I awoke to loud groaning the next morning. "Be quiet." I said groggily, still unaware of what was happening, although Jakob wasn't below me anymore. Realizing this, I sat up quickly, looking around me.
David was on his knees, having been brought so through a wristlock by Jakob. "I give up!" he groaned once more.
"What's going on?" I asked in a rushed voice, feeling a headache coming on.
"David and I are sparring, sleepyhead." Jakob said, smiling.
"In other words, Jakob's kicking my ass." David said, rubbing his wrist.
"Buff people stuff; I get it. Arghh this headache is unbearable." I muttered, putting a pillow over my head and laying back down.
"You just need an aspirin." Jakob said.
"No pills." I mumbled.
"That's what they all say, you rebel." he smiled, picking me up. "I'll be right back." he said to David, who came into the kitchen anyway.
"No Jakob.. argh. I don't want your pills. I want to swim." I said, trying to get out of Jakob's grasp.
"You're going to swim with a headache?" David asked curiously.
"It's so cold outside that it might just freeze out the headache... hahaha, get it?" I giggled.
"Right. Whatever you want then." Jakob snickered. "Want to try underwater fighting?" he asked David, grinning like a little kid.
"Sure... sounds futile though."
"Where are the girls?" I asked, still feeling groggy.
"Still sleeping. Emma's got a hangover, but she'll be fine." Jakob said.
"Oh god. I'm going to have to break the news to her, aren't I?" I moaned.
"You could get one of the girls to do it." Jakob suggested.
"Yeah, that sounds great... you know I can walk, right?"
"The thought never really occurred to me." he grinned.
"Let me down." I said, annoyed. Trying to resist just tired me out, though, so I just laid my head on one of Jakob's shoulders.
"What time is it?" I asked.
"10:00am." David said, pulling out a red slider from his pocket.
"I barely got any sleep." I complained.
"You? I woke up like two hours before you did." Jakob said.
"But you're the energizer bunny! I'm not." I said with faux jealousy.
"Yeah yeah. This'll energize you." he grinned, throwing me into the icy water. I'm not going to lie: it was cold as fuck.
"Oh my god!" I yelled out. So this is what Eskimos felt like all the time.
"How's the water?" Jakob grinned.
"B-bastard." I shivered.
"Hey! You wanted it!" he grinned.
"I'm going to go get my swimming trunks. Want me to get yours?" David asked.
"Sure." Jakob said.
"G-get mine t-too, pl-please." I asked, getting out.
"Sure thing." he smiled, running inside.
"So Anna snagged a hottie, eh?" Jakob laughed.
"Seems like it. Nothing c-compares to m-my hottie th-though." I said, my teeth chattering.
"Come here." he said, pulling me into a full embrace. I was engulfed in his body heat faster than I would have thought possible.
"You still amaze me." I said.
"You'll never get used to it." he smiled. David came out of the house with our swimming trunks. He had already changed into his, and he was a stunner. He was definitely taller than Jakob, but a lot weaker. Unlike me, he didn't shave his legs. Therefore, he had a thick coat of brown hair on them, along with on his head.
He threw Jakob's Icelandic trunks at him, and my blue A‚ropostale ones at me. David jumped in and watched us as we changed, which was somewhat awkward. I decided to keep my boxers on beause I felt shy around David, but Jakob wasn't holding back. I smirked as I saw David's jaw drop at Jakob's naked front side.
"So then," David started as Jakob and I jumped in the pool. "Y'all've known the girls all y'all's lives?"
"I've known Lilja and Anna for all of my life." Jakob said.
"And I've known Emma all of my life." I said.
"Whom do you hang out with then?" Jakob asked him.
"Usually just the guys from the soccer team. None of us are really friends though; I just hang out with them at lunch because I don't know anyone else."
"Oh my god, are you serious? But you're so cool! And you're on the soccer team for god's sake; like EVERYONE is, by some stupid teen law, popular if they are on the soccer team." I said, exaggerately.
"Not everyone." he smiled. I kind of felt sorry for him.
"Hey." Lilja said, emerging from the house. She was already in her bathing suit.
"How'd you know we were out here?" Jakob asked.
"I spied on you guys from the balcony." she shrugged.
"Creepy." Jakob grinned.
