Summary: Jasmine is the average student at Spencer who blends in to the crowd with her friends. When she runs across some necklaces in an unusual trinket shop, weird things start happening. Better summary in profile. TSxOC RGxOC? CDxSW PPxKT friendship issues. Full summary in profile.

All disclaimers apply.

Chapter 2

"So… what now?" Jean asked.

I leaned my head back against the driver's seat and tried to focus on the road. What to do now? What I should be doing is going back to my room and doing my math and English homework. But, HEY. Who the hell would be concerned about that? Especially when going Spenser on a partial scholarship based on grades.

But instead of saying that: "I'm hungry." Of course I say something completely different from whatever it is I'm thinking.

"Oh… me too! What's good?" Jenny said.

Jean perked up. "Let's go to Nicky's!"

I looked at Jean in the rearview mirror before focusing on the road again. Jean was unnaturally happy about going to Nicky's. At least… she was unnaturally happy when compared to the mood that she was in earlier. Nicky's is good and everything (best burgers around, I'd say, but that seriously is a small feat in such a small town), but… that girl never gets excited about food. Boys, yeah, but food? Hell no.

… Wait.

"Who's at Nicky's?" I asked, glancing at her again through the rearview mirror.

She flushed. "No one's at Nicky's. I just like it."

Oh… someone was totally at Nicky's. But you know what? I'm too hungry to care. And it's the closest food place, so… "Nicky's it is."

--

And the minute I stepped in there, I felt out of place. In the only nice piece of black clothing I owned—a nice turtleneck dress—I felt over dressed. I was never really a "must own dark colors" kind of girl. Nor was I a "must go to Nicky's everyday" kind of girl either. Almost everyone in here is dressed in casual clothes. A T-shirt and jeans kind of place, I guess.

I looked over at Jenny and Jean. Jenny looked just as uncomfortable as I felt. Though I think she only ever really felt comfortable in sweats, the school uniform (she got used to it after four years) and select pairs of jeans. Jean, on the other hand, would look comfortable anywhere. That girl, unlike me, was not socially retarded, She made her (obviously expensive) black dress look like you were supposed to dress that nice in Nicky's all of the time, that everyone else was dressed wrong.

But, again, it was something I pushed to the back of my mind. I am hungry enough that I can force myself not to care (oh, come on. I skipped breakfast and lunch!). So food overrides everything else.

"Eh… what do you guys want to eat?" I asked.

Jean waved her hand. "Just get me whatever." I can see she was back to ignoring me. Or whatever it is that I should call it (making the least amount of verbal or physical contact that she could?). "Oh, and Jas?" Oh… she's talking to me…? "Thanks. For helping me feel better about… you know." And then she did the darnedest thing: she hugged me. She friggin hugged me. "So… I'm going to talk to some people and then get us a table"

I… uh… wow. "Okay."

I turned around and Jenny's eyebrows were in her forehead. "What was that about?"

I shook my head. "I guess we came to an understanding?" Understanding my ass. I have no idea what the hell that was. "But anyway… what do you want to eat?"

"Eh? I don't know. I've never been here. I'll come with you."

We made our way over to the bar and sat down. While I waited for Nicky, Jenny flipped through the menu. Nicky was rather nice, once you got past how intimidating he was. He starts to recognize people by name. Or… at least the ones who cause trouble (he's constantly grumbling about Reid Garwin and Aaron Abbot. It's amusing, really). The rest of us he remembers because we come up and actually order food.

"Jasmine! What can I get for you?"

I blinked and smiled, leaning against the counter. "Hey, Nicky. Can I get a burger and chicken finger basket?" I blinked and turned to my friend. "Jenn, what would you like?"

"Oh…" she smiled at Nicky. "Can I get chicken fingers please?"

"Sure, ladies." He put down the glass he was cleaning and nodded in my direction. "To go, right?"

I always get it to go. Never have any reason to stay. But… "Actually, we're eating here tonight. It's me, Jenny, and my roommate, Jean, tonight."

