40Chp. 7: Jeremy Dean
I woke up the morning of the first day of school with mixed emotions. I dreaded homework, math class and waking up early in the morning, but I was excited about using my brain and seeing all of my friends' everyday. I am one those rare teenagers that occasionally enjoy spending time in class. I like going home at night with that small feeling of satisfaction that comes from learning something new.
I pulled myself out of bed and began to get dressed. (I like taking my showers at night; it means I can sleep in the next morning.) I pulled on a white knee-length peasant skirt and a blue sweetheart top, something light and cool, since the school building wasn't air-conditioned. By the time I had been in and out of the bathroom, applied mascara and lip gloss, and grabbed my book bag, it was time to go.
Of course, just because I was ready, that did not necessarily mean my brothers were. After five minutes of sitting in the kitchen waiting, Jase finally appeared. "Morning." He ambled over to one of the cabinets and grabbed a flower-patterned bowl, which he soon filled with cereal and milk.
I watched in horror as he stuffed a spoonful of Lucky Charms in his mouth. "Jase, we're going to be late."
He swallowed before answering, "So what's new?"
I bit back a scream of frustration. "Can we at least be on time one day out of the entire school year? I don't want to be late on the first day of school." It was at this moment that Sam appeared, tousled blonde hair still wet from the shower. He too sauntered over to the cabinet that held the dishes, reaching up to grab a bowl. "Don't you dare." My voice fell dangerously. "Grab a pop tart or something, if you wanted cereal you should have woken up earlier." His hand, still frozen in midair, twitched a millimeter closer to the bowl, and he slowly turned his large hopeful eyes towards me. "Nice try," I growled. "But no cereal, the pop tarts are on the top shelf in the closet." Sam blinked sleepily and shook his head in disappointment as he dragged his feet over to where I had told him the pop-tarts were stored.
When we finally got to school I had to race to homeroom without stopping at my locker. After I reached the class room I found a seat near my other friends whose names started with the letters "M" through "R," and ignored the stares of a few fellow classmates. We spend ten minutes collecting papers to take home and have signed, medical forms and computer use contracts, before being sent off to first period.
I tried to pay attention in Accel Bio, I took notes on all the supplies that I would need to buy, and made a valiant attempt to actually care what Mr. Lewis was lecturing us about, but Jess made it impossible. She sat next to me and whispered incessantly in my ear, did I like his tie? It looked like designer label. Word on the street was he was gay, did I hear about his divorce with his wife? Tre messy… and on and on and on. I love Jess but she can talk, especially when she is nervous, which she always is before adjusting to the new situation and getting her first "A" in a course.
All my other classes went basically the same way. History was the best class by far. It's my favorite subject, Mr. Keller is awesome and almost all my friends were there.
I was still happy when it was time to go home. Throughout the day I had received a multitude of compliments, which I have to admit, was nice. Although, some kids were less than subtle when first noting the difference in my appearance. It was one thing to have my best friends exclaim over my extreme makeover, but it was quite another for random classmates to study me in fascination. They looked at me the same way they had looked at that frog that was dissected in my seventh grade biology course. Well, not the exact same way. The guys in particular didn't look especially displeased. But the attention made me uncomfortable. It was all a bit strange, to say the least, although I didn't completely dislike it. Evan, on the other hand, hated every moment of it.
After text messaging him my plans, I beat him home after catching a ride with Dan and Jess. Later I would be grateful I was not stuck in the close confines of a car with him. I knew as soon as he arrived home. I was sitting in the kitchen, sorting through a million forms Mom had to sign, when my brother flung the door open. As soon as he caught sight of me, he exploded. Rob followed him in the door and pulled up a chair. We both watched him for a few minutes as he ranted, finally, after he seemed to have worn himself out, or paused to take a breath, Rob made the unwise decision to interject. "C'mon Ev. Be realistic." He glanced at me. "I mean, you better get used to guys looking at her that way."
This was the wrong this to say. Evan looked at Rob as if he had just caught a whiff of rotting fish. Then he gave a huff, and stormed out of the kitchen. A few moments after his disappearance I heard the TV blaring from the den. Rob just shrugged, and grinned at me, before following him.
The fact that I was at a frat party was not nearly as surprising as the fact that it had been Lexi's idea, and that Reese had actually deemed it worthy of her presence. "I want to see the band that I heard's performing there." Reese had claimed, and Lexi provided no explanation at all. I hadn't wanted to go at first, but Lexi had convinced me by reminding me that the first few days of school we would have almost no homework, and we should take advantage of the rare opportunity. So I went.
The live band was still setting up, so hip hop blared from speakers that were hidden out of sight, but sounded as if they were lodged right next to my ear drum. Reese mimed to me that she would be near where the band was, and by the time I had turned around to see what Lexi wanted to do she was gone.
My appearance may have changed over the summer, but I am still me, and Amy Pierce is not the type of person who enjoys walking into her first frat party alone, amidst a large amount of drunken strangers. I stood on my tip-toes and scanned the room, heading off towards the kitchen. There were two coolers filled with beer, but when I opened up the refrigerator I found a hidden stash of root beer behind an old container of mystery food, which the smell of made me want to gag, and was extremely gross, by the way.
