Oaklyn West has tried to live out a normal high school existence, despite her haunting past and torturous future.
She's always in the shadows, under a rock, or lurking in the corner of a room.
All that changes, however, with the arrival of a mysteri...
I rush out of the little restaurant, the caramel latte pressed firmly between my palms. I feel so bad. Here was Jack, offering me assistance to something he doesn't even have to involve himself in, and I completely blow him off.
I spent literally the entire time chatting with Noah while Jack sat there, not saying a word, just waiting for me to finish.
He probably had something important to tell me about the court case. The trial is only 24 days away. We need all the free time we can get to work on this whole thing.
But I just felt so good sitting there and stringing a coherent conversation with Noah! Normally I stutter and say stupid things around him, but today, I don't know...I found the confidence to go over and initiate a spark.
All I need are a million more of those, and maybe he'll finally notice me!
But then on the other hand, there's Jack. I don't know what exactly it is that I feel towards him. It's a mixture of admiration, and loathing and gratefulness...All I know is that it was wrong to ignore him when he clearly wanted nothing more than to help me!
I dart across the sidewalk and sprint up the steps to the front of the school. I duck my head and race across the hallways, trying to find his locker.
School lunch ends in approximately five minutes, and classes resume in ten. That means I have ten minutes to find him, apologize and not screw things up. I can totally do that...
I take a deep breath and walk around a bend, shoulders snapping back as I bump into...Jack?
He shakes his head and stares down at me, annoyance evident in his eyes. He crosses his arms.
"Why do you keep doing that?" he asks.
I straighten up. It's not like I planned to crash into him!
"Sorry. It's not my fault the universe played it out like that."
He scoffs. "Yeah. Just like it played out our entire lunch talk. Which didn't happen in the first place, so..."
I sigh. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to apologize."
He raises an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry."
He laughs out loud. "Right. I bet you loved sitting across from the bouncer and making googly-eyes at each other.."
I open my mouth. "I did not make googly-eyes at Noah! It's not like that!"
He smirks. "I know what I saw. I'm good at deciphering people."
"Why do you even care?" I ask, shifting my weight to one foot.
His eyes move down to the latte, gripped firmly in my hand. He dodges my question and gestures at it.
"I see you got the drink I left behind."
I look down at it and nod. "Yeah, er, it was very thoughtful of you."
"I overheard Astrix mentioning something about caramel...You might as well drink it now since you didn't order any food from Renzo's. Like I said...Busy staring your eyes out at some guy all day."
He leaves it at that and then walks off, leaving me standing at his locker completely and utterly nonplussed.
...
Astrix spreads herself out on my couch, and Amara tugs on her arm trying to pull her off. I laugh at the pair of them, choking on the cup of apple juice I was drinking.
Astrix moves from her position on the couch and whaps my back.
Wow...What a good friend.
Amara giggles at me and pulls her knees to her chest. "That looks like something my Dad does to my mother."
Astrix leans back. "Oh, really? Whenever she chokes?"
She shakes her head. "No. When she misbehaves."
The room goes deathly silent. I nervously chew on my nails. Jack mentioned abuse as the sole reason he despises his father so strongly. I can't have Astrix know anything about that. I owe Jack that much to his privacy.
I laugh and brush her words off. "We were, um, playing a reality game earlier and uh, that was her character. Her parents were, er, hateful people?"
I wince. That was a terrible excuse.
Astrix doesn't seem to pay attention. She only numbly nods before falling back down and resuming her nap.
"You shouldn't-yawn- play such games with her...She's only a little kid..."
She flops onto her stomach and buries her face in a pillow. I sigh thankfully and slip down from my position on the couch.
At that moment the doorbell rings and Amara jumps to her feet, instantly in a better mood.
"Jack's here! Yay!"
I weakly get to my feet. "Yeah...Yay..."
Amara runs to go get ready and I follow her uncertainly before we descend the staircase and stand at the mouth of the lobby.
Jack is at his usual pick-up spot, hands shoved deep inside his pockets, chewing gum and looking off into space.
He turns his head and spots us, flashing a bright smile at Amara before picking up his gaze and giving me a curt nod.
Amara runs and jumps into his arms, and I stiffly turn my back to take the stairs. Let's avoid an awkward interaction for a day...And pretend nothing happened...
But of course, he doesn't make it that easy. He strides across the lobby and grabs my wrist, forcing me to turn around to face him. He sets his mouth into a hard line.
"My place. Tomorrow. Talk. And a real one this time. No googly-eyes."
He releases his hold on my hand to walk away but then turns around again.
"Actually, I don't mind the googly-eyes so much when they're directed at me."
He smirks and leaves me, standing there for the second time today completely nonplussed.
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