The Jesters Fool- Chapter 8

A young adult novel following high school senior Brooke Taylor as she navigates a year filled with unexplained murders and secrets.

Lexi drags her finger in a line under my eye, leaving a streak of forest green. My game makeup now looks the same as hers, and she smiles contentedly at our matching school spirit. “How excited are you?” She asks, practically shaking me in her excitement.

“It’s just a football game, Lex,” I remind her with a smile, pulling free from her grasp.

“I know! Ugh, I’m gonna pee my pants!” She grins at me, turning to herself in the mirror again to make sure that her makeup is still perfect.

“Lexi, I really thought we had fixed your oversharing problem,” I cringe, trying to push her into the bathroom.

She fights back, “It’s just an expression,” She whines, “I wasn’t actually going to.” I roll my eyes and let her wander around our dorm room as she pleases.

Lexi pulls out her phone, pressing her cheek against mine, about to take a selfie of us, when a notification pops up onto her screen. It’s a text from Thomas: 

Babe: Aarons got back with his ex.

Babe: Make sure Brooke doesn’t find out

My heart drops, as I finish reading the message before Lexi does. I move my lips, but no words come out, and I feel trapped. I didn’t even like him, so I shouldn’t care. “Who’s gonna break the news to him that I know?” I give a fake laugh, blinking my eyes quickly, trying to ward off the impending tears that will undoubtedly ruin my makeup.

“Brooke, I’m so sorry,” Lexi says, wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug. 

“Why don’t guys like me, Lexi?” I ask, wrapping my arms around myself as she pulls away from the embrace.

She gives me an, “are you serious?” look, biting her lip, trying to decide if she should respond or not. “Marcus.” Is all she says. I don’t have the energy to argue that she’s wrong, so I just complacently follow her out of the dorm and down to the football stands, feeling numb the whole way.

The October night air bites through my windbreaker and hoodie, stinging my skin. I’m miserable and tired before the game has even started, but it’s my senior year and Lexi had warned me earlier that it may be my biggest regret not attending this game.

Marcus and Thomas meet me and Lex up in the stands, “Where’s Trent?” I ask, feigning a nonchalant tone. I hope he knows that just because he’s going to the actual dance with his theater friends, he’s still expected to hang out with us during the homecoming football game. At least, I expect him too, the idea of seeing him here is why I just barely allowed myself to be talked into going tonight.

“Oh,” Thomas shrugs with a smirk, “He has a bit of a surprise for us.” I don’t question his odd tone and ignore him, scanning the crowd of excited Timberline students, looking for him. I see his theater friends at the back row of the stands, looking less than impressed with everyone's game day spirit, but Trent is completely out of sight.

“Is he not coming?” Lexi asks, pouting, “You should have told me, I’m great at forcing people into stuff like this,” She adds the last part with a wink at me.

“He’s here.” Marcus turns his gaze to Trent, returning his look, but not adding more.

“You two are inferorating,” I inform the boys, stuffing my cold hands into my jacket pocket.

“Students, please stand for the singing of our national anthem,” The voice of our headmistress, Mrs. Romanov, echoes through the speaker. “This year we are honored to have senior Trent Butler leading us.”

“No way,” I whisper-shout, or as Trent would call it, stage whisper, as his smooth tenor voice fills the stadium. “Oh my God, he’s great!”
Marcus elbows me to get me to shut up, and I quickly place my hand over my heart and face toward the flag, proud to be an American, when men like Trent sang out the soulful notes of an anthem. If this was the American dream- I didn’t want to wake up.

The song ends and even the boys applaud, more than amazed at the ability of their friend. “Singing is weirdly nerdy, but he’s good at it,” Marcus confesses with a shrug, as we fight our way up to the top of the stands by the media box, so we can meet up with Trent.

“Singing is not nerdy!” Lexi exclaims indignantly, pushing him playfully into a group of underclassmen. He quickly regains his balance, and nods at the kid he almost knocked over apologetically.

At the top of the stands Trent is surrounded by his theater friends, all congratulating him. I push through the group and give him a giant hug, “Be honest, how was I?” he asks, almost awkwardly. I’ve never seen him insecure before, and I notice how tense his body feels within my arms.

