Watercolor Road ✔

Chapter 7: Jack's Secret

Julia had to admit, life at her new school became more bearable with Jacob as a friend. Daphne and her squad mostly left her, and by extent Megan, alone during the school day. While that meant she basically ignored their very existence, both Julia and Megan were perfectly fine with that arrangement.

Even Will had stopped bugging her so much. They worked on the project every Friday and managed to have cordial, even friendly, conversations every week.

"Done!" Julia exclaimed. It was the Friday of the fifth week of school, about a week before the project's due date, and she threw down her pencil, finished with the last steampunk Pride and Prejudice drawing. Julia looked over her work as she shook out her hand, pleased with how everything turned out.

Will came in from the other room and looked at the stack of pages neatly piled in front of Julia. "Wow," he said, "and we still have plenty of time to get it bound."

"Yeah, how exactly are we going to do that?" Julia questioned.

"My dad has a friend who can do this sort of stuff," Will explained. "I can just give it all to him. It'll only take a few days."

"Right," Julia said, nodding. "Well, tell him if he messes it up, I'll kill him."

"You won't have to," Will said. "Because if he messes it up, I'll kill him." He paused. "I guess we make a good team."

"I guess so," Julia admitted. A horrible thought flooded into her mind. "Wait, does Finch have us do a project like this for every book we read?"

"No," Will said. "It's different every time, but everyone says he gives the biggest project at the beginning of the year. So, we should be off the hook."

"Good," Julia stated. "I don't think I could do all that again."

"Well, it looks great," Will praised.

"Yeah, well, it doesn't read too bad, either," Julia said.

"Is that a compliment?" Will asked, feigning shock.

Julia just gave him a look. "Don't get used to it."

"Right," Will sighed dramatically. "You want a ride home?"

"Yeah, that'd be great."

Julia followed Will toward the garage, and she slightly raised an eyebrow as he let out a small chuckle. "And to think week one you wanted to walk home," Will teased her.

"You know, I haven't completely ruled it out," Julia challenged him.

"Yeah, right," Will said. "I know you love our car rides."

"Most of them are in silence," Julia pointed out.

"That doesn't mean you can't enjoy them," Will countered. He grabbed his keys and got into his car.

Knowing that, at least in part, he was right, Julia suppressed a small smile and followed him to the car.

They were a little less than halfway to Julia's house when she decided to break the silence. "Can I ask you something?"

"She speaks!" Will exclaimed. After ignoring Julia's eye roll, Will nodded. "It seems fair that you can, especially after all of my questions. What can I inform you of?"

"I've been coming to your house for five weeks," Julia said. "Why haven't I met your parents?"

Will was silent, so Julia quickly added, "It's okay if you don't want to tell me, I know I haven't told you anything about mine."