Jessi
Everyone's Got a Weak Spot
"We're on the same page, then? You agree that something else happened to Adley?"
"I'm not agreeing or disagreeing," I told Ethan, twirling a pencil between my fingers. "It's just a possibility – a theory."
He sighed, looking annoyed by my refusal to pick a side.
However, if I was being honest, I wasn't ready to admit that something else had happened to Adley. After all, that meant that there was another piece in this messed-up puzzle that I didn't know about.
Ethan twisted one of his white shoelaces around his finger. I followed his gaze to his friends, who were currently passing a soccer ball around on the field by using their heads instead of their feet.
"Why aren't you over there?" I asked. Instead of hanging out with his group of friends, Ethan had sat down in front of me under the tree before interrogating me about Adley.
"They may be my friends, but sometimes, I can't stand them. They're completely incapable of talking about anything except that new girl, Jenna. It gets annoying," Ethan admitted, rolling his eyes. He paused, licking his lips nervously. "Plus, I can't talk to them about Adley – not like I can with you."
My face fell. I felt sorry for Ethan – sorry that he had fallen for a killer and didn't even know it.
What would he think if he knew the truth?
The situation was so messed up that, sometimes, even I didn't believe that Ethan was in love with his sister's killer. The killer who was now dead – maybe even murdered.
Ethan looked away from me, twisting his grease-stained fingers in his lap. Ever since Adley died, I had noticed that his hands were always stained. "Have... Have you talked to Aurora since the auditions?" he asked suddenly.
"What?" I sputtered, caught off guard.
"Aurora. Have you talked to her?"
"I understood you the first time," I snapped, rolling my eyes and sighing. "No, I haven't."
"I think you should."
"Why?" I questioned, crossing my arms and looking away from him. I was unable to meet his eyes. "She probably thinks I'm a loser."
"I don't think she does. She seems to care about you."
I looked up after he spoke, and a mixture of anger and confusion consumed me. "And how would you know? Did you talk to her?" I was asking him jokingly. But when Ethan looked away from me sheepishly for a second, my eyebrows raised.
"Maybe a little."
"Oh, great. Did you guys have a nice, long, heartfelt discussion about how pathetic I am?" I laughed bitterly. "How I can't even audition for a school play without–"
"It wasn't like that," Ethan interrupted.
"No? Then, do tell me, what was it like?"
"We were just worried about you, Jessi. After you blew up on Nate the other day–"
"You didn't think he deserved it?"
Ethan smirked, laughing softly. "No, he definitely did. You looked ready to tackle him, though, and I know that that's not the real you."
I raised an eyebrow. "What exactly are you trying to tell me?"
Ethan sighed, combing a hand through his golden curls. "I just talked to Aurora because I didn't want her to have that first impression of you."
I felt my cheeks get hot, and I bit my lip. "You didn't have to do that."
He smiled sadly. I realized then how strange – but nice – it was to be talking to Ethan as if we were friends again. "I know, but I wanted to. I think you should get to know Aurora."
I fidgeted with my charm bracelet, twirling my volleyball charm with a finger. "Ethan, you don't have to help me make friends."
"I know, but I think she'd like to get to know you too."
"Maybe." I honestly wasn't sure if I had enough courage to go up and talk to Aurora, though. Especially after the way I had surely embarrassed her during the auditions.
Ethan stood up as the warning bell sounded, announcing the end of the lunch hour. "Well, I hope you do get to talk to her. I think it would make her happy."
Would it make Aurora happy to talk to me?
I stood in front of my locker, hastily shoving my homework into my school bag.
Would Aurora want to talk to me, even after the audition?
I glanced down the hall and spotted her at her locker. She was shoving a few papers into a bright blue folder, and I sighed softly to myself.
Just go talk to her. What's the worst that could happen?
Taking a deep breath, I walked over to Aurora's locker. She was now gathering her books and tucking them neatly into her school bag. "Hey, Aurora," I said tentatively.
She turned and closed her locker at the sound of my voice, a smile growing on her face. "Hey," she remarked as she slung her bag over her shoulder.
"I wanted to talk to you–" I froze when I realized that Aurora and I had said the same thing in sync. We stared at each other for a beat, then laughed.
"I guess that's a sign that we should talk," Aurora said, tossing a lock of red-orange hair over her shoulder.
"I guess so," I agreed, walking down the hall beside her. "Isn't that other girl waiting for you, though? I always see you guys walking together."
Aurora shook her head. "Jenna can wait," she stated as we stepped outside.
I scanned the yard for a good place to sit. My eyes found an empty spot at the base of the tree that I usually sat under, and I pointed it out to Aurora. "We can sit there if you want. It's a pretty nice spot. Unless you aren't a fan of trees – we could then just find a table–"
"Under the tree sounds great," Aurora interrupted.
Once we settled ourselves in the grass, I took a deep breath to steady myself.
"Listen, I'm really sorry–" I stopped talking, realizing that Aurora had also said the same thing.
Aurora laughed, but this time, she sounded a little uneasy. "You go first."
I swallowed hard. "I... I'm really sorry for what happened at the audition. I'm sure that I embarrassed you up there."
Her blue eyes looked sad. "Jessi–"
"Let me finish," I said, fearing that if she cut me off, I would lose my nerve and wouldn't be able to complete my statement. "When you asked me to audition with you, I got overexcited since no one's ever asked me to do something with them. I shouldn't have led you on, though." I looked away, biting my lip. "I'm no actress, Aurora. If you must know, I suck at doing anything in front of a crowd."
