Josie didn't come to math class on Tuesday or Wednesday either. She wasn't in the stands during Monday's hockey practice escaping the clutches of her 'haunted' room, and she wasn't in my dorm waiting for me while I was running on Tuesday and she didn't meet me after class to hang out on Wednesday when I didn't have practice. Instead Julie met me, and gave me back my jersey awkwardly and didn't even tell me if she Josie said anything. I would've given my right kidney to hear Julie say that Josie told her to tell me to fuck off. But she didn't.
Josie had been going to her other classes though. I had heard through the Ducks, Charlie mostly, that Josie had become almost mute in science class and I did see her in the halls once, but she was gone in a flash. I was almost certain she was a mirage or something. That I was aching so much to see her that my mind would just fool me so I would stop, but I didn't; it just hurt more.
It was like she didn't even exist; like she never came to Eden Hall. Things were back to the way things were before I had met her. Averman ranted about not having a girlfriend, Charlie sat at the breakfast table while rushing through and essay on the Civil War while trying to choke down a bagel and Connie and Julie were laughing about the cutest coupe or something equally unimportant that most if the guys tuned out. To think, Josie and I used to be that 'couple'. Everyone seemed to go back to their old ways, except me.
I frowned down at my lunch. In all honesty I wasn't in the mood to eat and hadn't been since dinner at Ryan's house, which ended up being pizza since his mom set the rice on fire; how she did that, we have no clue, but Ry and I were planning on solving that mystery. I rested an elbow on the table and rubbed my forehead. Even the thought of Mrs. L trying to put out the rice wasn't even cheering me up.
Charlie looked over at me concerned. "Banks, you should eat. We have practice tonight and I have feeling Orion is going to really work us today."
"He always really works us Charlie." Averman scoffed and took a bite of his lunch . . . which I couldn't name for the life of me. He grimaced and got up with his tray.
Charlie rolled his eyes and turned back to me. "Eat." He urged.
I shook my head. "Not hungry." I replied quickly pushing away my tray and leaning back in my chair. If I got another whiff of the cafeteria food I'd probably yak.
"Eat." Charlie tried again determined to make sure I was ok. He was worse than a parent sometimes. He pulled the tray back in front of me.
I shot a quick glare at him. "I'm not hungry." I snapped quietly.
He swallowed and leaned toward me. "Look Adam, I totally get you're depressed but you can't let it get to you. You have to eat. I haven't seen you eat anything since Sunday."
"Glad you're keeping track of my eating habits." I replied sarcastically crossing my arms defensively. Lately there had been a lot of tension between Charlie and me and I didn't like it that way. Charlie was always Captain Duck, trustworthy confidante; ready with advice to give and a joke to tell. Now it seems that all we did was argue and fight. Even our greetings seemed to be laced with spite.
He looked away from me and exhaled in a frustrated manner. "Banks, I'm just worried about you because every time you're like this you do something stupid."
I rolled my eyes. "Sure, now you say I do stupid this. Before you were convinced I was perfect that I could do no wrong when I needed to talk to you."
Charlie glared over at me. "Well I'm sorry that I couldn't see your little act you had put up over the years, making the rest of us feel completely insignificant over the years."
I took a breath. At the rate Charlie and I were going, we would be arguing about completely obsolete things instead of the real issue. And it was obvious too. Larson. I had been holding it against him, just as he had been since Sunday night. "Can we do this later? After practice we'll talk." I replied as calmly as I could, got up and grabbing the coke at sat on my tray and walked out of cafeteria before he could even answer.
~*~
I sat in my math class knowing she wasn't coming. I stopped trying to convince myself she was the day before because every time she didn't come I would end up getting upset, end up worrying about her. The teacher droned on about our bad marks on the last pop quiz which I completely tuned out. I couldn't think about math when she wasn't coming.
A quiet knock on the door interrupted the teacher's lecture and he put down our quizzes and opened the door.
"Miss Best, I'm glad you could grace us with your presence. I was wondering if you were going to come." Mr. Hayden replied with a slight smirk.
My eyes flew toward Josie who completely avoided looking me in the eyes. "No choice." She replied with a nod.
He nodded sternly and eyed her carefully. "Take your seat then. I expect all the homework in by tomorrow."