He nodded while writing down our orders. He waved at the person who came up next to me. "Hey, Pogue." I'm assuming that Pogue nodded some kind of greeting or something back at Nicky because Nicky turned back to me after acknowledging his presence. I, on the other hand, was trying my hardest not to look at him. "So what are you ladies doing so dressed up tonight?"

I blinked and looked over at Pogue. Apparently not acknowledging his presence doesn't work for me. He was leaning casually against the counter, not paying any attention to Jenny or me. I looked away and smiled at Nicky, kind of comforted by the fact that he wasn't paying me any mind. "I… uh…" I cleared my throat. I do this thing around guys my age where I kind of freak out and have this panic attack thing. But it was different this time because… you know. I was hungry. If I didn't love food so much, I would choose to be hungry around boys all of the time. But, anyway… Answering Nicky's question: "That Chase guy." Some movement next to me. "We felt bad that he died. Thought we'd at least give him flowers or something. Didn't know him, but he seemed like a nice enough guy."

Nicky smiled. "You're good kids."

I smiled again. "Jenny's idea!" At this, she flushed a little. "Now," I said jokingly. "I demand you bring us our food!"

He reached out and pinched my cheek (why everyone feels the need to do that is beyond me) and held up the paper with our order on it. "Coming right up!" He then motioned to the figure next to me. "The usual, Perry?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Nicky."

I glanced over at him and smiled (I'm pretty sure it came out kind of shaky or shy or something). He kind of… glared at me and then turned and walked away.

"Uh… what's Pogue Perry glaring at you for?" Jenny asked.

I shrugged and watched him walk back to his table. "I have no idea. I don't even know the guy." He said something to Caleb and their girlfriends and they all turned to give me this… look. I don't know what the hell it was. I heard myself squeak before I forced myself to turn around. "I… uh…"

"Let's go find that table Jean said she was going to get," Jenny suggested, probably noticing how weirded out I was by the random glares.

"I… I'm going to stay here and wait for the food."

As klutzy as I am, I have mastered balancing everything but myself.

She smiled and nodded before turning to look around the bar. "Hey." She pointed in some random direction. "I see the table Jean got." She smiled at me. "I'll see you in a bit, girl."

I nodded and smiled before turning around and facing the bar area. I still felt kind of out of place here, but it's all good. I occupied myself by taking a napkin and twisting it between my hands as I waited. It was like a habit that I just couldn't get rid of. It's kind of obnoxious.

I felt a sudden heat hovering next to my arm. Someone was standing next to me, but, of course, I'm too occupied with trying to twist this napkin to as tiny as it can go without tearing and not paying any attention to anyone or anything around me.

"Hey."

I turned my head to see Tyler Simms sitting next to me at the bar. He was kind of staring straight ahead, blue eyes focused on one spot and his cheeks flushed a healthy pink, like they always seem to be. But still… Was… was he talking to me? I mean, I'm seriously not having a fan-girl moment or anything it's just that… he's not looking at me. Does that mean he's talking to someone else (someone across the bar who wouldn't have been able to hear him anyway? Right.)?

"Are you talking to me?" Oops. Didn't mean to say that. Not out loud anyway.

He turned and smiled at me. "Yeah. Jasmine, right?"

"Yeah…?" He freaking knows who I am? Again, not a fan girl moment. It's just I wasn't with these people since elementary school or anything. I transferred in freshman year, so it's almost like no one knows who I am.

"We have some classes together." He kind of gave me this look. Like a 'she has to know what I'm talking about' kind of look. "English? Art?"

"Yeah, I know." Of course I know. Jean never ceased to remind me every day at the beginning of the year. But that doesn't answer my main question: why is he talking to me? But instead of voicing that concern (that would be rude), I smiled politely. Or at least I tried to. "Sorry. I spaced out a little bit."

