Serenity (33 page)

Jolin moved behind her. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he snuggled into her neck. “You look almost human.”

Ren sidestepped away from him. “Please don’t.”

Jolin sighed and walked out of the bathroom.

Ren waited a beat, then followed.

She found him in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee.

“What time is it?” she hesitated to ask.

“We have an hour before we need to leave for school. Akeo is picking us up.”

“I don’t think I’m going to make it.” Ren shifted to lean against the counter.

“Oh, you most definitely are going.”

“I need to figure out what I’m doing.” Ren ran her hands over her face.

“You could have done that last night instead of getting wasted and slashing yourself up. Might have been more productive.” Jolin filled a second cup of coffee and brought it to her.

Ren pulled her sleeve up and looked at the damage she’d done.

“You were supposed to call me.” Jolin’s voice was soft.

She snorted.

“I would do anything for you.” His words caressed her. She shook her head trying to shake their affect away.

“Don’t.”

“It’s too late.”

“Here.” He pushed the coffee at her. “I got a speech to give today for Homecoming. I need to get ready. Go upstairs and get ready. You’re coming.”

Ren followed him upstairs and looked at her choices of clothes. She’d puked all over her clothes from yesterday, so those couldn’t be re-worn. So she pulled on some jeans and a thin T-shirt. Then pulled on her combat boots and rolled her pant legs up to skim the top. Running a brush through her hair, she wondered down the hall to Jolin’s room. He was standing in front of his closet in a pair of tight jockey shorts. She stood in the doorway admiring him.

Jolin turned and faced her. A grin hinted at his mouth.

“I need a shirt. I don’t want to get kicked out of class for showing the girls.” Ren pointed at her breasts.

Jolin grabbed his jeans and slipped them on. Then padded over to where she stood. He reached out to touch the lock of hair whose sole purpose was to be a constant reminder of her mother’s hatred for her, but she jerked away before he could make contact.

“I just need a shirt,” she repeated.

A disappointed look crossed his face.

“Social suicide.” She pointed at herself. “Let yourself be that guy. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be…”

He cut her off and said ‘fine’ before she could. Jolin turned around and headed back to his closet. “You’re worth more than fine, Ren. So much more than fine.” He grabbed a T-shirt and slid it over his head, then tossed a button-down flannel at her.

“Sometimes fine is even a stretch.” Ren wrapped the shirt around her, buttoning a few of the buttons before tying the long shirt tails around her waist.

“Stop your mumbling. You’re not getting out of going to school today.”

A knock on the door had them both stopping in their tracks.

“My mom doesn’t knock.” Jolin grinned and pulled on his shoes.

Ren was confused as to why Jolin was in such a good mood after watching her throw up her internal organs all night.

Jolin brushed past her and hopped down the stairs.

Akeo’s voice carried up the stairs. “Ready for your speech?”

“As ready as I can be.”

“It’s going to be epic.”

“Doubt it.” Jolin’s voice got farther away as they continued to talk.

Ren made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen.

“Hey Ren.” Akeo nodded. “Feeling okay?”

The comment from anyone else may have made her angry, but from Akeo it sounded sincere. “I’ll survive.”

“We better get going, it’s a big day in the land of homecoming week.”

Jolin

Thursday, October 30

7:00 a.m.

The gym was packed when they got to the school. Ren didn’t look like she was going to get out of the car.

“I won’t walk in with you,” she snapped.

“You’re walking in with Akeo. I have things to do.” Jolin slid out of the car. “See you inside.”

Jolin left them in the parking lot.

“What’s up with him?” Ren turned to Akeo.

“He’s nervous about giving that homecoming speech today. You know it’s the kick off assembly.”

Ren crossed her arms and glared at him.

“What? How am I supposed to know any more than that?” Akeo got out of the car and held the door open, inviting Ren to follow.

Reluctantly she climbed out and pulled her messenger bag over her shoulder. “I’d think you’d know. You’re his friend.”

