Year 28 - J.L. Mac Page 0,18

with her own playlist titled HitTheRoadJack. It had one song on it. Safe to guess which one. She went with someone else to prom and so did I—Brooklyn who gifted me with my first real kiss that night. I liked Brook okay, and she was fun to hang out with but she wasn’t Rae—still isn’t.

After that junior high prom… well… I don’t exactly know why but I had grown accustomed to seeing that pink flush creep over Rae’s skin when I teased her and I started craving it—needing her blush, her embarrassed expression. Knowing that I was the only person capable of getting her so riled up kinda made me obsess over her. Even pissing her off excites me.

So, here it is two years of pestering and flirting heavily with Rae and it still hasn’t grown old. The summer between eight and ninth grade was when I became more than hooked on Rae. She’d come back from vacationing in California with sun kissed skin and a body that was definitely more like a woman’s than a girl’s. My fixation with Rae only gets worse by the day. My picking on her has turned from flirtatious fun to needy hunger, an addiction. Her jet-black hair and fair skin make her blue eyes standout. She looks like a modern Snow White. My personal Snow White.

I took one look at her when she got back from vacation the summer before high school and knew every asshole in school would be trying to take her out and there was no freaking way I’d allow any of that. That’s why I decided I’d do whatever it took to score a date with her while telling every other asshole at school that she was spoken for. I even enrolled in the advanced curriculum courses for ninth grade just so we would end up with many of the same classes.

Lucky for me, at a Sunday barbeque the week before our high school journey started, I snuck into her room and found her prepared backpack. Rae is a teacher’s pet—a total hot nerd. The girl is a walking oxymoron. I knew she would have all her things ready to go for the first day of high school well in advance. I copied her class schedule card on my palm using a purple glittery pen I stole from her backpack—a pen I chose to keep which pissed her off so bad. When we left the barbeque, I made sure to wave my palm in her face so she’d see what I had done. Her mouth gaped, and she shook her head before stomping to her bedroom no doubt to see if I messed with anything else.

When I went into the counselor’s office the first day of school, I simply fed our guidance counselor, Mr. Gafford a crock of shit when I told him I chose to change to the more challenging courses to prepare for college. He ate that shit up with a spoon and was all too happy to ditch what I had been assigned for the schedule I requested—Rae’s schedule. Truth was, I wasn’t happy about the harder work—that part sucked then and it still sucks now and I knew it would interfere with the amount of time I could slack off with the guys but it was worth it. Rae was worth it and I would make her help me if I needed it whether she liked it or not. One mention to her momma that I needed help and she would be forced to tutor me.

The bit about college was bullshit too. I knew I was going into the military, just like Steven, my big brother. He just got out of the Marine’s having finished up four years. He will be moving back home next month. Dad’s already been helping him look for a job here in town. I haven’t said anything to anyone aside from Chick about me considering joining the Marines. I’ll have to figure out a good time and the right words to spill those beans.

The bell rings just as Rae slips through the door to Mrs. Burke’s tenth grade English class. She chooses a seat in the first row, closest to Mrs. Burke’s desk. She’s a squat woman with gold-framed glasses and a severe lisp. She goes to the same church my family and the Potter’s do.

Rae is oblivious to me as she settles in and digs out her notebook and two pens, one blue, one black. I grab my backpack