MORGAN'S POV
Words could not describe how I felt at the moment. It was like I was feeling every kind of negative emotion at the same time. One thing was for sure though; I hated Dylan Park more than I ever thought I could.
Staring at the brown patch on the white leather sleeves of my brother's varsity jacket gave me a headache. The jacket was a sight for sore eyes. Ivy tried everything in her power to make the stain disappear but no matter how hard she scrubbed at it with the soap in the girls' bathroom and a little piece of cloth she cut out of her "work clothes" she couldn't seem to pull it off. Sasha stood beside her biting her nails off as she watched Ivy. I was a hundred percent sure she was freaking out more than I was mostly because the jacket belonged to the guy she has been crushing on for years now and she had probably fantasized about wearing it one day. I didn't want to say anything but I think she glared at me when Isaac gave it to me this morning.
The fact that Isaac had to work his ass off during summer vacation just so he could pay for the jacket was what kept bugging me and making me feel guilty. My mom could have easily given him the cash he needed but she said he'd appreciate it more if he paid for it. She wasn't wrong. Isaac had never given anyone that jacket before. He treated it better than he treated his other clothes. I am the first person apart from him to put it on and look what happened. I might be the "love of his life" as he always claims but he'd sacrifice me to the basketball gods as soon as he sees this.
Oh Dylan. You really are dead now.
I contemplated pushing him under the bus and telling Isaac he was the one that ruined his prized possession but for some reason, I didn't feel it was alright to do that. Sure Dylan was a pain in the ass, but I didn't think it would be humane of me to give him to my brother. Isaac really disliked him and would seriously injure him if given the opportunity to do so. This situation seemed like the perfect opportunity.
"Ugh! It's not working!" The cloth in Ivy's hand was set aside and she stared angrily at the not-so-brown-anymore stain. "This is so frustrating!" she said and screamed. Okay, it seemed like Ivy was taking this thing way more seriously than Sasha and I were. Even though Sasha looked like she was going to cry soon, the anger and frustration on Ivy's face beat it by over a million.
"How far away do you think I should run?" I asked after picking it up from the counter and examining it. The stain wasn't as bad as it was but it was still there. Now instead of the sleeves to look like they were chocolate brown, they looked beige which was way worse for some reason.
"Uh-uh," Ivy said shaking her finger at me, "not you, Dylan. He should run away to like...like...like Africa. The edge of Africa like Mozambique, inside one of those secluded villages." It took all my will power to not laugh at that. Just then, the door to the bathroom swung open and Elle came in. She was a little breathless and without saying a word gave me my camouflage jacket that I wore earlier.
"Thanks," I said as I put it on.
"Lunch time's almost over and Miss Patricia is already standing by the cafeteria door waiting to start yelling and handing out detention slips. We cannot stay here," Elle said when she calmed down. "We will just hide the jacket in your locker for now and think of something later." The jacket was snatched out of my hand and the bathroom door was opened. Not having any other choice, I sighed and reluctantly walked out of the bathroom thinking of different ways to get back at him.
***
After school I did as Elle instructed and tossed my brother's jacket into my locker. I figured If he asked me for it later when we got home I would just say I left it in school. I know it's not the brightest plan because 'what about tomorrow? What would I tell him then?' but I think that tomorrow will take care of itself. Focusing on the present was more important.
Sasha said she was going to give me a ride home even though it was way out of her way. I wanted to hug her to death. I honestly didn't think I could survive the awkwardness in the car if it were just Issy and I. I'm not exactly great at hiding stuffs like this and acting all cool about it.
As I stuffed my books in my bag, someone came and stood before me. I thought it was Ivy cause she said she was going to meet me by my locker after school but when I looked up, I saw that it was the devil himself.
I cannot believe the nerve of him!
After ruining my brother's jacket he still had the audacity to show up in front of me. I wanted to squeeze the life out of him.
"Before you start acting crazy just hear me out." He hadn't even said what he wanted to say but I still wanted to body slam him. Dylan just directly/indirectly called me crazy. I was beginning to rethink the whole not snitching thing.
"Give me one good reason why I should," I said before I could even stop myself. I don't know why I said that; I didn't want to talk to him. Images of him looking sad and distraught in the hall flashed through my mind. I shook them out.
"Cause I am really really sorry and I mean it this time."
As if! I'm not falling for that basic lie.
But that sad look in his eyes! He really looks sorry.
Dylan is never sorry for causing you pain. He does it to survive.
But...
Snap out of it!
Not trusting my mouth to say the right thing which is a mean comeback, I made to move around him. But Dylan was faster than I was and he quickly put a stop to my movement.
"Dylan..."
"I know how to get the stain out."
That was all he had to say to make me stay put. Two minutes later we were standing by his car in the parking lot with me holding the ruined jacket in my arms. I know it wasn't the best place when we wanted to be secretive but I knew for a fact that Isaac wouldn't come outside until after basketball practice so in a way it was the best place to stay hidden–from him.
