Michael/ Jamie: Vol1 Chap 12
Summary: Jamie is not universally loved, is concerned by Mike's apparent girl-chasing ways -- oh, and is STILL in denial. Meanwhile, Mike declares hatred of carrots and Schubert.
Excerpt: I wasn’t sure myself why I was cranky. Perhaps it had to do with being dragged out of bed by Tonie Melman, or having to work so hard so early in the morning, or not having that second cup of coffee… It could have been anything, really.
JAMIE
My friends were avoiding me.
I sat alone at a cafeteria table during lunch, watching as Tonie, Katie, and Sam all veered away from my table to sit down elsewhere. I couldn’t blame them. I was in a bit of a mood, and the three of them all knew it would be better to avoid me until I had calmed down.
I sighed, tearing a piece of garlic bread off. I wasn’t sure myself why I was cranky. Perhaps it had to do with being dragged out of bed by Tonie Melman, or having to work so hard so early in the morning, or not having that second cup of coffee… It could have been anything, really.
“Who’s Andrea Richardson and why does she hate you?”
I looked up, startled, and watched helplessly as Mike Harding set his lunch down in front of me. “What are you doing?”
“Sitting down. Well?”
I shook my head. “Why aren’t you sitting with Rachel Medina?”
“Oh, you mean her?” he asked, nodding over my left shoulder.
I craned my neck. Rachel Medina sat not far away, giggling next to some guy I recognized as a member of the softball team. Her hand was on his arm, and she kept leaning her head on his shoulder. The guy looked faintly embarrassed but not at all displeased.
I turned back to Mike, who was enthusiastically opening all his food containers - and mine. “Hey, leave my food alone!” I protested, yanking my tray away from him. “You guys broke up, huh?”
“We were never together to begin with.”
“You seem hurt.”
“It was a devastating blow to my ego. Can I have your peaches? I hate carrots. You can have mine in exchange.”
“If you weren’t together, what was up with all the PDA this morning?”
“A misunderstanding.”
“And yesterday? The day before that?”
“All misunderstandings. Some people take a while to process things,” he said casually.
I frowned. “I don’t get it. Why? I mean, she wasn’t at all your type. Why were you with her in the first place?”
“You don’t know what my type is.”
“Not her.”
He sighed. “Look, I asked her out for coffee last week and she blew the whole thing out of proportion, okay?”
“She forced all those kisses on you?”
“They weren’t entirely unpleasant.”
“Why would you ask her out?”
“I’ve answered twenty of your questions already, and you still haven’t answered mine!”
I sighed and pushed my brownie toward him. “Trade you this for an answer.”
Mike stared at me. “Do you think I have no principles?”
I pushed my slices of roast beef toward him.
“I wanted something,” he replied easily, taking my food.
“That’s disgusting.”
“It wasn’t sex,” he said, rolling his eyes and biting into his sandwich.
“Then what was it?”
“None of your business. So who’s Andrea Richardon?”
I raised my eyebrows. “You really don’t know?”
“No.”
“You sit two rows behind her in calculus and Mr. Russo calls on her to answer all the time. I would have thought she’d be the first person from class you’d remember. She’s pretty.”
“I have different standards,” he said loftily, which made me roll my eyes. “And why does she hate you?”
I sighed. “I don’t know. We used to be friends, when I first moved here. But then she stopped being friendly just before the summer after our sophomore year. I never really found out why. I used to wonder if I offended her somehow, but now I think she just decided she’d rather be friends with other people.”
“You just gave up?”
“Of course not. But her putting worms on my biology workbench was the last straw.” I made a face in memory. “She was just so childish about it.”
“Hmmm…”
“Why do you ask?”
“No reason,” he said innocently, taking a sip of soda. “I have to go.”
I blinked in surprise. “Go?”
“Music room. For the record, I hate Schubert.” He picked up the remains of his obliterated lunch and walked away, leaving me with my mouth half-open and a protest half-uttered.
