Something About Her

chapter 2

Zulu and I left out of school undetected. There were no alarms, good for future reference. I decided I was gonna take her to this coffee shop I saw on my way to school. It wasn't too far from here.

"Where are we going?" Zulu asked when we were completely off schoolground.

"We're going out for coffee. Is that okay with you little one?"

"Coffee stunts your growth!" She said scrunching her eyebrows.

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that. Well, the last thing you need is to get any shorter.. where do you wanna go?" I asked.

"Haha, very funny." She said sarcastically. "Lets go to Barnes and Nobles."

"Okay, fine. Though we probably won't get there until school lets out by the pace you're walking. Can't you move those tiny legs any quicker?" I asked jokingly.

"Well i'm sorry that we can't all be walking skyscrapers like you are."

"It's a pity isn't it?"

"It sure is.. Well, maybe if you gave me another piggy back ride we could get there faster." Zulu hinted.

I stopped walking for a minute to consider the idea. "Nah, I don't think that'll work."

She laughed. "Come on! My legs still hurt from soccer practice yesterday."

"Not my problem." I shrugged.

"Jaaaace come on, stop being an asshole!" She pouted.

I gave in. "Fine. I can't stay mad at that face." She gave me her most angelic grin as she jumped onto my back. She smelled so good, I didn't mind giving her a piggy-back ride. Plus, she wasn't that heavy anyways.

"I know it'll be hard to resist, but just because my neck is out in the open and you are so close to it doesn't mean you have to kiss it. Okay?" I said jokingly.

"Oh, goodness, how will I resist such temptation?" Zulu played along.

"Whatever." I said, smiling. "So Zulu, tell me about yourself, since you're pretty much a stranger."

"Yeah.. we are pretty much strangers, aren't we?" I nodded in agreement. "Feels like i've known you for a while. But anyways, like I said before, I'm Zulu Clarke. I'm turning 16 in November, I'm an only child..I play soccer and I swim. My parents are divorced. I hate pretzels and I'm allergic to pollen. During my free time I like to cook, aaand I'm 5 feettall exactly."

"You are odd as hell. I mean, who hates pretzels?! And 5 feet tall? That's like, the height of my leg. I think you should seriously consider consulting a doctor about this."

She plucked my neck and we both laughed. "Whatever jerk-off! Now tell me about yourself."

"I would, but we're here." I stopped in front of the Barnes and Noble, staring at the large sign and overall largeness of the place. In Colorado, our book stores were probably a quarter of the size of this one.

"Come on, let's go in." Zulu said impatiently.

When I stepped in, I was amazed by the look of the place. It had a large luxurious carpet that looked way too fancy to belong in a bookstore. All wood was deep mahogany and on the walls were extravagant paintings. Wow.

I followed Zulu as she walked to a 2-seater booth. I sat down across from her and looked out the window we were seated near for a while.

"So.." She broke the silence. "Now can you tell me about yourself?"

"Oh, yeah. Well. I'm 16 years old, just moved here 2 weeks ago from Colorado. I'm an only child, I live with my Mom and my goldfish Remi. I'm a vegetarian, my birthday's in July and my favorite thing to do is sleep."

"Your favorite thing to do is..sleep? That's probably the bummiest thing i've ever heard!" Zulu replied, outraged.

"Bummiest?"

"You need to get involved in a sport or something, you can't just sit around and sleep all day."

"Whatever you say, MOM." I replied sarcastically.

"Well I'm sorry but I can't stand lazy people."

"I'm not lazy..I just have nothing better to do!"

"Do you realize what you're saying?! That's the Lazy Person's motto!" 

I chuckled. "Look. I just moved here 2 weeks ago. Cut me some slack!"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever."

I smiled. She rolled her eyes again.

"What are you smiling at?!" She was ticked off.

"Haha, nothing. Why are you so angry?"

"I'm NOT angry!" She nearly shouted back. 

"Uhm, o-okay.." I muttered timidly.

This was gonna be tough.