Summer Letters

Chapter 8

After the first nightmare Jensen made it a habit to come to Lena's room at night. By morning they acted like it didn't happen, and their friends never suspected anything. For the fifth night in a row he let himself into her room. Lena stopped being mad that he had her spare key. She needed someone to talk to just like he did. They went from sending messages to each other to going to the next room. He moved the blankets on her bed and sat next to her. He was still wearing his day clothes: jeans and a plaid shirt. Lena cursed herself for paying so much attention to what he wore. She had already changed into shorts and a t-shirt. Although, what she wore had not gone unnoticed to Jensen either. Putting his hands on his face, he laid back sideways on the bed.

"What's on your mind?" Lena asked him.

"They want to pull a prank Saturday in the cafeteria."

Lena smiled, "Sounds like your style. What's the problem?"

"Do you remember when I told you that I spend summers doing work?" he asked.

"Yes, you said you love reading."

He nodded, "I realized what I wanted to do with my life. It was because of a book I read over the summer. It just hit me that I figured it out."

She laid down next to him and turned on her side to look at him. He mimicked so he could look at her. "I'm proud of you," she said, "but what does that have to do with the prank?"

"Being the class clown isn't as fun as it used to be. That's not who I want to be anymore."

"Tell them that. If they can accept that I'm against it then they'll accept you too."

He shook his head, "You are the only one that understands."

"In that case, say we have a meeting."

He looked at her confused. Since when do they have meetings? Especially the two of them. "Meeting?" he asked.

"Yes," she laughed. "We are the top in our class and set to speak at graduation. Say it's an early graduation meeting or we are meeting to work on our project. We can hang out while they pull the prank."

He smirked, "You actually want to hang out with me, Enders?"

She laughed, "Shut up, Jensen!"

"Don't catch our friends hearing you say that."

She smacked him on the arm and said, "I don't see them here, do you?"

"I guess not," he smiled. "You sure you don't mind hanging out with me in public?"

Lena shrugged and answered, "We do have the same group of friends. It wouldn't be so far-fetched that we would hang out. I'll throw a few insults, so will you, and you'll hit on me like always."

He smiled, "This is why I like you so much. Thank you. What's on your mind tonight?"

"Luna is getting suspicious now too."

"About what?" Jensen asked.

"She suspects that you and I don't exactly hate each other anymore. She said our insults now seem more like inside jokes and we're smiling and laughing at each other more than we used to. She caught onto it our first day back, but I managed to get her to drop it for a while. I don't think I can get her to drop it anymore. Marlene said she tried to talk to her about it today, and it took over a half hour to get Luna to drop the subject."

"She's not wrong," he stated. "We laugh about our day's insults every night."

"I know," Lena smiled, "but I'm scared about what they'll say when they do find out."