How Much is a Guy Worth?

Jessie and Claira had basically grown up with each other. They had been friends since second grade, and they treated each other’s parents as if they were they’re own. Jessie’s little brother Ki was basically Claira’s brother too, and Clair’s dog belonged to both of them. They were inseparable. Even though they were vastly different, they still found a way to be the best of friends. At least, until they met Rafael.

Both of them fell in love with Rafael. He was in Jessie’s math class. The two of them sat next to each other and he was always so kind to her. Claira had him in Civics and she thought he was so funny to hang around. 

At first, they thought the best thing for their friendship was to just set aside their feelings for Rafael. That didn’t last long. Neither of them were able to stop thinking about him.

They thought it might be best if they just let Rafael choose who he wanted to be with and still stay friends. The only problem with that was, neither of them could stand the thought of the other being with him. Both of them were too prideful and jealous for that.  

So both of them continued to flirt with Rafael and tried not to talk about him when the two of them were hanging out together. 

And that’s how it went. Until Rafael asked Claira to the winter dance. She was excited and of course, she said yes. She wanted to tell Jessie the first chance that she could, but she also didn’t want this to come between their friendship, so she never told her. Luckily she didn’t have to worry about Jessie finding out since she had to babysit her neighbor’s kids that night. 

After the dance, Claira and Rafael began to hang out more and more, and eventually, Jessie noticed and confronted Claira about it.

“I’m sorry, I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t want to upset you. I don’t want this to come between our friendship,” Claira said. 

“Are you guys, dating?” Jessie asked. 

“Yeah,” she said smugly, “I mean, he said he didn’t want to put a label on it, but we’re basically dating.”

“I’m...” Jessie couldn’t find the right words, “I’m so happy for you.”

Despite what Jessie said, after that conversation, she started to avoid Claira. She hated that her best friend had taken her first love away from here. Here was the thing, Rafael was the first guy to ever show interest in Jessie. Plenty of guys have shown interest in Claira. She had dated four guys in middle school and Rafael was her second high school boyfriend. Jessie had never dated anyone before and she was upset that Claira stole her first love away from her. 

She continued to flirt with Rafael. She knew that Claira and him were basically dating, but she didn’t care. She loved Rafael with all her heart and she wasn’t going to let Claira get in her way. 

“Jessie!” Claira called one day as she ran down the hall towards her.

“What’s up, Clair?” Jessie asked. 

“He kissed me! It was just a peck on the check before I went into chemistry, but he still kissed me!” she explained, excited to tell her friend the news. She had thought that Jessie had moved on from him and was so thrilled to share this moment with her best friend. 

“He... kissed you?” Jessie asked, her heart breaking a little as she realized what this meant.

“Yeah, it was so cute, and his lips were so soft. I’m going to invite him on a date Friday, and maybe we can have our first real kiss,” Claira said.

“Yay. That sounds like fun,” Jessie said solemnly as they came up to her 4th-period class. 

“Alright, I’ll see you around, Jess,” Claira said as she began to turn down a different hallway.

“Yeah, see ya,” Jessie whispered as she walked into class.  

Later that month, Claira invited Jessie to come to hang out with Rafael and her together. Claira had gotten the kiss that she had wanted and all she wanted to do was mend the gap between her and her best friend. 

Jessie agreed, she didn’t have anything better to do, and the two of them agreed to meet up at a small local restaurant. Jessie was a little excited. Maybe if Rafael could see her outside of a school setting, then maybe he would realize how much better she was than Claira. Sure, it was shallow, but you have to fight for love however you could. 

 Jessie got to the restaurant a few minutes early, hoping to have some alone time with Rafael, but he wasn’t there. He had decided to drive Claira there, so the two of them showed up together. 

“What? Who is that?” Jessie asked when Claira and found her. Jessie pointed at Rafael, a little confused. This was not the Rafael that she had been flirting with in math class. 

“This is Rafael,” Claira said confused. 

“Claira,” Jessie said, laughing a little, “We’ve been crushing on different Rafaels!”

“What, you didn’t like this Rafael?” Claira asked.

“No,” Jessie said.

How could they have been so stupid? Jessie had been crushing on 10th grader Rafael Williams, while Claira was dating 9th grader Rafael Turner. If only they had just talked it out more, they could have realized how stupid they had been by fighting over different guys. 

“Wait, you know what this means right?” Claira asked. 

Jessie shook her head.

“Your Rafael isn’t taken. What are you still doing here?” Claira asked. 

“I don’t even know where he is, besides he probably doesn’t like me like that,” Jessie said, suddenly getting cold feet. 

“If you're talking about Rafael Williams, he works every Friday night at the bowling alley,” Rafael said. 

“Go!” Claira said, almost pushing Jessie out the door, “Your man is waiting!”

Jessie sprinted out to her car and began to drive off to the bowling alley, nothing could get in her way, not even her best friend.