Girl, got no chill

"FaceTime, Harri?"

"Yes, Jazz."

"He FaceTimed you?"

"Yes, Jazz. That's what I said."Every time with this girl.

She throws her arms around me. "I'm so proud of you, H!"

"Jazz.... I can't breath." I huff, spitting out mouthfuls of her blonde hair which has managed to wrap itself around me like octopus tentacles.

As she lets go her arms drop from my shoulders her bangles clang when they make contact with the cafeteria table. "Don't start with that again," I pled.

"So, you're not even going to deny that you're in love?" She prods, taking yet another pack of gummies from her bag which sits on the bench beside her.

How many of these things does she have? Didn't we just eat lunch?

I scoff at her ridiculousness," it's a bit early to be talking about love, Jazz."

"But you like him?" Although phrased as a question it comes from her mouth sounding more like of a statement.

My cheeks flush red. "Yeah, I guess," I answer sheepishly. My eyes fixed on the empty tray on the table in front of me.

"I knew it, H! Your first proper crush. Look out world, Harri is growing up!" She squeals throwing her arms in the air. The sudden outburst causes more than a few people to stop eating and look up at us.

In a panic, I shove my hand over her mouth to quieten her. "Shhhh, Jazz! The whole school doesn't need to know."

Her eyes widen with a mischevious twinkle.  I consider leaving my hand over her mouth for the rest of lunch but let go when I feel the wetness of her tongue alongside my palm. "Ewww. You licked me. You are disgusting!" I complain, wiping her saliva off my hand on to the arm of her orange sweater.

She sticks her tongue out at me and raises her brow, looking suspiciously like the crazy face emoji. "Honestly, I don't even know why I am friends you," I add with a laugh.

"Because you love me!"

"Hmmm. Likely story." I mutter, taking a sip of water.

After lunch we make our way to another dreaded class with Mr. Grayson, all the while Jazz quizzes me on my call with SJ; which was excruciating on its own but made even more unbearable by her need to constantly say, "awww" at end of each sentence.

Walking into class I shake my head as she cooes for the 20th time.  "I swear you have no chill, Jazz. Like none. As in zero."

"Hurry up and take your seat, Harri. You and Jazz can talk about your boyfriend after class. Right now you're here to learn," Mr. Grayson commands pointing to our regular seats in the middle of the room, interrupting Jazz mid aww.

"What the horseradish was that?" she whispers angrily as we take our seats.

I don't answer instead I stare at her dumbfounded, too shocked to talk.  Seriously what is with Grayson lately? Before I can get too caught up in my own head Jazz offers me a gummy worm and a shrug as a consolation, which I gratefully accept.

"So Harri has a boyfriend, huh? He must be blind." Comes a snigger from behind us.

I don't need to turn around to work out who is speaking. I'd know that obnoxious nasally tone anywhere. It's buried so deep in my brain that the very sound of it is enough to make me shudder. Seeing the determined look in Jazz's eyes I am reminded how grateful I am that she is on my team. She has always been great with her words, unlike me, and it is occasions like this that I am able to fully appreciate the fact that she has no chill.

As if taken directly out of a scene out of The Exorcist, Jazz slowly turns her head keeping her body facing forward. She looks over her left shoulder. "Don't you have better things to do, Cleo? Like, isn't there a bridge you should be under, you troll!" She spits, her low tone.

I can't help but smirk when Cleo audibly scoffs at the comment as if she shocked that anyone dares to speak to her that way. I'm sure she is about to clap back when Mr. Grayson calls for everyone's attention, quietening what little chatter remained in the class.

Facing forward I watch as in true Grayson form he explains our assignment in way too much detail; repeating the same thing three times in three different ways. Which is probably lucky since I missed it the first two times as I was too focused listening to the steam that I can hear practically bellowing from Cleo's ears. I know at some point I'll have to pay for Jazz's comment but right now I'm just going to enjoy the feeling of being one up on Cleo Mayer.

------

"Don't think I've forgotten about you, Jazz! OR your little goth friend here," Cleo says pointing at me the second that Grayson dismisses us from class.

Jazz doesn't even flinch instead she smiles sarcastically at the girl. "I'll be waiting with baited breath, Cleo. I mean I really look forward to our chats. They're like, the highlight of my day. Now run along your minions are waiting."

