Forgetting Jack Cooper: The First Love Edition.
Copyright © 2017 Jennifer Bernard
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Forgetting Jack Cooper:
The First Love Edition
by Jennifer Bernard
You never forget your first love … especially if it was a total disaster…
Ten years ago, Peyton Locke got dumped right before the biggest moment of her life. Valedictorian with a side of heartbreak--thanks to Jack Cooper. If not for the boy with the second best grade average, Nick Kolanowski, she never would have made it through her speech. Now that she’s back in Everton working at the Urgent Care, she’s determined to return the favor and be the most amazing friend Nick ever had.
Now a high school baseball coach and history teacher, Nick’s come a long way since he helped Peyton pick up the pieces after her break up, and he seriously can’t believe he’s back in the friend zone with her. She obviously has no idea that he’s loved her since 7th grade. Maybe their upcoming high school reunion is the perfect time to reveal his true feelings…
Or maybe not.
How could he know that Jack Cooper, current Hollywood It Boy, would show up--with a plan of his own?
It might take some epic reunion shenanigans, a bombshell from Jack, and maybe even a medical emergency, but one way or another, Nick is going to prove to Peyton that he’s the man for her. So what if he wasn’t her first love. Does that mean he can’t be her best?
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CHAPTER ONE
Lucky for Peyton, the Everton Urgent Care Clinic rarely lived up to its name. In the ten months that she’d been working at the clinic, much of her time had involved bee stings, skateboard accidents and the flu.
Which was completely fine with her. She’d moved home to Everton because “boring and ordinary” sounded awfully good after her years of intense medical training. Patching up the kids of her fellow Evertonians fed her soul. Considering that she’d left home with a completely shattered heart, sobbing her way onto the plane that would take her to college—well, it was that things were nothing but blue skies and skinned knees these days.
She added a line of wound-sealing glue to the gash on Benny Rodriguez’ knee. The ten-year-old’s face was clenched in an expression of dramatic agony.
“This is just as good as stitches, as long as you stay off your skateboard for a while,” she told him.
He sniffled and examined his knee. “Will it make a scar?”
“If you’re really lucky. But probably not. I’m quite good at this.” She winked at him as she added a bandage over the wound. “You can take this off in a couple of days,” she told Benny’s mother, who nodded wearily.
“I know the drill. And the only way he’s staying off that skateboard is if I throw it on a bonfire.”
“Mama!” Benny jumped off the exam table.
“Which I will do,” she continued ruthlessly, “unless you do what the nice doctor tells you.”
Peyton smiled as the two of them left the exam room in a flurry of Spanish. Her heart swelled as she tossed her disposable gloves away. This was exactly why she’d come home. Helping innocent kids enjoy their childhoods, keeping her community healthy, living a peaceful life free from drama—it was all she’d ever wanted.
Well, not ever. For a brief, insane time—the time of Jack Cooper—she’d wanted something else. Something wild and passionate and all-consuming.
Everyone in town knew how that had turned out.
Meredith, the charge nurse, appeared at the door of the exam room. “Looks like a day for sports injuries. You ready for another?”
“It’s springtime in Arizona, what else can we expect? Bring it on.”
Meredith handed her the clipboard with the patient’s information, which she scanned quickly. High school baseball player who got disoriented during practice and tripped over second base. Possible sprained wrist, possibly dehydration, definite embarrassing moment.
Well, she could certainly relate to embarrassing disasters in high school.
Smiling wryly at that thought, she looked up and for one weird, surreal moment, could have been back in high school. Except that the man she saw was a grown-up, all-filled-out, drop-dead handsome version of Nick Kolanowski.
Even though she and Nick had been spending lots of time together since she’d returned to Everton, she still hadn’t adjusted to the change in him. In high school, he’d been the secret crush of many a girl because of his quiet good looks. She used to think of him as hiding behind his dark hair, which fell nearly to his jaw line. In many ways, he was the opposite of Jack. Soft-spoken instead of wild, reserved instead of charismatic.
In the past ten years, he’d definitely come into his own. His old shyness was gone and he carried himself with a confidence she found truly sexy. They’d been hanging out at least once a week since she’d gotten back—jogging, rock-climbing, bingeing on random Netflix karate movies, and playing endless games of Scrabble. In high school, she and Nick had competed fiercely over grades and school honors. Now it was all about scoring the most points in Bananagrams.
“Hi, Peyton,” Nick said with that quiet smile of his. “It’s us again.”
Nick’s hand rested on the shoulder of a scared-looking teenager holding his wrist against his chest. Nick was now a History teacher and the baseball coach at Everton High. The urgent care clinic was located close to the high school, so she’d been seeing a lot of Nick and his players.
As Peyton smiled at Nick and her white-faced patient, she realized the same player had been to the clinic a couple of weeks ago.
“My favorite baseball team is always welcome, though I’d rather see you guys on the field.” With a wink, she quickly checked the clipboard to remind herself of the last injury he’d presented with. A bruised foot caused by dropping a water cooler on it. The kid was definitely accident-prone. “So how is your wrist feeling, Dale?”
