Page 1 of Friends with Benefits

1

JAKE

16 Years Ago

School is out but, like every day, I’m standing in the yard, kicking up dirt with my scuffed shoes, waiting for Emily. She always takes ages. I don’t know what she does after the bell rings but she’s never out on time. Me, I get out of there as soon as I can, especially on a Friday. It’s like she actually enjoys being at school.

‘Ah, look, Jake’s waiting for his girlfriend again.’

That’s Tommy ‘no-good-for-nothing’ Arnold. The biggest jackass in school. He was a nobody before the growth spurt last year that made him three inches taller than everyone else. He was already ten inches wider. Fat ass!

‘Get stuffed, Tommy,’ I say, letting him hear the boredom in my voice. It’s the same-old-same-old every night, except for Wednesdays, when Emily has gymnastics class and her mom picks her up.

Tommy has his group of followers around him. Some of them are decent guys. I play football with most of them. He’s too out of shape to play himself so he pretends he’s too cool for it. He’s not.

‘Yeah, what you gonna do, Jake? Cry about it with your girlfriend?’

I take a deep breath through my nose and shake my head. He’s not worth it.

Bored of not getting a rise out of me, he heads off in the direction of home, punching one of the guys in the arm and no doubt trying to get a reaction out of him. It’s like Mom says: one of these days, Tommy will be fat, bald and stupid, so the joke’s on him.

‘Finally!’ I call when I see Emily making her way out of the school doors with two friends. They all have blonde hair and the same two pigtails braided down either shoulder. They all have on similar pink dresses and those bright princess backpacks they wear.

She beams when she sees me, like she always does, as if she isn’t expecting me to be waiting for her. In return, I give her a smile that lifts only one side of my mouth. I learned it from my brother, Drew. He’s almost ten years older than me and he’s pretty cool, not that I ever tell him as much. Apparently, it’s a hit with the ladies, his lazy smile. I’m not sure why I do it around Emily. I guess I’m practicing on her for when I meet real chicks.

‘Bye, girls!’ Emily calls, waving off her friends while running to me. ‘Hey, Jakey.’

I want to be mad at her for being late, again, but I can’t. She’s just a kid. She’s two years younger than me, only eight. And she’s short, you know. I’m a protector of sorts. That’s what Mom says, anyway. That’s why I have to walk her home every day. That, and the fact we live on the same street, so it makes sense.

We walk back along the sidewalk, which is speckled with sand from the gusts we’ve had on the island the last few days, blowing up from South Shore Beach. It’s one of the things I love about Staten Island: always being close to the beach.

‘What did you do at school today?’ I ask her.

‘Mm…’ She looks to the sky as she thinks.

‘Emily, your lace is untied.’

She shrugs and keeps walking. I come to a halt on the sidewalk.

‘Stop and tie your lace or you’ll hurt yourself.’

She breathes out huffily but bends to fasten her lace. ‘You’re so bossy,’ she grunts at me.

‘Yeah, well, you’d be calling me worse names if I let you fall and break your arm.’

‘That wouldn’t happen. You have to fall off a cliff or something to break your arm.’

‘Oh, really? How would you know?’

She shrugs again but stares at her toes when she stands. I hate when she does this. It makes me feel like a douche. ‘Look, how about I race you home?’

Although she doesn’t lift her head, I can see from the way the sides of her face lift that she’s smiling. I know any second now, she’ll turn and run. And she does.

‘You cheat every time!’ I shout.

I catch up to her, but not before she runs smack into Tommy Arnold, who’s deliberately stepped in her way.

It happens in a heartbeat. She looks up. Tommy pushes her back and she stumbles to the ground. As she does, his eyes are on me. Tommy doesn’t care about Emily. He wants to pick a fight with me because I’m the popular kid and the only person Tommy needs to take out to be king of the jungle.

---