Elimination

1: Tay

Jack looks at me as if I'm a fiend. A fiend. His eyes narrow, then attach to the wooden table beneath his elbows. I sit across the library, glancing his way. My head drops to my book, acknowledging our falling-out. It all started a while back; I'll spare you the details. It had a lot to do with Alex, our friend from many years back. I ended up breaking up with Alex, and losing the trust of my now ex-best friend. I skim over the pages of my paper-back again; my eyes had absentmindedly scanned the words while I wasn't paying attention.

I'm finally getting into this new story when a jolt makes me jump up and clutch the book in my arms. An exuberant-for-some-reason Jordan is beaming at me from across my once-empty table. I glare at him for a second, but his face remains the same. I can't stop myself from erupting with laughter as my idiot friend makes various idiotic faces at me.

"How've you been, Tay?" he wonders, the light present in his eyes dimming ever so slightly. We haven't been talking much since everything started falling apart. It's a shame, actually, and I'm glad Jordan stopped over.

"I'm . . . decent, I guess. I could be better, but everything could still be worse," I reply.

Jordan wags his finger at me. "Don't you jinx it, Taylor Jardine!" He's right, I guess, and I laugh again.

"I've missed you, man! What have you been up to?" I ask.

"Nothing much. Just finishing up that stupid English project. I don't understand why I get all the psychotic teachers. . . ." He trails off. "At least I'm still getting an A in the class, I guess," he adds. Jordan always leaves the pessimism to me.

"That's cool," I mutter sullenly. I've never been good at keeping conversation, so I just nod and look back down at my book. Closing it reluctantly, trying not to be too rude or drive my friend away, I look back up at Jordan and smile half-heartedly.

"How are you holding up?" He finally asks in nothing more than a whisper. There are so many things building up in the back of my throat that I wish I could say, but hold back simply because I can't bear to hear them.

"I'm just kinda upset, that's all," I say, puckering my lips and tangling my fingers together like ribbon. "Poor Jack. I really miss him." Jordan nods sympathetically, glancing over Jack's way. Their eyes meet once, then Jack looks away again and I sink down in my chair a bit. I shakily sigh and avert my eyes to where a sea of people are wandering towards the back of the library.

In that group, of course, is Alex. I groan and sigh heavily. Jordan's eyes flit to mine. He makes an unattractive face and stiffens as Alex walks by us. I refuse to look my ex in the face; he seems to notice me, but my eyes are locked in a blank stare directed at the boy across the table. I let out the breath I'd held in for those few seconds and look up to see Jordan giggling like an idiot. I whack his arm, then proceed to drag his unwilling body out of the library and into the never-ending school hallway.

"We're not going anywhere near those buffoons," I say as our pace slows to that of a drowsy tortoise. We're moving towards the sanctuary, a small circular patch of grass and trees blocked in by the walls of the school. A rush of warm air runs through my hair and moistens my face and exposed arms. The scent of lavender wafts its way into my nose, and it reminds me of home (I'd much rather be there than trapped in this school). The light of the sun warms my shoulders and I look to Jordan. He's holding his baseball cap over his head, but still squints at the sun. Birds flit over our heads and a toad traverses the wild, menacing patch of ivy. A small pond in the center is filled with fish of many kinds, all smaller than my hand. Update: Jordan is still complaining about his 'burning eyes.'

"I hate myself," I abruptly blurt, leaving my friend with a crooked frown and a sharp look in his eyes.

"What?" He's startled. "Why?"

"I ruin everything," I start, plopping down on a bench next to the happy fish, which I watch intently, trying to forget my problems. "I ruined things with Jack," Jordan is already shaking his head 'no,' but I continue, "I ruined things with Alex," at this point, Jordan is rapidly blinking and staring down at his shoes, "Hell, I haven't even seen you in three weeks! What's wrong with me?" I sigh frustratedly, then hop up, flustered, and instantaneously, habitually, begin pacing the fresh grass and sighing sadly.

"This wasn't your fault, I swear," Jordan, with his two index fingers, draws an invisible 'x' over the thumping part of his chest. I shake me head.

"It is, though. I didn't trust Jack' and it really hurt him, I'm sure. And I couldn't even trust my own fucking boyfriend. I don't even know what to make of myself anymore, Jordan. What am I supposed to do?"

Jordan just shakes his head. "You were right not to trust those two. I . . . I never told you, but . . . I saw something." He breathes in a long breath, then looks up at me. My heart hammers in my chest, lightning running through my fingers.

"What happened?" I whisper, disregarding the fact that we are alone in the sanctuary. My ears begin to pick up every slight sound, from the birds chirping over my head to the way the wet grass makes strange noises as Jordan obsessively taps his foot. Then, the rushing of my pulse in my ears is the only thing capturing my attention.

A brisk wing sweeps by, and I feel my cold skin pricking. My dark hair sweeps over my shoulder, and I try to fix it, but fail on a grand scale. Jordan silently laughs at my wasted efforts, then remembers the topic of our conversation.

"Well," Jordan starts, taking a deep breath, his mind assembling stories and sentences, "Jack and I had planned to hang out on a Saturday. I remember showing up at his house because I was bored and stuff. . . . Somebody offered to drive me home from somewhere or something. . . ." He stops for a moment, glancing at me.

"Yeah, and." I ask impatiently, flailing my hands around in anticipation.

"I told them- it was Rian, actually- I told Rian just to let me out at Jack's, so he did. I noticed Alex's car in the driveway. I hadn't thought much of it, I mean, they're buddies and everything, so it made sense. I kind of assumed he'd expected me much later for a reason." Jordan cuts himself off when he sees that I have my hand placed over my mouth. My suspicions might have been correct after all.

"Go on!" I exclaim, making obnoxious hand motions in hopes of swaying his decision.

"Okay, okay!" He mimics my actions. "So I moving to knock in the door, right? And there ate these giant windows next to the door, and the blinds are closed, okay?" Jordan's getting into this now. He scoots forward on the bench and looks right at me. "There's a shadow, and it looks like a huge person, but Jack isn't, like, huge, and his parents aren't either! It kinda freaked me out, but I went up and rang the doorbell anyway. I see the figure separate into two different bodies! One of them opens the door- it's Jack, and he tells me to wait. I see his shadow ushering the other person," He waits for me to respond, which doesn't happen, then continues, "Alex, out the back." Jordan clasps his hands together, pleased with himself.

I raise an eyebrow at him. "You know that doesn't mean anything, right?" His face melts into a small frown, but he continues to state his case.

"You see, I thought that too, at first. Alex and Jack are buddies, so it made sense that he was chillin' there. But why hide him? What's the deal?" Jordan is getting worked up now.

"We should probably go back," I suggest, but Jordan shakes his head again. He jumps up and begins to pace slowly. I hear a clamor in the hall, and I decide to go back into the building. I take a surprised Jordan by the forearm and proceed back into school. Our grade is returning from their lunch period. My trek down to French class is filled with boys dunking on each other and a bunch of girls ramming into me, as it usually is, so I'm not surprised when I run into Jack. Well, of course I'm surprised. In fact, I'm knocked off my feet and into some lockers to my left.

There's a throbbing pain in the back of my head, but I choose to ignore it as nobody helps me up. And entire slew of people stomping on the VCT tiles like a parade of elephants leave me sprawled across the ground. Some are conversing and look down at me while they pass, but no one else seems to care. Jack is long gone, leaving me to fend for myself. I brush off my pants and continue shoving my way through the mob.

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Hey! Thanks for reading this chapter! It will get more interesting, I promise. If there were any typos, PLEASE let me know! I'd appreciate it! Once again, thank you for giving me a chance! Love you! XO