"What did you need to talk about?" Jackson asked. I was shaken out of my trance.

Had I been staring at him this entire time?

"Right, um, so, basically, I just kinda, well actually, totally, definitely..."

"Spit it out, Jasmine," he said.

Alright Jas, you can do this.

"I like you."

SCREEEEEEEEEEECH

The tires wailed as Jackson braked hard. He looked at me in disbelief with wide eyes.

"You what?!"

Uh oh. This wasn't the reaction I'd imagined. Where was the soft smile of happiness and the declaration of requited love?

"I knew this was a bad idea," I said to his frozen figure. "I'll just leave..."

I don't know what I was thinking when I said this, because we were on the side of a road, but I started to step out.

"Wait!" Jackson said, grabbing my hand. I turned around with a smile, ready for my fantasy to come true.

"Uhh, you forgot your backpack...."

Really, dude? Like, seriously? Why do I even like you?

I scowled and reached out to grab the stupid bag out of stupid Jackson's stupid hand.

"Wait!" he repeated. What now, my purse?

"You forgot me," he said.

"What?"

He shook his head.

"Wait, that sounded so much better in my head. I'm starting over. Wait! I..I like you, too."

I could hardly believe what he was telling me. It didn't seem real.

Well, Jackson was being a fool so it was probably real.

"You mean it? This isn't some kind of joke right?" I asked, clambering back into the car. He took my hand and smiled at me.

"I had this whole thing planned out. I was going to ask you out, and we'd go on our first date, and then we'd have our first kiss under the moon on a picnic blanket." He shook his head and laughed. "But you ruined it by kissing me in a cookie dough haze. I should have known anything with you involved would be complicated."

My heart swelled at his confession. "Well, it's no picnic blanket under the stars, but I'd be down to have our first non-cookie dough hazed kiss right here."

"I could say the same."

---

"OH MY GOD! MY SHIP HAS BECOME CANON!!!!!" Noah screamed when Jax and I walked into the school holding hands.

"It worked? It worked!" Bhoomi squealed.

"I'm surprised Jackson didn't act like a total idiot and scare her off," Cami snorted. I grinned and Jax shrugged sheepishly.

"He almost did."

Lucas smiled knowingly.

"I'm happy for you guys," Josh said.

"What is going on here?!" someone screeched behind us. We turned to see Tami.

"Who the hell are you?" Josh asked. I was wondering the same thing. She was completely irrelevant. Nothing more than an average popular wannabe. Why did she care about anything we did?

Tami bared her teeth at me and grabbed Jackson's arm.

"He is mine," she growled.

I couldn't hold back a laugh. Once I burst, the others followed. Even Jackson had to chuckle. The poor girl's fierce expression melted into a look of confusion.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"No. Jackson is Jasmine's boyfriend. You are nothing but a jealous fangirl trying to get in the middle of true love," Bhoomi stated. Jackson and I blushed at the word love. We had only just started dating!

"Come on guys. This flat character is not worth a paragraph," she finished, walking away.

"Flat character? Did you really just call her that?" Cami groaned.

"What does that even mean?" I asked.

"Girl, you really need a tutor. A flat character is someone that has no depth, the backstory, no real meaning. Someone totally irrelevant."

"Okaaaaay," Lucas replied. "What does that have to do with a real life situation?"

Bhoomi blushed slightly.

"I kind of...okay, don't laugh, but I sorta consider my life to be a story. I'm the main character. You guys are like supporting leads. People like her that nobody gives a crap about are flat characters. Her motivations are so 2D that she doesn't matter enough to be a part of my life," she explained.

"What the hell, Bhoomi?"

---

Jax and I walked down the candy aisle of Walmart looking for some of the best food in the world

"Found it," I said, reaching for a bag of Reese's stuffed with Reece's pieces.

"Okay, next is... Nutella," Jax read off of our list. We had compiled it during lunch based on everyone's requests for our party. Yup, a party. Our group has insisted that we celebrate our new relationship with a whole lot of food. I'd hardly consider it a party, since it was only the six of us.

"This is probably the perfect first date," I gushed, grabbing jars of my favorite spread from the shelves. Jackson snickered.

"Date? Please, do you even know me? Our first date is going to be elaborate and well planned out. Not a trip to Walmart!"

"Do you even know me? I don't need something big like that. I'm perfectly fine with a Walmart run."

Jax wrapped his arm around my shoulder and looked down at me.

"I know," he said. "But I want to give you everything you deserve." I blushed at his words and pushed him away.

"Didn't know you were such a sap, Aferman."

He pushed me back.

"Didn't know you got easily flustered like that, Rega." Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "I have the best idea!"

I groaned. This would not be good.

"Hear me out," he pleaded. "Sit in the cart."
I crossed my arms. No way was I going to die because of this idiot.

"Boy, you really thought I'd endanger myself like that?"

