her cards for the final round with a soft smile and pulled the pot of snacks towards herself.
It was amazing how just a few rounds of poker had loosened her up. She had only ever played against her father’s colleagues, middle aged men who were always a little tipsy and Jackie had always been ninety percent sure they were letting her win.
It was nice to know they weren’t.
Mr Bridges was still fast asleep, snoring on his chair and Jackie’s previous panic and doom spiral had been completely forgotten as she opened a Twinkie.
Van and Nat both groaned. Van’s head went down on the desk in defeat and Nat dragged a hand over her face.
“I think I like detention,” Jackie declared,” Is this all you guys do here? Play poker for two and a half hours? What happens when one of you runs out of snacks?” She split an Oreo in half and scraped out the filling with her teeth.
Van peaked up from where she was face down on the desk. She looked at Nat. Nat looked back at her. Jackie looked between them both.
“Okay,” She said warily,” I’m really not liking that look.”
Jackie had noticed that kind of thing before. Van and Nat could communicate with each other wordlessly. Sometimes it was in the locker room when Nat would tilt her head just so and Van would throw her water bottle across the room for Nat to drink from. Sometimes it would be in class, third period Chemistry when Van would raise an eyebrow and suddenly Nat’s calculator was already on her desk.
It was almost uncanny how easily the two of them communicated with words. Briefly, Jackie wondered if it was something they had actually worked out between themselves or if it had just developed naturally through years of friendship.
Jackie didn’t have something like that with Shauna. They were best friends but they weren’t completely in sync like Van and Nat were. Shauna was a bit of a mystery sometimes, grumpy and brooding with a refusal to talk about things that upset her.
Jackie didn’t even know Shauna hated Jeff until two weeks after the breakup when Shauna had snapped at her about it. Shauna had been sitting on that one for years apparently.
Van and Nat probably didn’t have secrets from each other.
“I didn’t bring the ball,” Van said,” We could…?”
“Nah, Martinez doesn’t keep them in the shed anymore. He takes them home with him.”
“Damn. It’s still warm out though. It wouldn’t be a complete waste if we went.”
Nat turned to look over at the windows, humming in consideration. She glanced back at Jackie and then to Van. She shrugged and checked the clock. “We’ve got time.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Jackie glanced between them again. “Am I…missing something?”
“Up and at ‘em, cap.” Nat offered a hand. Jackie took it.
Van started to sweep away the snacks on the table, shoving her own into her bag and separating Jackie’s out too. She snagged a chocolate bar, tucking it into her pocket while Nat grabbed a pack of cookies. Jackie snatched up a bag of candy.
“Don’t freak out or anything, cap,” Nat said as she shoved open the window,” You asked for this, alright?”
It was a good thing that the detention room wasn’t up the stairs because Jackie would have put up much more of a fight climbing out the window. Nat went out first, landing neatly on the little bush by the side of the school building, trampling down the weeds and holding out her hand for Jackie to hop down. Van took up the rear, snacks in one hand and a speaker in the other.
She was right earlier. It was still warm. Not the unbearable kind of hot like it was earlier when Jackie was sweating through her clothes and using the mini fan Shauna had let her borrow in Math. A breeze had started up and the worst of the summer heat was over for the day as Jackie followed the others out onto the soccer field.
“If we could have just left through the window the whole time,” Jackie said, settling on the grass and soaking in the last rays of the sun,” Then why didn’t we just leave immediately and go home?”
Nat laughed. She was propped up on her hands, leaning back against them and legs stretched out in front of her. She’d abandoned her usual leather jacket on the grass, spread out like some makeshift picnic blanket that she carelessly threw the open cookie packet onto.
“Trust me,” She said with the air of someone who spent too many hours stuck in that detention room,” Mr Bridges will wake up eventually and if he sees the room empty then it’s a one way ticket to Saturday detention.” She leaned forward, eyes wide in faux fear and Jackie’s smile spread across her face. She wasn’t the only dramatic one on the team, clearly. “And do you know what they do in Saturday detention?” Nat shivered dramatically. “They make you do gardening.”
“Gardening?”
“Gardening.” Nat moved back again, one hand raking through her messy hair and a cookie in the other. She took a bite. “Do you know how difficult it is to get every single fucking weed out of the flowerbeds? Trust me, you don’t want to find out. And I’m pretty sure the pesticide I was meant to be using is actually a chemical weapon. It’s not worth completely abandoning detention just to get home a few hours earlier.”
“I’m positively shaking,” Jackie deadpanned and Van nearly choked on her snack.
Nat chose to ignore the sarcasm, nodding decisively as if Jackie was being honest. “You should be. The weeds kill your back. The thorns kill your hands.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s what gloves are for,” Jackie teased.
“Gloves? Nah, no way, cap!” Nat dramatically slapped her palm against her head. “Why didn’t I think of that one?! The school gloves are shit, if you can even call them gloves with the amount of holes in those things.”
