Chapter 3 – An explanation and a Decision
“She made you social road kill?!” I asked in alarm
“Yeah, and it was for something really silly too” She pointed out but then continued “Hazel can get crazy jealous, I mean full on crazy lady with 500 cats crazy. We were trying to raise money for the schools chosen charity and selling hugs. It was Hazel and I offering hugs for five dollars and Noah came up with his friends and they all bought a hug. Hazel was waiting for him to hug her but instead he hugged me”
“She killed your social life because you hugged Noah?” I asked
“Yup. But the thing is. I don’t really care anymore. I didn’t do anything wrong and I’m proud that I stood my ground. Slowly everyone stopped talking to me out of fear of Hazel and well yeah that’s my story” she shrugged
“My hero” I replied giving her a genuine smile which she returned. “Okay then super Sammy, to art class!” I said pointing to the ceiling pretending to fly off
I heard her laugh behind me and she court up with me “You know Jace, I’m glad you came to this school. Even though we met yesterday I’m proud to call you my best friend” at this my heart warmed to the core. I had a genuine best friend.
“Dido Kiddo” I replied quoting my mum. We both laughed and made our way to art class before we were late
***
“Hey guys, my art buddy is away today. Do you mind if I sit with you?” Asked Noah pulling a chair up next to the easel next to me
I looked over at Sammy for help but she just shrugged and went back to drawing. Hazel’s threat was still fresh in my mind but who was I kidding. I was new at this school I didn’t have a social life and I knew Sammy would stay by me. I turned back to Noah. “No problem, take a seat” I said gesturing to the chair he was holding. This earned a raise of the eyebrow from Sammy; I simply shrugged and went back to work.
Noah was really easy enough to get along with. As the lesson went on the three of us talked about our favourite movies, t.v. shows, music and hobbies. When I thought I had a lot of stuff in common with Sammy, I had a heap in common with Noah. Things with him seemed to just be natural. That is until the bell rang. Looking defeated Noah got up and turned to Sammy and I and smiled.
“Thanks for letting me sit with you guys. You know I might have to ditch my art buddy, you guys are way more fun” Noah said then winked as he walked off.
“Well that was an interesting lesson” said Sammy giving me a knowing look
“Always with the double meanings” I replied rolling my eyes at her
“What ever could you mean?” She asked faking innocence
At this we both burst out laughing. “You know the green eyes suit you” Sammy suddenly stated “You should be happy all the time”
This statement kind of startled me at first by then I felt my mouth pull into a huge grin.
“Why thank you my dear, I shall try my best” I replied with a fake British accent
“We are so weird” And with that we burst out laughing again, anybody around us must be wondering why we laugh so much. The truth is; we have fun.
“Hey do you want to come over after school? We have that art project thingy, do you think you could help me with… everything? Because as you know by now that I absolutely suck at art” Sammy said looking down at her feet
I laughed a little and patted her on the back “Sammy relax you’re not that bad at art, just think of yourself as an abstract artist. And I’d love to come over this afternoon, I’ll just text mum and let her know” She looked up at me hopefully and did that Cheshire cat grin again
Getting out my phone I started typing away at the keyboard.
Hey Mum,
Sammy invited me over her place so we could work on our art projects, is that okay?
I’ll make sure I’m not late for dinner :)
Xx Jace
Hitting the send button, it was mere moments before I received a reply from Mum.
Sure thing kiddo, have fun and remember to actually do the work. We don’t want you getting distracted now would we ;) And yes don’t be late for dinner, I’m making pizza!
Xx Mum
I smiled, my Mum had to one of the coolest people in the world. Turning to Sammy I nodded, if even humanly possible her grin grew in size. I surprised her mouth still functioned after her smiling all the time like that.
“Yay!” she chirped doing a little happy dance there on the spot “But I must warn you, my mum is like me but double, you think I’m happy just wait until you meet her. And my little sister, she’s almost four and has a lot of energy. My dad won’t be home though, I’m sure you’d like him”
“You’re family sound really nice” I told her with a smile, before dragging her to our next class. The rest of the day just blended together with Sammy and I talking, laughing, taking down notes and all in all just being weird.
***
Walking towards Sammy’s house was weird at first because we had to walk past my house to get there, but the feeling went away when her house came into view. It literally was just down the road.
Walking into the house Sammy called out “Hey! I’m home and Jacey’s with me!” Appearing from the kitchen guessing from the apron she was wearing Sammy’s mother walked towards us. They had the same features and warm happy eyes. Although Sammy was just taller than her mum by about an inch she jumped on her mum hugging her. They laughed at each other and I couldn’t help but smile.
Sobering up from their laughter, Sammy’s mother walked towards me and extended her hand, “Hey there, you must be Jacey, and Sammy hasn’t stopped talking about you. My name is Jasmine, but you can call me Jaz. Everyone does” Jaz stated griping my hand and shaking slightly.
