Chapter 33: First Day of School III
For the third time, someone called me at the beach.
"Hi, Francis!" the woman waved while jogging.
"Hello, Cindy," I waved back, and when I turned around, the three girls were glaring at me.
"Oh, come on, she's too old for me. She was one of my dad's friends," I explained.
"Well, if I wanted a virgin, I'd stick with Coop's cousin, not Haley's," Summer teased.
"Hey!" Marissa exclaimed, though without much offense in her tone.
"Who are you talking about?" Haley asked curiously.
"His name's Sheldon Cooper," Summer revealed, "the weirdest guy I've ever met, eww"
"Sheldon Cooper?" I raised an eyebrow.
Marissa looked at me surprised. "You know him?"
"Read about him," I clarified. "PhD at sixteen. At twenty-three, he's considered one of the most promising physicists alive."
Gerald once told me how relieved he was that I wasn't another Sheldon - an arrogant genius with zero social skills.
"He's really smart, but a hard person to talk to," Marissa said. "But his twin, Missy, she's amazing."
"How can such a beautiful and funny girl be related to that?" Summer laughed. "Oh, I remember last year when Missy came to visit you and snuck drinks for us."
"The first time we got totally wasted," Marissa laughed.
We talked until around six in the evening, when the sun was already low, and I said it was time to wrap up the day. Marissa gave Summer a ride since they both lived in Pacific Palisades.
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I was driving Haley home.
"You could give me some driving lessons, Jake. Mom and Dad always freak out when they're instructing," Haley said, sitting sideways and looking at me.
"I can do that, but not in the Ferrari. This car's too fast - we'll use the minivan, it's safer," I agreed with some restrictions. "Besides, one of the adults will definitely want to ride in the back."
"And another thing," I added, "don't drink before you drive. There are plenty of irresponsible things you can do, but that's not one of them," I spoke seriously.
"You drank before," she accused.
"More than five hours ago. Given my body composition, it would take about an hour and a half to two hours for the alcohol to be fully metabolized. So even if the police stopped me right now, I'd be fine," I explained.
We hadn't drunk much anyway. I made sure Marissa didn't drink much since she was the one driving.
Haley snorted and laughed. "Sometimes you're such a nerd, cousin," she teased, "and other times you're flirting with the prettiest girls in school on your first dayof school"
She gave me a mischievous smile. "Marissa told us how you two met and about the cigarette."
I shrugged. "You weren't really friends with them, were you?" I asked.
"No, we were just acquaintances. I'm closer to Taylor (Townsend). She and Summer have a bit of a rivalry," Haley explained. "Actually, she's the one I was going to introduce you to - or maybe Holly."
After a few minutes, I parked and dropped Haley off at her house an hour earlier than planned, then headed to Jay's place.
When I walked in, I saw Jay and Gloria having dinner, each with a glass of wine, while Manny was performing - he was wearing his poncho, playing a flute, and doing some strange dance.
"So, when does the rain start?" I murmured beside Gloria, earning a nudge from her and a suppressed laugh from Jay.
I grabbed a plate and joined the small audience.
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A few days passed. By Friday, I was back home early.
"Already back from school?" Jay glanced at me and then at the clock.
"Yep. That's enough for this week," I said, grabbing coffee. "But high school's been great so far."
"You show up whenever you want, leave whenever you want - and I'm pretty sure you do whatever you want in class, too," Jay scoffed. "No consequences, no discipline -must be nice." He added the last line with sarcasm.
"Exactly what you do at your company," I replied cheekily, "I'm just a faster learner."
I never shy about the privileges I'd earned. After all, I usually give back in return.
I changed the subject before Jay could retort. "Is there a problem with my friends coming over for dinner?" I asked him. "At least they'll give Haley a ride, since they're going shopping first and will come here afterward."
"Already found a girl during the first week?" Jay raised an eyebrow.
"First week? I did on the first day," I smirked
Jay just shook his head without saying a word.
"Jay!" Gloria shouted from the living room as she appeared holding the house phone. "Manny got into a fight at school!"
Seeing them heading for the car, I followed. "I'm going too."
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"Calm down, Gloria," Jay said as we walked through the school hallway toward the principal's office, trying to reassure her.
"Boys fight all the time," he downplayed when we reached the corridor. Then, noticing I was scanning the area, he asked, "And what are you looking at?"
"Looking for a few kids I could pay, just in case Manny's opponent needs a little lesson," I replied casually.
"Jake!" Gloria scolded me, but then stepped closer and whispered, "Find a big one."
I smiled. Gloria also had her own way of handling things by street rules.
We arrived at the principal's office door, and Gloria promptly opened it - but when we saw who was inside, all of us were surprised.
Besides Manny, there was Luke sitting next to him, and in the following chairs were Claire and Phil.
"What are you doing here?" Jay asked, frowning at Phil and Claire.
"These two were fighting each other," Claire explained.
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Author Notes: Hey, I Top Up, bought 50 coins ($1), and I already reached lv 10? (Not that I got anything very useful out of it…)
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