“Man, you were great!” Thomas grins, patting him on the back as he pulls away from me, “Even Marcus thought it was good.”

“Marcus?” He asks, surprised, “If he thought it was good I should be auditioning for X-Factor or something!”

“Don’t get a big head,” I warn him, wrapping my arm around his shoulders. Marcus gives me a sharp look, glaring at the physical contact between us, but I remain unbothered, pretending not to have noticed him. “Do you guys want to watch the game from the ground? I hate how crowded it is up here.”

Lexi agrees quickly, “Please, I feel like I can’t breathe!” And she grabs Thomas’ hand, dragging him down the bleachers with her. Marcus, Trent, and I follow, trying our best not to walk into anybody.

At the bottom of the stands, Marcus’ strong arm wraps protectively around me, and I instinctively flinch, trying to pull away from him. “Aaron,” he hisses, in a whisper.

Directly in front of me is Aaron, with his ex- whose apparently no longer his ex. He hasn’t noticed us yet, but his girlfriend sure has, “Aaron, aren’t these your friends?” She asks, her voice innocent but her smile malicious, as she takes me in. I feel myself blush beneath her judgmental look.

Aarons eyes harden as he turns his gaze to me, and I pull myself closer to Marcus, “You’re with him now?” He asks me, as his attention fades from his girlfriend, all focus on me. His voice is curious, questoning, perhaps he’s confirming previous suspicions he had of me.

“I guess,” I shrug, and Marcus’ arm goes limp, before he recomposes himself, “Nothing serious, I don’t do well with relationships.” I share a momentary knowing look with him before pushing past him and his new-old girlfriend.

“You’re an awful person,” Trent laughs once we’re out of earshot.

“Shut up, I am not!” I defend myself, pulling away from Marcus’ grasp, “Thanks for looking like my boyfriend,” I add, watching Trents reaction from the corner of my eye. To my dismay he seems to be completely unphased.

“Anytime,” He winks at me, he starts as if he’s going to say more, but Lexi interrupts him before he has the chance to say anything stupid.

“I cannot believe he’s back with Heather.” She whines, “I mean, he definitely has a type�" she looks just like you!”
Thomas smiles as Lexi pulls out her phone and starts trying to find Heather's instagram so that she can compare me to her, “Lex, most girls with short hair and blue eyes look similar.”
“That’s really offensive,” I pretend to flip my too-short-to-flip hair over my shoulder.

 “I’m sorry we had to walk into them like that,” Lexi sighs, putting her phone away and sitting on a picnic table, barely allowing the football field to be within our sight.

“Lexi, you know I don’t care,” I smile, “It was just a stupid crush and we went on one date. I swear I’m so over it.”

“Boys are stupid,” Trent tries to comfort me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders. He’s warm, and the night air is shockingly cold. I want nothing more than to melt into his being.

His body is pushed away from mine, as Marcus playfully shoves him, “And you’re different?” He snorts, his eyes lingering on me.

“Obviously.” The crowd to the side of us erupts in cheers as the first home touchdown is made, the ground shaking under the weight of their excitement. 

I lean into my friends, our energy building as the game progresses, none of us really knowing a thing about football. Up on the scoreboard the two schools are tied 42-42. “I am so not in the mood to deal with overtime,” Marcus groans, as he watches the final seconds of the fourth quarter tick down. 

We all agree to leave rather than stick around for the ten minute overtime, and as we turn our backs to the field, the stadium erupts into cheers for the last time of the homecoming game. I turn back, and to my shock and utter amazement, Timberline is preparing to kick a field goal, the score already boosted from 42-42, to 48-42. Three seconds left, I watch them tick down, and then the buzzer sounds before the kicker can take a swing at the ball. 

The small group of us make a run for the dorms as the rest of the school rushes onto the field in a flood of victory. “I cannot believe we just won,” Trent laughs, incredulously, “We haven’t won a homecoming game in years!”
“It’s because of your singing,” I giggle, “A little good luck charm for the team.” He shakes his head at me, smiling under a blush�" which could have just been the cold wind biting at his cheeks, but I like to think that I was the sole reason for that slight coloration.

