~*~
"Admit it. That was the best breakfast you ever had. Admit it." Josie said sauntering out of the diner grinning knowingly.
I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "It was ok."
She shot a look over her shoulder. "Liar."
"I stand by my opinion. It was ok." I state catching up to her.
She throws her arm over my shoulder and shakes her head. "Banks, you're a really bad liar you know that?"
Somehow or another at her touch, my mouth has completely gone to jell-o and I can't say a word in response. I feel it working down my legs and hope the hell it doesn't reach my knees, because I'm almost certain I will fall over.
She drops her arm and looks at her watch. "It is officially morning. Good Morning Adam Banks, it is officially 6am." She giggles.
I look over at her in surprise. I honestly thought she was incapable of giggling, or laughter for that matter. I smile in response. "Oh! Averman!" I yelp catching her off guard.
"Who?"
"My roommate. He'll be wondering where I am. I should call the Ducks and let them know so they can make up an excuse or something." I explain to her.
She shrugs and hands me her cell phone. "Call Luis."
I hand the phone back to her. "I don't have their numbers."
She rolls her eyes and pulls a scrap of paper from her pocket. "Luis' number; he gave it to me during Spanish. That's sad that you have known him for over a year and yet I have his number and you don't."
I laugh as I dial the phone. "Luis; anything with legs." I listen to the phone ring.
"Hello . . . Sugar!"
I frown. "Luis! It's Adam. Why did you call me that?"
"I didn't recognize the number. Why are you calling me if your dorm is down the hall Banksie?" "I'm not exactly at the dorm." I say biting my lip.
"Are you at the arena?"
"No. I'm a little off campus." I loosely admit.
"Dude where are you?" I can hear the frustration in his voice.
"Wisconsin."
"Wisconsin! What the hell! Banksie! What did you do? Get on a bus and forget to get off!"
I can't help but chuckle. "No. I was kind of woken up in the night and convinced to come here."
"You must have hit your head pretty hard because now you have voices telling you to go to the Dairy state. Ok Banksie, stay where you are and I'll tell Coach Orion and . . ."
"MENDOZA! Stop! I do not have voices telling me to go to the dairy state. Do you remember the girl Dwayne lassoed?" I asked frustrated.
"No."
"Do you remember the girl in Spanish you gave your number to?"
"Was she a redhead or was she a blondie?"
"Jesus Luis! Can't you keep track? Dark hair, pale skin. The girl I followed out of the cafeteria and you said that she wasn't my type." I yelled angrily.
"Yes! She was a cutie."
"Ok well go tell Charlie that I'm with her and you guys need to round up the Ducks so you guys can figure out a reason why I would be out of my morning classes. Tell him I'm with Josie. I'll probably be back by lunch and I promise I will be back by practice." I sigh; glad Luis figured out who Josie was. "You got it?"
"Yes." His voice is sure. "See you then ok Banksie?"
"Yeah."
~*~
"So where exactly is this cemetery?" I ask suspiciously. I honestly never liked cemeteries. Actually I think few people do. It's too quiet, too peaceful and just the idea of having rotting flesh six feet beneath your feet can just make your stomach roll. And everyone knows that a rolling stomach after a large breakfast is definitely not a good thing.
"Well, there is this woods . . ."
"Wait! Woods?" I ask. "You mean as in a miniature forest?"
She looks around. "That is the definition of a woods isn't it? You know, trees, leaves, little squirrels scampering across the ground."
I smile. "Well isn't there like a road to the cemetery?" I ask innocently. "You know so we can call a cab and get a drive up and get a drive back without having to go through the miniature forest."
She scoffs. "You really are a city boy aren't you?" She begins to enter the wood. "Banks, I have some things to show you along the way. You are completely safe. Nobody has actually died in these parts since the 60's." She explained.
I swallow as I begin to follow her. "And how did that person die?"
She bit her lip. "There are a lot of rumors going around about that. I heard, climbing a tree, a tree falling on a boy, a bear eating a boy while he was climbing a tree and a cannibal but the last one for sure isn't true. The guy who they suspected was actually a vegetarian."
"You're really good at the whole comforting thing." I say sarcastically.
She shrugged. "I get that a lot." She continued into the wood with me on her heels. "Come on Adam. If we don't start going, we will miss our bus and we'll be stuck here until after dinner."
I hesitantly followed. "What's so great about this wood anyways?"
"I have to find something. Peter and I hid it and I want it." She called back weaving in between the trees.
I licked my lips nervously. "What exactly is it?"
