Very Important! Again, I warn that once this story reaches Chapter Thirteen, it will begin to boarder on the 16+ age rating for relations.
Special thanks: Emilie, thanks for the review! Aha, your review made me laugh, especially the thing about Twilight. I'm...Team Neutral (lol). And again, thank you, that was very sweet. :) VickyVicarious, thanks for the reviews! Yes, Jim is being an idiot. That seems to be the general opinion right now, aha. Rosalie called him a "big goof" already. XD
Thank you, Cimee, for the review and placing this story on alert. :) Yes, Kayley and Jim are the perfect combination. In my opinion, they are one of the best—if not the best—crossover pairs out there.
Many thanks to elemental13. Your reviews made me laugh so hard, and they were very sweet. :)
I appreciate all of you!
Yay, clumsy/klutzy/cute Kayleyness throughout! =D Thanks for reading!
Chapter Ten: Espy
Tuesday morning Kayley walked into Bronx Academy High School and made her way toward the lockers. Approaching, she was tapped on the shoulder from behind. Still wary of the incident with Zach, Kayley cautiously turned. Seeing a friendly, familiar face of another girl, Kayley relaxed. "Yes?" Kayley asked kindly.
"Hey, I'm Monique."
"Hullo Monique." Kayley offered her hand and a warm smile. "I'm Kayley."
The girl grinned. "Wow, I love your accent. You're from Great Britain?"
Kayley smiled in delight. "Why thank you! Yes, I'm from England."
"Awesomeness," Monique said as she placed a loose strand of blonde hair behind her left ear.
Kayley was still grasping her lunch bag. Lifting it, she said, "I'm just going to put this where it belongs. It'll only be a moment."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep you."
Kayley shimmied her bag into her locker. "Don't be silly; I don't mind a'tall." Monique giggled at Kayley's pronunciation. Kayley locked her door and then turned to the girl.
"Team Edward, huh?"
Kayley pondered the comment for a moment before realization hit. Oh, so that's why she looked so familiar. The lone Team Edward fan. "Uh, actually, I've never seen the movies."
Monique's blue eyes shifted and she looked at her shoes. "Oh..." She began twiddling her fingers.
Kayley nodded. "I said what I did because Robert Pattinson is—"
"English!" the girl excitedly finished, a smile returning to her face.
Kayley smiled back. "Exactly."
The bell rang, interrupting their conversation. "Well," said Monique, "see you around!" Monique waved goodbye, and Kayley did likewise.
"See you."
Monique skipped off to a class. Kayley smiled faintly. "Silly girl," she mouthed.
Kayley then set off for her English class. Just when she was about to step through the door, she realized she hadn't seen Jim at the lockers. Then again, she had been talking with Monique, and therefore was preoccupied and hence distracted. All she could do was hope he had listened to her advice. Upon entering, Kayley's qualms were rest assured. Sitting in the back of the classroom was Jim, who, toying with his pencil, refused to look up. At least he was there. That's all she had hoped for.
O~o~O
Kayley carried her lunch to the circular table at which she had, for about a month now, been sitting. Slow to approach was Jim. Kayley purposely ignored him for his own comfort, and Jim finally took his seat. As they began their meals, they were greeted by a sprightly "Hi!"
Kayley fixed her gaze on Monique. "Oh, hullo again."
"Would you guys mind if I eat with you?" she asked, tray in hand.
"Uh..." Kayley shot a worried glance at Jim, who was already shrugging his approval. "Sure—"
"Thanks!" the girl exclaimed, setting down her tray. She then grinned at Jim. "I'm Monique." Jim didn't answer.
"Monique, Jim. Jim, Monique," Kayley chirped for Monique's sake. She didn't want Monique to be hurt by Jim's rude behavior. And she didn't want the lunch to be any more awkward than it already was. "So, Monique, where are your friends?" Kayley asked out of curiosity...and to change the subject.
"Ugh," Monique groaned in disgust. "They're at our table fantasizing about Jacob Black. I left and said I'll meet up with them once they finish hyperventilating."
Jim laughed harshly. "Heh, stupid girls," he grumbled.
Kayley bit down on her cheek to restrain from making a quip. It seemed to her he was purposely being rude to her new friend. Yet she dare not say anything; she knew better.
"So where are your friends?" Monique unthinkingly asked the both of them.
"Well," Kayley responded, "right here. You're it."
Jim shrugged indifferently.
"Hmmm." Kayley had come to find that Jim's shrugs usually meant "no." If he was shrugging, that might translate as...he had no friends...maybe. It was far-fetched. But still... "Interesting." Then conversation swamped them.