I watch on from the sidelines as Jazz flicks her wrist in the air as if dismissing Cleo from her presence. Her bangles crashing together which only serve to reinforce the movement. Cleo glares at Jazz but exits the room throwing her ponytail over her shoulder without speaking another word. Her minions scramble behind her as she storms down the hall.

"Seriously Jazz, you're gonna push her too far one day," I declare as the sound of Cleo's heels drift from earshot.

"Well, it's not like I started it. Plus someone needs to stand up to her since you're obviously not going too, H." She teases me with a smile and a prod in the arm as we pack up our desks.

I don't want to agree but she is right. It is not really my style to answer back. I much prefer the whole blend in with the wall trick, which clearly I am not very good at. Although I do think that one of these days it will just get to a point and I will just snap at her, and I am not looking forward to that because I don't really blame her.

"To be honest Jazz, I.....I feel sorry for her," I say not looking Jazz in the eyes. "I mean Theo is a dick, he probably stomped all over her heart."

Her eyes widen. "You cannot be justifying her behaviour right now, H?  You're not responsible for what he does!" I can tell by how high pitched her voice is that she really does not agree with me.

I look down at my desk shuffling my papers into a neat stack. "I know. I know. It's just.... well, high school is hard and she has a reputation to maintain, and he probably ruined that."

"Again, H. Not your fault. If she wanted to go after your hot affff brother that is her problem, not yours,"  she answers, her voice returning to its regular pitch. I try my best to ignore her calling my brother hot, but I cannot contain one very epic eye roll which earns itself a smirk from Jazz.

"And Jazz, 'aff' is not a word. It means 'as fu'--" She cuts me off before I can finish.

"I know what it means, H!" She exclaims as we make our way to the door.  "You know I don't like swearing so from now on 'aff' is a word, ok?"

"Ok, ok." I smile, making a mental note to add it to my Jazz dictionary.

"So we're done with this whole Cleo sympathy party then?" she questions. The look in her eye tells me not to argue. "Good! Now tell me, have you thought any more about your Halloween costume?"

We talk about our Halloween plans as we make our way to our next class. The discussion goes around in circles, as to Jazz's dismay I hold strong on my plan to dress as the Queen of Hearts. I remind her gently that she is lucky that I agreed to go to go the stupid event in the first place, which promptly brings an end to her begging me to reconsider her Baywatch costume suggestion.

By the time I get home from school and had my obligatory argument with Theo I am truly exhausted. Despite everything that happened through the day I still can't get SJ off my mind. Flopping down on my bed I take out my phone and compose a text.

"Hey."

Almost immediately I get a reply.

"Hey."

"Got any jokes? I need a laugh."

"Do I have jokes? Of course, I have jokes! Didn't I tell you that I am highly skilled in the art of Dad jokes? Hang on..."

A minute later I am nervously but happily answering an incoming FaceTime call; my second in as many days.

"Hey. I much prefer this over texting. Hope you don't mind?" he asks sweetly as the call connects.

I strain to see him through the screen on my phone as I am met with the same distorted vision from yesterday. The only thing I can distinguish is that he is wearing a black hoodie and that his hair is dark and full of curls which are tucked behind his ear. "No I don't, but I think I'd prefer it more if I could actually see you," I say taking a sip from my water bottle.

"Soon. I promise," comes the reply through the screen.

"I'll hold you to that SJ," I say as I watch his fuzzy arm rub the back of the neck. I could be mistaken but he appears to be as nervous as I am.

"So bad day?" he asks casually.

"Yes and no," I answer truthfully.

"Ok. Dad joke coming right up. What did the blanket say when it fell off the bed?"

"I don't know. What did the blanket say when it fell off the bed?" I ask tentatively.

"OH SHEET!" he says with a chuckle.

I almost choke on my water. "Holy sheet, that was funny!"

"Haha, the girl has puns," he says in response. I watch as he throws his head back with laughter, the outline of his throat perfectly lining up with the edges of his jawline.

Once I stop laughing, I manage to squeak out, "thank you, I needed that."

"Well, I've got more if you need them," his voice warm and deep.

"Careful SJ, you're giving away too much information about yourself," I tease.

He feigns surprise, but deflects, "did you want another Dad joke or not?"

"Only if you promise to maintain the quality. You've set the bar high. I've got expectations and standards now," I say with a smirk.

"Ok. How do NASA organise a party?...... they planet!"

I could get used to this I think as I fall asleep some hours later. The soothing sound of SJ's voice ringing in my ears,  my stomach sore from the endless laughs and smile on my face, because in this moment I feel genuinely happy.