Akeo kicked at the loose gravel in the parking lot. “All I know is he told me I was driving you guys to school, and I was to make sure you attended the assembly and stayed for the entire thing.”

“I don’t want to go to the stupid homecoming assembly. The entire tradition makes me sick.”

“I have my orders, and I intend to follow through. C’mon it will be starting soon.” Akeo took her by the elbow and pulled her toward the building. “Don’t make me use my secret ninja skills on you.”

“You’re about as tough as a teenage mutant ninja turtle.”

Akeo stopped and put a hand to his chest. “You wound me woman.”

“Why don’t you go back to the sewer you crawled out of?” Ren tried not to laugh.

“I wouldn’t underestimate the skills of turtle power.” Akeo nudged her shoulder.

“This is going to majorly suck,” Ren muttered.

“Yeah but I promised and you know turtle code and all.”

Ren and Akeo entered the gym to a low roar. The student body was divided into four sections, one for each class. The seniors had the section closest to the door. There were committees in place for each grade that had decorated their designated area with the school colors and in the seniors case…lots of sparkly glitter. The bleachers were already crowded so Akeo pulled Ren to a wall off to the side.

“We’ll be able to see from here. I don’t want to fight the masses to then be squashed between them.” Akeo leaned in so she could hear him.

“I’m good.” It would be easier to bail from this position.

The principal walked to the front of the gym, and the students lining each side turned to face him. “Can I please have your attention?”

The crowd quieted before the principal began to speak again. “We will be listening to each representative for class homecoming court, and then finally the candidates for king and queen. I expect you all to be respectful to each candidate. Initial ballots are set up outside the gym, and you are to vote for your class as well as the king and queen. These are preliminary votes that will be included in the final tally which will be announced at our Homecoming assembly Friday morning.”

“Good lord, we have to listen to everyone drone on before Jolin gets up?” Ren complained to Akeo.

“My job is to keep you here until he talks, so don’t make any plans to bail. Not even to the bathroom.”

Ren glared his way.

Each candidate went before the students and discussed their intentions at boosting the spirit of the class during the week. It held no interest to Ren. Her mood, which was already poor from her hangover, got progressively worse the longer she stood there.

“Look, Akeo.” She turned to plead her case. “I feel like shit. I look like shit. And all of these people are full of shit. I’m out.” She started to leave, but Akeo grabbed her arm.

The Akeo, Ren knew was a kind and quiet guy. The strength of his grip made her see him with new eyes.

“Look, Ren,” he said snottily. “My boy there.” He nodded his head toward where Jolin stood patiently waiting for his turn. “Has been to hell the last few months, and he pulled your sorry ass out of your hell twice. Standing here and listening to whatever he has to say is the least you can do for him.”

Ren pulled her arm free. “Man, Ke, take a pill.” She straightened her shirt and settled back into the wall. His words were so true and made her feel crappy. He was right. The least she could do was stand there.

It felt like hours, and Ren seriously thought about trying to take Akeo down when Elizabeth started to talk. If she hadn’t vomited all her insides out last night and this morning, she had a feeling she’d lose her breakfast at the sugary sweet bullshit Elizabeth was slinging. It made her sick to think of the power one misguided cheerleader had over the unsuspecting in the high school. As long as they stayed out of her way, she looked like a bright and shiny example of high school royalty. Ren knew better. Somewhere along the line, Liz decided she didn’t like Ren and when that happened, her chance at getting through high school without being bullied was over. Elizabeth was such a bitch, and she was going to win hands down.

Finally, Jolin stood up to the podium.

Ren crossed her arms and gave Akeo a sappy grin.

“Here we go.” Akeo ran a hand over his face.

“Hey,” Jolin started, and the gym filled with applause.

She glanced at Akeo and shook her head. She didn’t need to be here for this.

He held up a hand telling her to wait.

Jolin gave the room his embarrassed grin, cocking his head to the side. Ren’s heart squeezed. She wished things could be different.

When the gym calmed down, he started again. “I’m Jolin Daniel. Senior.”

The gym went wild again, but this time the principal held his hands up to quiet them.

