Zugzwang [COMPLETED]

Part II, chapter 8

- VIII -

Dante and I drove to school on Monday morning, and neither of us said a single word on the way there. When we got into the classroom, I almost choked on my own saliva when I saw the Jock and the Prom Queen sitting at their desk, looking all calm and content. Dante's eyelid twitched when he saw them, but he just walked by their desk and sat next to Marie as usual. I took a deep breath and decided not to look at them, figuring that high blood pressure was not a good thing.

Then a minute before the bell rang, the door opened and I shook my head in confusion when I saw Johnny walking in. Are you kidding me? He is here? Jesus... The Nerd did have balls! Then I looked at him more closely, and something stirred inside me uneasily. Johnny looked like the Freak did on Friday night, right before she started cutting herself. I glanced around and saw that the Freak wasn't here. Okay, well, at least something made sense.

Johnny sat next to me without saying anything, and I kept my mouth shut as well. I thought it was weird that he didn't take his jacket off or even unzipped it, but then figured, whatever. It probably makes him feel safer.

That day was unbelievably long and tense. Almost nobody talked, and everyone seemed to be beyond uncomfortable. Dante went outside for a smoke before the last class, and I followed him.

"Have you noticed how Johnny won't even unzip his jacket today?" I asked.

"Uh huh," Dante let out a cloud of smoke out of his mouth. "I noticed. And it's, like, seventy-five degrees inside."

"I know. Wonder if it's his version of the security blanket or something."

"Might be," Dante nodded. "Hey, do you wanna skip the last class?"

I thought about it.

"No," I said finally. "I'll give you the car keys if you want though. Logan will get me."

"Nah," he flicked his cigarette away. "Let's just go back."

Now that I think about it, I wonder if we should've skipped that class. But then again, if we did, things would probably turn out even worse.

****

It was ten minutes until the class was over, and Wallace kept droning on and on about something that I used to find interesting. Not today, however. Today I couldn't wait for her to finally shut up. I sat there, staring out of the window, and thought that this whole thing was like some macabre chess game. I mean, here we were with the whole Zugzwang, and everyone was trying to figure out what to do or to say next. The next move would be crucial and I wondered who would make it.

Suddenly, Johnny let out nervous laughter, and I immediately stopped thinking about chess. I carefully looked at him and noticed that everyone in the room, including Wallace, did the same.

"Oh, will you stop blabbering!" Johnny said with laughter, and I blinked.

He was talking to Wallace, it seemed.

"I can't take this anymore," he continued in the same eerily-light voice. "It's hotter than hell in here, by the way... Have you guys noticed that?"

He looked around with genuine interest.

"That's because your freaking jacket is on, you moron," the Jock smirked, and I couldn't believe it. How can someone be so... Ugh, I can't even come up with the right word.

Johnny suddenly beamed at him as if the Jock just said something close to the Revelations.

"Yeah!" he breathed and got up, fingers of his left hand tagging on the zipper of his jacket. "You are so totally right!"