On Monday, school seemed to have a different atmosphere. It was actually really, really uncomfortable for me. Everyone seemed in a different kind of mood. Jay wasn't his normally happy, talkative self, Jason was just Jason, so he didn't really change much. I noticed Darrin seemed to be having a day to talk everyone's ear off and Tyler seemed mopey. Not silly like it had been at the river lot, when he threw me into the water.
School went by very slowly in the uncomfortable, awkward air of the school. Trae High's worst day so far this year as far as I was concerned. Classes where boring an Mrs. Oldie was, get this, nice to me. Things were crazy today, and I didn't know why
At lunch I asked Jason,"Do you have any idea what the hell is going on with everyone?"
"So you noticed it, too." he said warily."I'm not crazy."
I sighed. Jason noticed something. "You're not eating?" he asked.
I looked at the empty table in front of me."I don't eat at school." I informed him. "School food is gross."
I realized Jay was nowhere to be found when I looked around the cafeteria. Anyone would have stood out in front of the bright green and white walls of the school.
"Screw this." I told Jason."I'm going home. This is just way too weird for me."
"Mind if I joined you?" he asked. "I have nothing to do here anyway."
"Sure." I said, grabbing my keys and my book bag and heading out the door. "Where you wanna go?"
"I don't really care." he said. "But the movies sound good."
I looked at him skeptically. "The movies are normally where a girl and a guy go on a date. Not just because."
"I know that." he said giving my his make-Lissa-as-dizzy-as-you-can smile. "Why does it matter? We know we're not dating. Who cares what everyone else thinks?"
"Well, I guess..." I trailed off.
"Cool!" he said, pleased I'd given in.
I unlocked to doors to my Scion and climbed into the driver's seat.When I slipped the key into the ignition and turned it, he asked,"What movie?"
"What?"
"What movie are we seeing?" he asked with the same grin from earlier.
"Uuuuuuuh..." I hadn't thought about that. "Whatever you wanna see?" I guessed.
"I have no idea what's playing." he argued.
"Ok, here's an idea: Let's pick a random movie when we get there."
He looked amused."Alright."
The car turned out of the parking lot and on to the road. I headed toward the movie theater when I thought of something.
"Do you wanna stop and get something to eat?" I asked.
He no longer looked amused. "That would not be a very good idea." His eyes bore into mine meaningfully, making me stop the question in its tracks. Why not? "It just wouldn't." he said as if reading my mind.
When I finally found my voice, I said,"O-okay."
He looked relieved, probably because he didn't have to explain it, but it was still really strange that he would say something like that. It was almost like I was going to get hurt or something. Weird.
We pulled into the parking lot and found not very many people was there. Great, alone in a dark movie theater with hot new kid. This should be interesting. I thought with a sigh. He looked amused yet again, giving me a devilish grin.
"Eenee meenee minee mo it." he said.
"Huh?" I asked.
"You said we would choose a random movie." Oh yeah.
"How about..." I closed my and pointed, opening them. "That one."
Of course, my finger had to land on a romance movie. Positively perfect. He smiled at me. It was actually more of a grin than a smile, almost like he knew I wasn't thrilled at the idea of being alone with him.
"Why don't you like me?" he asked with the cutest puppy-dog eyes I had ever seen. I almost fell.
"I-it's not that I hate you... I just... I don't know you 'kay? That's all there is to it!"
He leaned in to whisper in my ear."Sure, you don't know me." he breathed."But we can fix that, can't we?"
I couldn't breathe. I jerked away quickly, gasping. "What the hell?" I asked, freaking out.
"Hmm?" he asked, batting his eyelashes slowly and innocently, but I saw there was a kind of knowingness in the way he looked when he did it.
"Don't ever do that again, or I'll sick Jay on your ass." I warned.
He looked at me warily. He sighed."Okay, Lissa, but remember," he looked at me strangely,"We are connected. There isn't much time before you realize that."
He had lost me at that. What in the world was he talking about? This guy was nuts with a capital N.
"I'm outta here." I said, storming away.
"What about me?" he called out.
"Hitch a ride. I ain't driving you nowhere."
"That's a double negative."
"How's this for a double positive? Fuck you." It made no sense, but it worked, I guess.
I got into my crappy black Scion and drove away without another word. There was nothing else to do. I went to Jay's, knowing he'd be there. Even if he wasn't in a people mood, I could talk to him. He didn't mind talking to me, ever.
At a stoplight, I sent him a quick text.
On my way 2 ur house. U there?
In less than a minute, I had my answer.
How'd u no I wasnt at skool?
Cuz u werent at lunch.
Y u need to come over?