After a lunch full of meaningless chatter, ninety-eight percent of it coming from Monique (and Jim thought Kayley was a talker), the three teens parted and went their separate ways.
O~o~O
During Kayley's ride home, Mrs. Evans commented, "You're in a much better mood today."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, yesterday you seemed so depressed. I'm just glad to see you've raised your spirits."
"Yes," Kayley answered. She grinned. "Mother, I made a new friend today. Her name's Monique."
"That's wonderful!" Mrs. Evans exclaimed, overjoyed for her daughter. "What is this girl, Monique, like?"
Kayley sighed, thinking. "Typical American girl," she finally answered. "Fun, delightful, pretty...scratch that, gorgeous, and sweet, though a bit of a chatterbox."
"You're one to talk, no pun intended."
Kayley smiled and her hands flew in the air, animating her response. "Mother, I swear to you, she dominated our conversation. Most of what I did was listen." She made a sidelong glance out the window, and her hands folded. "I think the poor girl's lonely for someone who understands the real her," she announced after a moment.
"She certainly sounds interesting."
Kayley fell silent. She understood Monique. She also was lonely and desiring a friend to understand her and all her little quirks. She had tried with Jim, only to be crushed. Kayley folded her arms, signaling to her mother trouble was brewing and that she needed to be calmed before the storm rolled in. Talking it out just might be the medicine poor Kayley needed.
"How did things go with Jim?"
Kayley bit down on her tongue to keep from exclaiming, "How did you do that?"
"It's like she reads my thoughts!"
In spite of herself, Kayley kept her cool. She exhaled slowly. "Things, as of late, are back to normal—not that we've ever had a normal relationship."
"That's for certain." Julianna kept from saying more. Kayley obviously wasn't going to say more than she needed; Julianna decided to let the subject drop.
The rest of the ride home consisted of silence, allowing Kayley's mind to drift to her conversation with Monique from earlier that afternoon. When Monique had asked about their friends, Jim had offered an indifferent, unconcerned shrug. Maybe Jim didn't have any friends either. In one way that was a comfort. And in another...it was strangely intriguing and mysterious. Her interest was piqued. She had to know what that shrug meant. "Tomorrow, I'm going to do some 'investigating,'" she quietly promised herself.
O~o~O~o~O
In a long sleeved black shirt, black jeans, and black sneakers, Kayley was dressed for some serious sleuthing (aka spying, though she didn't see it that way) as she strolled into Bronx Academy High School Wednesday morning. Seeing Jim already at his locker, Kayley casually approached hers—a little bit too casually, actually. Her laid-back gait was in such contrast with her typical no-nonsense self that she looked a bit, well, awkward. The good thing was that Jim had refused to acknowledge her, so he didn't notice. Yet, after going to all that trouble, it really was a shame that Jim walked off before Kayley had gotten a chance to begin her sleuthing. "Well that was swell," Kayley muttered under her breath as she swung open her locker. "Oh well. At least we still have the American Lit. class period."
Now, one must admit the pure brilliance of Kayley's scheme. She knew that if she selected a seat other than her usual she would draw attention to herself. Thus, she could not sit near Jim to better observe him. She had to be smart in the way she handled this. Sitting at her desk, Kayley slid a compact mirror from her left pocket and, hand in lap, angled the mirror until she could see Jim. To keep people from suspecting, she'd take notes with her right hand and ta-daa! No one would be the wiser. She had spent the night planning this all out. It was foolproof.
Class began, and whenever she glanced down at her paper to take notes, she could glimpse Jim in the mirror. He was very uninvolved, mostly playing with his pencil, only scribbling a note here and there as the professor droned on about Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Masque of the Red Death". Kayley actually didn't blame Jim. She found the short stories quite gruesome and not necessary to the learning experience. She was well bored with the lecture. The most she got from the class was that Jim didn't ever whisper anything to the dude beside him, which indicated he wasn't friends with him. "Dear me, if that's the most I got from this lecture, I'm in bad shape." Yet she would not let her investigation be hampered.
O~o~O
At lunch, Kayley, reluctantly joined by Jim, sat down at their oh-so familiar table and, as they had done for so long now, they ate in silence.
Lunch over, Kayley tried to track Jim down and observe him in the hallways whenever time allowed. She was more or less disappointed to find that he was rather...boring. He kept to himself and never spoke with anyone. All he did was walk from classroom to classroom, and as he waited for a class, he'd lean against one of the corridor walls and sulk, staring down at his clunky black, red striped boots. This is how she found him as the school day inched to a close. He seemed rather lonely. "Silly boy. You wouldn't be so lonely if you'd only talk to somebody," she whispered as, ducking behind a group of girls, she studied him. "Like me," she couldn't help but add.
