Chapter 2: Jay’s B-day

“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way.”

-Dr. Seuss

“It’s funny how time has a way of erasing the pain, but as soon as I saw your face it all came back again.”

-Jasmine Trias (song: “Silly of Me”)

Opening my eyes until there was a peephole the size of a little tiny slit, I saw a nice big blue bucket. I wonder what blue buckets secretly mean in dreams. Wait a second… why do I care about buckets when I could be dreaming about getting married to Jayden, ahh… Jayden, the love of my life who doesn’t know it yet.

“OK guys, she’s halfway up… let’s get her on the count of three!” His voice was so dreamy, but why would Jayden say this in my dream? Three is such a great number but why would I be dreaming about Jayden, my best friend, telling my other friends to get me on three? I don’t know. Am I supposed to be talking to myself in a dream?

“THREE!” All of a sudden I felt freezing cold Gatorade splashing all over my face and my bed. Did I ever mention how much I hate my friends? I sat up right away and glared at all of their grinning and smiling faces, then there was Jayden who was flat out laughing really hard in my face. I continued to glare. What kind of birthday did they want this to be?

“All right, I’m up. I hate you Jayden, Marvin and Vicky.” I called as my eyes landed on each one of them. Vicky was now pulling out a camera and snapping a picture of me in all my stickiness, while laughing her head off. Its official, I need to find new friends.

“Happy Birthday, my one and only Jay-Jay.” Jayden sung while I wondered how much trouble I would be in if I slapped that smile right of his face. He had this grin that won any girl over, that wasn’t in our group. He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead, in an innocent best friend way. You see, we’ve been friends since we were 3 years old and we don’t have feelings for each other, or that’s what he thinks. I on the other hand seem to get a stupid amount of butterflies in my stomach when he comes within two inches of me and get that strange shaky feeling. I have decided not to tell him… ever and plus he’s my best friend, and that would make things really awkward. Ok, that is a total clichéd line but I think that it’s true. I only told one person about my crush and that was Vicky (his twin sister and one of my best friends). Somehow, the whole school seems to think we’re going out and maybe that has to do with the fact that he told all the guys in my grade that they shouldn’t go out with me because I am emotionally unstable, I thought it was a prank at the time. Since then, no guy has asked me out, go figure. “I’ve got a surprise for you.” I perked up; Jayden’s surprises were the best.

“What is it, what is it, what is it?” I started jumping a little on my bed and clapping my hands like a little 5 year old on her birthday, I should mention that I’m the most childish person of my whole group. Once I finished jumping up and down on my huge bed (which is really hard to do sitting down) I saw Jayden leaning close to me and felt his breathing.

“I love you Jay-Jay.” I promise my heart skipped a beat or completely stopped and I was thrown into a huge state of shock, I couldn’t even move my toes. My mouth dropped open to the point of no return and then I started stuttering really badly.

“J-J-Jayden… I… I…” I was cut off by something seriously cold and semi-hard slamming against my face. Yeah, this is their sick way of celebrating a birthday. I licked my lips. “Thanks for the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cake in my face. I really appreciate it.” I said, the last part dripping with sarcasm. I decided to not give them the satisfaction of making me mad on my birthday even though I knew it was a prank. A prank that resulted with ice cream cake all over my face and me about to confess my crush out loud. Vicky took another picture of me because she’s into scrapbooking, but I was two seconds away from snatching the camera and doing something drastic. If only they all didn’t come crashing on my bed before I had the chance too.

“So how does it feel to be sixteen?” Marvin said holding back some laughs, even though every single one of my friends was already 17. Ah, Marvin, you gotta love him. The first time we met he was getting teased by the popular kids but I stood up for him and shoved a Rice Krispie Treat in the bully’s mouth (said bully was Tyler who just laughed at the rice krispie attempt). Tyler had jaw problems for a month, need I explain. Because of incidents like this, our high school thinks I’m an ice queen but I don’t care and don’t listen to their silly gossip. I turned to Marvin, scraped off some ice cream cake that was dripping, and put it on him then I smiled.

