Chapter Eleven and a Half—
“Hey nerd! Was that your girlfriend just now? You two make such a dorky couple!” That sickly-sweet raspy voice belonging to the one and only Emily Roberts taunted. Who was she terrorizing now? I turned the corner to see her talking to Owen. What the hell did she want with Owen? I looked over to him, to spot any traces fear on his face. I looked into his eyes, and they were screaming, “SAVE ME!” I took that as a signal to intervene.
“Emily, what the fuck are you doing?” I asked.
“OMG! Hey Juli-Jules! Oh my gawd! I love your hair like that! So pretty! Speaking of pretty did you like see Aimee Travis’ dress the other night? Talk about gorgeous!” she said, trying to momentarily stall me.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“What question?”
“Why the fuck are you screwing with Owen- that question.”
“Oh no sweetie! I’d never screw Owen; believe me.”
“Whatever. Owen, come on,” I said, taking his hand, and leading him away from Emily.
“Thanks,” he said quietly, as we walked away.
“Yeah, no problem, what was that about anyways?”
“Uh… Charlotte came up to me to ask about math homework, I kissed her on the cheek, she blushed, left, and Emily saw,” he blushed.
“Well I think that’s sweet! Not what Emily did- but you kissing her. You really like her, don’t you?”
“Umm… yeah. But I don’t think she likes me.”
“Oh Owen! So many things you don’t know. That girl is crazy about you! But you’re going to have to take it slow with her. REAL slow.”
“Yeah, I know. I just really like her I guess.”
“Aw! So where are you off to?”
“The library… to study,” he mumbled. Oh Owen! The quiet smart one. I don’t really know him, but he always seems nice.
“I’m coming,” I stated.
“Have you ever been there before?”
“Nope. But there’s a first time for everything, right?”
“Sure…”
“Cool! Lez go!” I said. I followed Owen through the passages of halls, and down the countless steps of stairs; until we reached a musty old room filled to the brim with books. Wow. This place is scary!
“And here we are,” Owen smiled. “Shocked?”
“Yup.”
“So you’ve really never been down here?”
“Nope,” I shook my head.
“Well then, welcome to the library!”
“Thanks? What do you do down here?”
“I study, and just take in all the peace and quiet.”
“Okay? Wait… there’s like no one here… OWEN! Are you smoking pot down here?” I half joked, hoping to get a reaction out of him.
“NO! Absolutely not! I would nev- I don’t smoke pot,” he said.
“What was that? Oh so you’ve tried it?”
“Maybe I have, maybe I haven’t,” he said, looking down.
“STONER ALERT! OWEN HUDSON IS A STONER!” I said.
“Sh! Keep your voice down! And I am not a stoner!”
“But you’ve tried it?”
“Yeah I’ve tried it! Everyone has!”
“Well you see Owen, that’s called peer pressure, something I’m very much against, and the statement you just made is very inaccurate. I can name at least two people who haven’t.”
“Okay, who?”
“Charlotte, and myself,” I proclaimed.
“You? Julia Tylers? The girl who started kissing boys 6th grade, are claiming to have never smoked? Is that really what you’re sticking with?”
“Yes actually, it is.” I’m against weed, pot, drugs, getting stoned, all that crap. Why? Because I think it’s stupid. If I’m at someone’s house, and they suggest that we should all get stoned, that’s it, I’m out of there. I don’t want to try it, and if I did, it would just be giving into the pressure of society around me, and that’s not me. So, yeah- DON’T DO DRUGS.
“I don’t believe you,” he said, setting his binder and books down on a small table, with a quiet thud.
“I don’t expect you to.”
“Good, because I really don’t.”
“I wouldn’t either. I mean knowing my background, I wouldn’t believe half of what comes out of my mouth.”
“I do.”
“You do what?”
“I believe most of what you say.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re real. You say exactly what you’re thinking.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Also you’re pretty good COD.”
“Thanks?”
“Why don’t you like people calling you Julia?” he asked, going off into an uncharted, and generally avoided topic.
“Uh… it reminds me of the old me. The me I wasn’t proud of. I was fake. I wanted a change, so when I moved out to Cali, Jules it was. Whenever someone calls me Julia, I cringe, because that name reminds me of what a terrible person I was. That’s why, I guess,” I explained hesitantly.
“Huh. I thought it may have had something to do with the unit that we measure work in.”
“What?”
“Like as in joules?”
“Okay… Sorry, but that has nothing to do with the origin of my name.”
“Oh.”
“Now how about you Owen, what steered you somewhat away from the kids with glasses, pocket protectors, Star Wars action figure collections, and braces?” I questioned.
“I got bored,” he shrugged.
“But you’re still a flippin’ genius.”
“Changing your friends doesn’t impact who I am as a student.”
“Right.”
“Do you…” he inhaled, “maybe want to come hang out at my house after school?”
“Sure?” I said. I barely spend any time with Owen, so I guess getting to know him a little better won’t be a bad thing.
“Okay. Cool.”
“Yeah. So I’ll see you after school, but right now can I leave this room? I don’t like it.”
“Yeah, see ya later!”
“Yeah,” I smiled. I slowly walked out of the library, and as soon as I was out, I ran up the stairs as fast as I could.
When the day was finally over, and all those dreaded classes had been endured, I left that treacherous old building, known as school, and escaped to the front entrance with the other fugitives. Freedom! I was going over Owen’s house, so the only thing left to do was-
“Hey Juli- Jules!” someone said, interrupting my thought process of finding Owen.
“Hi,” I said, looking up. It was Mason. Great.
“How are you? I haven’t talked to you in while! We should really hang out sometime!” Hahahahahaha… NO. Ex’s don’t “hang out” with each other; to me, that’s a big no-no.