Then I peeked out of one of the kitchen doors, into a large common room. All the furniture had been pushed to the edges of the room, and all I could see was a mass of gyrating bodies. I am so not ready for this. I took another tentative sip of coke, and turned on my heel. Leaning against the counter, watching me, was Jeremy Dean, the guy I met a Stix.
I came really close to shooting coke out my nose, (I was really surprised) but luckinly I managed to suppress the urge. "Hey."
He grinned, and my stomach did a funny little flip. "Hey. I didn't know you came to these."
Well of course he wouldn't, he didn't know anything about me, but he so cute, I decided to let it slide. "I usually don't. Some of my friends and I came for the band."
"Hmmmm, that seems to be a running theme with you. After all, when I met you you had come with your friends to see a band."
"What can I say? I'm a lover of music, call me cultured."
He brushed aside a piece of sun-kissed hair that had fallen in his face. "Well, I wouldn't go that far. 'Rudolph' was pretty good, but I wouldn't put it head to head with Motzart."
I am so bad at flirting, but hey, do I get points for trying? "No not Motzart," I furrowed my brows in mock seriousness, "But Handel, definitely Rudolph could take his music anyday."
Jeremy laughed, "I'll just leave you to you delusions." He straightened up and put his Sam Adams down on the counter for a moment, "hey,I actually was just stopping in, I have to work on a lab for tomorrow, but it's pasta night this Wednesday at Paulo's, you know, on Maple street."
"Ya." I felt like a deer in head lights. This was not something I was prepared for, but I wanted it."
"The food there is good, if you haven't, you should try it."
"I haven't."
"Good, well then, are you busy Wednesday?"
"Before I answer, I have to ask, what's pasta night?"
A smile tugged at the edges of his mouth, "On pasta night all patrons receive a discount on any meal with pasta in it."
I stared at him, "You're kidding me, at an Italian restaurant, isn't that just about everything?"
"For you it is, no way I'm paying full price."
"Thanks, I'm sure I can look forward to a really classy evening."
He took two steps towards the doorway, turned around and tipped an imaginary hat, and winked, "The classiest."
I left the kitchen almost immediately after him and found Reese, who was enjoying the first song. We hung out for almost an hour and a half, before Lexi finally tapped me on the shoulder and decided to leave, all in all, not a bad night.
Wednesday evening
I led Jeremy into the den to discover Evan waiting on the couch glaring at us. He had not taken the news of my date well, and however much I downplayed it, he was convinced that this was the beginning of the end. His arms were folded tensely across his chest. His eyes flashed, and I swear he was dreaming of dragging Jeremy out by his perfect sandy-blonde hair and hurling him down the main stairs, (and if he broke his neck that was just a bonus.) Jason was sprawled out comfortably on the couch, a raggedy closed copy of an old Robert Heinlein book thrown carelessly on the maple coffee table in front of him. He gave me an amused look. I responded by giving him a pleading one, he just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, flashing me a grin. He was obviously entertained by the whole situation. I, however, was not. I was exasperated.
Jeremy took a few steps forward and smiled amiably, "Nice to meet you. Evan, right?" Evan was unresponsive, and continued to glower. I shot Jase another look, and pulled the tip of a twenty dollar bill out of my pocket. Catching sight of the bribe, he rolled his eyes as he stood up and walked toward us.
"Hey, I'm Jase.," He nodded his head at my date, and turned to call to the couch, "Evan, get over here and stop being such an ass."
Evan didn't stop glowering, though he did make the five step journey to where we were standing. He jerked his head rigidly in what I supposed was an attempted nod. Then he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Aren't you Dean from WCU, sophomore in college Dean?"
"Ya, hey, weren't you at the Animal's last party?" The "Animals" were a frat famous for their insanely wild parties, I don't think anyone actually knew their real name; they were just "the Animals."
I raised my eyebrows at Evan but he ignored it and turned to me accusatorily, "You're going out with a sophmore from WCU who's a regular at animal parties?"
It was around this point that Jason stopped looking so amused. I opened my mouth to point out to Evan that he wouldn't have known this little tidbit about Dean if he hadn't been a regular at the animal parties himself, but before I could open my mouth Jason stepped in. He turned and spoke to Dean disdainfully, "You're hustling high school girls?"
Dean's smile began to slip, and I could see that he was loosing patience. Small wonder, my brother and Jase would try the patience of a saint. "I don't think I'm husting anyone."
"So she's a sophomore in high school, you're a sophomore in college, and you don't think you're taking advantage of her." Jason took a ominous step closer to Dean.
"I met a beautiful, intelligent girl and I asked her out. Look, I've seen you guys before at parties; let's not pretend you have the moral high ground here."
