Videotape

Chapter 2

"It's nice to meet you," Gabby said, extending her hand toward Ethan. He immediately reciprocated, giving her hand a firm shake before pulling away with a sincere smile spread across his face. Gabby repeated the phrase to Jade and held out her hand. However, Jade was more hesitant, her shoulders trembling slightly as she slowly reached forward to accept the handshake. "I'm Gabriela Rodriguez, but I prefer Gabby," Gabby said, then motioned toward me. "This is Ase Hansen."

"Come on, have a seat!" Caleb said, grinning eagerly. He motioned to the other side of the table. "We still have about half of lunch left. Let's all get to know each other, huh?" Before I knew it, we were all sitting around the table together, making easy small talk. Or, rather, Gabby, Caleb, and Ethan were making small talk while Jade and I remained perfectly silent.

One of the first things we found out was that Ethan was an artist. In his backpack was a sketchbook full of stunning artwork, with everything from still lifes to portraits to sketches of surreal, curiously disturbing things that he had transferred straight from the depths of his mind to the paper. We spent several minutes passing it around the table, each of us taking our time admiring his work. It was me who finally handed it back to him. "You've got a real talent," I said, speaking for the first time since he and Jade had arrived at the table. He raised his eyebrows. "You do talk!" he laughed, taking his sketchbook from my hands. "Thank you, Ase. I appreciate it."

"Well, now I know why you two took the art elective," Caleb said with a playful nudge to Ethan's shoulder. "You're artists." Ethan went quiet for a moment, then gave a nonchalant shrug. "Well, I'm an artist. Jade only chose the class because there were no music electives that fit her schedule." Jade perked up at Ethan's words, the ghost of a smile gracing her angular features, but she remained silent.

"Music?" The word left my lips before I could stop it from doing so. Jade turned to me, cocking her head slightly. Shoot, I thought. I hadn't planned on speaking; I'd never been good at introductions, and quite frankly, I'd never been a huge fan of meeting new people. There was no going back now, though. I swallowed nervously. "I...I'm a musician, too," I stammered out. "I sing and play bass and keyboard. I played oboe in the band, too, but I kinda dropped it not too long ago."

Jade took a moment to process my words. Finally, she cracked another smile and chose this moment to speak for the first time. "Electric guitar," she said. "Drums, too, even though I suck at it. I sing occasionally as well."

"Shut up, Jade. You don't suck at drums."

"Don't listen to Ethan, you all. He has no taste."

Caleb piped up. "I'm sure you don't suck, Jade," he said with an encouraging smile. Jade shrugged, smiling as she shook her head. "I appreciate your words, but they don't change the fact that Ethan here has no taste."

"Don't make me hurt you!" Ethan growled, smiling devilishly at Jade. She responded by swatting him playfully on the arm, eliciting fits of laughter from around the table. I couldn't suppress the smile that tugged at the corners of my mouth. I liked Jade. I liked Ethan too, of course, but there was something about Jade that seemed almost familiar to me. I must have been staring for too long, because she threw me a sideways look a moment later. "Is something wrong?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing. Sorry. I was just zoning out," I responded quickly, kicking myself internally for seeming like a creep. "It's been cool meeting you. You might be the first person I've met here who's into music outside of the school band."

"Huh." Jade had a thoughtful look in her eyes. "That's cool. I'd like to hear your stuff sometime. I'm sure you're good."

I nodded. "Same to you," I said as the bell rang.

Everyone around the table began to gather their belongings, preparing for their next classes. I slid my backpack over my shoulders and reached down to pick up my tray, but Jade stopped me by placing her hand on my wrist. "Give me your number," she said. "I'll send you some of my crappy recordings later tonight, and you can send me some of yours, if you have any. Sound like a deal?"

I blinked in surprise. "Oh. Uh, okay," I stuttered, tentatively reaching into my back pocket to fish out my phone. I swiftly unlocked it and opened my contact list, then pulled up my contact information and handed the phone to Jade. "It's all yours."

Jade reached into her own back pocket and got out her phone, taking a moment to create a new contact and enter my number. Once she was done, she looked up at me with a subtle smile. "Thank you," she said. "I can't wait to hear your work."

"Same to you," I replied, unable to shake the dazed feeling in my head as I absently watched her pack up her belongings.

"It was good meeting you two," Gabby said, shaking Ethan's hand once more and making her way toward Jade to do the same with her. "I'll see you around, I'm sure?"

"Of course," Ethan said, nodding and smiling. "You all seem like good people."

"Alright, then." Caleb patted Ethan on the shoulder and flashed a grin in Jade's direction. "We should all get to class."

As I walked down the hallway toward my geometry class moments later, the dazed feeling finally left my head, leaving a heap of sheer confusion in its place. What had made Jade so interested in my music right away? Why would she want to talk to someone like me? Was I just being paranoid?

I couldn't help but shake my head in exasperation at my own thought; of course I was being paranoid. I was always paranoid. This had been my first time meeting new people in what seemed like forever. Surely there was nothing to be anxious about, right?

Right?

I hoped so.