Chapter 14

“Hey man, good practice,” said Brandon, one of Jake’s teammates. The guys were changing in the locker room after they were through with practice.

“Yeah man, the team’s coming along finally,” Jake said, as he clapped Brandon on the back.

“So where has Samantha been? I haven’t seen her around lately,” Brandon said, as they were putting their soccer shoes into their duffel bags.

“She’s been hanging out with her friend, he’s back in town for a bit, it’s cool,” Jake said.

“You mean that singer dude, Nick right?” Brandon asked.

“Yeah, they’re really good friends,” Jake said.

“Tell me about it bro, you better be careful, I saw them together at Pizza Hut the other day,” Brandon said, as he snickered.

“What do you mean?” Jake asked, as he started to get a crinkle in his forehead.

“Well, from what I could see, they looked like they were a little more than friends,” Brandon said, sarcastically.

Jake lunged towards Brandon, grabbing the front of his shirt and backing him up to the lockers.

“What did you see exactly?” Jake said.

“Chill bro, I’m just saying they were acting all lovey dovey. I saw them walking out arm and arm. I just wanted to let you know, get off of me man,” Brandon said, as he pushed Jake off.

Brandon grabbed his duffel bag and walked out, leaving Jake there all alone. He stood there with his fists clenched, pissed as hell.

“This ends today,” he thought, as he punched one of the lockers. Jake grabbed his bag, slamming the door as he walked out of the locker room.

Samantha pulled up to the parking lot at school. She saw all of the guys that were on Jake’s soccer team leaving in their cars, but she didn’t see Jake. She figured he must still be changing in the locker room.

Samantha sat on the hood of her car waiting, waving to a few of the guys that she knew. When she saw Jake coming across the parking lot out of the locker rooms, she waved him over towards her.

“Hey babe, how was practice?” Samantha asked him.

Jake grabbed her arm, “What the fuck was going on with you and Nick at Pizza Hut?” he said through gritted teeth.

“What are you talking about? Ouch, you’re hurting my arm Jake,” she said, as she tried to pull it away.

“I heard about you and Nick, what the fuck have you been doing behind my back?” he said, his voice rising to a yell.

“Who told you that? It’s not true,” she said, as she was still trying to get her arm away from him.

Jake dropped the duffel bag that was in right hand, and lifted his hand up, smacking her directly across the face so hard, that her face and half of her body turned to the side. She probably would have fallen, if not for the death grip he had on her arm already.

“You’re a fucking liar!” he screamed, “You are MY girl, no one better ever touch you,” he said, still yelling.

Samantha was still in shock,, tears streaming down her face. She put her hand up to her cheek, feeling the heat from the slap.

“You know you’re mine, don’t play with me like that behind my back,” he said, as she started to sob in response, and he turned on his heel and stomped off to his car.

Sam leaned back on her car, sobbing uncontrollably. She couldn’t even believe what had just happened. Why would someone tell Jake they saw something between her and Nick? How was she going to convince Jake that it wasn’t true? She didn’t want to lose him. She didn’t want him to not be able to trust her, especially around Nick, since he had nothing to worry about them getting together.

The side of her face was throbbing now, as she put her hand back up on her cheek to try and ease the pain.

“He must really love me to be so upset about a rumor,” she thought. “I will just have to get him to see the truth.”

It was now April and spring had sprung in Florida. Samantha was still dealing with Megan’s death and it was really hard for her. She had to go to all of her classes without her. Usually everything she did in school was with her and now that prom was going to be starting, she didn’t want to go to it without her.

Her and Jake had been getting along better since the incident after Nick left in February. She knew he thought something was going on with them. She told him the truth that nothing had happened and finally he broke down, apologizing for what he did, and told her that he loved her and that he didn’t want to loose her. Now he knew that nothing was and that he was the only guy for her. Nick was just a good friend, now her only best friend since Megan’s death and Jake told her that he could handle it, as long as Nick didn’t cross the lines

Samantha and Nick still talked every night on the phone. He’d sit there and listen to her talk about things that her and Megan had done together. Samantha would laugh sometimes and she would cry sometimes, and once in a while Nick even cried, and Brian who was usually in the same room didn’t know why. A couple of times, they stayed on the phone all night long, when Nick was in another country and didn’t have anything to do that day. It would be night time in Tampa and they would talk, all night long, even if she had school the next day. Nick didn’t want Samantha to feel as if she didn’t have a friend, because she did, in him.

That afternoon, Samantha had been at the school helping the prom committee get ready for the prom the next night and she walked into her house to see her mom standing there by the door.

“Sam, what’s wrong?” asked Maggie as Samantha walked in whipping tears away as she looked back at her.

“That damn prom…. I’m tired of it.. I almost don’t wanna go.” Said Samantha as she started upstairs.

“Why not?” asked Maggie as Samantha turned around and looked at her, “Because of Megan?”

“Yeah… yeah she couldn’t wait til our senior prom and look… she’s not here.” Said Samantha, “I’m going to go call Nick….” As she walked upstairs.

She walked into her bedroom throwing her backpack on the floor beside her bed. She laid down on the bed with her head in her pillow crying when she looked up to see the phone as she reached for it and started to dial Nick’s number. It was probably middle of the night in Europe where they were but she knew he wouldn’t care.