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Chapter 5 – Mount Vesuvius

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On Monday morning Joan was once again at her locker when Grace walked up, grabbed the locker door and pushed it partially closed, getting Joan's immediate attention.

"Okay, Giradi, spill."

"Spill what Grace?"

"Give me all of the tiny details on your plan to kill Cousin It. Fill them all in in the next 60 seconds and I will forgive you for not involving me in the planning."

"Grace, what are you talking about?"

"What am I talking about? Obviously you have not seen Arcadia High's live history lesson this morning."

"Grace! It's Monday morning. Take pity on my poor still asleep brain and make sense."

"History lesson, live and in color Giradi, taking place in front of Rove's locker. Starring Iris as Mount Vesuvius and Rove as Pompeii."

"I take it Iris is upset with Adam over something?"

"Upset is * not * an apt descriptor for this case, try livid. So spill Giradi, tell me please that you had something to do with causing this event to happen and for improving my Monday morning outlook on the week to come."

"Well I'd guess that probably Iris is upset that Adam and I spent the day together on Saturday."

"Spent the day together? Doing what I might ask? And why didn't you call me up yesterday and fill me in so that I could have caught more of the eruption. It would have been worth getting to school early just to watch."

"Grace, you frighten me sometimes."

"Yeah, sometimes I frighten myself."

"Well anyway, after you called and said you were tied up on Saturday, Adam just showed up at my house. We ended up going to the zoo for the day and then going back to my house for pizza."

"Sounds harmless."

"It was. But then again she could also be upset cause he won't tell her."

"What's that? Tell her what? Come clean with the juicy tidbits Giradi."

"Apparently, Iris asked Adam why he calls me Jane when my name is Joan."

"That's a stupid question. He's Rove. He exists in his own world and has his own language. Why shouldn't he call you by some other name if he wants, just as long as you answer to it?"

Joan laughed to herself as she realized that that last bit of flawless logic to spout from Grace's mouth was a perfect example of why she liked having Grace as a friend. Grace simply accepted things and people as they were. She had her own opinions yes, but if Adam wanted to create new names for things in the world around him just because he felt like it then it was his business and fine with her.

"Well Adam told me that Iris had asked him, but after talking to me he had decided that he wasn't going to tell her."

"Tell her now, or tell her ever?"

"Definitely not now, and I don't know about ever. I just know that he promised me that when he is ready to explain his reasons behind the great name change that I will be the first one he tells."

"And people think Rove isn't home upstairs, seems to me that he is showing some flawless logic on this particular issue."

"I guess so, but enough on all this, we'd better go or we'll be late to class."

With that Joan closed her locker and the girls headed off down the hall. Joan had to admit to herself though that she was sorry her first class was in the opposite direction from Adam's locker. A history lesson on ancient Pompeii might have been interesting...

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Adam was not having a good Monday morning. He had wanted to at least have a chance to say hello to Grace and Joan before school, but after Iris had stopped at his locker, he had not had a chance to make it down the hall before the warning bell had rung.

Iris was not happy with him. When he'd mentioned that he'd gone to the zoo with Jane on Saturday, Iris had wanted to know why he'd not called her to go along. He'd started to remind Iris that she'd told him Friday when they were at the movie that she was going to the mall shopping with her mom and one of her girlfriends all day on Saturday. She'd also added that she going out of town Saturday evening and would not be back until late Sunday evening. It had been the whole reason they had worked on their art paper on Friday after school and then gone out to the movies.

When she'd gotten past her concerns that he was ignoring her for time with his friends, she then said well at least he could finish the conversation that they had started Friday and he could tell her why he was always calling Joan, Jane. At this point knowing that there was no way to avoid the inevitable, he'd told Iris that he didn't really know totally why he did it, but, that sometime when he figured it out, he'd get around to telling her. Obviously, his refusal to explain his actions to Iris had not been received well, when she turned abruptly and started off down the hall toward her first class. Adam thought he'd heard her saying something half to herself and half to anyone who would listen that somebody she knew better get their priorities straight. Thank goodness art class wasn't until third period, Adam thought, maybe Iris would have calmed down by then.

When third period came Adam entered the classroom and sat down. Iris entered just a minute later taking her seat next to Adam.

"Hey there, Adam."

"Iris."

"Hey, I'm sorry about being angry at you this morning; it's just well I had a bad weekend after our date Friday night. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"It's okay Iris. Let's just forget about it, huh?"

"I'd like that," Iris offered, smiling sweetly at Adam.

The bell starting the class period rang and Mrs. Giradi who had been in the back of the room organizing materials, stepped up to the front of the classroom.

"Good morning class. I hope you all had a pleasant weekend. Since today is Monday and we all know how attentive you all can be when I lecture on Monday, we will be using today's class period to investigate patterns and will be doing some sketching. What I would like you all to do is take out your pencils and sketch pads and see if you can develop a pattern. The pattern might be something you would use as a border for you art or something that you could incorporate as a design into a piece of sculpture. Look around the room and observe the various patterns that present themselves as examples. Use those as a basis for creating your own, or if you find one that interests you, repeat it on your paper, perhaps altering the sizing or the shading to highlight a different feature than your original example."

