The Laws of Paxia

19. Showing an attitude

Chapter Nineteen

Showing an attitude

  “Where is she?”

  I drop the book I pretend to read and I welcome a furious Jake with a smile as he enters my room without a knock. He looks better than last time I saw him and he is still showing off his tattoo. I guess I shouldn’t mention what happened to his dear tribe.

  “Did you gain weight?” I grin at him, proud of my stupid comment.

  His eyes rake over me and I’m not sure if he lost his ability to talk since he’s continuously gulping and tying his fists. He’s also bright, even in my dark room. I covered the windows so the light won’t blind me and only my bedside lamp is spreading its damp light.

  “I told you she’s here,” Keith says rolling his eyes and jumps down in the bed next to me. “What are you reading?” He picks up my book and laughs out loud. “Don’t you get tired of Harry Potter?”

  “Obviously not,” I answer him snobbishly and retrieve my book from his grip.

  I give Jake another worried glance and he’s still watching me like a hawk. I pull off the blanket I put around my shoulders and show him my tattoo. He grips the doorframe tightly and closes his eyes.

  “Jake,” Keith says trying to break his friend’s state of shock. “What did you expect to see?”

  He opens his eyes and looks at me intensely. It seems like he can see through my soul and what I have become. He takes a step back as he is distancing himself from me.

  “This is not our Meryl,” he says. “This is something else.”

  I throw my book hard at him for that comment but he knocks it to the floor before it hits him.

  “You didn’t look so pretty either when you returned from Paxia,” I tell him dryly. “I thought you would be happy to see me.” I open the drawer in my nightstand and pick up the package of condoms he gave me for my birthday. I throw them at him. “You can take these back too because there’s no way on Earth that I will sleep with you!”

  The package lands on his stomach and he watches it as it falls to the floor.

  “What’s your problem,” Keith growls. “You can go home if you just came here to argue. Meryl came home today and I don’t want any sour faces to ruin it.”

  “Then how do you explain her eyes?” Jake says and points at me.

  “I don’t know!” Keith says angrily. “Do you?”

  “What about my eyes?” I wonder. Last time I saw them was this morning and they looked fine to me. “Why didn’t you ask me about it to begin with instead of showing an attitude?”

  “They are almost transparent,” Keith says nervously. “But don’t worry! You look alright. You can see alright, right?”

  I shake my head with a small smile. “Something happened with my eyes on Paxia. That’s why they are weird, I guess.”

  “What exactly happened on Paxia?” Jake asks me and I can see that I didn’t fool him with my explanation. He wants to know more. “You were picked up into the Breaking Arm. Why would they spare your life?”

  “I slept with their hunter,” I shrug. “I was their hunter too. I’m not little innocent Meryl anymore. I changed just like you changed. You should be happy that I had a big tribe to protect me. We got into war with other tribes more than once.”

  Anger is burning in Jake’s eyes, but he already guessed most of it. Paxia is Paxia after all. Keith looks at me surprised but is smart enough to not ask about it.