"Remember that box I showed you yesterday? There were two. Peter and I would come out here after every competition and put a memento of that day in there. Peter said that after we stopped skating, we would come out here and get it." She said turning around. "That's what I'm doing."
I shook my head. "You brought me to Wisconsin to dig up a box?"
She ran ahead of me. "Of course. I didn't want to go alone. Besides I want you to meet him."
"Him who?" I ask gazing around me. The trees filtered the light so it was dimly lit and I could smell the scent of pine trees. A smell that only came around during Christmas or if I was in one of my friend's cars and even then it was masked and artificial. "Peter you mean?"
"Yup. Omigod! Adam I found it!" She screeched standing in front of a large tree about a hundred feet away.
I ran to her and saw a pair of skates carved into the trunk of the large tree. They were primitively drawn but anyone with half a brain could figure it out. I watched as she ran her fingers along.
"Give me a boost." She said looking up the tree.
I looked over at her. "I thought you said you buried it."
She shook her head her eyes not leaving a certain spot on the tree. "No, you said I buried it. I said Peter hid it. It's in a hole just a few feet above our heads, see it?" Her eyes swept to mine and locked gazes. "Please Adam."
I quickly nodded and set up, her foot in my hands and lifted. Thank God she was a figure skater, because she was very light. Had she been a hockey player like Goldberg or something, I probably never would have lifted her to get that box.
"Got it! Now put me down gently." She said excitedly, making my hands shake nervously under the pressure of her weight. "Adam! Stop it! I'm losing my . . ."
We both yelped as she slipped from my fingers knocking me down onto the ground on my back.
I opened my eyes nervously finding her face inches from mine. The box lay thrown a few feet away and yet neither of us cared. I was still falling. My eyes locked with her deep green eyes.
"Sorry." She mumbled as she rolled off me, getting up and dusting her jeans off grabbing my hand and pulling me off the ground.
"It's ok." I reply moving my weight from foot to foot as she grabs the box instinctively off the ground.
She puts the box that is covered in a plastic bag into the backpack she has been carrying. "Come on. We still have a distance to go before we reach the cemetery."
I nod and follow behind her my eyes stuck on my shoes. Is it just me, or has everything gotten a little bit more awkward?
~*~
Ten million.
My estimate on how far we have walked. Ten million miles. Maybe I'm exaggerating a little but, it seems we have been walking for hours; days; weeks; months; years . . . Ok maybe I have an overactive imagination when she hasn't spoken to be for over an hour and being me, I over-analyze things events when I don't understand.
So far I have come up with the conclusion that Josie purposely lost her balance so she could fall on me and get close to me without actually admitting it; same with the whole bus ride and her falling asleep on my shoulder. I see right through her act. I shake my head. I'm getting paranoid.
She turns around suddenly and grins. "Just over that hill Adam!"
I nod. Ok, what she really means is that when she gets back she is going throw me on the grass back on campus and . . .
Where am I getting this stuff?
"Come on!" She urges me grabbing my hand pulling me to walk quicker.
Her hands were icy. I could feel the cold travel through my arm and down my spine making me shiver uncomfortably. She turned to look me in the eyes as we neared the hop of the hill. It finally dawned on me. Maybe she wasn't planning these things. Maybe I was making them happen.
She stopped abruptly looking across the flat graveyard. It looked old and had been around of centuries, which made me a little bit more jumpy; century year old corpses decomposing six feet under me in little rotting pine boxes.
Her pace slowed as she walked between the headstones. The headstones seemed to get less old as we walked along. She finally stopped in front of one and looked down lovingly at it.
"Adam Banks, meet Peter Ryerson." She reached out and her fingers grazed the black granite.
I swallowed nervously trying not to think that a guy who looked exactly like me was beneath my feet right at that moment. I couldn't help but imagine myself in a funeral parlor with all the Ducks crying uncontrollably; being dropped into a deep hole beside Hans. "Uh . . . hi?" I choke out.
She sat down beside the gravestone and pulled out the box we had retrieved from before. "Sit. I want to show you some stuff." Josie grins.
"I'm fine standing." I say taking a deep breath. I really don't like being here.
She smiled reassuringly as she opened the box, with a gasp of surprise. "Oh!"
"What?" I ask letting my curiousity get the best of me.
She blinked back tears and grinned waving me over. "Look."
I walked over to her and knelt down staring into the box. A little ribbon hung from the lid reading: Forever and Ever; and a little folded sheet of paper lay on top of all the contents.
