Helloooo :D
This was oddly quick for me to write, remarkably! I mean, I didn't start until, like, a week ago because I've been very busy with christmas and school and eating a ton of chocolate...
Seriously, if I go over a year without posting, it's probably 'cause I died of obesity. Or strangulation. I always figured I'd die of strangulation...
JUST KIDDING :D
...seriously though, I think I'm being stalked...o.O
Anyway, I won't keep you any longer, here's chapter eleven! (I think)
"And wasn't that part where the dude got his eyes gouged out, like, totally awesome?!"
"Oh my god, yeah! He was all like 'Aaah! My eyes!' And they were just like 'Hey, these are gonna make some great meatballs.'"
Coming out of the screening room, Jack and I were making our way back to the main entrance of the cinema, still munching away at some candy, discussing our favourite scenes from the movie.
When I had suggested we go watch a film that weekend, I could tell that Jack was slightly apprehensive, probably worried that I would want to watch something horribly mushy-feely like 'The notebook - chapter two'. I might even have made him endure it, just for shits and giggles, but I had already found out that 'Extreme mutant Zobie Massacre II - Bloodbath' Was showing that day and after that huge cliffhanger at the end of the first movie, I absolutely had to go see the sequel.
Of course, the fact that Jack was there with me was also a nice bonus. I was really glad that he enjoyed it, I was actually kinda worried that he'd get creeped out by my huge horror flick obssession, but I was relieved to find his eyes also glued to the giant screen, laughing along with me whenever someone was horribly mutilated.
We would be so good together.
We continued walking, me holding the bag of candy with his arm wrapped around my shoulders; to an outsider, we would have looked like a real couple. Hell, even I sometimes found myself believing it. The way he would hold me, joke with me, look after me...if only it was normal for friends to kiss...and maybe occasionally cop a feel.
Yeah, right.
We had just reached the lobby, and I was trying my best to avert my eyes from the food stand, desperately craving another bag of maltesers even though I had already polished off two during the movie, when suddenly Jack came to a halt.
"Jack, what are you-"
"Well well well," What? Who said that? I turned around to see Jack already facing the other way, standing opposite a small group of rather well-groomed guys, all staring at my friend with open distaste, immediately earning them my distaste.
"what do we have here?" One of them asked as his beady eyes landed on me.
"If it isn't Jack Brewer and...his girlfriend?" Mischief was evident in his features, and I found myself wondering how Jack knew this creep.
"Brody, back off," the boy next to me all but growled, and in an attempt to calm him down I reached for his hand, holding it in my own and squeezing. He relaxed a little, but his shoulders tensed once again as the douche, Brody, shot me a lecherous look, and it didn't help when he winked at me, either.
"Why should I?" The cockiness in Brody's voice made me want to punch him. "I'm not doing anything wrong, and if I remember rightly, this is my territory you're on, so I'd start treating me with some respect if I were you. You wouldn't want your little girlfriend here to see me kick you out, would you?"
I scoffed at that, finding the fact that this snob was threatening Jack, a martial arts expert, extremely stupid and suicidal. But judging by the way that the black-belt in question tensed slightly, making no witty remark of his own, made me wonder if maybe there was more to this little disagreement than they were letting on.
"This is not your territory Brody, it's neutral ground. You have no power here," Jack ground out through his teeth.
The smirk on Brody's face, though, told otherwise. "You're wrong, Jackson," he sang. "And if you had bothered to show up to the last few..." The weasel shot me a weary look before resuming : "...Family meetings, then you would know that the wole of Rivington Square was vey wisely handed over to my family, which gives me the formal right to evict you from this whole area, and bring it up in the meetings if you fail to comply."
What the fuck? What was all this talk of 'territories' and 'neutral ground' and...'family meetings'? Were Jack and Brody somehow related? No, I conclued. They couldn't be; Brody looked nothing like my friend. For starters his eyes were green, instead of a gorgeous chocolate brown, he was shorter with a scrawnier build and his face was much more angular and feminine in appearance. The only trait that the two had in common was their brown hair, but even if the color was close, Brody's locks were no way near as silky as Jack's. Then again, was anyone's?
Overall Brody wasn't really ugly or anything; onthe contrary, his sharp features made him look quite elegant. But the sardonic twist of his lips and the taunting glint in his eyes gave away his foul personality, instantly making him much less desirable.
"So please, do resist. It'll make all of this so much more fun."
His conniving little smirk was what made me snap. I may not have understood everything that he was speaking about, but I wasn't just about to overlook that petty threat.
"Hey," I snapped. "This is a free country, and we're in a public place. You have absolutely no right whatsoever to demand that we leave, even if this is your family's 'property'. I don't care if your dad owns the whole fucking moon, there's no way in hell that I'm ever going to take orders from a scumbag like you!"