“I am taken aback by the support you are showing me today after a rough couple of months.” He ran his hands down his thighs, then grabbed onto the edge of the podium. It was the only outward sign he may be nervous.

Ren snorted. He must be talking about a different student body. He’d been kicked out of the popular crowd, and the teachers had ripped his special favors out from under him.

“I am honored I was nominated by you all for Homecoming King.”

Ren glanced over at Akeo, miming the action of wanting to throw up. He just shrugged and pointed back to where Jolin stood.

“You see, I have gained a new perspective after my accident. As a friend of mine told me…my eyes have been opened.”

The student body shifted and murmurs could be heard through the crowd. The others speeches had enticed the students to their feet, stomping and cheering. Jolin’s was starting as a downer.

“When I was told I was going to give a speech today, I started to think about what it was I was going to talk about. School Spirit? The football team? How I would represent you as a king? And I thought…what the fuck?”

That got the crowd’s attention. Not to mention the principal’s.

“Sorry ‘bout that.” He tapped his head. “Head injury and all.” Jolin dropped his chin in what looked like a call for sympathy, but Ren guessed he was trying not to laugh.

“How the hel…I mean heck, is someone in this school going to be a king? I looked up the definition.” That got some snickers from the room. Jolin pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. “King. It means a man or boy who rules over a sovereign state. The ruler of a group. The biggest… the strongest of the bunch.” Jolin was silent as he folded the paper and slid it back into his pocket. “Am I to rule over the school? Am I the strongest and biggest of the group?”

The principal took a step forward, tapping his watch.

Jolin nodded his way.

“I have been doing a project on orangutans…”

The crowd laughed.

Jolin cleared his throat. “In their society, there is one leader. One king who fights all the others to get control of the group. And once he does, once he has shown he is the biggest and strongest, it is his job to take care of all the other members of the group. Not put them down or treat them as a lower species. It is to protect them. Isn’t that what ruling over the group means?” Jolin looked around the room. “Isn’t that what our king and queen are meant to do? To reach out to the ones needing help and support to keep the group strong? Do you all vote for them because by casting a vote for that person you have set on some imaginary pedestal, you think somehow they will accept you? They’ll
see
you? Make you one of
them
? Because you know what happens as soon as lead orangutan gets weak…or has an accident… the group kicks them out and chooses another quarterback. I mean leader. They aren’t inviting you into their society. They are recruiting you to do their bidding while they wait for the opportunity to knock the current leader out of the tree.”

The uncomfortable shifting began again.

“I understand the purpose for the title and the tradition, but high school is a snapshot of your life. It shouldn’t be like life in the jungle. We shouldn’t be struggling to survive. The weak don’t bring the whole group down. We have the ability to help bring others up. We are just beginning to become who we will be, and I want to be someone better. I want to take care of those that need it and are afraid to ask. I may not be the biggest or the strongest, but I can still open my eyes and see there are people in our school that need us to support them, to understand when they leave this school they have a life we have no idea about. Challenges. I mean no disrespect to the tradition of homecoming, and I wish you all the best, but I am respectfully declining the nomination.”

The entire gym went silent.

The principal quickly walked over and began talking before he lost control of the crowd. “That will be our last speech. Please take your ballots, fill them out and stuff the boxes outside the gym. Your third period teachers will be expecting you.”

Ren looked up to see Jolin making a direct line to her. She turned and tried to escape. She didn’t want to be the reason he tossed his future away. But Akeo wasn’t having it. He grabbed her shoulders and kept her there.

“Please,” she pleaded.

“He deserves to have you listen.”

The students filed down the bleachers, making it impossible to see Jolin anymore. Akeo blocked her from the masses with his body as the students pushed and shoved past them.

Jolin finally fought his way through.

He was giving up his chance to take his life back…to make his dad proud…he was choosing her. His expression looked hopeful. He was waiting for her to acknowledge what he’d said. Ren couldn’t find the words to express how his speech had touched her. How he told the entire school he saw through the smoke and mirrors.