Dark Beauty

Chapter 9

I had already gotten my food when I realized I had forgotten my money. I kept looking in all of my pockets but found nothing. I must have forgotten it at home. Now I was hungry, didn’t have money to eat and people were starting to get impatient.
    I think Jake noticed my nervous expression, because he asked me if everything was alright.
‘No, I’m fine.’ I said ‘It’s just that I forgot my money...’ I didn’t even have time to finish the sentence, next thing I knew, Jake was already paying for his lunch and also mine.
‘I’ll pay for you no problem, what are friends for anyway?’ he said smiling.
‘Thank you. I’ll pay you tomorrow, okay? Don’t worry.’ I said.
‘You don’t need to pay me.’ He said walking towards the table we had been sitting since the first day of class. We would probably be sitting in this table for the rest of the year. It was like everyone had their own table for their own little group.
    Jessica was with Peter, she never took him out of her sight, and everywhere he was, she was with him. I hope she understood this would have to stop and she would have to move on. 
We finished lunch and went to the forest. It was very beautiful; you wouldn’t believe that it was all inside a school. The trees were very tall and there were a lot of flowers. There were also many birds, Jake told me the name of some he knew, when they appeared. Unfortunately, there were also bugs, but it was good that there weren’t any spiders (Well, I didn’t see any). 
We were walking a very narrow path when I accidently tripped on a stupid tree root. I had already put my hands in front of me so I wouldn’t fall on my face, but Jake caught me.
‘Be careful.’ Jake said, he had grabbed my waist to keep me from falling. We were so close that when I turned to look at him, our faces were only a few inches apart. I had the chance to look into his green eyes again, they were so perfect. It was as if I was hypnotized, I felt as if I were in a green ocean. He was looking right into my eyes too. We stayed like this for not even two seconds, although to me it seemed much more. Right then a bird chirped right next to us, and Jake automatically took his hands off my waist and stepped backwards.
‘Hum, thank you.’ I said.  
‘Why don’t we hum, see the rest, you know, of the forest?’ Jake said stammering a little.
‘Yeah, let’s go.’ I said. Did I make him uncomfortable? 
 ‘I want to show you a place.’ Jake said pulling my hand.
We reached what I would say was the middle of the forest, there was a fountain and an old bench. There was also a big spot in the middle and it was surrounded by trees, it was amazing.  Everything was beautiful, there was a big tree full of flowers. I didn’t know what kind of flower it was; I just knew it was gorgeous. The flowers were white but there was a very light shade of pink, too. There were some fallen petals around the tree, which just made it even more beautiful.
‘Wow.’ It was the only thing that came out of my mouth.
‘I thought you would like this place.’ He said looking up at the sky.
‘Yeah, it’s wonderful.’ I said.  ‘I love this tree.’ I said touching its’ trunk.
‘Me too.’ Jake said.
‘Do you come here a lot?’ I asked. 
‘Yeah, sometimes, it’s a very calm place and just a few people come here and most of them only stay at the beginning of the forest,’ Jake explained. 
I sat on the bench and he sat on the grass in front of me. 
‘So, does your family know that you can see ghosts?’ I asked.
‘Well, when I was little, I told my father that I could see people that were already dead, but he didn’t believe me. Who can blame him. He thought I was crazy and took me to see the families’ doctor and now he just thinks I like acting out sometimes, like the time I broke into school.’ Jake sighed and looked up at the clouds. ‘What about you?’ He asked. 
‘Well, I never told my family, but when I was young I was really scared of ghosts and I would call on my parents. They were really worried. My mom still worries sometimes.’ 
‘Yeah, life’s not easy.’ Jake mumbled.
‘Really not easy. Sometimes I wish I could just tell my parents. Life would be so much easier.’ I said.
‘It’s not something easy to understand.’ He mumbled.
‘So, since when do you play the piano?’ I asked changing the subject.
‘I don’t know; I think maybe four or five years.’ Jake said.
‘And doesn’t your father ever ask you why are you going so early to school?’ I asked again.
‘My dad is a very busy man. I think he doesn’t even notice that I go earlier to school.’ Jake answered. ‘Well, you found out that I play piano, now you need to tell me something about you.’ Now Jake was the one who had switched the subject completely.
‘Well, I don’t know if you know, but I can see ghosts.’ I said laughing.
‘That doesn’t count.’ Jake laughed. 
‘Let me see, well I have a very strange cat, does that count?’ I asked. 
‘Yeah, it counts.’ Jake smiled. ‘So, why is it strange?
‘Well, Amy is a Sphynx. It’s a type of cat that doesn’t have fur.’ I said
‘Really? I’ve already seen a cat like that, but it was on a magazine my mom was reading and she showed it to me.’ Jake said.
‘Well, one day you can come to my house and then you can see Amy.’ I said
There was a mortal silence again. I just didn’t know what to say and I think he didn’t know either. I started thinking about what had just happened. I mean it was so sudden, but it seemed like time had stopped, it was very strange. I looked at Jake and he was looking up at the clouds again. I was getting used to these moments of silence.
Was there a reason why he was being so nice?  No, he was just being nice because I was new and because he didn’t have any friends. We would be just friends and nothing more. I would never risk our friendship because I know Jake just wants to be my friend. So, why would I want something more? Every time I started liking someone, I just screw it up. 
‘What are you thinking? If you think here is boring and you want to leave, just tell me’ Jake said 
‘No, I like it here, I don’t know, I feel relaxed.’ I said ‘I was thinking how this tree must be old and when we die it will still be here.’ I lied. 

We lost track of time and ended up getting late for class. 
‘So, we just stay here until the class finishes?’ I asked as I sat down on a big bean bag. There were many in this side of the library.
‘Yeah, what happened in your school when this happened?’ Jake asked. 
‘Well, I don’t know, this never happened before. I never missed a class in my entire life, I had a perfect record my entire life until now.’ I looked at Jake, he looked away from me like he was sorry for me missing class for the first time in my life. 
‘I’m joking, of course I already missed a class, but in my old school you would just stay in a room, very boring.’ I said
‘Wow, you nearly made me feel bad for making you lose your class.’ He said ‘What type of friend are you, to make me feel so guilty?’ he said. ‘This school is a little more liberal than most schools.’ 
‘Who said I’m your friend? You’re too weird to be my friend. I need to start hanging out with Rebecca.’ I said.
Jake looked at me than started laughing. ‘Very funny.’ he said. ‘But you know that hanging out with me limits your chance of having more friends, don’t you?’ 
‘I don’t really care. You are one of the best things in this school.’ I said, putting back a book on the shelf. 
Jake didn’t say anything. I turned around and Jake was just looking at me with an expression I couldn’t define.
‘Thank you.’ He said glancing away from me.
I blushed; I hope I didn’t make him uncomfortable. I didn’t want him to get the wrong impression. I didn’t want him to think I was flirting with him or something. I didn’t want to ruin our friendship that had just started.
‘So, how many minutes do we still have?’ I changed the subject. 
‘Twenty still.’ Jake said looking at his watch.
‘I hope my mother doesn’t find out that I missed a class, she’s going to kill me.’  I said.
‘The school won’t tell your mom. Only if you start getting late all the time.’ Jake said.
‘That’s good.’ I sighed.