CHAPTER 20: sorting out Jaxon and Nicole's problem

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I watched as Nicole and Jaxon argued in the distance. I told Nicole to talk about her problems with Jaxon because he was getting suspicious as to why she was ignoring him and it got pretty heated. I originally talked to Nicole and Jaxon about what they should do and soon, the pair have arranged to meet up and talk about what was going on. It was a lot harder for Nicole because tonight, she was supposed to be going on her date with Jaxon, but it seemed to her that he's just forgotten completely.

"Don't worry, you've got this. If he doesn't apologise for doing what he did to you then you don't deserve a sneak like him," Kelly spoke to her as she only nodded. This was difficult for Nicole so we all decided to stay in the distance, close but not too close.

Jaxon came in with Owen and a few other gang members. They were having a laugh together, but all of that seemed to stop when Jax's eyes met Nicole's. Owen patted him on the shoulder before joining me to one of the nearby lockers.

"Things were pretty tense when we got in. What's up with those two, anyway?" he asked as I only shrugged.

"Some...stuff...I don't know. It's really complicated," I said, looking back at them. Nicole had begun to get a little bit louder and was more pissed off now than she was before as Jaxon only looked at her confused. Whenever I saw a couple fight, it always reminded me of my parents and this situation hasn't changed my perspective one bit, "it's only getting worse, but I told both of them to talk it out together."

"How are you, anyway? I hope things are better for you." that made my attention turn to him. What is he talking about? I know it can't be about my past because he doesn't even know anything about it, apart from the fact he caught my parents arguing that one night. Slowly, I walked towards him, a confused expression on my face.

"What...are you talking about?" I asked, my voice quiet as he scratched the back of his neck with a sheepish look on his face, "no, like seriously, what are you on about? You literally know nothing about me and you're acting as if you know everything about my life."

He looked defensively at me and raised his hands up in surrender. It wasn't that I was angry at him. I just didn't want him to know everything about my parents, not now and maybe not ever, but I wanted to know why he asked me that. Maybe he's just checking on me and that he doesn't actually know, but it feels like he does and he's getting me to prove it.

"I was just asking so you don't have to get all defensive about it. It doesn't hurt to be nice sometimes," he spoke, his voice quiet as my mouth closed immediately, "unless, you're hiding something."

There was a suspicious look in his eyes as he smirked down at me. I gulped before moving my gaze back to Jaxon and Nicole. She was starting to get all in his face and snapping. Oof, it really isn't getting any better, I thought.

"Well, I can't really apologise for something that I didn't even know I did." he barked in her face suddenly as she clutched the roots of her hair tugging gently, a distressed look on her face. That's what seemed to make Nicole crumble, not from the pressure, but from the shouting. Jaxon had a cold look in his eyes as a tear ran down Nicole's cheek, "you expect me to apologise for something I didn't even know I did. Why don't you provide some evidence for your accusations first?"

"Will you just stop lying to yourself like this? For fuck's sake, I saw you all over that girl a few days ago. I wasn't hallucinating, I wasn't drunk and I definitely wasn't asleep!" the more they argued, the more it got worst and it soon got so bad, Owen thought his brother was going to hit her.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Owen barked as he stepped in between them facing his brother and lightly pushing him away from getting any closer to Nicole, who ran into my arms and buried her face in the crook of my neck, sobs leaving her. Well, this didn't turn out well, "chill out, bro!"

I held Nicole in my arms as she cried and I rubbed her back. Owen moved Jaxon away, calming him down. I was expecting it to be bad, but not this bad. Jaxon literally nearly hit her and for the first time in ever, I was so glad Owen was there to stop anything from happening. Most of the students had dispersed from watching the scene unfold and soon, Nicole's sobs just turned into sniffs and that was it.

"Just breathe, okay? It'll be fine," I spoke to her as she sat next to me, blowing her nose on a tissue, "that was...okay, but—"

"That was okay? Wow, you and I have very different definitions of okay," she said, a small smile cracking on that face of her's and I sighed before a smile returns to my face, "it was really scary. I genuinely thought he was going to hit me."

In the years I've known Jaxon, I've never heard of him ever trying to harm a girl as he did to Nicole, but he doesn't even know what he did wrong. Something must've happened to him to make him act the way he did. He wouldn't lie to Nicole like that because he was never really the best liar. We could've caught him out for it ages ago.

Kelly and Cass soon rush towards us with concerned looks on their faces. Under her arm, Cass held a paper bag of doughnuts and sipped on her iced latte as Nicole explained the whole situation to them. It went by pretty quick and we were both still shaken up, but I think I can also say that Jaxon must feel pretty shit and worn out over what happened. That didn't suit Kelly though. The look in her eyes made it seem like she wanted to strangle the guy.

"I have doughnuts if that's going to make you feel better," Cass spoke up, her tone oblivious as I shot her a look. Kelly sighed before shaking her head at Cass, "what? Food is always the way to a woman's heart."

"Not the time, Cass. I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to talk to Jaxon later at our tutoring lesson. Maybe then, once everyone's calmed down, I can get some proper answers this time." I wouldn't call myself a detective, but I've watched enough crime shows to know what to expect and ask during an interrogation. The others may hate Jaxon's guts, but I know he's whipped for Nicole and he would never hurt her intentionally, maybe by accident, but never on purpose.