She grasped the paper in her hands. "This wasn't here before. He . . . he must've went there before the competition." She choked, hastily wiping away a tear that had begun to tumble down her cheek.
My excitement overcame me. "Well read it!"
She opened the letter and began to read. "Joey, I know this is our last competition. I know you hate that I want to quit and I'm sorry. It's hard for me because I'm not only changing my life but yours too. You will always be my best friend. Just remember, best friends are one soul thriving in two bodies. Forever, Peter."
I took a deep breath. It was like he knew or something, that her life was going to change dramatically. I knew he thought it was because of him quitting but wow.
I looked over at her. Silent tears dripped onto her jacket. Her fingers barely held the letter and her head drooped sadly.
"Come on. Let's go. I'll call a cab ok."
She nodded allowing me to grab her hands and lift her from the ground.
~*~
She looked over at me. We were nearing the end of our bus ride and the streets we traveled began to look familiar again. I was home. But one thing today still stuck out in my mind. She said I would learn a secret about her. I didn't know she worked at a diner, but I doubt that was the secret, and I didn't know there were two boxes, but that wasn't exactly mind blowing. I swallowed my pride hoping what I was about to ask didn't sound completely dense to her. "So what's your secret?"
Her eyes drifted from the window to my eyes, locked in a gaze. "Me."
I blinked. "You are the secret?"
"Uh huh." She nodded smiling. "You're the only person to actually know all of that stuff. You're the only one who really knows me."
"But I still don't know you; not really. I don't know your family or. . ."
She genuinely laughed. "Adam you need to learn that to know a person isn't about little facts. It isn't about how many siblings I have or what sports team you root for when the Stanley Cup game comes around." She sighed. "It's about what's in your heart. Those little facts are just extra."
The bus jerked to a stop; my eyes still were intertwined with hers.
"Eden Hall Academy." The bus driver stated rather bored.
She smiled and grabbed her bag and began to walk off the bus. "Come on Adam. You're home."
~
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* A/N: Another chapter! O.k. From a while ago, Charlie is not going out with Lynda for one main reason. She was boring. I didn't really see the point of her in MD3 so I kind of omitted her. And I think the ending of this chapter is probably crap because I didn't know exactly how to end it. I got major writer's block. So as always, click that little button, it doesn't bite so you can . . .
REVIEW!!
~Toodles!!! 3 3 3 3
"Admit it. That was the best breakfast you ever had. Admit it." Josie said sauntering out of the diner grinning knowingly.
I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "It was ok."
She shot a look over her shoulder. "Liar."
"I stand by my opinion. It was ok." I state catching up to her.
She throws her arm over my shoulder and shakes her head. "Banks, you're a really bad liar you know that?"
Somehow or another at her touch, my mouth has completely gone to jell-o and I can't say a word in response. I feel it working down my legs and hope the hell it doesn't reach my knees, because I'm almost certain I will fall over.
She drops her arm and looks at her watch. "It is officially morning. Good Morning Adam Banks, it is officially 6am." She giggles.
I look over at her in surprise. I honestly thought she was incapable of giggling, or laughter for that matter. I smile in response. "Oh! Averman!" I yelp catching her off guard.
"Who?"
"My roommate. He'll be wondering where I am. I should call the Ducks and let them know so they can make up an excuse or something." I explain to her.
She shrugs and hands me her cell phone. "Call Luis."
I hand the phone back to her. "I don't have their numbers."
She rolls her eyes and pulls a scrap of paper from her pocket. "Luis' number; he gave it to me during Spanish. That's sad that you have known him for over a year and yet I have his number and you don't."
I laugh as I dial the phone. "Luis; anything with legs." I listen to the phone ring.
"Hello . . . Sugar!"
I frown. "Luis! It's Adam. Why did you call me that?"
"I didn't recognize the number. Why are you calling me if your dorm is down the hall Banksie?" "I'm not exactly at the dorm." I say biting my lip.
"Are you at the arena?"
"No. I'm a little off campus." I loosely admit.
"Dude where are you?" I can hear the frustration in his voice.
"Wisconsin."
"Wisconsin! What the hell! Banksie! What did you do? Get on a bus and forget to get off!"
I can't help but chuckle. "No. I was kind of woken up in the night and convinced to come here."
"You must have hit your head pretty hard because now you have voices telling you to go to the Dairy state. Ok Banksie, stay where you are and I'll tell Coach Orion and . . ."
"MENDOZA! Stop! I do not have voices telling me to go to the dairy state. Do you remember the girl Dwayne lassoed?" I asked frustrated.
"No."
"Do you remember the girl in Spanish you gave your number to?"