Several of the guys surrounding Brody suddenly got all aggressive, clenching their fists and...growling? Yeesh.
Unfortunately, the giant asshat remained completely calm, happy even, at my violent tirade, judging by the huge grin on his face. Was he some sort of masochist?
"Boys, boys," he chastised. "Calm yourselves; we're in a public place, as the lovely lady so politely pointed out."
His eyes then roamed back to Jack, who was trembling so hard I almost thought he was having a eizure or something. The anger that he felt was rolling off of him in waves, and I imagined that it was taking all of his effort not to smash Brody's head into the ground and piss on his grave. Hell, that was definitely what I felt like doing.
"She really has no idea, does she? About us, about what this means for her." Brody said, bemused. "You know, sooner or later you're going to have to tell her. Or maybe I will," the way he was staring at me was making me extremely uncomfortable, and I found myself gravitating towards Jack despite my desire to appear confident. Truth be told, I was, despite my big talk, just a wee bit worried. For Jack, who was a usually laid-back guy to suddenly be turning into the Hulk and growling at people, I knew that something had to be off about those guys. They had to be major creeps to get him so riled up.
"Maybe I'll even take her for myself," the weasel licked his lips, shooting me a pervy smile. "It'll just be one more thing of yours that I'll have taken from you, and by far the most enticing."
My whole being was overcome with rage. How dare he. How dare he threaten Jack, how dare he insult my dignity, how dare he...breathe the same air as us. He was nothing. And I'd be damned if I gave him the satisfaction of loosing my cool.
"You know what?" I wore a mask of composure, uncurling my fists and wrapping my hands around Jack's large arms, hoping to calm him down. "It's been a pleasure meeting you, it really has, but if I wanted shit from you, I'd squeeze your head. Now," I turned to my best friend, who seemed to be smiling slightly from my last comment. "I think we have somewhere else to be."
After shooting the group of dickheads one last glare, Jack let me drag him away to the exit, his muscles still tense under my hands.
"Oh!" I stopped in my tracks, turning back around to face Brody. "I almost forgot; what film are you guys gonna see?"
There was a small silence before one of them finally answered : "Zombie Massacre II"
"Oh, good choice," I grinned. "That film really kept me guessing. It caught me completely by surprise when they revealed that the mother was a zombie too. Now I was not expecting that."
A chorus of moans and curses followed my little spoiler, and I was quite satisfied when I turned back for good and headed to the exit with Jack, who was silently chuckling beside me.
"God, Kim, you really are something."
"Don't you know it," I shot him a cheeky wink, before sobering.
"Jack?" I almost whispered, not quite sure how to approach the subject.
"Mmnn?"
I swallowed nervously. "What did Brody mean, back there, about me not knowing? And what that meant for me?" I knew when Jack's fist clenched that it was a bad decision to broach the subject so soon, but the words kept popping up in my head, they were so peculiar.
"Nothing," he eventually answered, looking calmer. "It meant nothing. He was just trying to rile me up and confuse you. Brody's always been like that; a sneaky, manipulative little shit." He looked at me then, affection in his eyes, but not enough to overshadow the unease. "Just ignore him. Please. I don't want him getting to you, of all people."
The silent plea in his eyes urged ne to comply. Anything to lift his spirit; I hated to see him like this. And I wanted to make sure that I would never have to see him like this ever again. Jack was to amazing a person to ever be down, and he was awfully scary when he was angry.
Well, not to me, he wasn't because...well, he was Jack. And I knew Jack. I also knew that he would never dream of hurting me - beyond the usual karate maneuvers and occasional petty pinch.
So I pushed any worries to the back of my mind - if only temporarily - and lifted his heavy arm to rest around my shoulders, snuggling into his side as we walked.
"Consider me ungotten-to," I joked. "Now howsabout we go get something to eat?" I prompted, my stomach starting to growl again.
Jack's eyes turned into saucers. "More food? Already? Kim, we hust at, like, a whole tub of popcorn and two bags of candy! How could you possibly be hungry again so soon?!"
I shrugged, unable to explain my strange eating habits. "'Just am."
His stare was disbelieving, and maybe slightly impressed. "Kimberly Crawford, you are insatiable."
I winked at him. "Don't you know it."
As the shrill ring of my alarm clock resonated throughout my bedroom, I thrashed about in my bed, startled, having somehow managed to end up with my head dangling over the edge sometime in the night.
I eventually was able to sit up and crawl across my new blue sheets - that I had purchased along with a real bed about a month prior - and slammed my palm against the insufferable noise machine, willing my migrane to magically vanish.
