Penance

JESS POV

Today is the first day of my penance, or as high schoolers will call it, detention. All I had to do was erase all negative memories from my mind. Psychology was the same as usual, with Howie and the others not talking to me, but for the first time, I didn't care; not that I didn't care, but I wasn't troubled about it. The class ended in a whirlwind, and I went to the cafeteria, and there was no other unoccupied seat for me as I wasn't friends with Howie and the others anymore. So, after ordering my lunch, I just sat anywhere by myself. I breathed a heavy sigh and sat down alone to have my lunch, looking at Howie and the others.

"Eating without me," Lizzie said, looking at me through her cinched glasses, before dropping her meal on the table and taking a seat next to me.

"What brings you here? "What about your friends, Alan and the others?" I asked, confused.

“Them? I merely said I wanted to eat with you, my roommate? "I don't care," she said as she swallowed a spoonful of pasta. "The others didn't let up, and although Alan was a little worried, I don't care," she added as she devoured a mouthful of spaghetti.

"Thank you Lizzie, I was feeling extremely lonely," I acknowledged as I munched on my cheeseburger.

Lizzie's expression furrowed in surprise as she asked, "They're still made at you?"

"Yes, they still are, and they are probably more annoyed with me now that you are here with me, so I don't seem to be that bothered about it," I remarked again, fiddling with my cheese burger.

"Are you sure? "You're bothered, Jess; you don't have to deny it to me," Lizzie smirked.

"You caught me," I said, and we both burst out laughing, everyone gazing at us, and we cleared our throats so we didn't look ridiculous.

"Are you having fun without me?" remarked another familiar voice, and I noticed Jake beaming at me.

What had Jake been up to? Why was he acting as if he cared for me when he clearly didn't?

"Jake, what exactly are you doing here? Stop faking, you don't care about me at all, you only care about your pals, so go meet them," I snarled at him.

"I'm sorry, Jess; I only found out about what happened at the party today?" Basketball practice has been particularly hard for me lately, you know, it's my only college objective," he tried to explain.

"Jake, please leave before I say something I shouldn't," I retorted.

He rose up and said, "Fine, I'll leave. I simply want you to know that you mean more to me than any of my other friends, and that if I win this ncaa championship, I'll be able to take care of you and mum."

I hissed at him, "And changing your surname too?"

He walked away without saying anything.

Lizzie, who had been seated and mute during the occurrence, eventually piped up, saying, "I know you and Jake have been friends for a long time, but this is something more than friends would say. You know you're free to tell me anything."

"Do you recall the brother I mentioned that I had?" I muttered.

"Jake is your twin brother?" she asked, as she sipped her coke with a straw and her eyes widened through her glasses. and I agreed with a nod.

She remained still for a moment, her eyes widening, before softly whispering, "secret safe with me."

I looked at my wristwatch and realized it was almost time for my library penance to begin.

"I'm sorry, but I have to leave for library penance right now?" I said as I hurried out of the cafeteria.

"How difficult can it be?" I sighed deeply. Everything will be OK. "I need to clear my head," I told myself as I sprang upright in hope and walked towards the library.

"Do you just say I love you to girlfriends, sometimes I wonder how you can be so smart and act so stupid," I observed Iago sitting at a desk, gluing ripped books.

"Stop acting like you know everything, nicompoop," Alan spat and looked away as he arranged some old books on the shelf.

Nothing's going to be fine; I'm not going to be able to deal with them. What should I do?

"And if you tell anyone about what you just saw and heard, I'll finish what you started," Iago told Alan, his eyes frightening.

"Wait a minute, you think I'm afraid of you?" "Don't even think about it because I'm more dangerous than you think," Alan said, his eyes threatening, as he continued what he was doing.

"This is a library, Alan and Iago, and silence is necessary," a voice from a desk next to me stated softly.

I approached her and said, "umm...

"My name is Jessica Hills, and I'm also on penance alongside them."

She gave me a blank stare and handed me a piece of paper to write my name on, which I did.

"You're 5 minutes late, Jess," she eventually said as I handed her the paper back, but I only gave her a guilt grin.

I was given a dusting brush by the librarian.

"There are some dusty books in that corner of the shelf, so go clean it," she added, motioning me to the corner.

I put my blond hair in a bun and went to the corner she mentioned, passing Iago and Alan in the middle to get there, crazy, right?

"Hey Iago, how's it going for you?" I asked, fumbling with my backpack, but he gave me the death stare and walked away to do other library tasks.

"Geez, did he just give you the death stare, wonderful, this college detention crap will be so much fun for once after crashing my fav car," Alan quipped.

He seemed to have calmed down after his long day of being irritated yesterday, albeit his eyes remained puffy.

"He never liked me anyways, so jerk off, and also, just to let you know, you're arranging the novels upside down," I replied impishly as I walked over to the corner, the books looked neat and I wondered what books she was talking about, and I spotted an upper shelf but it was too high for my reach, so I dropped my bag and stood high on my toes, stretching my hands to take the books.

A muscled and longer hand grabbed for the books, and I turned back to see whose hand it was, and my head smacked the chest of a familiar fragrance. I took three steps back and noticed a misty-eyed, emotionless Iago handing me the books from the shelf.

He had sweat all over his face, as if he has been working hard, although it was evident that he had been in the library long before Alan and I arrived.

I didn't see he was handing me the books since I was staring at his sweaty face, which was darn cute.

"Is there something on my face?" his dreamy voice asked, arching an eyebrow.

I turned my focus to the books and took them from him, snapping, "nah, thanks nonetheless."

“Okay? "I'll get back to what I was doing," he added as he exited.

What was that all about, did I just look at Iago differently, I can not have a crush on someone at this point in my life, I mused as I dust the books.

I was about to return the books, which were already dusted. I carried a chair to climb on, and I did so to return the cleaned books, but I forgot that it wasn't only legs but I had to climb a chair to reach the shelf, so my leg slipped, but fortunately Iago moved from where he was to the chair and held me as I was about to fall to the ground, my hands wrapped around his neck in panic of falling, my ponytailed blonde got loose and covered both of our faces, and I felt petrified.

"I'm very sorry," I said, letting rid of him instantly.

"Why do you just do things that annoy me, you constantly do things that make me come to your rescue every time," he muttered. "This is vexing," he grumbled, jerking away.