“A whole lot better now that you’re here.” I said answering his question, I saw Marvin blush a little followed by Jayden snickering. I punched Jayden on the arm because he really deserved it.

“O.K. you guys let me take a shower and get dressed for the party!” It was a lost cause because all they were talking about was what the new year was going to be like with all of them being seniors; I didn’t care because I was going to be a junior. So I just went to the bathroom to clean off my wet, sticky, ice creamed self.

After the hour and a half that it took me to get dressed I stepped in front of a full-length mirror. I looked at my hair which was caramel colored and in curly locks that were streaked with highlights and side swept bangs in the front. I looked at my brown eyes along my much tanned skin, and then glanced at the lavender dress that was shimmery along my high heel shoes that matched my purse. I looked good, but this wasn’t my normal attire so it felt really weird. My normal attire was a baggy shirt and some jeans that were two sizes too big. My mom always said that I was one of those people that would look Hollywood gorgeous if I actually tried but even if that was true… I really don’t care. I’m not like my sister.

“You look g-g-g-good, Jacinda.” Marvin said while he continued to stutter which made me smile.

“Thank you!” I took a curtsey like I was the Queen of England.

“Dang, girl, what have you done to my Jay-Jay, wait… never mind, forget Jay-Jay,” he smiled and looked me up and down then continued “where have you been all my life, Beautiful!” I couldn’t help but to grin really big at all the attention and mainly because I was flattered by his comment. There was no way I would let him see me being flattered by his comment though, so I straitened up and slapped his arm before laughing.

“Hiding from that thing you call a face.” I retorted

“Ouch Jay-Jay, you give Marvin a thank you and me an insult, I’m really hurt.” He started clutching his heart in between laughs.

“You deserved it,” Vicky said to her brother before giving me a smile “You have got to show me your makeup collection and let me borrow that dress one day. You look awesome.” I smiled again, I knew I looked good if I was approved by the fashion princess of the 21st century.

“Sure, but we have to get to the party now.” With that we crowded in two cars, Vicky and I in one and Jayden and Marvin in the other. We had no clue that the next moment would change the whole school year for us.

So this was the beginning of my sweet 16 birthday, but since I was filthy rich and so was all of my friends, my birthday (or me and Jessica’s birthday, since we were twins) was bound to be as boring as a social event. I knew it would be full of rich old people; my sister’s so called cheerleading friends, and my group. As soon as I saw the building, I wanted to scream ‘boring’ at the top of my lungs.

“Everyone ready for boredom!” I screamed in my most excited voice. “Woo-hoo!” All eyes turned on me and looked at me like I was weird but we’ve already established that I’m a crazy 16 year old with the mind of a 5 year old but the intelligence of a rocket scientist, right?

Right.

“Come on we’ll find a way to spice this party up.” Jayden said being the only one that actually laughed at my sarcasm and holding my hand as we entered the boring building. I stopped right in my tracks because right then and there I saw my worst nightmare: Tyler. He was coming up to me and for some odd reason that I probably won’t ever understand, I just automatically froze in his presence, which isn’t such a bad thing. Not if you don’t add Vicky running into me which caused me to fly right into Tyler who smiled.

“Hey, sweetie, didn’t know that you wanted me that bad. You don’t have to throw yourself at me though, I would be more than happy to fulfill your dreams anyway.” He smirked, “Did you know that I can predict the future and so far, I can see me and you in a room-” I interrupted him right there before he started to say things that my innocent mind couldn’t handle.

“Excuse me, you can take that attempt of a pickup line and shove it up your-“

“Stop it Jay!” I looked at Vicky amazed at the fact that she wouldn’t let me finish my verbal retort. Not fair. Then I looked at Tyler who went wide-eyed when I guess he finally realized it was me.