She led him to the exam table, which he leaned against. He was a tall, skinny, freckled boy with a shock of red hair. Maybe she should prescribe some SPF100 while he was here.
“Not bad,” he said in a very unconvincing tone. She gently drew his arm away from his chest so she could examine the wrist. The swelling had already puffed it to the size of a small water balloon.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“I don’t know. I just got dizzy.”
She glanced at Nick, who was watching with close attention. He had beautiful eyes, a deep brown shot through with bronze, perfectly set off by his dark coloring and squared-off features. In most high schools, he would have been top dog. But Jack Cooper had gone to Everton, and that meant that every other guy got overshadowed.
“The on-field temp was pretty high,” Nick told her. “We kept taking hydration breaks, but it’s possible he didn’t drink enough water.”
“He seemed disoriented?”
“Oh yeah. He hit a bunt, which was great—nice one, Dale—then ran right for second base. He nearly ran over the pitcher. When he hit second, he stubbed his to
e and went down hard.”
Poor Dale’s face turned bright red. “I’ve been practicing that bunt,” he muttered.
“You laid it down perfectly.” Nick squeezed his shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile. “We’ll work on the base-running part.”
Peyton jotted down a note to do some research on disoriented athletes. If Nick said they’d been taking water breaks, she believed him. He’d always been a diligent and responsible person.
Unlike his biggest rival, Jack, who’d been carefree and dazzling.
She shook aside the memory of Jack Cooper. Forgetting him had taken most of her college years. By med school, she’d rarely thought about him. But coming back here to Everton made it much harder. Especially when she ran into anyone from high school.
And Nick wasn’t just anyone. Nick was the one who’d first stumbled across Peyton in her heartbroken, post-Jack state.
CHAPTER TWO
It had happened just before the graduation ceremony. Peyton was the valedictorian, but Nick’s grades put him right on her heels as salutatorian. Jack had barely managed to scrape together the credits to graduate because he’d kept taking road trips to Los Angeles to audition for commercials.
Peyton was backstage in the auditorium, dressed in her purple and gold commencement robe, practicing her speech in front of the painted scenery flats used for the high school production of Cats.
“When I look around at all your happy, relieved, triumphant, exhausted, slightly terrified faces, I recognize the same emotions that are tumbling around in my own heart. This is the moment we’ve worked toward for four years. This is the moment that kicks off the rest of our lives. And yet, now that we’re here, what do we see ahead of us? Do we see dreams and adventures? Or questions and doubt? Maybe all of the above?”
“I know what I see.” Jack whispered wickedly in her ear. “I see a hot babe rocking a cap and gown like nobody’s business. Seriously, that tassel does something to me.” He flipped it with his finger so it bounced against her cheek.
She turned and threw her arms around him. She was too nervous to respond to his usual outrageous flirting. “You’re here! Where were you? You’re so late!” Then she drew back. “Where’s your gown? Your cap? Your cap and gown?” she babbled.
The brilliant laughter faded from his vivid blue eyes. “I…uh…I’m skipping.”
“You can’t skip graduation. Why? Oh Jack. Don’t tell me they withheld those Calculus credits.” She’d spent dozens of nights drilling him so he could pass the final.
“No, no. I’m good. I’m official. High school graduate, in the house. Thanks to you.” He brushed her cheek with his knuckle. Jack always knew how to make those gestures that looked like something out of a movie. He was a natural-born movie star, and everyone around him knew it. “I got the part.”
“The—” At first she didn’t know what he was talking about. He’d tried out for so many roles, uploading his own audition tapes or driving to Los Angeles for the weekend. “Which—”
“The big one.” His glee spilled over and a wild grin took over his face. “The Matt Damon movie.”
“Oh my gosh. Jack! That’s amazing. Congratulations!” She hugged him again. So happy for him. So naive. So clueless. “But why can’t you stay for graduation? We’ve all worked so hard, and I—”
“I know. You’re giving a speech, and you’re going to knock ’em dead. And this is just the start. You’re brilliant and beautiful and you’re going to have an amazing life.”
A ball of ice formed in the pit of her stomach. “Jack—”
He shifted from one foot to the other. “I’m just ready for what’s next, Peyton. I don’t want to be here anymore. I feel like I’m already gone, like I can’t breathe here, like I need to be there already. Today. Yesterday.” His eyes blazed with blue fire. “Why wait, you know? For some dopey ceremony with Principal Bates droning on? The only thing worth seeing is your speech, and I’ve already heard you rehearse it a hundred times. Well, and your tassel.” He twined it around his finger and tugged her closer. “I’ll be in touch. Don’t worry. Tell someone to record your speech and put it on YouTube. You’re gonna be great!”
None of his words were making any sense. Stay in touch? What about them? “I—I’ll come with you!” she burst out. “We’ll live together in Hollywood. I—I can cook for you and stuff. I mean, make smoothies.” He loved her smoothies, which were really the only thing she knew how to make. “You’ll need someone to take care of you.” Her voice wobbled. She knew how pathetic she sounded, but she didn’t care. She was so madly in love with Jack that the thought of him leaving was like death.