“I’m sure Van would let you borrow hers,” Jackie said sweetly and a smirk appeared on Nat’s face.
She leaned towards Van, who was laying on the grass on her stomach and fiddling with her mini speaker. Nat poked her in the shoulder.
“Here that, Palmer? Cap thinks your keeper gloves would be great at tackling thorns.”
The speaker sparked to life, some old playlist that Van probably filled with music she’d heard from all those movies she watched. Jackie didn’t recognise it but it made a great soundtrack to the look of absolute horror on Van’s face at Nat’s words.
“No chance.”
Nat poked her again. “Come on, Van,” She heckled,” You don’t even want to try it? I promise to take great care of them.”
“No!”
“Boo!” Jackie jeered as Nat poked Van for a third time.
Van surged forward, pushing herself up from the ground to leap onto Nat’s body, wrestling her down onto her back. Nat shrieked with laughter, pushing and pulling at Van. They rolled around on the grass like a pair of squabbling cats.
“Fine! Fine! I give! Mercy! Mercy!”
Van rolled off Nat’s body, snagging a cookie on her way as the music played in the background and the soft summer breeze made the tree branches sway.
“I heard Shauna got into Brown,” Van said,” How’s that going to work?”
“What do you mean?” Jackie frowned in confusion.
“Well, you’re not going to Brown, are you?”
“Of course not. I’m going Rutgers.”
Van shrugged like that was explanation enough. It wasn’t.
Nat rolled her eyes, finally propping herself upright again. “Van’s asking what you and Shauna are going to do about that. The distance, I mean.”
Jackie glanced between them, brow still furrowed in confusion. “We’re still going to see each other. It’s only a four hour drive. We’ll see each other at weekends. We’ll call. We’re not going to cut off contact if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Obviously we know that,” Van said,” But still. Four hours each weekend?” She whistled a low note. “That’ll end up expensive.”
“It’ll be worth it!” Jackie said, suddenly feeling the need to defend herself.
Van lifted her hands up in apology before turning her head to Natalie. “Lesbians,” She said with a fond headshake,” Should have known Jackie would be willing.”
“You’re a lesbian, Van,” Nat pointed out.
“I know. That’s why I’m uniquely qualified to talk about it.”
Jackie’s mind froze, that little circle of death back in her mind as she buffered. Van’s words circled in her mind like a dog chasing its tail, forever just out of reach but still being unable to stop chasing. Her mouth was suddenly dry like she had been running cross country without a break or she’d been trekking through the desert with no water. “W-What?”
“It’s just a joke,” Van said,” I mean, I’m going to be doing the same with Tai so I’m not judging. I think it’s sweet.”
“But…I’m not a lesbian, Van.”
Van’s face did something complicated that Jackie couldn’t name, flicking between confusion to disbelief before settling on amusement. She burst into laughter that even Nat shared.
“That’s a good one, Jackie.”
“No, I’m serious. I’m not a lesbian.”
The laughter trailed off and Van and Nat exchanged a look.
“Are you sure?”
“I think I would know if I was a lesbian!”
“Yeah, well, you didn’t even realise you were in love with Shauna until this year so I think we can reserve judgement on that one,” Nat deadpanned.
“I’m not in love with Shauna!”
The looks of amusement Nat and Van were exchanging disappeared in an instant, both their brows shooting up to their hairlines.
“You’re not?”
“Why would you think I’m in love with Shauna?”
“The longing looks?” Van offered up.
“All the casual affection?” Nat added.
“The way you can’t have a conversation without bringing her up?”
“The fact that you wear her flannel when you get cold?”
“I bet you guys have slumber party makeouts on the weekends.”
Jackie’s face flushed, blood pumping into her cheeks. “N-No! We don’t!” The crack in her voice was embarrassingly incriminating.
“That’s so fucking gay, dude,” Van said.
“Girl best friends kiss each other all the time! It was practice! I was dating Jeff since freshman year.”
The look Van gave her spoke of complete disbelief. She gestured wordlessly at Jackie before turning to Nat with a pleading look.
“No.”
“Please, Nat? You’re so good at this stuff.”
“This is lesbian business,” Nat said decisively,” And as the token bisexual, I’m ceding the floor to you.”
“Nat, you can’t do this to me! She’s so far in the closet she might as well be in Narnia!”
“I’m not in the closet!” Jackie’s protest was ignored.
“Well, then Jackie can enjoy Narnia.”
“I’m not in Narnia!”
“Nat, please? Pleasepleasepleaseple-”
“Jesus, fine!” Nat clambered closer, hands on Jackie’s shoulders. “I’m sorry that you’re officially the last to know and I’m sorry I have to be the one to tell you but, cap, you’re a lesbian. A massive lesbian and you’re totally in love with Shauna.”
