The Girl Next Door

Chapter 10

Jesy was trying her best to keep her mind off of the poem she had read. She did not know how she felt. The poem was so deep and so good. Leigh-Anne was not obsessed. She was in . . .

"What's the trick to it though?" Leigh asked as she roller skated alongside Jesy who was riding easily on her board. Her eyes were glued to Jesy's feet. She probably thinks that I'm weirder than she already thought. Why'd you have to go and do that for Jesy? I just hope to the heavens that she didn't see the one I wrote about her. I must sound like a freak. Her face felt warm as she kept remembering the fact that Jesy read her poetry book. She felt really embarrassed.

"To skating?" Jesy turned a smirk to her, trying to make things run as smoothly as possible. They had been riding in silence prior to now, both on a more or less empty sidewalk leading to the skate park. It would not be long before they arrived. "Just ride is what Ray Ray told me."

Leigh-Anne thought about that. "Just ride." She giggled. "Is he a hippy? That sounds like something a hippy would say. Just ride man."

Jesy tried to imagine Ray as a hippy. She barked a laugh. "No but one of my friends kind of is. Not that he's on heroin. His name is Princeton."

"As in the university? He must get teased a lot."

Jesy chuckled. "We just call him that because he wants to go there really bad. Dork."

"Don't call him a dork Jesy. Only the most exceptional and brilliant students get accepted into Princeton University. He's not a dork. He's an intellect." Leigh-Anne gave her a smart nod of the head with a smirk.

Jesy gave her a look. "University just sounds like work."

"It is. Work that you won't regret putting in after you get a high paying job and are respected by others."

Jesy gave her another look. "Does any of that really matter?"

Leigh shrugged. "I guess it does. My mum says it does. I don't know."

"Hmmm something tells me that your mum is one of those people."

"What people Jesy?"

"I don't know. My friends call 'em jackasses."

Leigh stopped with her mouth hanging open. "How very dare you? My mother is not a jackass."

Jesy stopped too and kicked her board into her hand. "Is she one of the people who think they're better than others because they have money and are smarter?" She asked plainly. She did not seem to find what she had said offensive.

"No." Leigh answered boldly.

"Oh okay then. She's not a jackass." Jesy continued riding.

Leigh followed her. They were riding side by side. "Just 'cause someone has a good job, studied hard and encourages their children to be like them doesn't mean they're a jackass Jesy."

"Alright. I was just checking I suppose." They got to the building that was the skate park. "Would you look at that? It's closed." She faced Leigh. "Sorry Bucky tooths but we're going to have to stall until it opens around eight." Her hands were in her pockets already. "What do you wanna do until then?"

Leigh-Anne was thoughtful. "I don't know. I don't really know London. I only really got to see the place properly when we went site seeing." She smiled. "That was also the day we officially first met. We didn't waste much time on introductions now did we?"

"You were the one pushing everything." Jesy told her. "Come on, let's just have a ride around."

They both started riding again.