Wanna talk 2 u.
K im home. Come thru the front door. Parents not home.
K.
I got there and waltzed through the front door casually as I'd dome aboout a million times before
"Hey, Lis. What's up?" Jay asked casually, sitting on the couch with his back against the seat and is legs dangling off the side.
"Do you think Jason likes me?" I asked. Cutting to the point was sort of my thing.
He sat up, swinging his legs around to the front and went rigid."Why?"
"He, uh, whispered something weird to me..." I trailed off, not so sure about getting to the point anymore.
"And what the heck did he say to you?" he didn't ever cuss. I loved that. "I'll kill him."
"He said something about he and I being connected. It was... really, really weird." I told him.
"Do ya want me to kill him? 'Cause I can do that."
He still wasn't acting like himself. "No, not yet. But if necessary, I'll call you, 'kay?"
He sighed."Okay, sorry. Maybe I'm overreacting." he sounded like he was trying to convince himself, not me.
"You do that a lot." I joked.
He grinned. "C'mere you!" he said, getting up and grabbing for me.
I jumped back and ran around the sofa, giggling. We hadn't done this much since we were younger. I slid into the kitchen, pushing chairs in front of him so he had to slow down. I ran out the back door, darting around the corner, passing the front door knowing Jay would go immediately there to catch me. He thought I would go through there to go through the back door again. I ran around, going back through the back door. I saw him looking puzzled out at the front yard. I hollered at him and ran down to the basement with Jay on my tail. I sprinted around the pool table in the basement. I did the trick where you could never catch the other person from the other side of the object because you were too quick for each other. When I saw an opening, I darted out the basement door, running to the back door. I looked around for Jay, but didn't see him. I felt someone catch me from behind, wrapping their arms around my waist. I tipped my head back to find Jay smiling down at me. I grinned. No way was I going to lose this easily. I twisted out of his grasp and ran, yet again, out the front door. I thought there aren't very many places to run around here. I slipped past the side of the building, when all of a sudden, I ran smack into someone's chest. I looked at Jay's smiling face. He held me tighter.
I sighed. "You caught me. Damn."
He chuckled and whispered,"I always do."
I hugged him, smiling into his chest."Yeah, I guess you do, huh?"
I felt all warm and fuzzy right now. It was like a mushy feeling in my stomach that I really didn't like. But at the same time, I loved it. I wondered what that meant.Crushing wasn't my thing and he was my best friend. Like a brother, kind of. He hugged me tighter for a second and then let go.
I grinned at him. "You cheat." I accused.
"Nope." he replied. "I'm just faster than you." He grinned back.
I sighed, bored now. Jay led me back inside the house and we hung out in his room for a while.
When it was about time school let off, I called my mom. "Hey, Mom. School just let out, and me and Jay are heading to his house, okay?"
She fell for it. "Okay, sweetie, don't have too much fun."
I laughed."No problem, Mom."
When we hung up, Jay laughed."Do you really think school didn't notice you were missing?"
I smiled. "Well, everyone's acting weird today, so I wouldn't doubt it."
He gave me a somewhat forced smile."Huh, that's weird."
"What's up with you today, huh?" I asked.
He frowned."Nothing. Why would you think that?"
"You have no idea how guilty that sounded, Jay."
He sighed."I have my own problems, you know? You don't need to get involved."
That set me off."What do you mean? I'm your best friend, everything you do can and will involve me. I care about you, Jay. You know this. Or at least you should." I replied heatedly.
He looked guilty."I'm sorry, okay? I'm just saying that, at some point there might be something I can't tell you." he said sheepishly.
Now I felt bad. "I'm sorry. But you know you can tell me anything." That was so cliche, but it was true.
He smiled and leaned forward to kiss my forehead. "Don't worry about it." He always knew what I was feeling.
This was getting awkward."I should go home now..." I said.
He laughed."You just got here." he said. I was confused. He grinned."Remeber?"
Oh, yeah.We skipped. "Okay then. What do you wanna do?" I asked, changing the subject.
"I dunno." he said with a shrug. Then he looked at me. "How close was Jason to you when he whispered that weird thing to ya?" he asked.
"Um..." I thought for a few seconds and then held a finger about half an inch away from his ear. "About here."
He looked like he'd just seen a ghost, his slightly tan face going pale. "You sure?" he asked.
"Um, yeah." I said suspiciously. "Are you okay?"
He pulled it together, his pale face returning to its pretty tan color. "Yeah of course."
I looked at him, pretending to look hurt. "Are you hiding something from me, Jay?"
He laughed. "No of course not."
The way he said it made me feel a whole lot better.
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