I was not looking forward to going to school that day. Not one bit. I hadn't felt like doing anything really for the past few days, after Jack, my so-called 'best friend' had decided that I no longer existed to him, deciding to avoid me completely, only adressing me when I spoke to him directly, and even then all he gave me were one-word answers.
He was being waaay too distant, and for the life of me I couldn't imagine why.
Attempting to push my worries to the back of my mind, I reluctantly slumped out of bed, walking over to my bathroom and getting ready for the day.
...
"Hey, Kim, you got any gum?"
Grace had just spat out her last piece, her sixth that day, having lost its flavor.
"Grace, sweetie, you know we love you very much, but you've gotta stop with the gum. If I have to hear you chew one more time, I think I just might lose it. What's up with you?" Mika had been sitting at their usual lunch table, listening to Grace's incessant chewing and popping, and the poor girl looked like she was about to rip her hair out.
I sympathized.
"I'm sorry," the loud cheer captain apologised. It's just that I get all antsy whenever I'm surrounded by negative energy. I don't know where it's coming from, but boy is it strong. I so need some more gum."
I tensed up. I knew from Grace's family stories that her parents were a little...unconventional, and were really into all of that reincarnation, karma bullcrap. Grace would always joke about it, pointing out her extreme luck that her parents hadn't been completely stoned when naming her, unlike with her sisters Rainbow and Honeydew.
But Grace hadn't ignored everything her parents had tried to teach her, and upon hearing about the begative vibes that she was feeling, I couldn't help but feel guilty, wondering if it might be me and my boy troubles that were causing my friend to be so antsy.
I sighed, feeling dejected. "Guys, I think it's me."
"What's you?" Kelsey gave me an odd look.
"The negative vibes. I think they're coming from me. I've just been so on edge lately." I shot Grace an apolagetic look, but my friend was having nothing of it, concern instead filling her eyes.
"What's wrong, sweetie?" She asked, reaching over the table and grabbing my small hand, holding it in her own in a reassuring way.
I looked away, embarrassed. "I'm probably just worrying for nothing, but..."
"Buuut...?" Mika prompted, eyeing me curiously.
I bit my lip before explaining : "It's just...it's Jack."
"I knew it," Kelsey stated, sipping her orange juicebox.
Ignoring her, I carried on. "Things were all going fine until I got home from our trip to the cinema on saturday, and since then he hasn't texted, he hasn't called...he won't even say hello anymore for god's sake, he even skipped karate practise yesterday!" I all but yelled, frustrated. "I just...I just don't know what to do. I mean, was it something I did? I have no way of knowing, because he hardly even speaks to me! He avoids me at all costs and it's driving me crazy!"
It really was. I had no idea what was going on in that pea-sized brain of his, but it was killing me to not be able to talk to him, to hug him, even just look at him without him looking away.
"Oh honey." Mika, who was next to me, shuffled closer and gave me a tight hug, and soon they were all gathered round me, embracing me in all of their arms and squeezing the life out of me. I really loved those girls; they were so incredibly loyal, not to mention kind and completely crazy.
"Sweetie, I don't know what's up with that big ape, but I might know a way of finding out." I turned to fac Kelsey, who seemed unsure, but determined.
I pleaded to her with my eyes, urging her to tell me more.
"Now, Jack has a lot of friends, but we all know that - apart from you, of course - his best friend of all is Jerry. They tell eachother everything."
I knew what she was insinuating, but it was no use. I had been to see Jerry as soon as I felt that Jack was freezing me out and, although he was still cool with me, unlike his friend, when I had broached the subject of Jack, he had looked at me regretfully and told me that it wasn't his place to tell me what was up, andthat I could only lay back andhope that the fool would snap out of whatever it was that was distancing him.
I explained all this to Kelsey, but that didn't seem to deter her.
"Well at least you know for shure that Jerry knows what's up, which might make it easier to convince him to help you ambush Jack." Her smile turned wicked for a second, as if she was concocting some grand scheme in her head.
"Ambush him?" I asked, slightly confused. "Like pirates or something?"
She shook her head, still grinning. "Nope. More like ninjas. Of course, without the nunchucks."
"What did you have in mind?" Grace asked, clearly intrigued.
"Well, what I was thinking was..."
Aaaaand, we'll never know. Mwahahahaha!
JK, you'll probably find out in like a month... *evil face*
Hope you enjoyed ths chapter, make sure to tell me what you think of Brody! I love how much of a dick I made him :D
And what about all of that 'territory' stuff? I'm telling you now, they're not werewolves. Or vampires. Or ghosts.
OR BATMAN!
I am going to bed now...because it is 1:09 in the morning and I have school tomorrow.
FML.
-CCC