* * *
“You seem like you’re finally in a good mood,” a voice just behind me said later as I was making my way to the gym for my four o’clock painting session of the day.
I stopped in my tracks and turned to stare at Tonie Melman. “What?”
“You’re, like, skipping,” she said, amused. “Are you going off to help Mike paint?”
“Yes. But that’s not what I’m skipping for,” I said quickly.
“I never said it was,” she said mildly, raising her eyebrows. She grinned. “See you tomorrow, JJ.”
“You’re not helping us again?”
Tonie shook her head. “I can’t. I have stuff to do at home, so you can have Mike all to yourself.”
“Go away,” I muttered under my breath. She was really annoying.
“Hey, JJ.”
Finally, a person that made me smile. “Jon! Hi! I haven’t seen you since this morning- You’re grinning like crazy. You’re scaring me.”
Jonathan laughed, kissing me on top of the head. He looked happy. “Thanks.”
I was confused. “Er... What for?”
He blinked at me. “You don’t need to pretend. Who else could it have come from?”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, exasperated. I glanced at my watch. If he wasn’t going to get to the point any time soon, I was going to get yelled at. I knew Mike had very little patience with tardiness.
He held up a thick, ancient book that looked deeply boring and obscure. “This. I’ve been looking for this forever. I told you about it before. Where did you get this? I’ve torn the bookshops apart.”
“Jonathan, I can’t even pronounce the author’s name. I have no clue where that book came from.”
He frowned. “But it was in my locker. And it had a red ribbon and a card with my name on it and everything.”
“Maybe Tonie put it there,” I suggested, although that sounded even more unlikely. Jonathan and Tonie somehow managed to avoid showing each other any kind of sibling affection. Last year, on Christmas day, Jonathan had given Tonie a pair of jeans four sizes too large. The fight that had followed had ended with Tonie screaming that she was not that fat while whacking her brother repeatedly with a huge stuffed dog Aaron had given her.
I knew they adored each other. Only they showed it by arguing all the time.
I glanced at my watch again. “I really have to go,” I told him apologetically and pressed a hurried kiss on his cheek. “I’ll call you when I get home!” I tossed over my shoulder as I ran off.
I was sort of skipping. For some reason, my horrible mood had evaporated after lunch.
I reached the gym doors and pushed them open, wondering if Mike was already there.
He was. And he wasn’t alone. Katie Tanner was with him, still in her cheerleading uniform, talking with him. They both looked up and fell silent when I walked in.
“Hi…” I said slowly. “Am I interrupting anything?”
“I was just going back to practice,” Katie said quickly. “Mike, an hour?”
“Whatever you say,” came the reply. Mike had already turned away and was hauling out paint buckets and brushes.
Katie smiled vaguely at me and ran off.
I dropped my things on the floor next to Mike’s cello. “What was that all about?”
“Wow. You just love asking about things that are none of your business, don’t you?” Mike asked without looking at me. “You should go change.”
“I was just curious.”
“Uh-huh. We’ve only got an hour here, Jamie. Let’s not waste it.”
“An hour…” I suddenly had a very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that I couldn’t explain. “Are you going out with Katie?”
“I’m not obliged to answer that.”
“Mike, you were making out with Rachel just this morning and now you have a date with Katie? She’s my friend!”
He sighed deeply. “Jamie, I’m not in the mood for this right now, okay? What Katie and I do has nothing to do with you so just leave it alone, please.”
“As her friend, I’m concerned. If you’re just messing around-”
Mike dropped an empty paint bucket with clatter. “All right. That’s it. We’re done for the day, okay? Pack up. Go home.”
“What?”
He ignored me, picked up his things, and walked out of the door, just like that. I was too surprised to move.
I couldn’t understand what he was doing. Was he really just the girl-chasing jerk he was rumored to be or not? On the one hand, Katie was too smart to fall for that kind of guy, but that was exactly how Mike was behaving.
