Sweetest of Dreams

Chapter 1 He was six foot seven and I was five three and a quarter. He was my best friend since kindergarten and the whole class got into a food fight because of him. He smashed a cupcake on my head and my first friend back then defended my honor by smashing a cupcake in his face. Did I really want to risk losing him over something that may not be real. I stared at him as he walked toward me, not knowing if I was going to take the leap or just live in fear like I had been conditioned to do. There was something different about the way he was looking at me. I couldn’t tell if he felt the same way I did. Jack and I had been in every grade together since kindergarten. We didn’t always get along. For a while, I was just the dorky kid no one wanted to be around. Then one day at a church lock in, everything changed. We were playing sardines and I was afraid of the dark. We both chose the same hiding spot so we had to trust each other to not blow our cover. We hid so well, the youth group leader had to come find us. Since that day he had been the closest person in my life. As we went through school, we were one way at school and another at church. You see, he played football and baseball and I was in choir. He was popular and I was not good for his image at school. At church, he was my closest friend. I felt safe around him and he made me laugh. There were always some underlying feelings on my end because he grew up very nicely. I used to watch him at school and we would sneak looks or grazes when no one was looking. Being a secret and hiding from everyone was exciting. We didn’t become public friends until high school. It was before the first day of Freshman year and it was the very first varsity football game of the season. I was walking around with my crew of friends, Sabrina and I may have only been friends for a year, but she was my other half. Everything just made since with her and Monica. We had been friends since I could remember. We were silly and fun together. So, when we met Jacquie last year, we had become the inseparable trio. Sabrina and Monica knew everything involving Jack. Monica was there when I developed my first crush on him. Sabrina could feel the tension from down the hall. Jack wasn’t on the varsity team as a freshman but he had become one of the most wanted and popular guys at school. As we were walking around familiarizing ourselves with what was going to be the next four years of our lives, I saw Jack. He was with a group of people that he seemed to have met through football camp. As I was realizing the wedge between our social statuses, I felt a nudge. I snapped out of it and realized Monica and Sabrina had been talking to me. I looked at both of them and we just started laughing. I looked at who had been nudging me and it was Sabrina. “What?” I say through my laughs. “Stare much?” Sabrina teases. I looked at her just waiting for her to finally say what she wanted. As Monica and Sabrina continued to laugh at my teenage heart throb forbidden love, I took one last look in Jack’s direction and saw that he was looking my way and smirked. I felt the butterflies fill my soul. I hear Sabrina start to talk “…. Next to Jack?” I looked toward Sabrina with a confused look. “What about who is next to Jack?” “Do you know who he is?” She repeated. I looked back over and I saw this guy who had a quarterback built and was just barely shorter than Jack. I looked back over to Sabrina and I recognized the look on her face as I had the same look when I saw Jack. I giggle and look at Monica. We share the same evil grin and realize that Sabrina thinks he’s cute. I know Sabrina isn’t listening to us, so Monica and I concoct a plan to get them to meet tonight. As we start the execution, I hook my arm in Sabrina’s and the three of us start to walk towards them. We are laughing and talking about how bad our football team is doing. It is becoming alarmingly clear; our football team sucks. Right as we are passing the group the Jack and mystery man are in, I look at Monica and prepare for what is about to happen. I look in Jack’s direction acting like I’m just looking around and state “I really hope our other football teams are better than this.” As the three of us giggle. Mystery man in the group looks in our direction and says “Oh and you could do better?”. We stop in our tracks. I have always been one to have the last word. I have never taken s**t from anyone and I sure wasn’t going to start now. So, I turned around and laugh, because anyone who truly knows me knows in middle school gym, I was the only girl in our class who would play football and be decent. Of course, no one knew Jack and I would hang out and sneak over to the elementary school that was down the street from my house with our church friends and play miniature football games for fun. So, all you hear from Monica is “Uh Oh” After I’m done laughing, I look at Jack and say “I’ve had lessons since before he knew what a fumble was” “OOOOOH!” is all the echoes through the air. “Jack, who is this b***h?” At that exact moment Jack’s parents sneak up behind us and I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn around and see Jack’s mom, Beth. “Oh hi Mrs. Beth!” I exclaim. “Hi sweetie, I just wanted to let Jack know that Dad