“Wow, Oompa-Loompa, I didn’t notice you standing there… actually I didn’t notice you at all because you actually look pretty for once.” Was he saying that I was ugly when I dated him? It’s not my fault that I just get dressed up for events and never got dressed up for him. I felt Jayden grip my hand, as if saying that I shouldn’t take the bait, but that didn’t stop me. It was the way Tyler said it that really got to me. I would’ve lunged at him if it wasn’t for Jayden’s hand snaking up my back and taking over my feelings. And just for future reference, Tyler always called me his Oompa-Loompa since we were 6 and we saw the movie Willy Wonka and I was overweight at the time so he called me his oompa-loompa. I was too young to know that it was an insult until I got older and begged him to stop. He never stopped. Even when I got skinnier and begged him to stop again he didn’t, so I just gave up.

“You’re not too easy on the eyes yourself.” I knew it was a total and complete lie though; the guy was drop dead gorgeous.

“You really shouldn’t lie to yourself Oompa-Loompa, I know you still love me!” Ughh, I hate how he’s so cocky and so… what’s the word… dreamy, eww, I have to wash that out of my brain now.

“Yeah, in your dreams.” I glared as he winked.

“You have no idea, Oompa-Loompa.” He said in a voice that was far off and distant.

“You disgust me.” He grinned.

“Yeah, because I’m disgustingly hot, right?”

“That made no sense and you are not hot!”

“Denial isn’t just a river in Africa, sweetheart.” I paused for a moment before I finally got it, denial and the Nile… they sound alike, he was smart but that’s beside the point.

“Ha-ha, you’re not worth my time.”

“Then why are you still talking to me, Oompa-Loompa, besides the fact that you still love me.”

“Your right, it’s not the fact that this is my, I mean, mine and Jessica’s birthday party so I have to be here but because I’m still in love with you, Ty-Ty, even though you cheated on me with my sister on Valentine’s Day!” My voice dripping with so much sarcasm that I thought I was going to explode from staying so calm.

“Okay, well it’s obvious that you two need to sit down and talk things out that happened to you guys before but here and now is not the place to do it.” Vicky said cutting in, she’s always the peace maker between all of us.

“I just have five words to say: I hate you Tyler Herrera.” I glanced at all of them then spoke with sarcasm “I feel so much better, now that I have all of that off my chest.”

“Don’t worry Oompa Loompa, I love you too.” I stormed off without so much as a glance backwards. I knew Tyler would just smirk again which would’ve made me extremely mad and whatever that would make me do… it wasn’t worth it. I walked to get some punch. This was not turning out to be the ideal birthday I had in my mind and I couldn’t get away from my anger with Tyler around. Tyler couldn’t go away because Tyler and Jayden are still best friends due to the fact that the three of us were inseparable in the past. Now, Tyler and I have Jayden in between friends and constantly having to choose sides. The only reason he hasn’t let out his anger is because he doesn’t want to upset either of us.

Only Marvin traveled to get punch with me while Vicky and Jayden stayed back talking and laughing with Tyler.

“Hey, I’m sorry about that.” I smiled, that’s how nice Marvin was.

“It wasn’t your fault.” I reassured him.

“Yeah, but you shouldn’t have to go through that on your birthday, what can I do to cheer you up!” Ha ha, I thought of all the things I could get Marvin to do to Tyler but then I thought of one thing that would appall my parents and all of the other rich people here.

“You could give me a piggy back ride while greeting everyone so they can be shocked.” I batted my eyelashes and he laughed thinking I was kidding. Then he saw I was dead serious, he bent down slowly with an amused face.

“Uhh, hop on.” This is exactly why it’s great to have friends. We travelled for a while and it amazed me just how strong Marvin was and how snobbish my sisters cheerleading friends were. One of their conversations was stupid and quick, it went something like this:

Cheerleader: Wow, your strong holding that girl up.

Marvin: Th-th-thanks (he had a little drool and stutter problem, what can I say, the guys a geek talking to a cheerleader).

Cheerleader: I like your hair.

Marvin: I like yours too.

Cheerleader: Here’s my number (she handed him a napkin with scribble) and a kiss.

Me: I’m right here, you guys.

Cheerleader: Wow… I didn’t notice you up there. Aren’t you Tyler’s ex? What are you doing here?

Me: It’s my birthday party and I do have a name, it’s Jacinda.