Evan glared at Dean, and his voice was a few decibals louder than it had been moment before, "It doesn't take moral high ground to see that…"
I could see that this discussion was quickly entering the danger zone, and I really didn't want to watch a fist fight that ended in my date beaten to a bloody pulp. I cut Evan off, "That's enough! No one is hustling anyone. I am just going out on a date, I don't mean to shock you Ev but this won't be the first or the last, so accept it and move on. I can take care of myself. Dean, we should probably go now, we're gonna' be late." I shot a last murderous look at Jason and spun on my heel.
"Late? Late for what?" Evan called after me, but I ignored him and was soon through the kitchen and out the door.
Dean and I had a good and fairly tame time at Paulo's. As I had so forcefully informed Evan, I could, for the most part, take care of myself. When he tried to persuade me to come back to his room I reminded him that unlike some people I hadn't been able to arrange my schedule; I still had morning classes, not to mention an essay to write.
When I arrived home I planned to avoid Evan and hoped he wouldn't think to wonder how exactly I had met Dean. He would kill me for hanging out with a guy I met in a club, and then at a frat party. He wasn't there though, and I thanked my lucky stars, or whatever questionable acquaintance he was out with, that I didn't have to deal with him. I really wasn't in the mood.
The next morning I discovered that the questionable acquaintance wasn't questionable at all. I was shocked. "Stacey McKenzie? YOU were out with Stacey McKenzie. I knew that generally the average everyday girl couldn't resist my brother's charms, but Stacey McKenzie was not the average everyday girl. She was arguably the most popular, and beautiful girl in school, and I was loathe to believe she would be seen in public with anyone who's reputation even resembled my brother's. I had only ever heard of her dating Alex Michelchuck, her male counterpart, or college guys, Ivy league, well-off, good-looking, impressive college guys. My brother did not even come close to fitting any of these categories. Well, maybe good-looking, he did sort-of have Colin Farrel's Bad-boy appeal, Brad Pitt's charm and Johny-Depp's mystery thing going on, according to every single non-related female specimen who had come within a quarter of a mile of him… still- Stacey McKenzie?
They went out again Wednesday night, to my utter shock and disbelief. The tables had been turned though, for once the girl wasn't slobbering over Evan and nervous about her date with him, it was the other way around. Jason and I sat on the couch downstairs watching Evan scurry up and downstairs with raised eyebrows. He was taking her to Jaque de Paris, a fancy restaurant on the other side of town, the kind where they take reservations and expect you to wear a tie. It was obvious even to Evan that his normal routine of bar-hopping wouldn't cut it for long with this girl. It was weird though, I mean both Evan and Jase date gorgeous girls. Two years ago one of the girls Jase hung out with went to New York and hit it big as a model, so he didn't just like her because she was beautiful. I soon began to suspect that Evan actually liked this girl for legitimate reasons, and that he really cared about her. I liked her too, she was friendly and polite, and nice to the "unpopular" kids even when it wasn't considered "cool" in jr. high.
I was surprised that Jason didn't tease him more. I suppose he must have realized that this girl actually meant something, and we both knew Evan would clam up and get weird on us if we made a big deal out of it. Jason just did what he normally does, sat back and observed quietly. He's one of those guys who never actually has to do anything for girls to fall for him, he just stands there quietly, watching everything with those dark eyes and girls go nuts. I guess they think he's mysterious or something. I guess they're right. He doesn't really like to share his problems or past with people, very few know about it. They don't know that he spends about half his nights on the pullout couch when Mom and Dad aren't home, or that he has parental "issues." That was one of the reasons I had been even more horrified to discover that his dad had crashed my brother's party while I was away. Jase is so quiet about his personal life, that when something like that gets out, I know it messes with his head.
I don't know the intricacies of his relationship with his father, but I suspect that's why he's so protective and loyal, something to do with his dad never being those things. He can't stand to see anyone he cares about hurt the way he's been hurt. He doesn't easily lose his temper, but when he does, he's… scary. I've rarely seen him get that mad.
I always thought he saw me as just Ev's little sister, didn't give me much thought himself. I realized I was wrong in 6th grade. A mousey kid with freckles named Devin was two grades ahead of me, like Evan and Jase. He was stronger than he looked, and extremely obnoxious. He decided I was his next victim and began making my life miserable just for his amusement.
Actually it was my fault he noticed me, I called him stupid for picking on one of my friends. Anyway, he slammed into me in the halls, and committed other equally abhorrent childhood crimes. When Jase asked me about a large purple bruise with ugly looking yellow spots on my arm, I had no idea just how much my answer would upset him. He was enraged that a kid like Devin would attack me, or any of my friends. The whole episode ended with Jase returning the bruises to Devin many times over. He never picked on me or any of my friends again.
I want to thank everyone who has reviewed my story.
starXcookie: I wanted to thank you for your constructive criticism, which has helped me to correct and improve typos, inconsistencies and generally confusing writing habits.
Twistedklepto123: Thanks to you too, for catching my mistake when I called Lexi, "Sarah."
To anyone else who has read this story at all… Thanks! And check out which actors I cast in story if you would like a visual, the links are on my penname site.
7