"You're such a killjoy," Jax groaned. "Fine, if that's how you want to be..." With that, he lifted my up and dropped me in the cart, shaking the whole thing. It almost toppled over! Before I could even open my mouth to yell, J had started to race down the aisle.

"JACKSON AFERMAN, IF I DIE, I WILL KILL YOU!" I shrieked. My hair flew behind me and I feared that I'd blind him.

"YOU BETTER STOP THIS CART RIGHT THIS SECOND OR NO NUTELLA FOR YOU!"

The cart skidded to a stop. I knew that would work.

"Alright fine. But stay in the cart. It gives me a workout." He said.

We rolled up to the cashier as I shouted, "Are you calling me fat?!"

It must have been a sight to see me in that cart filled with candy yelling at him. I shot a glance at the cashier, who caught my eye.

"It's cool," she shrugged. "You get used to seeing weird shit when you work at Walmart."

Did she just call me weird shit? Excuse you.

-☺︎☺︎☺︎-

Friday morning, I opened my eyes wearily. For a second, I wondered where I was, because I couldn't recognize the room. Then I realized it was my room; except I'd cleaned it for the party tonight. The change was dramatic.

Bhoomi and Cami were waiting outside in their car. I clambered in and we took off towards hell.

"Can you believe the art project Ms. Casmir assigned us?" I asked Cami. She groaned.

"I know, right? It's so stupid!"

"What's the project?" Bhoomi questioned. She was lucky enough to be in Mr. Sorit's class.

"We have to choose one color and write a two page essay about what it represents and then paint something using only shades of that color!" I explained. At first, it hadn't sounded to bad, but lemme tell you; it is near impossible to write a long essay on how red is "symbolic" and "more than just a color".

"It's too much for someone as artistically challenged as me," Cami grumbled.

"More like mentally challenged," Bhoomi replied.

"You wanna say something?"

"I just did."

"You know what? Square up, bi-"

"And this is why I get rides from Jackson instead," I thought. Apparently I said it out loud, because the two girls whipped their heads towards me and smirked.

"Ooooo, someone's in loooove," they sang.

"LOOK AT THE GODDAMN ROAD BEFORE YOU KILL US ALL, BHOOMI!" I screeched.

-☺︎☺︎☺︎-

During the last period of the day, we had a substitute teacher. So of course, we went wild. It's like an unspoken rule. Even the teachers are aware. Mr. Kramer didn't even leave any work for the sub to give us!

We were all sitting in a circle when Cassie walked by. She didn't say anything. A bit later she walked past again. Still nothing. She just kept silently crossing in front of us for no reason, like a shark hunting it's prey. Mason hovered behind her.

Noah finally got sick of it.

"You got something to say?" he asked.

"Welllllll," she started. I could already smell trouble. "I heard that two someone's are dating."

Jackson stood. "You heard right. Anything else?"

"Yes," Cassie huffed. "You belong with me."

About 7 people said "what?" at the exact same time.

My group, along with Tami and Mason.

"Oh shit," Josh said. "You're really into Jackson even though you're dating Mason?"

Cassie got red but stood her ground. "Yes. Yes I do. I keep Mason around because... well, why not?"

Is this girl for real?

"You keep me around?!" Mason roared from behind her. Cassie practically jumped out of her skin in fear. "I'M THE ONE THAT KEEPS STUPID ASS AROUND. YOU SHOULD CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY I CAN EVEN STAND TO BE ARUND YOU!"

"OMG YOU'RE LITERALLY THE WORST. I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE ACTING LIKE I DID SOMETHING WRONG. LIKE, HULLO. THE REAL BAD GUY HERE IS JASMINE."

"What did I do?" I wondered.

Mason yelled right back at Cassie. "THIS ISN'T ABOUT JASMINE. IN FACT, I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY I EVER DID ANYTHING TO HER. YOU'RE THE REAL PROBLEM!"

"Both of you need to stop shouting right this instant," the sub commanded, stepping between two active bombs. Talk about a bad move.

Cassie turned toward him.

"You want a piece of me, old man?" With that, she launched herself at him. They both fell to the ground with Cassie swiping at him with her long nails in a fit of rage.

"Somebody get a teacher! Cassie's gone rabid," Lucas urged. The rest of us stood there in shock at the sight. Cassie never got her hands dirty, and she always had a poised demeanor. At least, as poised as a bully could be.

"Yikes," Mason said. "I wish I'd dropped her sooner."

-☺︎☺︎☺︎-

"To make a long story short-"

"I put a whole bag of jellybeans up my ass," Noah finished. Lucas looked at him, horrified.

"What? I just... n-no. I was going to say Cassie got expelled."

"Cassie got expelled? YESSSSSS," Bhoomi cheered. She looked like a freak, jumping up and down in the middle of the parking lot, but I understood why. We had finally gotten rid of Regina George. All was well in the world.