"Was she a redhead or was she a blondie?"
"Jesus Luis! Can't you keep track? Dark hair, pale skin. The girl I followed out of the cafeteria and you said that she wasn't my type." I yelled angrily.
"Yes! She was a cutie."
"Ok well go tell Charlie that I'm with her and you guys need to round up the Ducks so you guys can figure out a reason why I would be out of my morning classes. Tell him I'm with Josie. I'll probably be back by lunch and I promise I will be back by practice." I sigh; glad Luis figured out who Josie was. "You got it?"
"Yes." His voice is sure. "See you then ok Banksie?"
"Yeah."
~*~
"So where exactly is this cemetery?" I ask suspiciously. I honestly never liked cemeteries. Actually I think few people do. It's too quiet, too peaceful and just the idea of having rotting flesh six feet beneath your feet can just make your stomach roll. And everyone knows that a rolling stomach after a large breakfast is definitely not a good thing.
"Well, there is this woods . . ."
"Wait! Woods?" I ask. "You mean as in a miniature forest?"
She looks around. "That is the definition of a woods isn't it? You know, trees, leaves, little squirrels scampering across the ground."
I smile. "Well isn't there like a road to the cemetery?" I ask innocently. "You know so we can call a cab and get a drive up and get a drive back without having to go through the miniature forest."
She scoffs. "You really are a city boy aren't you?" She begins to enter the wood. "Banks, I have some things to show you along the way. You are completely safe. Nobody has actually died in these parts since the 60's." She explained.
I swallow as I begin to follow her. "And how did that person die?"
She bit her lip. "There are a lot of rumors going around about that. I heard, climbing a tree, a tree falling on a boy, a bear eating a boy while he was climbing a tree and a cannibal but the last one for sure isn't true. The guy who they suspected was actually a vegetarian."
"You're really good at the whole comforting thing." I say sarcastically.
She shrugged. "I get that a lot." She continued into the wood with me on her heels. "Come on Adam. If we don't start going, we will miss our bus and we'll be stuck here until after dinner."
I hesitantly followed. "What's so great about this wood anyways?"
"I have to find something. Peter and I hid it and I want it." She called back weaving in between the trees.
I licked my lips nervously. "What exactly is it?"
"Remember that box I showed you yesterday? There were two. Peter and I would come out here after every competition and put a memento of that day in there. Peter said that after we stopped skating, we would come out here and get it." She said turning around. "That's what I'm doing."
I shook my head. "You brought me to Wisconsin to dig up a box?"
She ran ahead of me. "Of course. I didn't want to go alone. Besides I want you to meet him."
"Him who?" I ask gazing around me. The trees filtered the light so it was dimly lit and I could smell the scent of pine trees. A smell that only came around during Christmas or if I was in one of my friend's cars and even then it was masked and artificial. "Peter you mean?"
"Yup. Omigod! Adam I found it!" She screeched standing in front of a large tree about a hundred feet away.
I ran to her and saw a pair of skates carved into the trunk of the large tree. They were primitively drawn but anyone with half a brain could figure it out. I watched as she ran her fingers along.
"Give me a boost." She said looking up the tree.
I looked over at her. "I thought you said you buried it."
She shook her head her eyes not leaving a certain spot on the tree. "No, you said I buried it. I said Peter hid it. It's in a hole just a few feet above our heads, see it?" Her eyes swept to mine and locked gazes. "Please Adam."
I quickly nodded and set up, her foot in my hands and lifted. Thank God she was a figure skater, because she was very light. Had she been a hockey player like Goldberg or something, I probably never would have lifted her to get that box.
"Got it! Now put me down gently." She said excitedly, making my hands shake nervously under the pressure of her weight. "Adam! Stop it! I'm losing my . . ."
We both yelped as she slipped from my fingers knocking me down onto the ground on my back.
I opened my eyes nervously finding her face inches from mine. The box lay thrown a few feet away and yet neither of us cared. I was still falling. My eyes locked with her deep green eyes.
"Sorry." She mumbled as she rolled off me, getting up and dusting her jeans off grabbing my hand and pulling me off the ground.
"It's ok." I reply moving my weight from foot to foot as she grabs the box instinctively off the ground.
She puts the box that is covered in a plastic bag into the backpack she has been carrying. "Come on. We still have a distance to go before we reach the cemetery."
I nod and follow behind her my eyes stuck on my shoes. Is it just me, or has everything gotten a little bit more awkward?
~*~
Ten million.
