Laughing, I ran outside from my school with Jacob trailing behind me. I went to the small swimming pool and grabbed a sponge. I squeezed the cool water on my head and relished the feeling of the water trailing down my hair like a waterfall. I dipped the sponge inside the pool again and was about to put it in my hair again when I felt icy water splash my back. I gasped and turned to see Jacob’s amused face running away from me. I darted after him; sponge in hand, ready to attack him with the water. My revenge felt sweet when I flung water from my sponge at him hitting his face.
To my disappointment he just chuckled and squirted water at me. I squealed at the coldness of the water and attacked back. I found that I was out of ammo after that and raced him to the small swimming pool. He beat me and dipped his sponge inside the water. I stopped before I got to the pool making sure I was at least ten feet away.
“Come on!” Jacob chuckled. “Don’t be scared. I won’t dump water on your head. I promise.”
“Sure you won’t” I said.
“I said I promise!”
I laughed. “Sure”
“Come on,” He dropped the sponge in the pool and walked over to me. “Truce?”
I almost took his hand when he seized me and squeezed cold water down my back with a sponge he hid behind his. He snickered and ran away again to the pool so he could grab the other sponge that he dropped which was refilled again.
I ran after him. “You Jerk!” I giggled.
He smirked at me. “Oh! A nickname huh? You must like me don’t you?”
I was caught off guard. He threw the wet sponge at my chest and retreated back to the pool again. I realized. Oh… It was just a distraction… I thought. I sat down in the grass and tried to put on my tired face.
Jacob frowned and walked over to me. He sat down next to me and said. “What’s up?”
I panted and set my head on his shoulder. I liked the feeling of putting my head on his shoulder. “I’m… tired…”
“You’re lying”
“No… I ‘m… not…” I said.
He laughed. “Okay then, why did you sit down. It isn’t like you. You would usually chase me and try to get me as wet as possible before giving up…” He frowned. “Is it something I said?”
I laughed weakly. “Yes… you know exactly what you said…”
He looked down. “Look… I am sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you… Are you okay?”
“Fine…” He has no idea… I thought. He knows I like him but what about me? Does he like me or not? Why can’t he just tell me and break my heart so I can move on already?
He grabbed me and hugged me. “Look Amber told me I had to tell you this…”
“What…?”
He got up and took my hand and pulled me up. I closed my eyes and waited for him to answer me. “Jessie you have been waiting for this since seventh grade… you told me after the last day at school that you liked me because you thought you would never see me again. I was lucky to end up here and to be with you here. I didn’t want to leave because I thought that you were going to still be at the school we were going to. When I saw you during the summer here signing up for classes I could have sang Jessie… You are a really great friend and I love to hang out with you… but thing is… thing is… I-”
“Just say it Jacob. Just end it and say that you don’t like me the way I like you… I don’t want you to break my heart and…” I felt tears sting my eyes. “I have to go…”
I turned to go away but he caught me and hugged me from behind. “I wasn’t going to say that… I was going to say that… I… I like you Jessie… I like you a lot.”
I turned and stared at him in shock. “You… Like me?”
He looked away. “I know that you like me a lot too… it is just I can’t… I don’t want to do this right now… I am not ready. And honestly I am not very good at romance…”
I laughed at him. “Jacob that doesn’t matter. Love is all about having fun. Not saying stupid sappy sweet things to each other. It isn’t looking online for ways to make me happy or things to say to me if we were in a relationship. Love is being yourself in front of the person you like. Not acting a certain way for one person because you think they are hot… I like you Jacob… and I like you because you act like yourself…”
He grinned. “I like you too”
A wind hit my back and I shivered. “Let’s go inside. I am freezing cold now.”
Jacob chuckled. “If you insist,” He took me and hugged me from behind until we got back inside the school. I never felt so happy in my life.