"Where's Anna then?" David asked.
"Asleep." she replied nonchalantly.
"And Emma?" I asked, dreading every second.
"Shower. Why?" Lilja asked.
"Erm, well. Jakob and I caught her boyfriend cheating last night, after she had passed out."
"Cheating...? With whom?" she said, shocked.
"We don't know. It was just some random girl." Jakob said.
"Well... she doesn't know, does she?" Lilja asked with the same shocked tone.
"No, of course not. But... we were wondering if you could tell her." I said, careful not to look at her.
"What? Why me?" she asked.
"Because you girls have such a strong emotional bond." Jakob said.
"Arghh. Fine, but when should I? I'm not used to breaking this kind of news to people." Lilja said.
"As soon as possible? When she gets out of the shower, like?" I suggested timidly.
"Fine, but I'm going to bug Anna to help me." she said.
"I love youuu Lilja." Jakob grinned.
"Yeah yeah. Wish me luck." she grumbled, walking back into the house.
"We're so horrible." I giggled.
"Better her than us." David smiled. "About those underwater fights then, Jakob?"
"Why're you so eager to get your ass kicked?" Jakob taunted.
"He likes it." I said suggestively.
"You wish." David retorted.
"Psh, I can barely stand Jakob's ego, much less yours." I grinned.
"Hey loser, it's hard to believe that you haven't suffocated from Jakob's pride yet!" he jested, diving after me.
"The underwater fights are between us." Jakob grinned, chasing after him. I watched them spar, which was very entertaining considering their movements were half as fast due to being in the water. Finally, it got too cold for me to stay out any longer.
"I'm going to go check on the girls." I shivered, getting out.
"Bye cutie." Jakob said, grinning as he escaped David's headlock.
"Call me!" David yelled out.
"Hey, he's mine!" Jakob growled, thrusting David underwater.
"Jocks." I muttered to myself, walking inside. As I walked into Lilja's room, Emma immediately embraced me in a hug. No words were exchanged, and all that could be heard were Lilja's silent breaths, synchronized with the sound of Emma's tears falling to the ground.
"I loved him." Emma broke the silence. I held her more tightly, as many thoughts flashed through my mind. What did she do to deserve this? Nothing. Why did Jake do this? Because he's a guy. I didn't think that explanation was justified, but at that point, I was thinking irrationally. There was so much more to say, but the words wouldn't come out. It's kind of funny how we go to school for twelve whole years to be taught about subjects such as mathematics, science, history, and many others. In this system, there are many flaws, but there exists one major flaw that consciously, or subcosciously, sticks out in every teenager's mind at some point: 'When do we learn about love?'
I don't know how long we stood there. It was like a frozen picture that you look at later in life and think, 'How did that happen?'. All I knew then was that I, as a best friend, had to do something. Eventually, I looked up at Lilja. She caught my eye, and must have gotten the point, because she and Anna came over to Emma and started to speak. I was not concentrating on what she was saying, but I knew that they had to have been words of comfort. I muttered something about the guys, and walked downstairs.
As I approached the pool, Jakob greeted me with a smile and said, "I accidentally made him faint. Too intimid-- What's wrong?" He must have noticed my grim look, because he suddenly stopped smiling. I wasn't aware as to why the shock of Jake's actions and Emma's foreseen heartbreak had hit me so hard just then. Perhaps it was seeing how it really affected her, but I wasn't about to let it go without justice.
"Emma's really hurt." I sighed. He put his arm around me and kissed my head.
"I've hurt him once, and I'm not afraid to do it again." he whispered to me. I just buried my head in his chest and tried so hard not to cry. "He won't get away with this." Jakob whispered. I could feel Jakob's breaths getting more uneven by the minute, and he walked quickly into the house, full of emotion.
"I want to come with you." I said, looking him in the eyes as he came back outside, now in the shirt he had been wearing before the party yesterday.
"I don't want you to get hurt." he said. His blue eyes gleamed in the rising sun, but I was persistent.
"Jakob, this means a lot to me... you don't understand." My voice cracked.
"I do." he said. My mind flashed back to the Lilja incident.
"Then you know that I have to go with you." I said, clearing my throat. Not even Jakob could have stopped me at that moment. He apparently got my point, because he nodded.
