“Hello, this is the Reader’s Repository. My name is Rae, how may I help you?” I recite into the phone.
“Hey, this is Anthony. I called your cell but you didn’t pick up. Did you get my voicemail?” A deep male voice hesitantly says.
“How did you even get this number? And yes, I got your voicemail. I was just about to call you back actually.” Lies. “I would love to go out with you tomorrow night.”
“I got the number from Ryker. He said you answer this phone more than your cell. I thought I’d try both. Okay awesome. I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“See you then.” The line clicks and I slam the phone back in the holder. Since when was I social? Since when did I get dates?
“Who was that?” Knox questions as I sit back down in a chair. His eyes are yellow now (curiosity).
“Anthony. We’re going out tomorrow night.” I sigh and pick a place on my knee.
Something flashes in his eyes, but it’s gone before I can process it. “Is that good?”
I nod my head, “Yes. I like him. I just haven’t been out of my house for years, and now I’ve done it twice in one week. It’s just a little crazy.”
“Can I ask you a question?” His eyes are still bright yellow, and I have to look down because I’m afraid of looking into them for too long.
“You just did. But since I am a lovely person, I will allow you the gift of two questions,” I grin.
“Ha ha.” He laughs sarcastically. “Okay, so I know you aren’t popular and I know you don’t go to public school. But why don’t you have any friends? I mean isn’t there someone on your street, or someone who comes in here often you could be friends with? Why do you shut yourself off from people so much?”
I point my finger at him, “That was three questions. You lose.”
He rolls his eyes and I smile. “Okay. It’s really complicated. Friendships don’t ever work out for me.” Friendships don’t work out because most parents don’t want their children fraternizing with complete psychos. Not that I necessarily blame them.
“Have you tried?” He asks gently.
How do I tell him about the girl I was friends with in second grade? I was still in school back then. She and I were best friends, we did everything together. And one day, like an idiot, I told her about the colors. She thought it was cool. Her mom yelled at me and my mom. I never saw the little girl again.
“Yes.” I simply say instead of scaring him away too. I haven’t told anyone about my eyes in years. I don’t make friends, because if you don’t make friends they can’t leave you when they find out you’re a freak. “Okay.” He consented and left it at that.
I rise out of chair as I hear a truck on the gravel outside. “That’s Ryker. I have to go,” I apologize.
“I should probably go too. It’s my night to cook dinner and there are a lot of us.”
“You cook?” I ask incredulously. He doesn’t seem like the cooking type.
He shrugs sheepishly. “My parents both work a lot, and there are five of us kids. We’re on a rotating schedule. So, yes I cook. I’m not good however. Most nights that it’s my turn we end up eating something covered in ash and char.”
I laugh while we walk out to the parking lot, “You sound like my dad. He can’t make anything without burning it or serving it completely raw.”
He makes a face and says, “I’m nowhere as bad as my older brother though. He thinks he’s really good at cooking and so he’ll try to make all this fancy stuff, and it just ends up tasting like something crawled inside it and died.”
A horn sounds, and I look up and see Ryker literally lying on the steering wheel. Must’ve been a bad day at school.
“Um, I gotta go. I’ll see you around,” I call over my shoulder as I bolt to the truck.
“Okidoke. Have fun tomorrow!” He yells back.
“Will do!” I slam the door of the truck closed and turn on Ryker, “What is wrong with you?”
His eyes turn blue and red. Concern and fury. I hate red. Red is the worst color other than black to look into, and I can never look at it for longer than a minute at most. “That’s Knox Parker, Rae.”
“Thank you Captain Obvious. I know who he is,” I roll my eyes and buckle up. “What’s wrong?”
“That’s the biggest jerk at school. He’s popular and he knows it, he’s good looking and he knows it, he’s funny and he knows it. And I want you to stop hanging around him.” He simply states, a look of hatred in his eyes as he watches Knox walk to his car.
“He hung out with us at the mall!” I retort. This is crazy, Knox is a perfectly fine guy. Yeah, he might be a little too cocky for his own good, and he might be crazy good looking, but he isn’t a jerk. He proved that when he apologized to me in front of the whole store.
“That was different. I couldn’t do anything about that, and besides you two weren’t even talking. He was with his girlfriend and you were with Anthony.”
I square my jaw and clench my fists. “We’re just friends, Ryker. We just sit around and talk. Is that so wrong? I mean, I thought you of all people would love the idea that I finally had a friend to talk to! And now you’re really going to be mad at me?!”
“I am glad you’re making friends Rae! Just not with him! Why can’t you pick someone else to be friends with? That’s Knox Parker. He will make you fall in love with him and then he will break your heart. I have watched him do it with half the girls in our school. I don’t want to see you hurt. I’m just trying to watch out for you, Rae.” His eyes are bleeding and swirling with blue (concern) and brown (sadness) now.
“Ryker, I can take care of myself. I won’t let him break my heart, because I won’t fall in love with him. I have a date with Anthony tomorrow night and he’s going out with Katie,” well not at the moment… “If I want to talk to him, I will. You cannot dictate who I’m friends with and who I’m not! Life doesn’t work like that!” We pull up at the house and I open the door to get out.
“Rae!” I turn around, angry still.
“What?!”
“Please, just be careful.” His eyes are completely brown now. It hurts me to know he’s sad, but I’m more angry than anything right now.
“I will Ryker. Just stay out of it. Please.”
And I stomp inside to the smell of burnt meatloaf.
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Not gonna lie... this was fun to write... I love high conflict scenes :)
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~Juliana
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Irised
Teen Fiction"That's Knox Parker, Rae." "Thank you Captain Obvious. I know who he is," I roll my eyes and buckle up. "What's wrong?" "That's the biggest jerk at school. He's popular and he knows it, he's good looking and he knows it, he's funny and he knows it...
