Story #48: The Girl Who Changed His Mind

The Girl Who Changed His Mind

     Jaye and Jade are kind of like us average teenagers but they have secrets, secrets

only they know... It was the start of a whole new school year. Two new students, one

girl, the other a guy, had just entered my American History I class and took seats in the

back of the room. The girl was tall and lean with jet black hair and bright green eyes.

The boy, obviously, looked like the athletic type. He was also tall, but well built. He had

jet black hair. It was kind of long, almost to the middle of his ear and he had deep blue

eyes. When our teacher, Mr. Peters, asked them to stand up and say a little about

themselves, they slowly rose. The girl said her name was Jade and the boy said his

name was Jaye, they were both 16 and they were siblings.

     I walked up to the girl after class to introduce myself before I could even get a word

out, she started talking, “ Save it, I don’t want to hear it, because guess what, I don’t

care.”

     That’s all she said and then she started to walk away with her brother. As they

walked away, Jaye turned around and gave me a big smile followed by a wink and a

tiny shrug. After all that had just happened I just stood there with a gaping mouth,

blushing red face, and a dumb expression.

     I walked in to my next class, P. E., and sat down, waiting for the teacher to take

attendance. All of a sudden, someone rushed next to me and sat down. It was Jaye,

Jaye sat so close I could smell a hint of his cologne, it’s sent was like that of morning

dew. He suddenly struck up a conversation with me.

     “Hey, sorry about my sister. She’s a little to the point sometimes.” he said with a

smile.

     “Really? I had no idea.” I could tell I had a hint of sarcasm in my voice.

     “Yes, I don’t think I properly introduced myself. I’m Jaye, and you are?” Jaye asks.

     “Hi, I’m Suzy.” I say evenly.

     “Suzy, pretty name for a pretty girl,” he says flirtatiously. “I’m a little to the point

sometimes too.”

     “Well I, uh, uh, thanks,” I say with a slight mumble.

     The rest of the class is just like any other P.E. class. Then I was off to art, when I

enter the room, a seating chart is drawn up on the board. I am to sit in the back next to

Jade. I make my way to our table when I see her sitting there ready to learn. She sees

me and her smile soon faded. She starts to speak. “Oh, not you again?” she states.

     “As I tried to say earlier, hi I’m Suzy.” I say.

     “Whatever. Just sit down and stop talking to me.” She replied with a slight grimace.

I am off to science for my next class. I sit down and soon after Jaye walks in and sits

down next to me. The first few minutes are quiet then Jaye breaks the silence

     “So, you wanna go out on a date after school?” he asks.

     “Uh, I don’t know. How might your sister feel about that? She doesn’t seem to like

me as it is.” I say.

     “She’ll be fine.” he claims.

     “Well, ok but you’re driving.” I say.

     The rest of the day went on like a blur until my “date” with Jaye. He takes me out to

a roller rink and then bought me ice-cream. It was by far the best night of my life. I

couldn’t go to sleep because I was so happy . He acted like a complete gentlemen on

our “date”.

     The next day at school, first period, was awkward. Jaye sat next to me instead of

Jade. The whole period it felt as if Jade was starring daggers into the back of my head.

As the days went by, I could tell that I was starting to grow on Jade. She started to talk

to me frequently and when she did she seemed a little kinder. Jaye is growing distant,

he is a lot more secretive. He will cancel dates, to go out and do something I didn’t

know about. Every day after he cancels a date, he comes to school the next day with

very big scrapes and large bruises. I am getting worried, so I finally decide to confront

him about it. He says, “Come with me tonight and I’ll show you.” He has a very solemn

look on his face.

     I go with him and we drive to a dark alley and we park the car just outside. We

started to walk down. And as we do Jaye grabs my hand. Then we come to a heavy

door that has a sliding panel at about eye level. Jaye knocks on the door and the panel

jolts open. A man with a deep voice asks for a password, but how were we suppose to

know it? Jaye leans close to the door and whispers something to the man. The man

jerks open the door to let us in.

     It smells like sweat mixed with a musty basement and looked even worse. In the

middle of the room was a giant cage. I now know why we were here, Jaye was a cage

fighter. I look at Jaye and can’t help but scream.

     “Why wouldn’t you tell me sooner?!”

     “I didn’t know how you would react.” his voice is soft and quiet.

I look at him for a long time or, at least, it feels like it. Then I take one step closer to

him and slap him across the face. After that, he takes me in his arms and holds me

there. I wrap my arms around him in return he slowly pulls away and starts to kiss me.

Gently combing his hand through my hair. When he stops, he gently whispers in my

ear , “I have to go.” and he left.

     For five minutes I look around and see the metal chairs set up all around the room. I

can’t help but to think in my head. This is entertainment? I’ve seen boy’s fight, I’ve

seen men fight. I can’t help but cry as I feel the pain of each kick and punch. Then, the

sound that changed my life. The bell that will send my boyfriend to fight. The MC had

announced that this fight was to the death and the loser would be killed in the “back

room.” I am scared and worried, but before I run out of the room I yell, “Jaye wait

don’t!” As I looked back, tears streamed down my face, but through those tears, I

could still see the hurt expression on his face.

     I did’t think I could sleep the rest of the night. I had take a cab home and lay in bed,

my head reeling. I have no idea how to feel, but sleep slowly took me. The next day I

woke, sped to school, and rushed to my first hour class. When I entered, I saw Jaye

sitting there, in all his glory, Jade right by his side. They both smiled at me. Jaye’s blue

eyes sparkling, I looked at him, slowly walked up and said.

     “But how.”

     He looked at me and smiled, “You changed my mind.”

     Jade looked at me and said “You did something even I couldn’t do, change his mind.”

Jaye then stood and took me in his arms. He slowly caressed my face. With his soft

and gentle hands before I knew what was happening he started to kiss me.

     Two years later.

     “Do you Suzy take Jaye to be your lawful husband?”

     “I do,” I say smiling.

     “And do you Jaye, take Suzy to be your lawful wife?”

     “I do,” he says

     “Then you may now kiss the bride”

     He does that thing I love. He slowly takes a step towards me, wrapped me in his

arms, combed a hand trough my hair, the other on the small of my back and began to

kiss me.