I slowly gathered up my things, my heart suddenly full of apprehension as an inexplicable and unidentifiable feeling settled into my stomach.
Excerpt: I wasn’t sure myself why I was cranky. Perhaps it had to do with being dragged out of bed by Tonie Melman, or having to work so hard so early in the morning, or not having that second cup of coffee… It could have been anything, really.
JAMIE
My friends were avoiding me.
I sat alone at a cafeteria table during lunch, watching as Tonie, Katie, and Sam all veered away from my table to sit down elsewhere. I couldn’t blame them. I was in a bit of a mood, and the three of them all knew it would be better to avoid me until I had calmed down.
I sighed, tearing a piece of garlic bread off. I wasn’t sure myself why I was cranky. Perhaps it had to do with being dragged out of bed by Tonie Melman, or having to work so hard so early in the morning, or not having that second cup of coffee… It could have been anything, really.
“Who’s Andrea Richardson and why does she hate you?”
I looked up, startled, and watched helplessly as Mike Harding set his lunch down in front of me. “What are you doing?”
“Sitting down. Well?”
I shook my head. “Why aren’t you sitting with Rachel Medina?”
“Oh, you mean her?” he asked, nodding over my left shoulder.
I craned my neck. Rachel Medina sat not far away, giggling next to some guy I recognized as a member of the softball team. Her hand was on his arm, and she kept leaning her head on his shoulder. The guy looked faintly embarrassed but not at all displeased.
I turned back to Mike, who was enthusiastically opening all his food containers - and mine. “Hey, leave my food alone!” I protested, yanking my tray away from him. “You guys broke up, huh?”
“We were never together to begin with.”
“You seem hurt.”
“It was a devastating blow to my ego. Can I have your peaches? I hate carrots. You can have mine in exchange.”
“If you weren’t together, what was up with all the PDA this morning?”
“A misunderstanding.”
“And yesterday? The day before that?”
“All misunderstandings. Some people take a while to process things,” he said casually.
I frowned. “I don’t get it. Why? I mean, she wasn’t at all your type. Why were you with her in the first place?”
“You don’t know what my type is.”
“Not her.”
He sighed. “Look, I asked her out for coffee last week and she blew the whole thing out of proportion, okay?”
“She forced all those kisses on you?”
“They weren’t entirely unpleasant.”
“Why would you ask her out?”
“I’ve answered twenty of your questions already, and you still haven’t answered mine!”
I sighed and pushed my brownie toward him. “Trade you this for an answer.”
Mike stared at me. “Do you think I have no principles?”
I pushed my slices of roast beef toward him.
“I wanted something,” he replied easily, taking my food.
“That’s disgusting.”
“It wasn’t sex,” he said, rolling his eyes and biting into his sandwich.
“Then what was it?”
“None of your business. So who’s Andrea Richardon?”
I raised my eyebrows. “You really don’t know?”
“No.”
“You sit two rows behind her in calculus and Mr. Russo calls on her to answer all the time. I would have thought she’d be the first person from class you’d remember. She’s pretty.”
“I have different standards,” he said loftily, which made me roll my eyes. “And why does she hate you?”
I sighed. “I don’t know. We used to be friends, when I first moved here. But then she stopped being friendly just before the summer after our sophomore year. I never really found out why. I used to wonder if I offended her somehow, but now I think she just decided she’d rather be friends with other people.”
“You just gave up?”
“Of course not. But her putting worms on my biology workbench was the last straw.” I made a face in memory. “She was just so childish about it.”
“Hmmm…”
“Why do you ask?”
“No reason,” he said innocently, taking a sip of soda. “I have to go.”
I blinked in surprise. “Go?”
“Music room. For the record, I hate Schubert.” He picked up the remains of his obliterated lunch and walked away, leaving me with my mouth half-open and a protest half-uttered.
* * *
“You seem like you’re finally in a good mood,” a voice just behind me said later as I was making my way to the gym for my four o’clock painting session of the day.
