My Best Friend's Boyfriend - Leezy Mike (best books for 8th graders .txt) 📗

Jenna's shoe on the seat. I remembered Aunt May mentioned Jenna's badly blistered feet. Had she been running bare footed all the way to her house? Tears stung my eyes thinking about her lying on her bed, crying in pain. I gripped the steering wheel hard. Jenna was shutting me out and I hated it.

It was graduation day today but I felt like crap. Jenna was distancing herself further away from me and wouldn't even look my way. I scowled as I stared at a roll of paper in my hand neatly secured with a red ribbon. It felt meaningless when your best friend turned her back on you. "Wipe that ugly scowl off your face, Jake Wilson!" Nadine scolded. I scowled even more. "Don't tell me you don't feel anything. Jenna ignored you just as much as she ignored me," I said carefully. I was angry but I didn't want to make a scene on graduation day. She sighed and turned to look at Jenna, who was standing far away from us. "What happened to her?" she murmured.

Jenna left town a day after graduation. I went over to her house when Aunt May told me she left without specifically stating where she headed. I felt numb with shock. "I'm sorry, dear. I know how close you are with Jenna. I thought she told you her plans," she said. I shook my head, not understanding what happened to Jenna and why she didn't tell me or Nadine about her decision to leave town. "Did she tell you why she left?" I asked. Aunt May shook her head sadly. "I know there's something she's not telling me but she looked sad and I didn't want to upset her. She just said she needed to get away." I lifted my eyes to look at her. "Away from what?" She sighed and shook her head again. "I wish I knew, dear. Please be patient with her. She'll come back one day. I'm sure of that. When that day comes, you can ask her why did she leave us."

Nadine called Jenna many times but she never mentioned where she was. I tried calling her myself but she never answered any of my calls and that angered me. I visited Aunt May every day, just talking and keeping her company. She told me that Jenna studied journalism in a university in some city that Jenna didn't mentioned. Years went by and I enrolled myself in a culinary school not too far from town. I came home often and Nadine's condition worried me. She became distraught and thin. Her face was pale and prefered the safety of her bedroom. When I came to visit her, she would burst into tears and complained loudly about Jenna.

"She's always busy!" she fumed as she paced the floor of her bedroom. "We're no longer important to her. She's turning into Miss Smarty-pants now and wouldn't give a shit about us." I said nothing as she kept pacing in front of me. It hurt seeing her slowly destroying herself like this. I understood her feelings. They used to be so close, almost like sisters. She lost her best friend without knowing why and just three months before, she lost her boyfriend, Justin to cancer. I'm the only close friend she had left but I was clueless as how to help her. I would be around whenever she needed someone to talk to and made myself scarce when she shut everyone out. I tried calling Jenna again and again until I grew frustrated. Damned that woman!

Then one day, Nadine collasped at her workplace and her boss rushed her to the hospital. My dad shook his head gently as he walked out to meet us. "What's wrong with my baby, Dan?" Nadine's mom asked. Dad let out a heavy sigh. "It's an illness that I have no idea how to treat," he replied softly. "What do you mean?" Nadine's dad asked in confusion. "Have you heard from Jenna yet, Jake?" dad asked me instead and at that exact moment, I knew what was wrong with Nadine. She was heartbroken, depressed and missing Jenna terribly. I sighed and shook my head. Dad was right. It was an illness he had no idea how to treat.

For months I tried calling Jenna with no luck. Either she was really busy or refused to answer my calls. I was desperate to talk to her because Nadine was getting weaker. I couldn't just stand by and watched my friend surrender to her despair. Jenna was the only one who could save her. Without Jenna, Nadine would definitely die. She didn't eat or sleep. She would cried for hours and refused talking to anyone. After ten months, she breathed her last believing her best friend hated and deserted her. I closed my eyes as dad pulled the sheet up and Nadine's mom cried hysterically. I ran out the room and toward my car. I kicked the tire and punched the door as tears rolled down my cheeks. "Damn you, Jenna! I hate you!" I cried and slumped on the ground next to my car. I was angry beyond words and beginning to hate myself for thinking what a nice person Jenna was. I was wrong. She was a selfish bitch.

Thinking about Nadine and why she died made my blood boiled. I marched back to Jenna's house and once there, started pounding on her door like a madman. When she finally opened the door, I pushed her back inside and closed the door behind me. Luckily I left Charlie at home. He would become a distraction if he was here with me. Jenna looked up at me, her pretty eyes looked as big as saucers. "Why the hell did you come back?" I demanded. I wanted so much to throttle the life out of her for making a lot of people who love her miserable, including yours truly. Whoa! Hold your horses. Love? Where did that crap came from?

"I came back to take care of Aunt May. I thought you knew that," she replied softly. "After fifteen God damned years you decided to come back to this wretched town. During these fifteen years, you broke so many hearts. You broke Nadine's heart and sent her straight to her grave! Before she died, she begged with us not to tell you because she believed you hated her. She died believing you, the best friend she loved like a sister deserted her in the end. You broke her heart and killed her!" I shouted. 

"No!" she screamed, burying her face in her hands and sobbed. Whether she really felt sorry or not, I didn't give a damn. I was pissed off beyond words. "Is your job more important than your friends? More important than your family that you're willing to shake us off your boots like dirt?" She cried even louder. "Please, Jake. Stop. I can't take it anymore," she begged. I dropped onto my knees, grabbed her shoulders and shook her real hard. "You're a selfish bitch, Jenna. Do you hear me? A selfish bitch!" I growled. Then I got up and left her crying on the couch.

 

 

 

CHAPTER 7: JENNA

I curled on the couch, crying my heart out. I hadn't stopped crying since Jake came to my house, releasing his anger on me...full throttle. Pain gripped my chest when I realized I was the cause of Nadine's death. She died thinking I hated her. I was miserable but I never hated her. She was my best friend and like a sister to me. I shouldn't have pushed her away like an uwanted trash. I left because I couldn't bear to keep on loving my best friend's boyfriend. Oh, God! What had I done? 

I opened my eyes and groaned. My back and eyes hurt like hell and it wasn't even 5 am yet. I got up slowly from the couch and headed towards my bedroom. In the bathroom, I stared at my reflection in the mirror above the sink. I winced. Truth be told, I looked like hell. I showered, brushed my teeth and put on a green halter top and white pants that hung low on my hips. 

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Publication Date: 05-15-2013

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To my family, friends and book lovers around the world. Feel free to comment.