Jackson held the bejeweled item in front of him for a few moments, looking it over. He'd never held anything so sparkly - nothing that looked so valuable, anyway. It was a small thin golden chain, about the size of a bracelet. In fact, Jackson assumed it was such. "Hey, Rob, you dropped something..."
Rob retreated back down the steps to Jackson. "What? Oh, whoops! That probably shouldn't have fallen out. It was from my grandma. She wanted me to have it, god knows why. She said it "suited" me, that it came in individually without any ID, so she can't sell it online. She has trouble selling anklets in-store."
"Oh, so this is an anklet?"
Rob smiled. "Yeah, that's what I said. That's what Granny said too, but you know she might've just said that to "spice it up" a bit. It's probably just another cheap knock-off Zales piece that some distributor tried to unload onto her. She's tried to give those to my mom before, and when she tried to resell it, the pawnbroker gave her ten bucks. This one's kind of gawdy with all those jewels."
Jackson tapped the gems: there were about nine of them, each the size of his thumb nail, linked onto the chain by a couple small golden rings. They were each a different color, rich and iridescent in ways that made Jackson question the supposedly "cheap" value that Rob declared. The jewels dangled off the piece in such a way that, if worn, they would bounce and swing with every movement made.
Rob sighed and poked Jackson's forehead. "Come on, buddy. The bell's gonna ring in like two minutes. We've got to get ske-daddlin'." Then he added: "Look, if you like the bauble so much, it's yours."
Jackson furrowed his eyebrows. "No, dude I don't want it. What am I gonna do with an anklet?"
Rob smirked and raised his own eyebrows. "Why, I figured you'd give it to a girl. Maybe someone who could really make those glittery things shake?" He reached forward and flipped one of the gems with his finger.
Before Jackson could argue, Rob gave him a salute and ran up the stairs, his satchel flapping against his side as he sprinted. Jackson stuffed the jewel into a zippered pocket on the side of his backpack.
As he slid into the door of his English class on the last chime of the 7:30 bell, he noticed Alyssa sitting on the other side of the classroom. His heart applauded when he realized she was in his class. Then his abdomen started to knot when he saw three other guys all sitting around her. Sure, one of them was gay and another was a jock - he figured she wasn't really into the hey-wanna-be-my-cheerleader scene. But the third guy, the one sitting in the front row, the seat right before hers, was Nick Addams. And if the girl you liked liked Nick Addams, well, you might as well just roll over and present your soft belly in surrender. He was the name at the top of every list at Garfield High. Best dressed, best sense of humor, best smile, 36 ACT score, best singing voice, first place at State his junior year for the 100 meter dash in Track & Field...the list went on.
Jackson sat down at the nearest open desk and pulled out a notebook. While the teacher, Ms. Lemmon, dispersed the syllabus to everyone (while simultaneously dispensing apologies for killing trees), Jackson's thoughts traveled back to the piece of jewelry in his bag. Heart pounding, he weighed his options...
If I give this anklet to Alyssa, maybe she'll wear it when she dances. Maybe this is the thing I need to make me distinct from all the other guys like Nick. Or maybe she'll think it's creepy and I'll ruin all my chances with her, all because I listened to fucking Rob.
He twirled his pen as he decided, If I do give it to Alyssa, I need to do it right away. I need to get rid of this thing today before someone else asks her out. Then, with a sharp exhale, he thought, I should try and start senior year off right. And save myself from having a heart attack.
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