She nodded carefully and walked past me taking her seat without even glancing at me. Wasn't she hurting? Didn't she miss me? Didn't she care? Why was this only hard for me? I sat up straight and pretended nothing was wrong.
~*~
I rushed out of the math classroom quickly and waited beside the door for her to come out. I knew she was probably speaking with Mr. Hayden so I stood as calmly as I could. When I heard movement inside the room I became alert again. She walked out of the room and didn't even notice me beside the door.
"Josie!" I called to her in hopes of attracting her attention. No luck. "Josie!" I tried again. She didn't even flinch.
I ran up to her and grabbed her wrist and pulled her against the lockers as a last resort
She yelped and twisted her wrist in my grip to make me let her go. "Banks, let go of me!" She hissed rather frightened. "I don't want to talk to you."
"Jose, we have to talk. You can't ignore me forever." I replied quickly taking her other wrist in my hand in a tight grip so she couldn't turn away from me.
She frowned at me. "I thought I told you to stop calling me that." She replied harshly.
I heaved a breath. "Josie, talk to me. Please."
She looked me in the eyes and frowned. "I have nothing to say to the person who abused my trust the way you did." She jerked her wrists but I held tight.
My brow furrowed. "Josie you can't hide from me. I love you and I'm sorry but the quicker we talk this out the quicker we can start over." I replied in a light panic.
With a stiff jerk of her wrists she finally broke my grasp shaking her head and rubbing her wrist gingerly. "There is no 'we', Banks, besides I have nothing to say to you for a reason." She spat angrily. "I didn't do anything. It was your bad judgment and I have nothing to do with it." She pushed past me and continued to walk down the hall.
I raced after her and jumped in front of her, blocking her path to her next class. "Josie; you and I both know that you have everything to do with it." I replied as quietly as I could as I noticed that we were attracted attention from the people passing.
She glanced at the people passing by and I noticed a little blush creeping onto her porcelain cheeks. "No I don't." She hissed. "We're over Adam. I can't trust you, now please leave me alone."
I bit down on my lip considering letting her leave, but I considered my chances of running into her again. I had to ask her. "Well what do you want me to do to get you to trust me again?"
She narrowed her eyes and scoffed. "Figure that out on your own time, Adam." She spat my name out like it was a bad taste in her mouth. "I'm going to be late for History."
As she moved to the right I stepped in her path. "You'll be late." I replied sternly with a forceful tone I didn't even know I had.
She shrunk back at my comment, her eyes wild with fear.
I began to get frustrated. "Look, this is completely new to me Josie. You can't just toss me into some situation and expect me to know exactly what to do or how to fix it!"
Her jaw dropped. "Get used to it Banks! That's life!" She shook her head violently. "Besides I didn't toss you into this situation in the first place, this is your mess. You have no one to blame but yourself." Her breathing quickened as her voice got slightly louder. "All I did was react to your actions."
"We were supposed to understand each other!"
She shook her head. "What did you expect me to do? Take you hand and tell you that it will be ok? You were supposed to know what was and wasn't acceptable!"
"We were supposed be able to tell each other anything." I shot back. "Why didn't you tell me what I found out?!"
She blinked in awe. "So this is my fault? I drove to you read my journal?" She scoffed and shook her head.
"No, I didn't mean that. . ." I replied quickly
She cut me off. "No. I don't care. I really don't." She closed her eyes and licked her lips. "I don't want to hear it and I don't want to see you, so leave me alone ok?" She opened her eyes and stared into mine coldly.
I shook my head. "I can't."
She covered her face with both hands as the bell rang around us. She groaned. "I'm late." She sighed and looked up to the ceiling. "Just go away and let me get to class."
I calmly closed my eyes and nodded, stepping out of her way allowing her to pass unable to watch her walk away from me.
Or maybe it was us . . .
~
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A/N: Yes, I know this is a short chapter, but the next scene I have in mind is kind of long and would kind of ruin this chapter. Or not. Whatever. I didn't want to add it and that's final! I've also had that Josie scene at the very end in my head for the longest time! Since before I finished Don't Speak. I know, I'm a multi-task-er/ procrastinator. But deal with it!
Shout outs!
