Elizabeth
I heard Jenna calling to me as I crossed the street, asking where I had been. Then she stopped mid-sentence and I realized I was being followed.
“Chance is behind me, isn’t he?” I asked when I finally reached Jenna.
“As a matter of fact, I am,” he whispered in my ear before walking around me and standing between Jenna and I. “How’ve you been hottie?”
Jenna giggled then moved closer to Chance and it became quiet, too quiet.
“Please tell me you’re not kissing him Jenna!”
She giggled, taking a step back. “Alright,” Chance said in a smug voice, “if you don’t want to know, then we won’t tell you.”
I crossed my arms. “You ready to go home now Jenna?”
“Uh-“
“I’ve got a great idea,” Chance said, sounding even closer to Jenna. I just hoped he wasn’t standing there with his arm around her. “Why don’t the three of us go walk through the park? It has this real eerie feel to it at night, it rocks.”
“Totally!” Jenna said a little too quickly. And little too closely to Chance. If they were that close, then he definitely had his arm around her. “That would be so cool, let’s go!”
I sighed and followed after them, listening as Jenna flirted shamelessly. This was worse than listening to her flirting with Jack. But what was even worse was when I didn’t hear her flirting with Chance, because then I was sure it was because they were kissing.
Really Jenna? You’ve only known this guy a couple of days and you’re already kissing him this much? He better be really freaking hot. No, even then I still didn’t condone it.
We had finally reached the park; I could feel the soft, earthy ground under my feet. Even though I couldn’t see it, I still understood what Chance had meant earlier. This place did feel eerie after dark. Most of the animals were asleep, so it was really quiet, except for the few raccoons and opossums rustling in the bushes here and there. Something about this normally lively place being deserted just made it even worse.
Chance and Jenna were quiet again, other than a few sounds I’d rather not have heard, and I let out a loud sigh.
“Just because I’m blind doesn’t mean you can start making-out in front of me! I still know you’re doing it!”
“Bethy!” Jenna said quickly, half embarrassed that I’d said something, half shocked that I’d said I was blind.
“He already knows.”
“I figured it out,” Chance said, that smirk in his voice. “Wasn’t too hard, really.” Chance suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me up to the other side of him. “Don’t be so anti-social, hanging in the back.”
“Well I’d rather be tagging along in the back than up here listening to you two swap spit.” I leaned forward so Jenna had a better view of me as I started in on my mini lecture. “You should not be kissing him, Jen! We shouldn’t even be hanging out with him, we barely know him. So you definitely shouldn’t be kissing him!”
I was still playing my dream over and over in my head, comparing it to what actually happened. All of it matched up perfectly, until I stepped in that is, so it only makes sense that the end would have been the same to. But there was no way Chance could be a . . . a . . . I couldn’t even think it. Because those things aren’t real! Even if it did make sense in a really weird way. But even if it wasn’t true, I still couldn’t let Jenna throw herself at him. Chance was a creep and a weirdo and not someone we should be around!
“Hey, look at that up there.” Chance said suddenly. “Whoa, that’s so cool. Jenna, go check it out.”
“Whoa, I’ll be right back!”
“Wait!” I yelled, but she was already running away. “What? What is it? What’s up there?”
“Fog,” he said with a laugh, “She is too easily amused.” His arm was suddenly around my shoulder. “Are you jealous Lizzy?” He asked with a smirk.
“Stop calling me that, and no! I’m not jealous, that’s ridiculous.”
I pushed his arm off my shoulder, but then he just wrapped it around my waist. “You seem jealous, really jealous. All you have to do is say the word and I’ll leave her alone and focus on you.”
“Oh no! You’ve definitely gone insane because the last thing I want is- hey!”
He had stopped walking and stepped in front of me, holding both arm around my waist and leaning his face only a few inches away from mine.
“What are you Lizzy?” He whispered. “Why can’t I figure you out?”
My heart picked up its pace again and I slowly reached up to touched his face, suddenly very curious. He held still as I felt his face; the shape of his eyes, the curve of his nose, the slight smirk on his lips. They parted and I quickly pulled my hand back.
“That’s exactly how I pictured you,” I said quietly, more to myself than to him. I now had a pretty clear image of him in my head, and it lined up perfectly with the image of him in my dream. How could that be?
“Do I look good?” he asked in a smug voice.
I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn’t see them, then pushed him away. “Get off me you creep.”
I heard him chuckle as I hurried toward Jenna, or at least in the direction she had gone off in earlier. “Jenna?”
“Over here,” she called. I lifted a hand as I got closer to her then relaxed when she caught my arm. “You okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I’m just tired. We should be getting back now, don’t want Jack to come hunting for us.”
She laughed a little as I pulled her toward the exit of the park. “Yeah, that wouldn’t be good. Hey! Slow down! We still have to say goodbye to Chance.”
“Bye Chance!” I yelled, not sure where exactly he was at the moment, and lifted my hand up as a wave goodbye.
“Bye!” Jenna yelled back to him. “The kill-joy is pulling me away, but I’ll see you at school Monday!”
When we were back on the sidewalk, Jenna pulled me to a stop. “You wait here, the car isn’t too far. I’ll just pull it around and pick you up.”
“I can walk,” I said, leaning back on a lamppost and catching my breath.
She laughed a little. “I’m not sure why, but you’re all out of breath and worn out, so I just thought you should wait here and catch your breath while I get the car. Besides, I can see a huge crowd over there that we’d have to walk through and I didn’t think you’d want to go near it.”
“Yeah,” I smiled. “Maybe I should just wait here.”
She gave my hand a quick squeeze before letting go and hurrying down the sidewalk. “I’ll be right back!” she called.
I closed my eyes, relaxing and letting my pulse slow down. The night was almost over and soon I’d be safe and sound, back in my house.
“Well this turned out to be an interesting evening.” I jumped when I heard Chance right beside me. I didn’t even hear him walking up, he was just so quiet. How did he do that!?
“Uh, yeah. Interesting.”
“Though you do owe me now.” There was this dangerous tone to his voice that made me shiver.
I turned my head away, hoping Jenna would hurry up. “For what?”
He leaned in close then said quietly. “For scaring off my dinner.”
I spun around, trying to find him, but for all intensive purposes he was gone. I called his name, grabbed at the air, and listened closely, but nothing. I couldn’t find him. For all I knew, he was standing close by, watching and waiting to do something to me. My heart picked up its pace and I backed up to the fence that circled the park.
For scaring off his dinner? Did he actually just say that? No way could that mean what I thought it meant. And if it did, he had to of been joking. Yeah, that’s it. He probably guessed what I had been thinking and said that just to mess with me. That’s what Chance did; he messed with people. So it was just a joke then, right?
“Bethy!” Jenna yelled as she honked the horn, making me jump a foot. “Get in.”
She didn’t have to tell me twice. I hurried over to the car and climbed in, quickly closing, and locking, the door. I closed my eyes as she sped off down the street, telling myself over and over again that it was just a joke, just some stupid joke.