Hunting the Fairy Tale

Chapter 74 - Looking at Each Other

Jake

Shit, this cannot be good!

My sister just arrived at our bench with two girls dragged by their wrists. She looks ready for trouble, and her captives don't look overjoyed to be here either. Especially Ronja. She's not quite as freaked out and uncomfortable as Willow used to be; she just seems vulnerable and uncertain of her welcome.

Judging by the reactions of the boys scattered on the lawn, I'd say she's very welcome.

Not really sure I share their enthusiasm. The girl is way too pale; she looks like she'll die if you touched her. Who wants that? I want a girl I can touch all I want without her falling apart on me. She caught me completely off guard when she started talking about the book I was reading.

Prose?!

She's right, though; his books do read like prose, and I was rather enjoying it, but I couldn't say that in front of the guys and not get mocked until I wanted to douse them all with petrol and set them on fire. They mocked me anyway; I might as well have had a real discussion with her after all. I really don't know why I didn't. I like talking about physics. I like it almost as much as I hate talking about prose.

She's sitting daintily between Paisley and Molly and takes one of the seriously good spring rolls Tanner offers her. She gives him a slight smile, her eyes shying away from his and then it hits me.

It's her!

I knew that, obviously; Paisley went to her house after school yesterday, and when I picked her up from ballet rehearsals, she started crying and told me the entire story of how Tanner saved his co-model from his agent. She also enlightened me about the details behind the whole glitter incident. 

I could hardly sleep last night.

Not just because I stayed up too late chatting with Tanner while he was chopping and whisking and carrying on in the kitchen as if he had an urgent assignment to feed the entire nation in just one day.

When Ronja started talking to me about Carlo Rovelli's book, the knowledge of who she was just fell out of my head completely due to the surprise. Girls never start talking to me about scientists! Actually, girls seldom just start talking to me. Paisley says they do, and I am very rude for ignoring them. I'm not ignoring anybody! Except when I am... but then it's usually just Paisley or Hunter, and they require some ignoring at that time.

Still, I shouldn't have been so surprised because I saw her physics notes on Saturday, and the girl knows her stuff, but for some reason, I didn't make that connection either. It could be because I was still trying to figure out if she was real or a mirage created by light passing through two layers of air with different temperatures. She might actually be a scientific phenomenon herself.

A really pretty one.

Now that I have all my brain cells working again and can see the entire picture, and I know that she is an actual person, I can feel real anger bubbling up inside me again as I observe her carefully nibbling on the roll, giving Tanner an appreciative smile.

"This is very good," she says and like last night, I once again have the urge to drive over to Mason's studio and go on a rampage. How can any man try to hurt an itty-bitty little thing like her? Not that it's okay to hurt bigger girls or any girls at all, but Ronja doesn't look capable of putting up much of a fight. She is too thin, too pale, too pretty. Everything is extreme with her. She might even be too clever, if that's possible.

I look at Paisley chattering with her two girlfriends and am completely baffled. Since when does she communicate amicably with females? It's as if Willow unlocked a section of Paise's heart and mind that never had a chance to grow. She is happily chatting with Ronja about Tan's special spring roll filling and how it's not only delicious but also healthy.