But now, I am also learning this: We can be mended. We mend each other.
CJ lowered the book she was reading from her eyes, now finished. "It can't be over yet," she mumbled to herself. It was a bittersweet conclusion of all three books, but she still didn't want it to end.
She looked around the park from the swing she was sitting on, noticing how everyone, all the toddlers and their parents or grandparents or baby sitters, were carrying on with their normal lives. All the sixteen-year old could do was stare, not letting anyone else notice she was near tears because of that book.
"Hey, CJ!" She heard someone call from behind. That's what everybody called her: CJ. Her initials. Cordelia Johnson.
She turned around, noticing her best friend, Brianna. "What're you doing here?" CJ's friend asked. Before she could reply, Brianna said, "Are you seriously reading a book? During winter break? You've gotta be freakin' kidding me, we are getting you somewhere interesting for once." At that, Brianna pulled CJ off from the swing hard, making her drop the beloved book on the snowy ground, and dragged her further away from the park.
That was when Cordelia noticed someone she didn't before, some guy with dark hair dressed all in black, who seemed to be standing next to another person with similar clothing, blonde this time, and picked up her book.
He looked up and his eyes met CJ's for just that one second, and she could swear there was a glint of blue in the dark-haired boy's eyes.
CJ turned back around to Bri, still dragging her away, with the dark clouds rolling overhead in the winter sky, and it was obvious it was about to snow again. "Wait," she whispered to Brianna, who didn't stop. "Wait, look at them," she tried again, gesturing with her free hand towards the two boys.
"Nope, you're coming with me. C'mon." And Cordelia couldn't object, even if she knew that she was much more stronger than her friend.
She turned back around to face the two boys, but they were gone. And so was her book.
"Where the hell are we now?" CJ asked, finally irritated. Brianna let go of her a block away from the park, and now CJ thought she got the two of them lost in New York at six o'clock at night (which CJ didn't mind; her parents don't care anyways). It's happened before.
"Let's ask the people who work here," Brianna announced. CJ followed her line of sight, which led her to look at some club called "Pandemonium," which seemed very friendly-like.
"Yes, Bri," Cordelia said sarcastically. "Clubs with an entrance that's in alley ways are very comforting. Would ya like for me to ask them for hot chocolate and a blanket while we're at it? Why don't we also ask what that symbol up there means? Maybe it translates to 'creeper proof'!"
Brianna crossed her arms. "Y'know what? Maybe that imaginary 'symbol' you're talking about does translate to that! Let's go s-"
"What do you mean 'imaginary?' That symbol is real, idiot!"
"C'mon, you can ask all about it once we get in the club."
"Wait- are you seriously trying to get in there?!"
"Now I am, just to get you in a pissy mood, eh? I'm going in, you stay out here." Then Brianna swished her cocoa brown hair and snuck behind the bouncer and into the Pandemonium.
It was getting dark out, and the snow turned into a flurry, yet the cold stayed the same to CJ. She stood at the same place Brianna left her, and was ready to go inside and look for her best friend after ten minutes or so.
"Alright then," she whispered to herself. CJ hid behind the corner; she took off her glasses since people said she looked prettier without them (she didn't believe them), and partially tucked in her baggy dark blue shirt (which made a fashion statement to the busty girls at school, though CJ didn't get it). CJ wasn't (and most likely never will be) dressed to go to a club, and she just put on the clothes she's wearing without a second thought. At least she had skinny jeans on, which (hardly) emphasized the outfit that she was going out somewhere (which wasn't true at all; she had the entire day planned to herself until Bri came).
She snuck behind the guard as she saw Brianna do fifteen minutes ago, which was easier than it looked, and, to act like she was meant to be at the club, she winked at a random pale guy with glasses and a cool, geeky-looking t-shirt.
Christ, CJ thought, where did I learn to do all that?
"I just need to find Bri, then we can get outta here and have some actual hot cocoa." she mumbled to herself.
She walked over to find a table with plastic cups filled with something sparkling, but it didn't smell like alcohol. Picking up a cup, Cordelia was about to take a sip then search for Brianna, but someone caught at her wrist from behind.
"I wouldn't drink that," the owner of the hand said, not letting go.
She turned around and looked up to see his face, and nearly dropped the cup.
"You're one of those guys I saw at the park!" Cordelia exclaimed.
Now that he's up close, she could see him more clearly. Blonde hair, taller than her, eyes with a colour hard to tell, and a rebellious looking smirk that CJ hadn't noticed before.
"And you're one of the girls I saw at the park," he replied less accusingly but matter-of-factly, finally letting go of her hand. She set down the cup back on the table.
"Have you," CJ began, "been stalking us?"
"I think I could ask the same thing. We are in the same place at the same time after all." Cordelia noticed he had an accent, like her. It was hard to find people with accents like that around there. The mysterious blonde dude went on, "But, if I were stalking you, I'd probably have the decency and wits to notice."
She suddenly had the urge to slap the guy, but there was a gut feeling that she shouldn't. "So, what do you and your friend want? Because if you have harassment in mind, you'd both really need to sort out your life choices."
His eyes gave Cordelia a cold glare. "I came alone."
She shrugged. "Tell that to the one with blue eyes."
"You have blue eyes."
"The guy with the same black clothes as you!"
He seemed to refuse to look away from her gaze at him. Cordelia felt, at the least, more superior since she spotted the other guy far away and watching them. Blondie smirked. "Don't forget weapons. The same weapons as me, too."
CJ refused to admit it, but she thought she saw a gleam come from something beside his belt. She realized he had weapons everywhere, but she didn't want to see if it was true.
The two glared at each other in silence for a long time, nobody interrupting, until Brianna seemed to find CJ.
"Hey! You made it in! How long have you been inside?" Bri asked.
CJ finally looked away from the boy. "A while. Long enough to realize you've been screwing around to get me in here, Bri."
She rolled her eyes then replied with a smile, "But you still came." She draped one of her arms over her friend's shoulders. "What were you staring at, anyway?"
She scrunched her eyebrows. "A who, not a what. And he's standing right in front of us!" She gestured at the guy, who was watching the two with amusement.
"Have you been taking drugs?" CJ gave her friend a does-it-look-like-a-sixteen-year-old-girl-that-reads-books-on-her-free-time-for-fun-would-actually-get-high look.
"I'll take that as a no," Brianna said after seeing her expression.
CJ rolled her eyes. "I'm leaving." She turned to go, then stopped for a moment beside the blonde guy. "And you are coming with me to explain things." She grabbed his wrist and dragged him away from Brianna, which was easy since he wasn't resisiting. Brianna didn't object and stayed in the club.
They stopped in front of who CJ realized was the guy who came with Blondie, and she grabbed his wrist, too. "And you, too." Then she dragged both of them out of the Pandemonium club and to the nearest bench outside in the still-snowing and cold air.
The boy with blue eyes looked confused as ever, while the blonde one still seemed amused.
"What's going on?" the blue-eyed boy asked. He had an accent, too! Blondie sat down on the bench. CJ, leaving her hair down, put her glasses back on to see better and untucked her baggy shirt. Standing, she glanced at both the boys.
"Explain."