“I could have done better-” He sighs, his ever humble spirit flattered, I’m about to respond, but I’m interrupted by the ringing of my phone. I pull it out of my back pocket, and to my dismay it's from my father.

“I’m so sorry guys, but I really have to take this,” I sigh, hitting accept, “I’ll meet up with you guys as soon as I can.”

Marcus pats my shoulder as he steps around me, into the dorm building. He and the rest of the group remain on the first floor, heading down the hallway to the guys’ dorms. I place the phone to my ear and make my way up the stairs and to the girls hall, where mine and Lexis' dorm is.

“Hey dad,” I answer cheerfully, making my way into my room, and bury myself under a pile of blankets. “How are you doing?”

“I’m great! Did you see the score for that football game? The boys really pulled through this year!”

“Yeah, they played well.”

“You didn’t go to the game, did you?” I can hear the disappointment in his voice and it annoys me. Mr “I was popular back when I was in highschool” wants me to be the most extroverted obnoxious person I can possibly be. I can’t blame him for not knowing that though, he doesn’t really know me.

“I did go dad, it’s my senior year.” Besides hating every moment of it, I was there nonetheless.

“Tell me the score then,” It’s almost like he's trying to taunt me, gaud me into admitting that I was actually a complete and total social recluse who had no friends, no personality, and worst of all, no love of football.

“48-42. We didn’t get time to take the last kick.” I can almost hear his smile through the phone.

“You have any plans for the dance tomorrow?” He asks, shifting the topic slightly.

“Um yeah,” I say awkwardly, realizing that I hadn’t informed either of my parents about any of my love life updates since school started, “Marcus and I are going together.” I leave out the ‘as friends’ part, I’m not quite sure why.

“I knew you’d end up dating that boy,” Dad sighs, frustration feeding into his voice, “Aaron seemed so sweet, what happened to him?”
“We only went out once dad,” I interject, “It just didn’t work. I have to go now.” I added the last part sharply.

“Alright.” He sighs again, “Have fun tomorrow night, don’t do anything dumb.” The words “With Marcus,” hang in the air as he hangs up, and I shove my phone into my back pocket, consumed in frustration.

I make my way down the stairs, and onto the ground level of the dormitory, almost to the boys’ hallway, before a voice calls after me. I turn around in shock, coming face to face with Zach. “Hey, can I help you?” I give him a quizzical look, unsure of how to feel about my best friend's ex boyfriend approaching me.

“Nothing- Just saw you in the hallway and I thought it was you.”

“Yeah, it is.” I nod awkwardly, unsure of how to respond, “Well, it was good seeing you again,” I turn to leave, but he reaches out and grasps my arm, pulling me back.

I look at him, his eyes are desperate, “Does she still want me?” He whispers, dropping my hand as he blinks quickly, trying to cast the panic out of his face.

“No.” I don’t even pretend to encourage him, “No, she doesn’t.” He frowns, shaking his head before he stalks away.

I turn away from him and make my way to Marcus’ dorm, resolving to myself that I won’t say a word about Zach to Lexi. I don’t want to risk ruining anything between her and Thomas, not now�" not so close to homecoming, to the end of senior year.

I knock on the door before opening it myself and pushing my way in, joining the group on the floor, sitting in an intimate circle. “What did your dad want?” Marcus asks, putting his hand on my knee for a moment as I settle in.

An idea forms, and I smile at him coyly, “He said the two of us shouldn’t get into too much trouble tomorrow.” I place my hand over his, leaning in closer to him. I ignore the part of me that is disgusted by my extreme proximity to him, and we hold steady eye contact, only interrupted by the jives of our friends.

“Two years and it’s finally happened!” Lexi exclaims, once we turn our attention back to the group.

“What do you mean?” I ask innocently, trying my best to look shocked at her accusations.

She pushes me playfully, and I fall into Marcus’ side. He wraps his arms around my shoulders, bracing me up against him. I might be insane, but I fully believe that I can feel his heart beating like crazy against my skin.

I look across the circle, and find myself staring straight into Trent's eyes. He smiles at me, for a brief moment, before he turns his gaze to the floor, his expression unreadable. 

Author's Note

Please leave me and all comments, I really, greatly, appreciate it!