Beaner- Ah… a loyal reviewer! Oh you're going to have to wait a while to read the conversation I had in my head I gave to you last night! I'm not planning on having a Charlie/Larson friendship anytime soon. That dream was completely not planned but because my chapter was so short without Adam waking up in the middle of the night I couldn't just post it with just a teeny tiny bit of writing. Oh, Josie was just skipping math class. Josie is very complicated. In all honesty I want to write a Josie POV but it would have a lot of swearing and a lot of crying and a lot of angry music and breaking stuff and all that. Besides I like sticking to one POV. Okay, so you only see one side of the story but I find that with only one point of view, you're more surprised when something happens. Ok I'm off topic again! Yeah… duel it out… three rounds of bare knuckle boxing for Garette! Ready… and… Go! *laughs* Oh and thanks for reviewing Last Exit! You're too sweet! *stops and realizes that I haven't talked to yet today* *cries* Download AOL! Please!! lol! I hope to talk to you soon! Is this update soon enough? Later!
Emily- Hi! Oh I think we all are suckers for happy endings. I blame it on Disney! Damn him! *stops and realizes that the Mighty Ducks were Disney movies* I take it back! I love Disney! He kicks ass! I will never ever say anything bad about Disney ever again! I'm glad you like twists too. I'm planning on making this story nice and long too, so buckle up and be ready for the long haul. I'm hoping I'll make it to 50 again. That would be cool. Yeah Adam was really confused last chapter and he still kind of is. Well he will be for a while. And by now, you know where Josie is . . . so I don't have to tell you. Ok Thanks for the review! Later!
SqUiDsLiLpYrO- *shivers* Evil evil bunnies. But think. Those long teeth! Anything with teeth that long has to be evil! And their twitchy noses… *shivers* I know I'm scared! Hey it's ok. I'm always weird. You don't have to hide your weirdness here. Here, it's encouraged! Be Weird! I'm so glad everyone took so well to my Larson! Don't be mad at the Ducks though! Think about it, imagine you had about 2 people who were constantly picking on you when you were little then you escape them when you go to high school, then suddenly one of your best friends brings one of them to see you or something. Wouldn't you be a little skeptical and uptight about it? Wait… you said it makes us happy. Who is us? Does this mean I have other people reading my story that I don't know about? *blinks excitedly* Oh and thanks for reviewing Last Exit! I'm glad you liked it! You're wow for reviewing it! Thanks for the Review! Later!
Rach- Hey! You've been thinking about my story? Awww!! That's so sweet! Blown away? That's cool! I'm flattered! Very flattered. Noo! No beating Charlie! *grabs onto Charlie and hugs him tightly* Leave Charlie be! You may beat any 'evil' characters you want (ex. Will) but leave the confused and normally good characters alone! I knew you would like my tension chapter! I'm going to try and tone it down a little because all this tension writing can get really tiring and I'm going to end up using up all my good fights in my first couple chapters! Besides I think it's time for a couple laughs. Ok, Don't Speak is set during their 2nd year at Eden Hall, late 1st semester; Don't Forget Us is set 2nd year, early 2nd semester; so basically a year after D3. Does that make sense? Again you're blown away by the power of me? I have power? Coolies! I'm so glad you enjoyed my song fic! *rolls eyes* I have so many song fics in my head that it's sad. I'm constantly blathering about it to my friends over AOL and MSN, about how the inspiration gnomes (don't ask), come and attack me at the worst of times. Are you happy I updated so soon? I was so surprised that I came up with this one so fast! Anyways, thanks and later!
Pyro44- Thanks for reviewing my Last Exit fic! When I originally rediscovered the song I was like 'Hey! Eden! Like Eden Hall!' and had a total Duck moment. Then suddenly when I listened to the song it was so sad and the first thing I thought of was how well it fit Adam's feeling and his regrets. I was so excited. I'm glad you felt you connected with him and I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for reviewing!
Ok, yes I'm still advertising my Last Exit to Eden song fiction. It's about Adam and it basically would take place in this story sometime around now. So please, I'm begging you, read it, review it and I'll be super happy! By the way, to all the people who did review it, you kick ass! I love you all!
Review!
~Toodles
Katie Gurl!