"You said you knew how to get the stain out," I said getting straight to it. Dylan was staring at me intently. He had a funny look in his eyes that made me shudder. I don't know what he was thinking but it seemed to make him happy cause he smiled a little.
Did I have a zit that I didn't know about that made me look funny?
Was he mocking me?
"Dylan!" He snapped out of whatever psycho trance he was in and looked away shyly. I didn't miss the redness in his cheeks though.
Weirdo.
"You said you know how to get the stain out," I repeated.
"Right." Quickly he moved his back pack that was on his shoulder to his front and opened it. Then he pulled out his jacket.
"Uh..." He didn't let me say anything.
"I know a guy that can take stains out of leather but it's gonna take a while, probably two weeks." My eyes widened.
I cannot stall my brother for two weeks.
"Two weeks? Dylan you must be freaking insane to thing that I can keep my brother away from his prized possession for two whole weeks."
"I said probably two weeks. It could be shorter..." He paused to study my face for my reaction before he continued, "but it's more likely to be longer."
"Oh God..." My knees began to go weak and I bent down to keep from falling over.
"This could work out..." I felt his hand touch mine and quickly stood up. The gesture was startling and my heart started beating like crazy.
"Dylan!" I yelled. I quickly placed my hand over my mouth when I noticed people staring at us. I remembered then to use my inside voice but it was kinda hard to do so when all I wanted to do was curse him out from heaven to hell.
"This is the most stupidest idea you've ever come up with and trust me when I say you've thought of a lot of stupid stuffs."
"You said 'most stupidest', you must really hate the plan."
"I do."
We stood there for a few seconds just giving each other nasty glares–well I was giving him nasty glares. He just looked like he was in a trance again. I had to snap my fingers at him to wake him up.
"I've already thought this through and this could work."
"Could being the key word. It also could not work." I wasn't even in the mood to go into the fact that Dylan couldn't think and whatever he thought of was stupid. He was as dumb as a rock.
"Then what are we supposed to do? There's no way we can get the stain out by ourselves." The way he used the collective term 'we' and 'ourselves' made something stir in me. I don't know what it was but I hated it.
"I-I can't keep him away from his jacket for so long. He's going to get mad or figure out something's wrong and then get mad when he finds out what. I can't afford for Isaac to hate me."
"He's gonna hate you either way if we don't get that stain out."
I hate to admit this but Dylan was right.
"Daniels won't find out what happened if you give it to me." I looked at him confused.
"I'll be without it so I'm pretty sure he'll know."
"Not really. That's where my jacket comes in." He dropped his bag and held out his varsity jacket to me. I stared at it like it was something foreign.
"You could use mine as a–as a decoy or something." His voice was low and as he said that he looked away.
Was he blushing? And more importantly, was he serious? Did he really expect me to wear his jacket?
"Dylan, I don't want to yell at you outside. I mean, normally I would, but I'm trying not to call attention to myself so I'm just gonna ask this question instead: you do realize that the captain of the basket ball team has a slightly different jacket than everyone else on the team, right?"
"I know that. That's why I'm not suggesting you wear it even though you could. The jackets are similar so no one would be able to tell the difference if they aren't paying much attention to it." What he said didn't make any sense at all. There was like a literal huge difference between the two jackets.
"You could just use it to trick him into thinking that you're still with his and that it's alright but you wouldn't give it to him."
"Not give it to him? I can't lie to Isaac. I can't lie at all. I get nervous and end up confessing. It's really impossible." Dylan snickered. I cannot believe he found this funny. Annoying asshole.
His ideas were beginning to give me a migraine. I saw myself going on an intense puzzling marathon for the next couple of weeks.
"It has to be if you want this to work out. Look, you're Isaac's favorite person in the world. Just come up with a believable lie, do something with those pretty eyes of yours and he'll fall for it." My heart stopped functioning for a fraction of a second when Dylan said that my eyes were pretty.
I was just surprised that's all. Besides, he just stated a fact. Everyone says I have pretty eyes. It's not a big deal.
"I mean it–it could work," I stammered. He smiled and shoved his jacket into my arms while he took my brother's.
"Then it's settled. You'd be wearing my jacket for now while I have this one fixed. You're welcome." He was back to being cheeky and I started to feel the anger and hatred I felt towards him grow.
Yes, this is how it's supposed to be.
I turned around to leave but stopped when I thought of something.
"I can't lie to my brother for two weeks, Dylan, I really can't. Bring it back by Wednesday or you're dead for real. I'll make sure Isaac has the honor."
With a satisfied grin on my face after beholding his horror stricken face, I turned around on my boots and marched down to Sasha's car where she and Ivy were already waiting for me.
Before I got in the car I decided to take a look at Dylan's jacket. It was then I realized what he meant by me wearing his jacket.
Written behind the red leather part of his jacket was the word 'Isaac' in cursive letters right above the image of our school's mascot, just like it was on my brother's. Sasha had signed his name on it the first time he got it and Isaac had taken so much pride in it for some reason.
I can't believe Dylan wrote my brother's name on his jacket just to avoid being found out. I didn't realize I was smiling until Ivy pointed it out.