“I had a boyfriend! I was with Jeff!”
“And now you’ve broken up.”
“Breaking up with a boyfriend doesn’t make a girl a lesbian or in love with her best friend!”
Nat sighed like this was all one big hindrance to her. “Not every girl, no. But you? Yeah, it fucking does.”
“No, it doesn’t! I’m not a lesbian!”
“Oh, so we’ve moved on from denying you’re in love with Shauna. That’s good. That's progress.”
Jackie sputtered. “I’m not in love with Shauna either!”
“Jesus Christ,” Nat groaned,” This is going to be harder than I thought.” She rolled her shoulders and stretched out her neck like she was getting ready for a fight. Her hands held Jackie’s shoulders again, tighter than before like she was trying to imprint the importance of the conversation on Jackie's skin.
“Work your magic, Nat!” Van cheered.
“Listen to me very closely, cap. Look inwards or whatever. Find inner peace and acceptance. I don’t really care but I’m only saying this once. You are not into guys. You never had anything nice to say about Jeff and your favourite past time is complaining about how much boys suck. I’ve literally heard you say that kissing Jeff was like kissing sandpaper and that it didn’t set off any sparks, any passion or any feelings other than disgust.”
“When did I-”
“You were shit faced and crying in Mari’s bathtub. I’m a good listener,” Nat said with a shrug,” Look, the point I’m making is it sounds like you just randomly decided to ‘like’ Jeff one day because it’s what everyone expected.”
Jackie couldn’t refute that. Mainly because she knew that Nat was bang on with the truth. Jeff’s name had spilled from her lips freshman year in the lunch line when some girl she didn’t talk to anymore asked if there were any guys she found cute. Jackie wasn’t sure why she’d lied. She’d almost taken it back when she saw that sad look in Shauna’s eyes but she’d already dug her grave. She was content to lie in it at the time.
“And you’re totally in love with Shauna. Don’t deny it. You’ll insert her into any conversation you can. You look like you’re going to cry whenever she walks away. You stick to her side like she holds your leash. Shauna walks into a room and you stare and sigh at her like an overeager puppy.” Nat shrugged. “Plus, I caught you looking at her boobs in the locker room last week. You were drooling.”
“I was not drooling!” Jackie squeaked.
“Didn’t deny looking at her boobs,” Van muttered with a cheeky grin.
“Shauna has good boobs! I was just admiring them!”
“You’ve said a lot of gay shit before, Jackie, but that has to be the gayest shit in a very long time. Admiring Shauna’s boobs? And you’re not in love with her?”
The words lingered in the open air. The music from Van’s speaker still continued. The rustling of snack wrappers still continued. Jackie was buffering, that damn grey circle of death and her own overthinking keeping her trapped in her mind.
“Holy shit…”
Van and Nat exchanged a smug high five.
“I’m in love with Shauna?!”
“Houston, we have lift off!” Van cheered.
Jackie surged forward, her hands colliding with Nat’s shoulders and forcing her to land on her back with a thump. “How did you know? I didn’t even know. How did you…?”
“You’re like the least straight person I know,” Nat replied, apparently uncaring of the fact she was pinned to the ground by her half-crazed captain,” Which is saying something because I know Mari.”
“Mari’s gay too?!”
“We’re an all girls soccer team,” Van said, appearing over Jackie’s shoulder with her smug grin,” We’re all gay.”
“Laura Lee isn’t.”
“No, she is,” Nat replied, still pinned to the ground,” She kissed me and Lottie a few months ago.”
“Wait, seriously?” Van’s mouth hung open in shock. “Dude, why didn’t you tell me?”
Nat attempted to shrug. She didn’t manage it but the effect was there. “She was just trying it out. Clearly, me and Lottie are good kissers.”
“You’re saying you and Lottie turned Laura Lee gay?” Van laughed.
“I’m saying me and Lottie made Laura Lee realise she’s gay.” Nat shot her friends a lopsided smirk. “I’m great at that kind of thing.”
“At least you didn’t have to kiss Jackie.”
“Cap probably wouldn’t take me up on it anyway. The only lips she wants to kiss is Shauna’s.”
That kicked Jackie’s mind into gear. She released Nat, who rolled over and propped herself up on her side. All Jackie could think of was Shauna and her lips. Shauna and her perfect, pillow soft lips that had grazed Jackie’s so many times during their slumber party makeouts.
Shauna was the best kisser Jackie had ever met. Granted, her wealth of experience ended at only two people, one of them being Jeff, but Jackie was still confident in her opinion. Shauna was the best kisser in the world.
“Jesus, Nat, I think you broke her again.”
“Cap…Cap…Jackie!”
Jackie jolted out of her Shauna filled fantasies, a soft red flush on her face as she cleared her throat. “Yeah?”
