14

                                    

                                          
"Seriously, Lydia?!" He asked her, with an angry tone.  
I took a step back, as my eyes nervously bounced between the two of them.  
I was scared and confused?   
Did he follow me here? 
"What are you doing?... Jackson?" Lydia asked, as she tried to grab her phone back.  
Jackson pulled the phone away again so she couldn't grab it.  
"What am I doing? What are you doing?" Jackson spoke through gritted teeth, "you weren't invited to my party and this is how you act?! All of a sudden there's this damn picture going around." 
"Well, I- um..." Lydia stuttered over her own words.   
With one click of his finger, he quickly deleted the photo.  
Jackson then roughly tossed the phone back at her.   
She seemed to jump a bit, as she caught her phone.  
"Now, get the hell out of here.  And, if you ever pull a stunt like that again... your phone will be flushed down the God damn toilet." Jackson's voice seemed to bark through the air.  
Lydia quickly pushed past me, as she walked out of the bathroom.   
My heart was raging still.  
I looked up at Jackson.  
"Thanks." I said sheepishly.   
"Don't mind her, she can be a bitch. Come on, let's go for a walk." Jackson said, as he nodded his head towards the door.  
I followed him out and the two of us walked down the hall.  
"I just don't understand what I did to her.  I mean, I've never talked to her at all until now.  I didn't even know her name until now." I defended myself.  
"It's nothing personal.  She does that when she feels like she's got competition." Jackson smiled, as he nudged me on the shoulder playfully with his elbow.  
"Well, thanks for coming to my rescue.  You follow me to the bathroom?" I chuckled.  
"Well, I knew something was wrong.  I mean, I wasn't planning on going in there." Jackson said back.  
"So... was what she said true? About everyone knowing about the police report?..." I asked sort of quietly.  
Jackson looked at me for a moment, as he bit the inside of his cheek.  
He slowly nodded yes.  
Oh dear God.  
"Well, that makes everything fucking worse."I huffed, as I ran my hands through my hair.  
"I wouldn't worry about it too much." Jackson reassured me.  
"Why are you being so nice to me?" I asked him in a serious tone.   
"Well, I think you and I have similar issues with parents." Jackson said.  
I gave him a weird look.  
"So your mom ran out on you months ago, who you also haven't heard from since... and your dad's an angry alcoholic who's currently locked up?" 
Jackson huffed loudly, as his eyes grew wide for a second.  
"No, not exactly. I'm adopted, actually." Jackson sort of chuckled, "my real parents died when I was young." 
"Oh... sorry." I mumbled out.