Cheerleader: I thought this was Jessica’s party. Am I at the wrong party?

Me: We’re twins, me and Jessica, and that means you’re unfortunately at the right party.

Cheerleader: Oh, well here’s my number, Marvin, call me (then walked away).

Me (agitated and annoyed): Wipe that stupid grin off your face.

Those are the typical cheerleaders of my school, but not all are like that because my school isn’t that stereotypical. Some of the cheerleaders are nice, some are like the one above, some are mean girls, and the head cheerleader had the best cheerleading moves I ever saw, her moves were better than good but you shouldn’t tell her that or it will go to her head.. My sister was the head cheerleader’s best friend and my sister fit into the mean girl category, go figure.

We eventually walked past Tyler and surprisingly I had an empty cup of punch in my hand.

It was hard to resist.

“Look out below.” I screamed at the top of my lungs to him and thrust my cup as hard as physically possible towards him. It proceeded to hit him square in the face and I was probably the happiest 16 year old on the face of the planet as I yelled “Score!” and threw my hands up. I know it’s really childish but it had Marvin, Vicky, Jayden, and I laughing our butts off while it had Tyler steaming mad. I tried to look really innocent but I couldn’t help rubbing it in. “And that is 1 for Jacinda and 0 for Tyler.” I smirked.

“It was just a plastic cup,” I shrugged my shoulders when I saw he was still angry “I gave you a warning.” I would’ve laughed so hard if it wasn’t for the fact that my parents walked up to us at that moment and Marvin dropped me… hard… on 3 inch heels, yeah it hurt.

“What are you doing young lady?” My mom said, we don’t really talk much, mainly because they go all over the world with their rich company and send me to boarding school. This was the second time I saw both of my parents together for the whole summer and this was 2 days before summer ended.

“Uh… having an intense conversation with my uh… friends.” I suddenly glared over at Tyler. My mom glared at me while my dad urged her to the stage. I was off the hook, Yay!

“Jacinda’s and Jessica’s dad and I have a very important announcement to make.” My mother started off, speaking oh-so-formally into the microphone; I knew this would make my day. I was finally getting my sweet sixteen car; this sent all thoughts of Tyler to the back of my mind. I smiled brightly at my parents wishing they would get the speech over and done with, it was killing me to know the type, not that I would know anyway, but still.

Something wasn’t right, my parents were starting to get nervous and they are normally confident, uh-oh. I grabbed a champagne glass knowing I wasn’t supposed to and started gulping.

“As we all know the Herrera and the Taylor companies have been friends for years.” That was a big and total lie, my family and Tyler’s family absolutely hated each other. They were furious when we started dating and threatened to take me out of boarding school more than once. “We have decided to merge our companies together for a bigger and better profit.” I heard plenty of cheering, clinging of glasses and drinking of champagne (including me).

“There has been some trust issues with our companies. In order to make this plan possible we had to lay our important possessions face down on the table and with them at hand we know that both sides of the company can be in cahoots, hand-in-hand.” What was their most important possession? Maybe it was champagne, this stuff is addicting.

“Without further ado, along with mergence of our companies their will be a mergence of our family, this way no company will be cheated out of his or her portion of the deal! We are proud to announce the engagement of Tyler Herrera and Jacinda Taylor!” The press had a fun time snapping pictures of my surprised face and I could hear the whole room gasp, then clap, and then look at my parent’s genuine smiles. This was not happening!

AN: Hello! I’m so sorry that this chapter was delayed so much but I had an unexpected trip and I was interne less!! Yeah, somehow I survived but I won’t be able to get internet for at least another 2-3 weeks. Bummer!! I will be working on the story for those of you that like it and please, please, please review everyone… I don’t care if it’s something as short as ‘hey, I liked your story’ because it really makes me happy and when I’m happy, I write more. :). I’d like to give special thanks to all my reviewers: PainSunshine, dot.dash.score, Take It All Back, Twist their Emotions, and PyroLyn. And also a thanks to the 9 other people who added me as favorites. So thanks for reading this chapter and please review!! Cliffhanger!! (not much though but I love the next chapter.)