“Detention’s nearly over,” Nat said. She stood and offered Jackie her hand. “We should get back before Mr Bridges wakes up.”
They crawled back through the window and Nat hurriedly swiped their things to lock back in the drawer. She took her seat at the back of her class, Van in the middle and Jackie front and centre.
Jackie looked down at her desk, absentmindedly rubbing over the wooden graining as she looked up at the clock.
Mr Bridges woke with a start, almost like his snoring was his own alarm clock, waking him right as the minute hand moved to signal the end of detention. He sat up in his seat, eyes roving on the three students, the perfect picture of compliance.
He cleared his throat gruffly, fishing the desk key out of his back pocket and retrieving everything he confiscated.
Jackie’s phone was dumped onto her desk and she snatched it up.
“Miss Taylor,” Mr Bridges said as he approached the front of the classroom again,” I hope I will not be seeing you here again.”
Jackie smiled sweetly. “I’ve learnt my lesson, sir.”
“Hmm. Sure. Palmer, I’m sure I’ll see you again at some point. Scatorccio, tomorrow I have a faculty meeting during last period so I may be a few minutes late. Apart from that-” Mr Bridges clapped his hands together. “-You’re all free to go.”
They walked shoulder to shoulder into the school parking lot.
Two cars idled there.
Tai was leaning against one of them, pushing off from it as Van split off from Jackie and Nat, waving goodbye. She stopped in front of Tai, that dopey smile on her face she always got when she had her girlfriend’s undivided attention. One hand reached out to cradle Tai’s waist while the other dropped her school bag like the whole thing was irrelevant now that they’d been reunited with each other.
Jackie was just a tad too far away to hear what they were whispering to each other but whatever Van said, it made Tai laugh with a fond eye roll and lace her fingers with Van’s, tugging her girlfriend closer and dipping down to press a soft peck to her lips.
Van’s face lit up like a Christmas tree, smiling widely as she surged forward to connect their lips a second time. Tai rolled her eyes again, popping open her car door and nudging Van towards it.
“Keep coming to detention and you’ll get used to that,” Nat muttered,” They act like they haven’t seen each other for years every time. It's disgusting.”
“I think they’re cute.”
“Yeah, well, you would. You’re a total sap for romance, cap. If you-” Nat cut herself off as a shiny car came squealing into the parking lot, a grin splitting her face open. “That’ll be my ride.”
Jackie could recognise Lottie’s car anywhere. It was a car way too fancy for a small town like Wiskayok but Mr Matthews had never been one for restraint. It parked seamlessly into an empty spot near the school entrance, roof popped off and Lottie smoothing down her windswept hair.
Nat hopped into the passenger seat without even opening the door. Lottie leaned over the gearbox instantly. One hand stayed on the wheel and the other curled around the back of Nat’s head, fingers tangling into her hair to pull her into a heated kiss. They parted for only a moment, just enough time to suck in more air before they were kissing again.
Jackie’s jaw dropped open.
“Fucking hypocrite,” She muttered to herself with a shocked laugh as Lottie’s car pealed out of the parking lot.
Only one car remained, one that Jackie was intimately familiar with, parked at the very back of the lot with its driver nose deep in a journal and hand scrawling words quickly across the page.
Jackie gathered her courage, knocking on the window and relishing in the cute little jolt Shauna made at the sound, head whipping up and light blush covering her cheeks. The window rolled down.
“Didn’t I text you and say to go home?” She asked.
Shauna just shrugged. “Is it a bad thing that I worry about you? That I want you to get home safe?”
Jackie rounded the car, acutely aware of the way Shauna’s eyes followed her the entire way. She pulled open the door and slid into the passenger seat. “You’re too sweet, Shauna. You really didn’t need to do this.”
“I’m your ride.”
“And I ended up in detention. You really didn’t have to wait for me.”
“Jax.” Shauna’s face did that thing that always made something odd and shy flutter in Jackie’s stomach. Her face softened. Her brows drew together slightly and the tiniest of pouts overtook her lips. Jackie was sure if she brought it up, Shauna would deny it. “Of course I was going to wait for you. Why wouldn’t I?”
“I guess I just thought you would rather go home.”
Shauna rolled her eyes, snapping her journal shut and leaning over to place it in the back seat. Jackie got a lungful of the soft perfume she’d bought Shauna a few months ago. She hadn’t thought Shauna would keep wearing it.
“Jax?” Shauna said softly,” Everything okay? You…You’re staring.”
“I…” Jackie’s heart skipped a beat and she cleared a throat, boldly reaching out to lay her hand on Shauna’s. “Go out on a date with me?”
“What?”
“Please? Would you like to go out on a date with me, Shauna?”
“Are you being serious?”
“Deadly.”
Shauna’s cute pout was wiped away by a grin so bright it could power the world. Jackie decided she liked it better than the pout.
“Yeah. I’d like that a lot.”