Now… Tyler Simms… In my eyes, he's as nice as Caleb Danvers. In all seriousness, the Sons of Ipswich kind of make it their business to know everyone at the school on some level. Reid… pretty much gets to know the girls (and if she had a boyfriend, he gets to know the guys. Usually on accident, from what I've heard…). Caleb… he was what most people around here would consider the visual definition of perfection, so he knows almost everyone, mostly because he has this sort of… aura (I guess?) that makes you want to get to know him (and if he knows them all by name, I'll be amazed). Pogue tries to know everyone that Kate knows and she's a little gossip queen. So she knows something about just about everyone so I'm pretty sure that mean Pogue knows just as much as she does.

But it doesn't seem like Tyler knows everyone the way the other three does. He doesn't know them because he has to or because he made a mistake or… whatever. Seems pretty book smart, too. While it's still light outside, I always see him in the library with his head in a book. Or tutoring someone. Or in a study group with other people.

So having him sit next to me in Nicky's, talking to me willingly was… odd. Like a 'he must want something' kind of odd.

"So… I don't want to be rude or anything, but…. What can I help you with?"

He chuckled a little before he finally looked at me. "Just thought I'd say 'hi.'" He motioned behind the bar. "Picking up the food Pogue ordered."

Smooooooooooooth. Real smooth, Jasmine. So… what do you say to someone you barely talk to?

"So, why are you so dressed up?"

I, once again, smiled in an attempt to be polite (I honestly don't know what else to do besides be polite). "Um… My friend, Jenny, and I… we wanted to go to Putnam Barn to give Chase some sort of memorial. Kind of like they do for people who get into car accidents. Dragged my roommate along because she was depressed about it."

He had a strange look in his eyes. Kind of like the one in Pogue's. But instead of glaring at me, he smiled. "That was nice of you."

I smiled back. "It was actually Jenny's idea." I shook my head. "It was… it was actually kind of creepy over there, so we left early."

He tilted his head. "Creepy?"

"Yeah." Now that I think back on it and that I'm not there, it was almost like… "It was almost like someone…"

"Food's ready." I looked over and smiled when I saw Nicky sitting three baskets in front of me.

"Thanks, Nicky."

"No problem." He looked at Tyler. "Food should be right out. You want to help this little lady take these to her table?"

I smiled. "Oh no. It's f—"

"No problem," Tyler said while picking up two of the three baskets, a slightly more red flush on his cheeks.

"You really don't have to…" I started.

He blushed slightly as we got closer to our table. "What'll it hurt?" He was staring directly at our table, blush still on his face.

That was when I stopped walking. This is Tyler Simms, we're talking about here. The boy wouldn't talk to me without needing anything. "Wait a minute. You want something. You want to talk to one of them about something. Like homework. Or…" I peered at the back of his head. "You like someone or something, don't you?" When his face made a complete shift from blushing to a wide-eyed look of innocence, blush and all, I knew he liked someone. "Oh, whatever. They're both single. Help yourself." I shrugged before I kept walking. It was Jean's biggest dream come true: a Son liking her.

See… I don't know much about Tyler except that he knows people, he's one of the Sons of Ipswich (which really means nothing to me), and… he doesn't really talk to girls. Everyone knows he doesn't talk to girls. Jean talked about the 'huuuuuuuge crush' she had on Tyler at one point, but then she quit because she figured he either wasn't interested or, goodness help us, gay.

So it was of no surprise to me when we stopped at our table, he put the food down, shot me a smile, friggin blushed at Jean and practically ran away.

After Tyler left our table, Jean looked at me with wide eyes. "What'd you do to get Tyler Simms to talk to you?"

And now that she mentioned it… what the hell did I do? As said before, Tyler Simms doesn't talk to girls. "I have no idea." Understatement of the day…

Author's Notes: I decided to go back to putting the A/N at the bottom, like I do for my other story. :D So here's chapter 2. I realized that it was as much written as I wanted to include because I finally sort of introduced to Sons. I promise that they will have a larger role in this story. Most of them anyway. I'm always generally unsure of what to do for Caleb and Pogue, but what can you do? XP It's also shorter than I would like and came out sooner than I would like, but I thought I'd post SOMETHING before I either got super busy or my computer got taken away. Yup. Peaceness. Reviews are great, but consistent visitors are greater! :D

Completed: October 7, 2008
Edited: --
Published: October 7, 2008