“It’s nice to meet you Jaz, you have a lovely home” I replied smiling warmly at her, she began to smile as well, however her smile turned into a grin; Cheshire cat style grin. Now I know where Sammy got that from. I laughed lightly and suddenly was attacked from behind with someone grabbing my legs. I looked down to see a little girl with dark brown curls bouncing with each little giggle she let escape her lips. I smiled and picked her up twirling her, sending her into another fit of giggles.
“You must be Sammy’s little sister” I stated setting her back down on the ground “My name’s Jacey, what’s yours?”
She smiled and her voice was bright and cheerful, “Hi Jayjay! My name is Sunny, just like da sun” I laughed a little at her chosen words, she was pretty smart for her age. And the nickname made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
“Hey there Sunny, sorry bub but we have homework to do” Sammy stated messing up Sunnys’ hair
After pouting for a moment, Sunny waved and followed her mum back to the kitchen.
Heading up stairs we made our way into a bed room, guessing it was her room considering the way she flopped down onto the double bed snuggling into the covers.
“I love this bed so much, unfortunately we don’t get to spend as much time together” she in a muffled voice
The afternoon turned out to be very productive, our art projects were free style meaning we could use which ever media we wanted. I chose to sketch whilst Sammy chose to paint. She said it was so that she could pass it off as abstract artwork. I had no idea what to do for my sketch so I drew Sammy while she was painting.
“Ha! Ha!” she suddenly exclaimed grabbing her canvas and holding it up for me to see “Look! I finished!” she turned to show me her painting; luckily I had just finished sketching her. Her painting was actually really great. It was of a road with oak trees on both sides creating a tunnel during autumn. The colours were amazing.
“Wow, Sammy that painting is amazing!” I chirped
“You think so?” She asked uncertain
“Uh that would be a big, massive yes! I had no idea you were this good”
The Cheshire cat grin came along and we both laughed.
It was starting to get later when suddenly my phone buzzed in my pocket. The text message read:
Hey Jacey,
Some girl started talking to me today and said that she’s one of your new ‘friends’…
She said her name was Hazel…
She was asking a lot about you, and I don’t know if you put her up to it or something to get us back or whatever.
I’m pretty sure me and the rest of the school made it clear that we didn’t want anything to do with you or your freaky eyes.
Can you tell her that I don’t want to see her again; she’s really annoying...
Sophia.
I almost died when I read the message; my jaw almost hit the ground. Seeing my eyes nearly pull themselves out of my head Sammy crawled over to where I was sitting.
“Jace, is everything okay?” She asked genuinely concerned
I shook my head. “You know how I transferred to this school mid semester? It was because at my old school, they weren’t as understanding as you and Noah. At my old school; when people found out about my eyes I was immediately considered as some freak” I paused looking at the floor “I started there at the start of the year, things started to get so bad that my Mum and I moved here so I could go to this school, hoping it wouldn’t be like the others… One girl in particular from my old school, Sophia, made my life miserable. I literally had no friends, no would even talk to me…”
“Oh my, Jace that’s really sad that you had to go through that. But what was with the sudden change of mood?” She asked rubbing my back
I handed her the phone. Her eyes grew wide and she turned to me. “Looks like Hazel saw us having fun in art class. That girl is crazy…”
Sammy snorted “Crazy is an understatement. So this Sophia girl, is she like Hazel in a way?”
“Yeah; kinda. She’s the most popular girl in school, have a billion followers willing to serve her, spread her rumours, etcetera, etcetera…” I replied with a sigh “I guess I better not make Sophia wait”
Typing up a message, I reread the message for Sophia:
Sorry Sophia, Hazels’ not actually one of my friends she’s just some girl from my new school…
I’ll talk to her tell her to stop bugging you
Hitting the send button I waited for a reply, but of course, it was Sophia we’re talking about. She wouldn’t text back.
But suddenly my phone buzzed. Wait, what? Sophia next text back…
Opening my phone I saw a message from an unknown sender. The message read:
Hello Jacey,
Even though you’re only new at our school, doesn’t mean that can just walk in and act like you own the place
I don’t want you hanging around with Noah and just because the school doesn’t know about your eyes yet just gives me the joy of telling them all.
Cya at school Jacey
Hazel.
My jaw dropped again, how on earth was it still attached to my face, surely would have dropped off by now. Sammy seeing my expression once again took my phone and read the message out loud.
“That crazy chick! Ah! What is her problem, it’s not like Noah actually likes her?! And how the heck did she get your number?” Asked Sammy alarmed
“I don’t know…” I said out loud
Bye, bye social life I thought to myself. I had actually survived a couple of days without anyone picking up on my eyes. I tried to not to tell people too often because they usually freaked out…
I looked over to Sammy who had a wicked smile on her face. “If she wants to play a game… Bring it on! She messes with us, we mess with her! Here” she said handing back my phone “Say something like: Who the heck is Jacey? This is… Jason. Try getting the number right next time Einstein”
I couldn’t help but laugh, while typing the message.
“Would you like to do the honours?” I asked holding the phone for her to press send
“Why thank you my dear. Let the games begin!” she yelled pressing the send button
Bring it on Hazel.