sadie2407 This was my second story about the guy. Word for word...just a different name.

😎😋😜

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I started eating with Jesse and his friends, and those were the people I really hung out with as October faded into November and November moved into December. Logan had started dating Ali again (big shocker there) so he was...preoccupied...during lunch, Maria and Janie ate with Will and his friends and Xavier started hanging with them, none bothering to talk to me. I was fine with that, it was easier and better.
Jesse and I began to get friendlier, he sometimes walked me to a class or two and I always could count on him to send me a smile in the hallway on the rare occasion that we saw each other. The day before winter break was quiet, over 50% of the school was already gone. Gina and Caleb were both away on trips so I didn't expect Jesse to want to eat lunch with me. He had other friends, and besides....he was a year older. He couldn't be bothered by a girl like me.

Boy was I wrong.

I had a free period right before lunch so me being...well me...I ended up wandering through the halls, bored. Fate decided to mess with me because at that same moment, Jesse was walking out of the library. When he say me he gave me a dimpled grin.

"Hey Charlie- cutting class already?" I rolled my eyes, a smile playing at my lips.

"Duh. I'm a bad girl, gotta keep up the reputation." Jesse chuckled and bumped my shoulder with his.

"So really whatchya doing?"

"Free period- had nothing to do. How about you?"

"Same." I flicked my straightened hair to the side.

"Twinning Tuesday!"

"It's Thursday." Pouting, I gave Jesse a look.

"Don't burst my bubble." He held his hands up defensively.

"Your bubble was annoying me." I laughed and he winked at me, opening his locker door. After a moment he asked, "So you're not doing anything at the moment?" I shook my head.

"Nah why?"

"Wanna walk around?" I snorted.

"That's what I waaaassss doing but you made me feel harshly judged." He brushed my comment aside.

"Just walk with me Char" I rolled my sleeves up and followed him down the echoing staircase, our voices bouncing off the walls. He was drinking an apple juice from the vending machine, slurping it greedily. I raised my eyebrow in amusement, watching the seventeen year old drink like a five year old.

"Having fun there?" He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Loads."

"So what's with the juice? You normally get something snazzier." Jesse looked nervous, which was completely out of the ordinary.

"Charlie wanna hear a story?"

"Uh sure?"

"Okay." He screwed on the cap, making sure it was tightly closed. "So today I was at the vending machines right? I was prepared to get a snapple with the fancy flavors like peach or or or um lemon and stuff. But then I looked down and saw the apple juice and I realized something." He paused and smiled lightly. "The apple juice was the drink I'd wanted all along, in the back of my mind. I'd just been too distracted by the fancy, over the top snapples to notice the simple apple juice was all I needed." He stopped his story.

"That's it?"

"What were you expecting a climax or something?" I popped a piece of gum into my mouth, the mint exploding on my tongue.

"Yes. Yes I was Jess." He flicked me in the ear as we made our way around the campus.

"You're ungrateful."

"You're a pumpkin." Jesse gasped in mock horror.

"Did you just call me fat?" I crossed my arms.

"So what if I did?"

"That would be very unladylike!" I blew a bubble and it exploded all over my face.

"Since when have I ever been considered anywhere close to a lady?"

"Touché." We walked around for ten solid minutes until the bell rang, signaling lunch. The two of us headed inside to drop off our book bags, reaching the hallway door that separated our two floors. Jesse glanced back at me, the heavy doorknob twisted in his dominant hand, his left, and said while looking me straight in the eye,

"You're my apple juice Charlie." With that the door shut behind him and I was left standing there like an idiot.