Adam took out his sketch pad and glanced around the room, looking for the examples that Mrs. Giradi had said he would find. As he glanced over at Iris, she was smiling back at him as if nothing had happened this morning in the hall. He glanced down at his desk again and his gaze fell on the ring that he wore on his left index finger and the scroll pattern that was engraved on the surface of the band. He had always thought that the pattern was kinda cool maybe that was why he had never ended up asking his dad about where the ring might have come from and why he had worn it pretty consistently since finding it in his shed a few months ago. Maybe he thought, he'd finally put the ring to use, as he picked up his pencil and began to sketch.

Thirty-five minutes later and just before the bell was scheduled to ring ending the period, Mrs. Giradi requested that the class stop their sketching so that they might quickly share their work with the other students in the class.

"Class, I'm going to ask each of you to leave your sketch book open on your desk to your recently completed sketch. You are to then wander around the room and review the work of your fellow classmates. Try and understand the patterns that your fellow artists have presented."

The class did as instructed, rising from their desks and they began to wander around the classroom. Iris rose from her seat and came immediately over to Adam's desk. Adam in the meantime had walked away to review the work of the students who sat behind him. When Iris glanced down at Adam's pattern sketch, all of her anger from earlier that morning came rushing back. The scroll pattern presented in Adam's sketch was identical to the pattern engraved on the ring that Joan had shown her Friday in the hall. What was going on? Iris had to find out. Why was Adam so familiar with the pattern presented on Joan's ring? Had he given it to her at sometime in the past? If Adam and Joan were "just" friends, why hadn't Adam shared something special with her like the ring? They had after all been dating for the past several weeks. She decided that she would confront Adam at lunch. She had to get to the bottom of this and the sooner the better.

As the bell rang and class ended, Adam picked up his books and started toward the door, glancing back to see if Iris was coming so that they could walk together to her next class.

"Iris," Mrs. Giradi called, "Could you come up here for just a second before heading on to your next class, I found that information over the weekend you asked for on a supplier for that particular brand of paints you were seeking."

"Sure Mrs. Giradi." Iris offered and then turning to Adam she said, "Adam, why don't you go on, I'll catch up with you at lunchtime."

"Okay. Later Iris."

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Adam had already joined Grace and Joan at a table in the lunch room when Iris approached.

"Hey there Iris," Joan offered.

"Joan, Grace," Iris responded.

Grace, currently with a mouthful of sandwich, simply waved.

"Adam, we were going to talk weren't we?" Iris asked.

"Yeah, sure," Adam replied.

"Well let's go over there," Iris said pointing to an empty table on the other side of the room.

"I was talking to Grace and Joan, yo," Adam replied.

"Your conversation can wait with them, this is important," she responded as she turned and started across the room.

"I guess I gotta go you guys, see ya in chemistry," Adam said as he picked up his lunch and headed after Iris.

Once Adam was out of ear shot Grace commented to Joan, "I'll tell ya Giradi, either you kill it or I'm going to. I've about reached my level of patience with this break-up the sub-defective trio thing she has got going on."

"Leave it be Grace. It's Adam's decision how he handles this."

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When Adam reached the other side of the room and had set down his lunch, he took a seat next to Iris and asked, "What was so important that we had to be rude to Grace and Jane, yo?"

"There you go with the Jane thing again"

"Sorry, I can't help it. It's just that I think of her as Jane."

"Fine. That's not what I wanted to talk about."

"Well then what?"

"I wanted to talk about art class this morning."

"I kinda liked the assignment today. Mrs. Giradi has a different style than Ms. Jankow, but I still thought it was a good class.

"That's not what I was talking about, Adam."

"What then?"

"Where did you get the inspiration from for you scroll work design?"

"I got it from an engraving on a ring. Why, what's the problem?"

"I knew it."

"Knew what?"

"That you and Joan were closer than you let on to be and that this whole 'I'm okay with you going out with Adam' is a big front. You got this whole Joan/Jane thing going on that you either can't or won't explain. You do stuff with her on the weekends. You sit next to her in chemistry. And now this ring thing complete with cryptic sentiments."

"What are you talking about?"

"The scroll work design you drew this morning is identical to the one that is on the ring that Joan wears all the time. Don't try and deny it. I just talked to her about it Friday, though she was careful to omit the details on where she got it. All she said was that she found it. Now you sit in art class and draw the exact same pattern. What, did you think, that I wouldn't notice? Remember, I'm an artist too. I may not have a photographic memory like you do but I do notice shapes and patterns in the world around me."

"Iris, will you stop."

"Yeah Adam, I think I will. Stop thinking that there is any point to continuing to go out with you. It was fun for a while but I can see that it is really just a waste of my time. Next time you need a partner in art class or someone to fill in for Joan, don't bother asking me. I'm not interested."

With that Iris got up and stomped out of the lunchroom. Adam, confused over what just happened thought it would be better if he just let her go for now. Maybe he could sort this all out and talk to Iris after school.

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