The Marx Brothers

Chapter Four - 'Oscar'

"Oscar asked me to ask you for your phone number" Penny smirked wildly towards me as we sat in the middle of Bio class on Wednesday morning.

"Are you serious?" I snapped towards her in a loud whisper

"He wants to ask you to the dance without going through me" She shrugged, sympathetic for the boy

"So going through a text message is a better way?"

"Well it wouldn't be necessary if you went up and actually talked to the boy yourself would it?" She spat back as our voices grew louder

I tried to concentrate on what Mr. Baits was blabbering on about, but I'd heard it all before, revision.

"Fine" I whispered lightly, giving in "During lunch I'll approach him"

"I will love you forever and more if you did" She smirked beside me, excited

I hadn't bothered talking to her anymore about the brothers across the street. I hadn't even told her about what I'd discovered they were up to. I did my best to push that part of my mind away, and so far so good, it was working. But tonight's events still lingered in my mind, and I knew Jett would be dragging his brother in by the ear somewhere between 11 and 3 in the early morning for a patch-up after his fight.

Sadly enough, Penny insisted on coming around for a 'sleepover' or as she liked to call it, a 'peepover'. I was pretty confident the only reason she was interested in seeing them was to make a judgment on what they looked like, and from what I'd told her, her affairs were fully invested.

"What time can I come around tonight?" Penny spoke again, almost reading my mind

I rolled my eyes "I wouldn't bother"

"You and I both know they're going to show up again"

"I doubt it, I haven't seen them leave their house in three days" I shrugged and lied, hoping she'd change her mind "Besides wouldn't you rather be hanging out with Brad?" I pushed

"Most certainly not" She held her head up, proud. She wasn't going to let go of it, not without a fight.

When the bell rang to end class, Penny was like a fly, following my every move to make sure I would approach Oscar. There was no escaping it, so I knew it was going to have to happen sooner or later. I plucked up my courage and scanned the school yard for his familiar blond mop of hair. He was particularly tall, close to six foot, so it wasn't hard to place him out as he stood in the far corner of the crowds, his head bowed down into a book about Urban Legends.

"Stay here" I told Penny with a pointed finger before I began to walk towards the lonesome boy. My palms began to sweat again, but not out of nerves, out of complete fear that this might actually be the right thing I was doing.

I'd almost dropped my voice box into my stomach when I stopped about a meter in front of him. His dashing gold eyes shot up from his book to meet mine, which I was sure weren't blinking. Way to go Eden.

"Hey Eden" He smiled awkwardly as he folded his book shut using his finger as a bookmark.

"Hey" I replied scanning over the mirrored freckles along his nose and cheeks

"What's up?" He nervously asked, averting his gaze every here and there

"I uh, Penny has been keeping me updated every five minutes about her chats with you and to prevent her from anymore annoyance, I thought It'd be best to talk to you myself" I explained, proud of my peeking confidence, something I was getting better at

He gave a short attractive laugh and glanced behind my back where I was sure Penny was standing with her eyes plastered on the scene

"Sounds like a good idea" He agreed with a glorious smile.