Aurora burst out laughing, and my eyes widen, taken aback by her reaction. "God, I'm sorry for making you audition. I never asked if you were comfortable with it, and I should have."
I shrugged, wanting to act nonchalant. "It's fine – I could've said something. Besides, it's hardly the first time that I put on a show here."
Aurora's smile shifted into a serious line, and I caught her cracking her knuckles. My stomach dropped. "I was wanting to ask you about that, actually."
I cocked my head to the side, intrigued. "Yeah?"
"What was all that, the other day, with that guy... Nate, was it?"
I flinched. I despised Nate in general, but when I had seen him with Aurora at rehearsals, I snapped. What I had experienced was the same feeling that I used to get when Anna was in some sort of trouble – the feeling that I needed to fight.
But that doesn't make sense, I told myself. I knew Anna for years – I've only known Aurora for a few days.
Either way, that hadn't stopped me from wanting to knock Nate upside the jaw. If Ethan hadn't stopped me, I was sure that I would have. But, instead, I had walked out of the auditorium, not wanting to have to deal with seeing Nate's smug, stuck-up face. I had later forced myself to go back, though – for the sake of the play – and I spent the rest of that afternoon glaring at Nate so much that it gave me a headache.
"So, what happened?" Aurora repeated, snapping me out of my thoughts.
I shrugged, trying to go for an I-Couldn't-Care-Less look. "You're new here, so you don't know. But, to put it simply, Nate Tucker is an asshole." Aurora's eyes widened, probably at my choice of words. "Good luck having him as your co-star in the play. If he's too annoying, feel free to punch him in the face – or ask me to do it." I winked, hoping that I hadn't freaked her out too much.
Aurora laughed but it sounded a little shaky. "Okay. Good advice, I guess." She then checked her phone and stood up. "Sorry, but I have to go. If not, Hazel's gonna kill me," she remarked, then flinched as if she was offended by her own joke.
"Oh, um, okay," I stammered, standing up as well.
Aurora unzipped her bag and tucked her phone back in it, then frowned. "Shit. I just realized that I forgot my history homework in my locker." She sighed, shaking her head and sending strands of her hair flying. "God, I'm so behind in that class."
"Do you, um, need help?" I asked hesitantly. "I'm pretty good in history. Not-not that I'm bragging or anything."
I felt my face flush as Aurora giggled softly. "That would be amazing, actually. When are you free?"
"Uh, I think Monday or Tuesday next week would be best. But I-I could make do with any day, I'm sure–"
"Tuesday sounds great," Aurora chirped, interrupting my nervous rambling. "Jenna has plans that day." Aurora then pulled out a piece of paper from her notebook, then scribbled something in blue pen before handing it to me. "It's a date."
What exactly did she mean by, "It's a date?" I wondered as I wandered through the school parking lot, in a daze. My heart was beating quicker than normal, especially whenever I looked down at the piece of paper Aurora gave me with her phone number.
Did she mean something by it? Or am I just overthinking–
"Still don't know your way home, Short Stack?"
My smile dropped, and I lost the bounce to my step as I looked to my left. There, I found Ivy leaning against an ugly, blue pickup truck next to...
Jenna? What's she doing with Ivy?
I peered at the girl with long, black-brown hair, who looked a little nervous. She lifted her brown eyes from the ground and looked right at me–
It was as if someone punched me in the ribs – if that person's hand was on fire. I stumbled backward, pressing a hand to my chest. I remembered having felt this exact way before around Adley.
That doesn't make sense–
"Are you having a heart attack, Short Stack?" Ivy snickered. "Do I need to call the ambulance?"
I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to breathe against the pressure in my chest. "Shut up, Ivy."
Ivy leaned forward so that her face was uncomfortably close to mine. "Just for the record, I'd let you die."
I took a step back from Ivy, trying to regain my composure. "Likewise."
"You're not gonna tell me that you'd save me no matter what? Be the good one in this situation?" Ivy laughed bitterly. "Oh, wait. I forgot that you're a total bitch now."
I made a fake sad face. "Aw, are you mad that I made fun of your boyfriend at rehearsal?"
Ivy didn't respond, settling on sending me daggers with her eyes.
I turned to Jenna, trying to ignore the tightness in my chest. "I don't know what you're doing here, New Girl, but trust me. The last person you want to be hanging around with is Ivy Blackthorn. As her name implies, she's toxic."
Jenna looked at me, and the force of her glare shocked me. "I was just asking her a homework question."
I stifled a laugh. "Hate to break it to you, Jenna, but Ivy Blackthorn never does her homework. She probably doesn't even know the definition of it. How else could she have failed second grade–?"
"Hazel was hanging out with me because she clearly has taste," Ivy interrupted, pretending as if I hadn't just called her out on her academic failure. "She can tell the cool kids from the losers."
"'Cool kids'?" I mocked. "How old are you, ten?"
Ivy snorted. "I don't think anyone would mistake me for a ten-year-old – but you? You could still order off the kid's menu, and no one would think anything of it."
I pretended to be deep in thought. "What about this, Ivy? What if we agree that neither of us are ten-year-olds, but that your new boyfriend has the brain of one?"
Ivy's face flushed an angry shade of red, and for a second, I thought she was surely going to kill me. However, all she did was mumble "whatever" before she stalked off with Jenna.