21 Chapter 21 (1/2)

The next day, Saturday of October 5th, Emma and Wyatt met with Jessica outside of the school gates. As Wyatt and Emma were approaching, Jessica looked rather down, but seemed to cheer up as the two of them approached. ”Why the long face?” Emma asks.

”Hm?” Jessica asks.

”Uh.. never mind then” Emma says. ”So are we just going outside of town, or did you have something else in mind before that?”.

”I didn't really have anything else planned” Jessica says, ”why?”.

Emma turns around and shows her backpack. ”I've gotta drop off some stuff at Savvy Threads. Wanna come with?”.

Jessica smiles and says ”Sure”.

As they walk, Wyatt thinks to himself ”Everyone has been acting kinda down or bothered lately... now even Jessica. Is there something big going on that I don't know about?”.

”Welcome!” Matilda says as the three of them enter the store. ”Oh, it's Emma!” Matilda says after noticing the group that entered. ”Got something new today?”.

”Yeah” Emma says as she takes off her backpack. Today, Emily wasn't at the store with Matilda. Emily was staying home with her parents while they're in town.

The exchange between Emma and Matilda went by quickly. After the two of them finished their business, Matilda asks ”So what are you guys doing out together today?”.

”Just hanging out” Wyatt says, ”and taking some time to relax”.

”Well, don't relax too much” Matilda says. ”I know it's the weekend, but you still have to worry about school. You guys haven't been skipping on homework, have you?”.

”N-no” Jessica says.

”Well, carry on” Matilda says. ”See you later, Emma”.

”Bye Matilda!” Emma says as they leave.

As the three of them finally make it out to the clearing outside of the forest, they all sit down on the grass. Jessica pulls out some quick snacks like chips and stuff. Wyatt laughs and says ”Is this everything? Not much of a picnic”.

”Ha ha, yeah” Jessica says. ”There wasn't really much I could actually fit in my backpack, and I couldn't afford much either”.

”Well, it's fine to just relax anyways” Wyatt says.

”Is there a particular occasion for this?” Emma asks.

”Not really” Jessica says, scratching the back of her head. ”Just... bored, y'know? But seriously...” suddenly Jessica's voice seemed to lower, ”Thanks for tagging along. I know it isn't much, but I've been needing things to do”.

”Hey, it's no problem” Wyatt says. ”Is something wrong?”.

”It's just...” Jessica says, ”I've never really had friends... or at least, not any good ones”.

”What do you mean?” Emma asks. ”Was it hard trying to make friends in high school too?”.

”... Yeah” Jessica says. ”I was always kinda a dumb kid... and no one would benefit from being around me”.

As the three of them sit down, Jessica begins to explain her past to Wyatt and Emma. Jessica's situation was the same in grade school and in middle school. She could never really get any friends that would stick by her side. Every friend she had made seemed to always leave her behind and forget about her within weeks. Nothing changed for her until her second year of high school.

”See ya later, Sierra!” Jessica says as her class ended.

”Yeah” Sierra says, ”maybe after school or something?”.

The two of them split up to go to separate classes. It was the final class for their afternoon, before school ended. After their last class, Jessica was leaving through the front doors of the school. Suddenly, she saw Sierra talking with a few other girls in their school. ”Oh my god, she's so weird” Sierra says. ”She always puts up that innocent act, and pretends like someone actually cares about her”.

”Oh my god, really!?” One of the other girls says. ”She's dumber than a bag of rocks! Like, girl, she ain't got no money, her family's poor, she doesn't even get good grades... who'd be dumb enough to hang around you?”.

As their small group laughs, Jessica sits around the corner. ”Calm down, Jessica...” Jessica says to herself. ”You're used to this... most people you meet act like this”. Defeated, Jessica begins to walk the other way, finding a different route to leave the school grounds. Jessica was so bummed out by her ”friend's” choice of words, that she didn't notice where she was going. Jessica accidentally walked into another girl who looked a year younger than her. The other girl couldn't see Jessica coming, because she was struggling to carry books and school supplies. As the two bumped into each other, they both fell onto the ground. ”Oh, geez” the girl says, ”I'm sorry! I didn't-”.

”Here” Jessica says as she helps pick up some of the books that fell to the ground. ”Let me help you”.

”O-oh... thank you” the girl says. After the two of them pick up the mess, the girl says ”My name's Catherine McSurry”.

”Oh...” Jessica says. ”My name is Jessica Allen, but that doesn't really matter... it's not like anyone is going to remember that in about two weeks anyways”.

However, Catherine just smiles and says ”That's a silly thing to say. I'm sure you parents put a lot of thought into your name, so it must be important for some reason, right? You can call me Cat, by the way”. Catherine then holds out her hand to shake Jessica's.

Jessica shakes her hand, although hesitantly, and then says ”Alright... Cat... see ya later”. To Cat, those were words of friendship, but to Jessica, those words meant ”I'm sure you'll end up just like everyone else”.

Over time, the two of them seemed to become almost close friends. Catherine would help Jessica out with understanding her work better, and Jessica tried pretending nothing was wrong in hopes that Catherine wouldn't end up the same as all of the others. However, after about three weeks of knowing each other, Catherine had to make a choice. Jessica and Catherine planned to hang out together after school as usual, but one of Catherine's siblings was involved in an accident. Catherine's younger brother got hit by a drunk driver, and was in critical condition. Catherine was torn, because she wanted to see if her brother was okay as soon as possible, but also wanted to see Jessica. Jessica waited in their usual spot for about 30 minutes. When Jessica became worried that her new friend wasn't coming, she came to look through the hallways to find her. However, after pondering about what to do and trying to take in the news about her brother, Catherine eventually chose to go find Jessica and tell her that she needs to go to the hospital. When Catherine showed up at their usual spot, Jessica wasn't there. In a rush, Catherine ran ahead towards the hospital.

Jessica searched around for Catherine, but when she couldn't find her, she went to Catherine's last class. When there, she asked the teacher, but the teacher said ”Catherine left a while ago” and Jessica assumed that meant it finally happened.

When Catherine got to the hospital, the doctors told their family that they would have to move her younger brother to a larger care facility, which unfortunately wasn't in the city. So their family had to move to be able to check in on the injured boy, and eventually be by his side through physical therapy when he finally recovered.

”In the end” Jessica says to Wyatt and Emma, ”they all turned their backs on me. No one wanted to be stuck with an idiot as a friend... and one day, even Cat just... didn't show up... and she never showed up after that”.

”I'm sorry” Emma says. ”B-but, we'd never turn our backs on you!”.

”I know you guys won't” Jessica says with a soft laugh. ”Even if the others, Jackson, Aeris and Emily don't really show it, I'm sure they won't just leave me here”.

”Jackson may be rude” Wyatt says, ”but he probably cares about people more than he leads on”.

”Y-Yeah” Emma says. ”I'm sure he has a soft side”.

Jessica laughs and says ”We could always ask Aeris! She'd probably know”.

”I'd say leave it” Wyatt says. ”If we go poking our noses around, Jackson probably wouldn't let us hear the end of it!”.

The three of them laugh for a little bit, then ”Enough about my dumb old story” Jessica says, ”what about your story, Emma?”.

”Mine?” Emma asks.

”Yeah, you said you lived here once” Jessica says. ”What was it like?”.