"Just don't make him angry again because I highly doubt you'll get out of there alive," Nicole retorted and I nodded. We all stayed a while to comfort her until lesson time began in which I managed to find Owen so we headed to our science lesson together.

It wasn't too bad being around him and the more time I spent around him, the more I got used to his presence. Every time felt like the whole gang was back together again. It felt like we were all sixteen again and I just wanted to feel that forever. I wanted to feel as if there was no care in the world for me.

We sat in our lesson, my pen tapping lightly on the table. Owen's knee was bobbing up and down against mine and I could tell he was getting annoyed by my tapping, but he was trying not to show it. I continued, deep in thought until he takes my pen from me. Staring at my hand in confusion, my eyebrows furrowed together.

"Hey, what was that for?" I whispered sharply, trying to snatch my pen from him. He looked at me plainly before handing me my pen back.

"Keep doing that with your pen and you'll knock a hole in the table," he told me simply before flipping the page of his textbook to move onto the next questions. I just huffed and continued with what I was doing before. No, I wasn't tapping my pen, but I was overthinking.

Something just wasn't right. There's no way Jaxon would hurt Nicole like this and there was no way he would lead her astray like that on purpose. God, I wasn't focusing. Need. To. Focus. Focus. I lightly hit my head against my hand. Owen looked at me, turning back and and then looked at me weirdly.

"Stop overthinking about Jaxon. He needs to chill and we need to find out what happened," he said as I nodded before biting my lip. But what if we don't find out what happened? What if Jaxon actually hurt her on purpose?

No, stop being so negative. Miss negative you are. Shove a stick up your arse if you're not going to be positive. My conscience was screaming at me to just chill out because I'm thinking way too hard about this. All I know is that Nicole's my best friend and I can't let her get hurt anymore than she already is.

That lesson was an absolute bust. I couldn't concentrate the whole lesson and the only time I ever stopped zoning out was when my teacher mentioned one of teacher's had a birthday and he got cake.

You fat bitch, always thinking about food.

Okay, sorry. I didn't know it was now illegal for me to be hungry. I gulped before rolling my eyes. I headed with Owen to talk to Jaxon. He was sat by the bleachers that afternoon, glistening in sweat as he panted. His face was in his hands as he tried to control his breathing.

"J, head up. You have company," his brother said casually as he looked up to see me. His frown deepened. Well, that's the first I've seen someone disappointed to see me, "don't frown like that. You look like a douche."

Owen swatted his brother behind the head before heading up the steps to sit behind him. I needed to know what happened so I can help them both. Hating them for fighting was just one of the difficulties I faced as I soon got known for being the 'couples councillor' of my group. It was like 'always the bridesmaid, never the bride' but in a therapeutic way.

"Right, clearly, there's some confusion as to who did what. I'm going to ask you a few easy questions and if you dare lie to me, I will give you the biggest wedgie you've ever experienced in your life, got it?" he nodded quickly when I pointed a finger at him. Smiling, I settled on the bleacher next to him, placing my bag down next to me and staring at the open field.

"Right, do you know what you did wrong?" I asked, "because Nicole doesn't believe a single word you told her and neither do I. I saw you with my own two eyes getting all touchy-feely with that girl and I know you're not going out with her, but it is a bit disrespectful to your date."

Jaxon sighed as he rested his head in his hands before looking up at me with desperation in his eyes. I needed to know if he even remembers what happened that day and I need to know what caused him to be like this.

"Brielle, you have to believe me. I seriously don't know what happened that day. All I remember was having a small amount to drink to get me through the day and then I wake up the next morning with a huge hangover, but I didn't even drink that much."

Hm, that's odd. Maybe he has low alcohol intake tolerance or whatever those fancy people call it. Jaxon's never been good at controlling things so maybe that's what happened. Maybe he had a bit too much to drink or something and went a bit tipsy.

"Are you sure you didn't have much to drink?" I asked him as he nodded, running hid hands through his hair in frustration.

"Only a shot." okay, so at least we know he didn't get drunk. God, that would've been bad for his image, "I've told her that, but she won't believe me. Said she saw me with her own two eyes, but I don't remember it."

"Well, I'm stumped," I said, already giving up because my brain's been fried by the hot heat and overthinking, "Owen, do you know anything?"

I turned around to see Owen deep in thought before he spoke up, his voice low and a murmur. We had to make sure this didn't spread to other people so they couldn't start rumours. God, the people in this school practically feed upon gossip. 

"It is possible he could've been drugged. Although it's highly unlikely because our house is in the centre so people would know when a stranger came in and get them taken out if they were a threat." of course, he could've been drugged. It's the strongest possible lead we have right now and it could be right. Obviously, it still doesn't make the situation any better.

"Well, lets just say that he was drugged. You would have to speak to Nicole about it and everything once we've gathered every ounce of information we can get. I want you to prove to her that she was right to like-like you and that it's not something she regrets. You have to make her believe in you again, okay?" Jaxon just sighed before nodding, a small smile forming on his face.

"Okay, Brielle. Okay."

END OF CHAPTER 20

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