My estimate on how far we have walked. Ten million miles. Maybe I'm exaggerating a little but, it seems we have been walking for hours; days; weeks; months; years . . . Ok maybe I have an overactive imagination when she hasn't spoken to be for over an hour and being me, I over-analyze things events when I don't understand.
So far I have come up with the conclusion that Josie purposely lost her balance so she could fall on me and get close to me without actually admitting it; same with the whole bus ride and her falling asleep on my shoulder. I see right through her act. I shake my head. I'm getting paranoid.
She turns around suddenly and grins. "Just over that hill Adam!"
I nod. Ok, what she really means is that when she gets back she is going throw me on the grass back on campus and . . .
Where am I getting this stuff?
"Come on!" She urges me grabbing my hand pulling me to walk quicker.
Her hands were icy. I could feel the cold travel through my arm and down my spine making me shiver uncomfortably. She turned to look me in the eyes as we neared the hop of the hill. It finally dawned on me. Maybe she wasn't planning these things. Maybe I was making them happen.
She stopped abruptly looking across the flat graveyard. It looked old and had been around of centuries, which made me a little bit more jumpy; century year old corpses decomposing six feet under me in little rotting pine boxes.
Her pace slowed as she walked between the headstones. The headstones seemed to get less old as we walked along. She finally stopped in front of one and looked down lovingly at it.
"Adam Banks, meet Peter Ryerson." She reached out and her fingers grazed the black granite.
I swallowed nervously trying not to think that a guy who looked exactly like me was beneath my feet right at that moment. I couldn't help but imagine myself in a funeral parlor with all the Ducks crying uncontrollably; being dropped into a deep hole beside Hans. "Uh . . . hi?" I choke out.
She sat down beside the gravestone and pulled out the box we had retrieved from before. "Sit. I want to show you some stuff." Josie grins.
"I'm fine standing." I say taking a deep breath. I really don't like being here.
She smiled reassuringly as she opened the box, with a gasp of surprise. "Oh!"
"What?" I ask letting my curiousity get the best of me.
She blinked back tears and grinned waving me over. "Look."
I walked over to her and knelt down staring into the box. A little ribbon hung from the lid reading: Forever and Ever; and a little folded sheet of paper lay on top of all the contents.
She grasped the paper in her hands. "This wasn't here before. He . . . he must've went there before the competition." She choked, hastily wiping away a tear that had begun to tumble down her cheek.
My excitement overcame me. "Well read it!"
She opened the letter and began to read. "Joey, I know this is our last competition. I know you hate that I want to quit and I'm sorry. It's hard for me because I'm not only changing my life but yours too. You will always be my best friend. Just remember, best friends are one soul thriving in two bodies. Forever, Peter."
I took a deep breath. It was like he knew or something, that her life was going to change dramatically. I knew he thought it was because of him quitting but wow.
I looked over at her. Silent tears dripped onto her jacket. Her fingers barely held the letter and her head drooped sadly.
"Come on. Let's go. I'll call a cab ok."
She nodded allowing me to grab her hands and lift her from the ground.
~*~
She looked over at me. We were nearing the end of our bus ride and the streets we traveled began to look familiar again. I was home. But one thing today still stuck out in my mind. She said I would learn a secret about her. I didn't know she worked at a diner, but I doubt that was the secret, and I didn't know there were two boxes, but that wasn't exactly mind blowing. I swallowed my pride hoping what I was about to ask didn't sound completely dense to her. "So what's your secret?"
Her eyes drifted from the window to my eyes, locked in a gaze. "Me."
I blinked. "You are the secret?"
"Uh huh." She nodded smiling. "You're the only person to actually know all of that stuff. You're the only one who really knows me."
"But I still don't know you; not really. I don't know your family or. . ."
She genuinely laughed. "Adam you need to learn that to know a person isn't about little facts. It isn't about how many siblings I have or what sports team you root for when the Stanley Cup game comes around." She sighed. "It's about what's in your heart. Those little facts are just extra."
The bus jerked to a stop; my eyes still were intertwined with hers.
"Eden Hall Academy." The bus driver stated rather bored.
She smiled and grabbed her bag and began to walk off the bus. "Come on Adam. You're home."
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* A/N: Another chapter! O.k. From a while ago, Charlie is not going out with Lynda for one main reason. She was boring. I didn't really see the point of her in MD3 so I kind of omitted her. And I think the ending of this chapter is probably crap because I didn't know exactly how to end it. I got major writer's block. So as always, click that little button, it doesn't bite so you can . . .
REVIEW!!
~Toodles!!! 3 3 3 3