I stopped in my tracks and turned to stare at Tonie Melman. “What?”
“You’re, like, skipping,” she said, amused. “Are you going off to help Mike paint?”
“Yes. But that’s not what I’m skipping for,” I said quickly.
“I never said it was,” she said mildly, raising her eyebrows. She grinned. “See you tomorrow, JJ.”
“You’re not helping us again?”
Tonie shook her head. “I can’t. I have stuff to do at home, so you can have Mike all to yourself.”
“Go away,” I muttered under my breath. She was really annoying.
“Hey, JJ.”
Finally, a person that made me smile. “Jon! Hi! I haven’t seen you since this morning- You’re grinning like crazy. You’re scaring me.”
Jonathan laughed, kissing me on top of the head. He looked happy. “Thanks.”
I was confused. “Er... What for?”
He blinked at me. “You don’t need to pretend. Who else could it have come from?”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, exasperated. I glanced at my watch. If he wasn’t going to get to the point any time soon, I was going to get yelled at. I knew Mike had very little patience with tardiness.
He held up a thick, ancient book that looked deeply boring and obscure. “This. I’ve been looking for this forever. I told you about it before. Where did you get this? I’ve torn the bookshops apart.”
“Jonathan, I can’t even pronounce the author’s name. I have no clue where that book came from.”
He frowned. “But it was in my locker. And it had a red ribbon and a card with my name on it and everything.”
“Maybe Tonie put it there,” I suggested, although that sounded even more unlikely. Jonathan and Tonie somehow managed to avoid showing each other any kind of sibling affection. Last year, on Christmas day, Jonathan had given Tonie a pair of jeans four sizes too large. The fight that had followed had ended with Tonie screaming that she was not that fat while whacking her brother repeatedly with a huge stuffed dog Aaron had given her.
I knew they adored each other. Only they showed it by arguing all the time.
I glanced at my watch again. “I really have to go,” I told him apologetically and pressed a hurried kiss on his cheek. “I’ll call you when I get home!” I tossed over my shoulder as I ran off.
I was sort of skipping. For some reason, my horrible mood had evaporated after lunch.
I reached the gym doors and pushed them open, wondering if Mike was already there.
He was. And he wasn’t alone. Katie Tanner was with him, still in her cheerleading uniform, talking with him. They both looked up and fell silent when I walked in.
“Hi…” I said slowly. “Am I interrupting anything?”
“I was just going back to practice,” Katie said quickly. “Mike, an hour?”
“Whatever you say,” came the reply. Mike had already turned away and was hauling out paint buckets and brushes.
Katie smiled vaguely at me and ran off.
I dropped my things on the floor next to Mike’s cello. “What was that all about?”
“Wow. You just love asking about things that are none of your business, don’t you?” Mike asked without looking at me. “You should go change.”
“I was just curious.”
“Uh-huh. We’ve only got an hour here, Jamie. Let’s not waste it.”
“An hour…” I suddenly had a very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that I couldn’t explain. “Are you going out with Katie?”
“I’m not obliged to answer that.”
“Mike, you were making out with Rachel just this morning and now you have a date with Katie? She’s my friend!”
He sighed deeply. “Jamie, I’m not in the mood for this right now, okay? What Katie and I do has nothing to do with you so just leave it alone, please.”
“As her friend, I’m concerned. If you’re just messing around-”
Mike dropped an empty paint bucket with clatter. “All right. That’s it. We’re done for the day, okay? Pack up. Go home.”
“What?”
He ignored me, picked up his things, and walked out of the door, just like that. I was too surprised to move.
I couldn’t understand what he was doing. Was he really just the girl-chasing jerk he was rumored to be or not? On the one hand, Katie was too smart to fall for that kind of guy, but that was exactly how Mike was behaving.
I slowly gathered up my things, my heart suddenly full of apprehension as an inexplicable and unidentifiable feeling settled into my stomach.