"I think it'd be best if we just... left a note instead of causing a fuss. Emma's emotions are not in the right place at the moment to be deciding whether Jake deserves this or not." I said.
"Okay, but Nathan... don't do anything you'll regret. If there's one thing I've learnt here, it's that with power, comes responsibility."
"You'll be there with me; don't worry." I said. I grabbed a notepad and began to write.
'Emma
Jakob and I will be gone for some time. We'll hurry back as soon as possible, and we you'll thank us later.'
I put the note on the refrigerator and hurried back outside, where I found David stirring back to consciousness.
"We'll be back soon." Jakob said, kneeling down above him. We didn't give him a chance to reply, for we didn't want to be stalled any longer, until it hit us:
"How are we going to get there?" I asked.
"Where?" David asked, suddenly fully aware of the seriousness of the situation.
"I'll call a taxi." Jakob said.
"What's happening?" David asked irritably.
"We're going to go give your captain a run for his money; wanna help?" I asked.
"How do you expect me to keep my position on the soccer team if I contribute to the mauling of its captain?" he said.
"I don't care about the damn team or how high up he is in the `popularity' hierarchy! I'm going to go kick his ass regardless!" I yelled, a little louder than I meant to.
"Chill out. I'm just saying that I can't help y'all, that's all."
"Fine then." I said, turning away.
"Hey, don't be like that." David said.
"A cab's on its way." Jakob proclaimed.
"No!" The girls shouted loudly as they emerged from the house. "Are you two insane? You can't just go around beating the crap out of some random guy!"
"Wha-why not?" I asked, completely flabbergasted.
"Because! It won't look so good on David's part if he conspires with the two responsible for the would-be injuries of the soccer team's captain!" Anna said sternly.
"You value your boyfriend's position on some sport team over your friend's emotions?" I asked, shocked.
"No, of course not! Emma said it herself that she didn't want you guys to hurt him!" Lilja said loudly.
"Emma--" I started.
"It's true. What good will going around and hurting some jackass do? You'd just be stooping to his level!" she cut me off.
"Oh, and he's just going to get away with it?" I snarled.
"What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger." she quoted.
"That's such a cop-out! Why are you defending him, anyway?" I asked angrily.
"Would you calm down? I am NOT defending him! I'm defending what's right! Did you guys even think about what beating Jake up would do for my reputation? No guy would want to date me in fear of getting their asses thrown through a wall! Almost all teenage relationships end in someone getting hurt! You guys should know that!" she scolded. It was then that I realized how stupid our idea had been. `Irrational thinking.' I thought.
"Ugh! Guys!" she grumbled, shortly followed by diving into the pool.
"Testosterone should be illegal." Anna suggested.
"But then I wouldn't be so masculine..." Jakob said, his voice fading as though the idea horrified him.
"Perhaps that would be for the best! Now, I don't know if you guys are AWARE or not, and it wouldn't surprise me if you all weren't, but we have cleaning to do!" she replied, prodding Jakob in the chest.
"Girls.." Jakob muttered, following Anna and Lilja into the kitchen.
"Do you mind if I, er, steal your boyfriend for a moment?" I asked Anna.
"Oh sure... I should talk to Emma some more anyway." she said, although she didn't seem too keen on the idea of the whole matter. David and I walked around front and sat on the grass.
"Listen, Nate, there's some things that you need to know." he started. I raised my eyebrows suspiciously. I had a feeling that the news couldn't be good.
"Jake... isn't as bad as you guys believe." The whole thing stopping me from getting up just then was his hands on my shoulders. 'You have to listen to me."
"How isn't he as bad as we think? He's a monster!"
"He cheated. I'm not saying that it's right, but it's not as wrong as what Cody did. You need to realize this. There's more to it than you guys know."
"What could we possibly have missed?"
"You guys don't even know half of it." he said. I was starting to get extremely annoyed.
"Just say it, won't you? I mean, you ARE telling the tru--"
"Jake's bi." he said sincerely, his dark green eyes piercing into my thoughts, which by then were so scattered that I didn't know what to do. Jake, captain of the soccer team, ex-boyfriend of my best friend, was bi? But the news that David told me thereafter confirmed it, and I fainted soon after in the same fashion that David had earlier.