In The Eye of the Beholder | Jonathan Crane

March 1991

We were two dumb kids

Full of hopes and fears

Growing further and further apart

-Not Easy (Alex Da Kid)

_________________________________________________________

A month. That was how long it had been since Bo had tried to scare me into making Jonathan stop staring at Sherry. I never did tell Jonathan what Bo said. I knew it wouldn't make a difference. Jonathan never listened. At least, he never listened to me.

Today he was with me. It'd been the first time in a while. He seemed off though. Like he wasn't all with me. He was staring at one of the library's walls.

"So, how's your English paper coming?" I asked though it sounded a bit awkward.

"Fine," he answered curtly.

"Oh, well, that's good... I guess."

Silence.

Jonathan wasn't completely with me then. It seemed he was like this more often than not lately.

"Is there anything on you want to talk about?" I asked.

"Why are you so convinced something is wrong?"

"You're acting strange. You don't talk to me much anymore, and you hardly spend time with me. And when we are together, you act like," I paused, then waved my hands in his direction, "this."

"I've had a lot on my mind, Amber. I don't mean to act as if something's wrong."

"Is it your grandmother?" Jonathan turned sharply toward me.

"No. I have no reason to fear her anymore," Jonathan snapped. I was taken off guard.

"Sorry, I just thought- you know what, I should go," I said, quickly packing my books into my bag.

"Amber, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine, but I really should get home."

I slung my bag over my shoulder and left Jonathan alone in the library.

My feet moved quicker along the road than normal. All I wanted to do was get home, much to my surprise.

Dad was home, but he'd been in a good mood lately. I walked into the house to be greeted by the sight of my father watching the news.

"You're home early. I expected you to be back later," Dad said.

"I finished my stuff early and had nothing else to do," I lied.

He grunted, telling me he heard me. I set my bag beside me as I sat next to my father on the couch. The news played a clip of a robbery gone violent that happened in Gotham.

"That city can't go a day without some violent crime," Dad said.

"That's why they're the crime capital of the United States."

Neither of us said anything as the week's forecast came on. I glanced at my father. He stared at the screen in front of him. This was the first time in a while that we'd spent any sort of time together that didn't involve him yelling at me.

I counted myself lucky that my Dad didn't drink or smoke. He didn't do drugs, and he rarely cursed. He went to church, had a well-paying job, and helped maintain the house. As a single father, he had more responsibilities than a married man would have. In my eyes, his only flaw was his temper.

"Something's wrong. Don't tell me there isn't, Amber," my Dad suddenly said.

"It's nothing."

"It might be better if you tell someone what's wrong."

I sighed. I knew he would keep pushing until I told him something.

"Hypothetically, if you knew someone, like a friend, was hiding something from you, what would you do?"

"Hypothetically, what kind of thing are they hiding?"

"Something that seems big. Like, they seem different than normal," I continued to be vague.

"You're talking about the Keeny boy, aren't you?" my Dad caught on.

"He goes by Crane, but yeah. How did you know?" I asked, unaware he knew I was friends with Jonathan.

"He's the sort of strange character I know you would be a friend to. But going back to your question, I would leave it alone. It's probably something that he needs to do on his own. If it wasn't, I'm sure he would tell you."

"I know I should, but I feel like he really needs help that he won't admit to."

"You are a good person, Amber. He'll come to you if he really needs your help."

"I guess. Thanks, Dad."

He nodded, then returned his attention to the television. I settled back into the couch and stared at the screen as well. If only it was like this every day.

______________________________________________________

A/N: So... I missed last week's update. To be honest, I've been lazy. Now I'm gonna throw my excuses at you. I've had a lot of school work to do and papers to write. I'm trying to get a lot done at one time. So this week, I can't promise a new chapter, but I will try very hard. Sorry for my lack of updates.

As always, inform me of mistakes!