“Yeah, maybe,” I said, frantically looking around for Owen.
“How about tonight?”
“Hmmm… what?” I said, registering in my head what he had just said.
“Tonight, like to a movie, or som-”
“Hey Jules! Ready to go?” Owen asked, placing a hand on my shoulder. My savior! Thank you OWEN!
“Yup!” I said, “Bye Mason.”
“Bye!” he said, giving me a genuinely warm smile. If only everyone in the world was as real, and sincere as Mason…
“Did you two…” Owen started, not sure how to address the topic, as we walked away towards the line of cars waiting to pick up their runaways from jail- I mean children from school.
“Yeah, yeah- we went out. I have a boyfriend, and I got over Mason a long time ago.”
“Oh. That’s my sister,” he said, waving to a tall blonde girl, who was getting into a car with another boy. He quickened his pace, and in a flash we were at the car.
“Courtney!” he yelled, tapping on the window.
“Hey bro! Who’s this, your girlfriend? Get in the back,” she ordered, rolling down the window, and clearly sizing me up. Owen’s cheeks reddened. We got in on opposite sides of the silver Lexus, and buckled in.
“Courtney, Brad, this is Jul-”
“Julia Tylers!” “Brad” said. So this kid knows me. That can’t be good...
“Yup. Do I know you?” I asked.
“Umm… kind of. I’m… your brother’s friend,” he said.
“Oh.” There was way more to the story than he was leading on; I could just tell.
“So Owen, is she your new girlfriend?” Courtney asked.
“No way,” he said.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so; someone as pretty as you would never go out with a dork like my brother.”
“Well I don’t know about that…” I said, nudging Owen.
“Right… let’s go!” Courtney shrieked, pressing on the pedal, and driving away. If I had to choose a better driver, between Adam and Courtney, I think Adam would win hands down. I think Courtney was going 150 mph at one point. I litterally wanted to barf.
“And here we are!” Courtney said, stopping the car in the driveway of a mansion.
“Great driving babe!” Brad said.
“Thanks!” she smiled, “OUT!” And out we were. Owen and I left the car quickly, and ran into the house.
“Sorry about Courtney,” Owen apologized, once we were safely in through the doorway of his house.
“What? Why? She seemed… sweet,” I said.
“She’s not, and let me just apologize beforehand for my mother.”
“What?” I said, very confused.
“OWEN! Is that you darlin’?” a blonde lady who looked just like Courtney, aged about twenty years said, running in high heels up to us.
“Hi mom,” he said.
“Hi baby. Who’s this? Oh sweetie, you didn’t say you were bringing your girlfriend over!”
“She’s not my girlfriend!”
“Hello Ms. Hudson, I’m his friend, Jules,” I said.
“Ms. Hudson? No, no, call me Andrea, sugar!” she said, bringing me into a tight hug.
“Mom, we’re going to chill in the basement, see you in like two hours?” Owen said, walking off.
“Okay! Holler if y’all need anything!” she said, smiling.
“Will do,” Owen said, continuing to walk away.
“What’s your mom’s accent?” I asked.
“Some place in the south.”
“Cool.”
“I guess?”
“Okay… Just quickly, who was your sister’s boyfriend? He looked familiar.”
“Brad something. I... don’t really like him.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Do you… play Madden?”
“Uh… yeah!”
“Cool,” he said, opening a door to a room. We went in, and there was a jumble of gaming systems connected to a huge TV, a couch that ran against the back wall, and surrounded the entire room, a few beanbag chairs, and rows and rows of videogames.
“Wow,” I said, a little stunned.
“Sick, I know,” he said, going over to one of the stacks of games, and pulling one out. He put it into one of the systems, and Madden popped up on the screen.
“Owen, do you trust me?” I suddenly asked, not knowing where the question came from.
“Yeah,” he said, as the game continued to load.
“Why?”
“You’ve changed, and… I don’t know, I just trust you I guess.”
“Cool. That means a lot, thanks.”
“You welcome?”
My phone started ringing. I looked at, and it was Josh. “I’ll be right back, it’s my boyfriend, I-” I said.
“I get it, go, talk to him.” I left the room, and called Josh back, pacing up and down the hallway.
“Hey babe!” he answered.
“Hi,” I said.
“Not a good time?” So he could really hear it through my voice?
“Not the best.”
“Then I’ll call you back later.”
“No! But you better call me back later anyways!”
“I will. I promise.”
“Good!”
“So, you getting pumped to come visit us?”
“No.”
“Liar.”
“No, I’m not. I’m getting pumped to visit you.”
“Oh, of course! My bad.”
“I know it is!”
“Well anyways, just wanted to call to say ‘hi’, I love and miss you, and am counting down the seconds till I see you.”
“Love you too.”
“Okay, so I’ll totally call you back later, but bye for now!”
“Bye babe.”
“Love you.”
“I love you too,” I said, ending the call.
“And who exactly do you love?” someone asked, startling me. Brad.
“My boyfriend,” I said.
“Oh, you have a boyfriend?”
“Yes I do. Who are you again?”
“We uh… ya know… a few years back… your brother was pissed…”
“Oh! Sorry about that! I was such a little slut!”
“No, no! It was um…”
“Yeah, don’t continue that sentence.”
“Sorry. But now, look at you! You’re all grown up, and wow!”
“Yeah, I am. Bye,” I said, turning around, and walking straight back into the room with Owen. I didn’t need to discuss the old me with Brad.
“Yup, I don’t like Brad either,” I said, sitting down on the couch next to him.
“I think Courtney’s going to breakup with him anyway,” Owen said.
“Cool. Now let’s play some Madden!” I said. Owen’s a good kid. I like him.