and I are going to go take Max home” Max was Jack’s little brother. “How am I getting home then?” Jack askes. Mr. David looks at him and says “Molly’s parents offered to take you home, isn’t that nice?” I look back at Jack and roll my eyes. “Of course, they did.” I mumble under my breath. Mystery man is looking at Jack confused as we are saying goodbye to his parents. Once the coast is clear, I look at Jack and ask him if he wants to tell him or if he wants me to. “Is she your girlfriend” mystery man asks in disgust. My heart falls out my butt and I feel like I am going to be sick. I look at Jack and see the desperation on his face. “No” he looks at mystery man. “Our parents are friends Zach and she…” before he could finish, Zach, the mystery man, starts to laugh “Oh she’s your charity case!” I look at Jack waiting for his response. After waiting for what felt like a year, I feel someone grab my arm and start to pull me away and in slow motion, I see Jack turn away and realize, I will always be his secret. Facing defeat, I turn away and just hear Zach and everyone but Jack in the group laugh at how pathetic I had just looked. I close my eyes and feel a lump in my throat. High school was supposed to be the best four years of my life, and so far, I hated it. I looked at Sabrina “So d**k’s name is Zach”. She looked at me and I could tell she felt bad. No one knew what to say. As the game finished, I said goodbye to Sabrina and Monica and told them I would text them when I got home. I started looking around for Jack since we were taking him home. Before finding Jack, I saw my parents “Hey, I’m looking for Jack. Ill meet you at the car” they nodded. After walking the entire length of the bleachers, I spotted Zach. I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. I walked in his direction. He saw my coming and rolled his eyes. “Where is Jack?” I ask. He just looks at me and scoffs. “Look we don’t have to like each other but my parents are waiting and I have to find him” “You know he would never be seen with you, right?” I rolled my eyes and walk off. How dare he talk like he knows Jack. Annoyed and pissed off, I start walking around the bleachers to see if I can find him. As I am about to give up, I look to my right and time stands still. I see Jack and some girl in a cheerleader uniform sitting on the mat cushions under the bleachers making out. “Told ya” I was in too much shock to care about who was talking to me. “OMG!” I snapped back to reality. I turned around and saw what I assumed was the girls’ friends. “He is so hot!” I looked back and the make out session seemed to be interrupted by her friends’ reactions. Jack saw me and his face dropped. I started to walk away pretending like I hadn’t seen what I did. “Molly!” “She’s, my ride. I gotta go.” “Call me!!” I hear her beg. Ignoring everything that was around me, I started walking towards the parking lot where I knew my parents were waiting for us. “Molly! Wait up!” I was still thinking about what I had just seen. I felt my soul die. I took out my phone and texted Jack. I’ll be at the car I made it just pass the gates and I felt someone grab me. I turned around and Jack had caught up to me. I couldn’t even look him in the face. “Enjoy yourself?” I said passive aggressively. “Molly, don’t start this.” He said annoyingly. “Start what? I’m just a charity case, remember?” I said as the lump in my throat returned. He looked at me with those beautiful eyes that were my escape. “My parents are waiting for us” I said not letting myself get lost in his spell. I come out of my trance thinking it was just us and see that everyone from the crowd earlier, the cheerleader, and her friends are behind him. He saw me looking past him and turned around. As he did, he let go of my hands. He had to save face. I turned around and all I hear from behind me is laughter and insults about how he was out of my league. I just shook my head knowing that Jack would never defend me in public. I finally reach the car and my parents are waiting. “Where is Jack, Molly?” mom asks. “Oh, he was just saying bye to some people. He should be right behind me.” I say as normally as I can. I turn around looking into the sea of people trying to locate him. Finally, he appears from the crowd “There he is!” I feel relieved knowing I don’t have to explain what had just happened. I get in the back seat of the car and buckle myself in. As I hear the click of my seatbelt, I look up and Jack opens the door. I look at him and just act like everything is normal. My mom was looking back at me and saw the look on my face. I shook my face not wanting to talk about it. Jack clicked his seat belt and my dad pulls out of the parking lot. Buzz Buzz I pulled out my phone, Jack texted me. I’m sorry, please talk to me. I close my phone and ignore it. Buzz Buzz. Looked down and say SMS: From: Jack. I, once again, ignore it. We pull into Jack’s driveway. “Bye Molly. Thanks Mr. Seth and Mrs. T for the ride.” He closes the door. The drive to our house is silent. I just looked out the window and thought about what Zach had said to me. I closed my eyes and saw him kissing her again. I didn’t even know her and I already knew that as long as I was close to Jack’s family, high school was not going to what I was hoping.