Live in Color

thirty three - navy

Exams pass by stressfully and slowly, but thankfully, they're out of the way soon enough, leaving me with the summer I've been anticipating ever since the last one ended. I don't have much to be excited for yet, though, because before I can go to sleep without fearing for my life, Jericho and I have to pay a visit to Tallie's house.

Tallie doesn't actually live on Crooks Street, even though she's a rebel. Then again, she's peculiar, according to Jericho. He had said she's, "One of the nicest rebels I've ever met." I'm not sure how to feel about that, but then again, Arsenio and Jerichohad said that she's friends with almost everyone, so hopefully she won't be hard to deal with. After all, with my past experience, rebels are kind of hard to deal with.

Arsenio is still in the hospital, but if things go well he might be released in a couple of days. Arsenio claims he's eager to get out of there, but I'm not so sure considering his liking of making fun of us for not getting out of finals and his profound love for Jell-O. What I do know, though, is that Arsenio getting jumped was a huge wake up call for both Jericho and I. We need to do something about the rebels, and fast.

Which is exactly why we're standing outside Tallie Johnson's door right now.

Jericho gives me one reassuring smile before lifting his hand to knock. He only has to knock a couple of times before a high-pitched voice yells, "Coming!" Soon enough, the door is opened by no other than Tallie Johnson.

She's not exactly what I expected her to look. Her jet black hair is short, voluminous, thick and stick straight- ending at the nape of her neck in the back and getting longer in the front. She's just a little shorter than me, her eyes a bright, bright blue. She smiles when she sees Jericho, her smile big and welcoming, teeth perfectly straight and white. "Jericho!" she exclaims, throwing herself at him to hug him tightly. My teeth grit and I force myself to swallow my jealousy, thankful when she pulls away quickly. "What are you doing here? Who's this?"

"This is Natalie, she's my soulmate."

I look at Jericho quickly before I look back to Tallie. I'm not exactly sure how Tallie would react to that information- after all, she's a rebel. To my complete and utter surprise, though, she smiles brightly and holds out her hand to shake. "Oh, it's so nice to meet you! You're gorgeous, I love your hair!"

I blink. I'm sure the shock is apparent in my face because Jericho begins to chuckle. I take her hand, my shake not as enthusiastic as hers, but I try to keep up. I clear my throat. "Thank you," I say, trying not to make it come out as a question.

Tallie gives me another big smile before pulling her hand away. "Well, come inside!" She steps aside, letting us inside her house, which looks a lot like mine- clean, tidy and big, nothing like the normal houses on Crooks Street. "Do you guys want some water?"

"Sure," Jericho says, giving her a small smile. Tallie nods, leading us to the living room where we sit down in the sofas while she runs to the kitchen.

I lean over and whisper to Jericho, "I thought she was a rebel."

"She is," Jericho whispers back. "But she's a little different. She doesn't believe she'll be happy with a soulmate, but she doesn't tell others that they shouldn't be with theirs."

I hum, leaning back and thinking about that for a second. At least she's not like Noel- power thirsty to get everyone to think like he does. Besides, she seems really nice.

Tallie comes back with three plastic water bottles, handing two to us and keeping one for herself. She sits down on the sofa across on the right of us, her long nails digging into the plastic of the water before she smiles. "What're you doing here?"