My heart was beating. He was so handsome. I wanted to spend the entire day with him. He was like glitter where darkness was. He was perfect. He was...
"Aly?" My brother Josh's voice appeared. "What are you thinking about?"
My Jack thoughts stopped. "Oh, um..."
"Is it one of your friends back on the island?"
"Um..."
"You can tell me."
"It's nothing."
"Really?"
"Really."
Josh sighed. "Alright, then."
I dumped my dishes into the sink and headed upstairs to read. The book I was reading? Romeo and Juliet. It was a summer reading assignment from my teachers back on the island. I'm not a huge fan of romance, so I wasn't too thrilled about it. If there was one book I'd rather read, it was Lord of the Rings. Now that is epic.
I spent about what seemed like an hour reading one chapter though it might've actually been fifteen minutes. If I remember correctly, I was at the chapter where Romeo and Juliet secretly marry.
Who secretly marries someone?
Wait, no. Let me rephrase that. They would only marry because their families hate each other.
After reading, I put the book away and grabbed my smartphone, which was sitting on my 1 000 000% clean drawer. I put my earphones in and lay down on the bed. I put on iTunes and scrolled through the playlists until I found the Random songs playlist. I wasn't in any particular mood so I put it on.
The first song that played was a Fresh Prince song. For some reason, I couldn't focus on the song and my mind kept wandering back to Jack. Every time I thought of him or saw him I would think all these good things about him, such as how simple he was. There was that one time we were under attack by the Massa and Jack figured out the password to the safe keeping them. Professor Bhegad called Jack the 'Tailor,' which could possibly refer to someone who solves puzzles.
I looked down at the screen. The song was almost over. The next song on the playlist was N.W.A.
My mind wandered back to Jack again. I thought of his bishie sparkle and his rat brown hair. His ability to solve puzzles. The fact that he was smart, for someone who seemed to be insecure, like (let's be real) me.
Boom. That was the sound of my heart beating. It was the sound I heard every time I thought of Jack.
I took out my headphones and set them back on the drawer. I looked out the window. There was the constellation of Orion. Well, part of it, but still.
For some reason, I was still thinking about Jack. I tried to push him away from my mind, but I failed. Finally, I decided to give in. I looked at the constellation and thought about the fact I was with my family for the summer, Cass, Jack, Eloise, and everyone else. I thought about Professor Bhegad and Fiddle, and how they literally died in front of us. I looked at Orion and thought of the fact that I'd be leaving my family in September and going back to the island.
I smiled. Life was far from perfect, but it was at the same time.