One of the girls asked, "Hey, did you hear something?"
"Yeah," an all-too-familiar voice squeaked. The fair-haired girl, who had just spoken, glanced down and exclaimed, "Kayley?"
Jim's head jerked up and his eyes spotted Kayley.
Kayley cringed. "Darn. Cover blown. Stupid mouth," she mentally scolded herself.
Monique bent over, offering a hand. Kayley allowed the girl to help her up. "Hi Monique. How are you?" Kayley said lifelessly.
"What were you doing down there?"
Kayley could see out of her peripheral vision that Jim was watching—and by the expression on his face, was wondering the same thing.
Kayley laughed nervously, buying time. Suddenly she was full of vitality. "I, uh, was running over to say hi and tripped. Clumsy me," Kayley laughed, playfully slapping her forehead.
Monique arched an eyebrow, as did Jim, who was now beginning to grimace. Kayley smiled sheepishly, hoping that would help sell her story. "Yeah, gah, it was—is—so embarrassing."
"Oh, well that makes sense." Monique smiled in acceptance and nodded.
Kayley took a sidelong glance at Jim. Monique and her cronies may have bought her story, but Jim was one not easily fooled. He was glaring at her now.
"Kayley, this is Viola, and this is Violet," Monique said, motioning to the two girls with her. "They're sisters. And my two best friends."
"Hullo," Kayley said politely. The two girls critically eyed Kayley, remembering she was the girl who had pushed through them on Monday. One of them offered a faint wave and a pop of her gum. The other nodded slightly.
The bell rang, signaling the end of school. "Well, talk with you girls later, I suppose," Kayley said, backing away. Turning toward the exit she breathed, "Saved by the bell."
Having already collected her books, Kayley hastened for the exit, eager to keep a close, yet safe distance from Jim. Stepping outside, she made for the sidewalk, looking both ways down the street for the boy with the skateboard. Jim wasn't to the right, and he wasn't to the left. That couldn't be; he couldn't have gone far in that short amount of time. Had he not yet exited the school? No, not possible. She had seen him head for the door. Recalling that he had gone left before, she hastened in that direction, hoping her guess would be rewarding.
Preoccupied in her sleuthing, she didn't see someone lurking in the shadows of the trees. As she passed, a hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder. Kayley let out a little shriek and recoiled. Seeing a familiar, gloomy face, she relaxed a bit. "What were you doing?" she asked harshly. "Were you never taught not to jump out at people? You almost gave me a heart attack; thank goodness you didn't."
He smirked wickedly. "Well we all make mistakes."
Kayley scowled. "What do you want?" she demanded defensively and a bit more indignantly than she would have pleased.
Jim motioned for her to join him under cover of the trees. She relented and stepped forward. "Yes?"
"Why are you spying on me?"
She was taken aback. "I'm...I'm not!" she cried.
"Then what were you doing hiding behind Monique?"
"I... I wasn't hiding, I was..." She saw by Jim's grim expression that he knew better. Defeated, she finished, "sleuthing."
Jim crossed his arms, his 6'2'' frame towering above her. "It looks more like spying if you ask me."
Kayley sighed in exasperation. "'Spying' sounds so criminal."
Jim smirked. So she was spying on him. And she had to admit it. He bet that punctured a hole in her pride. But it still didn't justify her actions. "Why were you?"
"None of your business?" she offered, flashing her own sideways smile.
"Kayley..." he growled. Kayley got the point. She sighed dramatically and tightened her ponytail. Jim watched her fiddle with her hair. Girls could be such... Yet, he found it rather amusing. Here she was, being grilled, and yet she was keeping her cool and making him wait by fixing her hair. He had to give her a point there. She knew how to handle a situation.
Finally she was done with her pony. "Okay, okay, I'll tell you—"
"Never mind," Jim replied, turning toward the street.
"What?" Kayley asked, incredulous.
Jim threw his skateboard to the ground and jumped upon it, skating off. He was furious with himself. One moment he wanted her to confess, and in an instant he didn't want her to do so. It was like whiplash. "Why didn't you make her tell you?" But he knew the answer: He wanted to keep an eye on her now and see if she was up to anymore crazy antics. And...he rather enjoyed the attention.
Kayley, perplexed, watch him skate off into the distance. As he disappeared around a corner, a small smile crept across her lips.