The worst was—he didn’t even know it! She’d been trying to be casual and light and fun, the way Jack always was.
“Aw, honey bunny. You’re such an angel. I couldn’t ever let you do that. You’re the fricking valedictorian of our great nation of Everton High. You’re going to set the world on fire. You can’t come to Hollywood and waste your future. Come on, babe.” He lifted her chin to gaze into her eyes, which were streaming with tears. “Why so sad? This isn’t the end. It’s the beginning of the rest of our lives.”
“But Jack…” She wrestled with the words she wanted to scream. I love you. Don’t leave me. I can’t live without you. Tears clogged her throat, froze her vocal cords. If she told him she loved him, maybe that would change everything. Maybe he’d see the light. Wait until she finished her speech, then let her hop into his convertible and drive to LA with him.
“It’s a good thing we never got too serious, isn’t it?” Jack said in that breezy way of his that made everything a fun joke. “This way we can stay friends. I’d never want to lose your friendship. You’re a doll, the sweetest little valedictorian in the USA. And the hottest. Seriously, I’m going to fantasize about you and that tassel all the way to California.” He skimmed a kiss across her lips. “I’ll text you from the road, okay? I want to hear all about your speech. I decided I’m going to keep my Arizona number for now, for my friends. But I’ll probably get another number once I get to LA.”
Wow, he’d really thought this through. Of course he had. He’d been working toward this moment all year and she knew it. She’d seen it with her own eyes. She just hadn’t wanted to believe it.
“Hey, if anyone asks where I am, tell them I had to go shoot my first scene with Matt Damon, okay?”
Somehow, God knew how, she managed a nod. Could he really be this oblivious to her misery? It seemed surreal, impossible, as if they were playing parts in two different shows. His was a light rom-com, hers was Six Feet Under. And she’d just been eviscerated.
After he left, she stood still, rooted in the same spot. She felt as if the slightest movement would make her crumple into a pile of dust.
Then a sob shook her, head to toe. And she did crumple. Her knees gave out and she plopped ungracefully onto the dusty backstage floor. Out in the auditorium, the sound of chattering voices and shuffling feet grew louder. The place was filling up with families and faculty, not to mention her fellow students. She was supposed to be out there too, taking her place in the front row of folding chairs between Nick Kolanowski and Mrs. Quince, the English teacher.
But she didn’t get up. Her legs wouldn’t work. She just sat there as the auditorium filled, as the principal welcomed everyone with some introductory remarks. Her moment would be coming soon. She had to get out there. But every time she tried, another torrent of tears would hit and she’d give up the effort. She didn’t want to make her big speech through a fit of sobs. She wanted to be cool, calm, intelligent, inspiring.
She buried her head in her hands, which made her tassel bump against her fingers, which made her sob even more. The tassel. Jack loved that tassel! He said it turned him on. Where was Jack now? In his old red convertible with the wind in his hair, putting Everton in his rear-view mirror, that was where. Everton and Peyton Locke, his quickly forgotten high school girlfriend, the girl who loved him whether he knew it or not.
&
nbsp; “Peyton?”
She whipped her head up. Nick Kolanowski stood over her. Nick was Jack’s nemesis on the baseball field. They were bitter rivals when it came to sports. They competed over the top spot in the pitching rotation, over who could do the most pushups, who could run the fastest mile. When Nick had first arrived in Everton in 7th grade, Jack had jokingly nicknamed him Nick Colonoscopy, and they’d been enemies ever since.
“What?” she answered weakly, using her tassel to wipe the moisture off her face. “What’s up, Nick?”
“Uh, well…” He eyed her uncertainly. Nick was cute, everyone agreed with that. But he was no Jack. He was quieter, less charismatic, and the juicy rumors about him claimed his parents had an open marriage. “You do realize you have a speech coming up, right?”
“Really? Honestly, what would I do without you? You’re such a smarty-pants. How do you pack so much brainpower into one skull?” Spiteful anger swept through her, which made no sense because Nick hadn’t done anything to her. Jack had. But Jack was gone. And Nick had been staring at her with that pitying, confused look on his face, like he might call the school nurse or something.
Now his face shuttered, the way it did when kids whispered about his parents. But he didn’t answer. He just dug out a handkerchief from his pocket and crouched next to her. While she watched him dumbly, he blotted the tears off her face. “Come on. You need to get up.”
“Why?” Her heart seized again, a massive hiccup shaking her frame.
“Because you’re the valedictorian. You beat me. Crushed me. Don’t you want to prove your superiority in front of the whole school?”
“Jack dumped me,” she wailed. “Everyone’s going to know. I’m going to look stupid. I can’t go out there.”
His eyebrows drew together. They were dark and thick, kind of stern looking. He looked mad. Was he mad at her?
She clutched at him. “You do it. You give the speech. I resign.”
“You can’t resign from being valedictorian. And you’re giving that speech. One way or another.” Again, he dabbed at her face. “Hold still.”
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