The Understorey, Book One of The Leaving Series (9 page)

When she didn’t answer, I looked at her and
she nodded toward the front of the classroom. It was Mrs. Kitt. She
had been watching us and was headed our way. I turned over my book
and weren’t able to talk or write for the rest of the class. Jules
was definitely lowering her defenses and I was making plans to
disarm her completely by the end of the week.   

    On our way to lunch, Jules
and I walked side by side. I didn’t want to unnerve her so I stayed
pretty quiet. When I didn’t say anything, I clumsily gave her the
impression that I was no longer interested in talking.
    “See you third period,” she said and started
walking quickly toward her usual table.
I jogged to catch up with her.
    “Uh, I don’t think so Jules. I just got you to
start talking to me. Where do you think you’re going?”
    “Well, I didn’t think you’d want to be seen
eating lunch with the ‘freak’ of Bluefield High,” she
laughed.
She was being sarcastic. She knew that was her reputation and
probably reveled in it.
    “Is there a freak here? Point them out to me?
I’ve never seen one up close before.”

She rolled her eyes.

“You sure do make a lot of assumptions about
me,” I said. “Why don’t you just throw out whatever preconceived
notions you hold of who you think I am and consider me a blank
slate. Now come on, let’s sit at your table. It’ll be easier to
talk if we’re alone.”

I grabbed her hand and the surge permeated my
skin and gave me the most luxurious calm pulsing through my arm and
torso. We sat down and she stared at the wall away from me.
    “So, Julia Jacobs, why do you sit here day after
day by yourself? Don’t you have any friends at Bluefield?”
    “Yikes. You’re nosy. If you must know,” she
said, placing her elbow on the table and leaning her body toward
me, “none of the girls here like me because of Taylor Williams’
noxious gossip and none of the boys like me because they’re afraid
of me.”
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t know about the girls.
Honest. I don’t listen to anything anyone says about others around
here. Gossip just doesn’t appeal to me.”
    “I find that................refreshing,” she
mused, her eyes brightened.

She reclined again in her seat and brought
her legs to the chair next to her
    “There are lots of things you might find
refreshing
about me.”
    “I’ll be the judge of that.”
    “As far as the boys are concerned, I can see why
they’d be afraid of you.”
    “Ha! That was rude.”
    “Are you surprised? You sulk around here. Pay
little to no attention to anyone and sneer at the ones who even
attempt to talk to you.”
    “You don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s
a matter of self preservation. You think I enjoy having to be ‘put
up’ with? What would you know about it anyway? You’re just as much
of a freak, or whatever their definition of a freak is, as I am.
Yet, since you’re the king of their football team they look right
past it. I know you listen to all the same music I do. I know that
you secretly think my clothing is kind of cool.” She slid her hands
down her waist. “I have a pretty good feeling that you can’t stand
most of your lemming friends and I’m also willing to bet you don’t
really care what they think.”
    “Oh yeah? And what makes you think I don’t care
what they think? They are my friends after all.”
    “Because you’re sitting at this table while your
friends
whisper and stare.” She threw her eyes in the
direction of the team table. “If you cared so much, you wouldn’t be
here at all. You’re perfectly aware of the trouble I’m going to
cause you by being here right now. Still, here you are.”

She had hit the nail on the head. I didn’t
care. I only cared, selfishly I admit, for my ownreputation because
I was a teenager and hopelessly shallow in the matters of position
within the young community. However difficult it was to keep up the
false pretense of our town’s expectations of me, I knew too well,
as Jules did, the load of being the town’s black sheep. I chose the
former because it seemed easier.
    “Truthfully Elliott Gray? I’m confident you’re
as sick of this place as I am but you just quite haven’t figured
out how to let it go. You’re too afraid of losing the security of
your popularity that you’d rather not risk being unique and
possibly opening yourself up to new and amazing things. You’re too
afraid to be yourself and that’s just pathetic to me. Now, if
you’ll excuse me.”

She gathered her bag and made her way toward
the door leaving me stunned by the sudden turn of events.
My,
my, my! Who does Julia Jacobs thinks she is?
I immediately
stood to chase after her. I wasn’t about to give her the last
word.

Outside of the cafeteria I caught her arm and
pressed her back against a locker. She looked at me with shocked
eyes as the electricity clung and snapped against the lockers
around us. I kept my hand on her arm to help drive the point
home.

    “Who do you think you are
passing a judgment like that on me? You don’t know me. You’ve never
bothered to find out if I was the same Elliott or not. You don’t
like to be judged by your appearance or actions and yet look at the
massive contradiction that is you judging me by mine! I was trying
to get to know you again Jules. I wanted to know more about you and
not because I had ulterior motives but because I was sincerely
interested in you. You should know this.
This”
I said
gesturing with my free hand around us,
“
should be proof
enough.”

I let go of her arm and we both relaxed from
the release of the lit tension. She stared seriously into my
eyes.

    “I’m.....I’m sorry
Elliott. You’re right. I, I did judge you unfairly.”
    “Well, good,” I said, running my fingers through
my hair, “and I’m sorry if I ever gave you the impression that I
was
anything
like the idiots just beyond those doors.”
She smiled and sniffed.
    “So?” I asked.
    “So, I think that maybe you should call me
tonight.”
    “Seriously? That would be really nice.”
    “Alright. Here.”

She grabbed my hand and took a pen from the
inside pocket of her bag. She wrote her number on my palm then
looked up at me and smiled before releasing our grip.

    “If this were a movie,
this would be where we break away from one another and the gooey
music would be cued, but....” I said.
    “But we still have like twenty minutes of lunch
together? And third period next?”
I moved next to Jules at the lockers. We slid to the linoleum floor
in unison.

We ate and passed back and forth simple
questions like, what’s your favorite color? Things like that. We
had things in common that didn’t really matter much on paper but,
to me, were an indication of the things to come.

Also, we shared birthdays. I had forgotten
about that. Growing up we were always aware that we’d have to plan
our parties around the other until, that is, Jules no longer threw
them. It didn’t seem that significant then but intimidated me now.
I wondered what it meant. Feel like adding weirder to the already
weird? Our birth date was February, 29th, leap year.

We talked music, food, movies, books and when
they bell rang, much, much too soon, we headed for third period.
Without even skin contact, I could tell her heart was lighter and
that mine beat in rhythm with hers.

That night, I asked my mom if I could borrow
her cell. I borrowed it all the time to talk privately in my room
because Maddy had a tendency to get on the other line and
eavesdrop, so my mom thought nothing of it. I picked up the phone
and ran up the creaky kitchen wooden stairs to my room. My hand
shook as I nervously dialed the number written on my hand. Three
rings. Her dad answered.

“Hello? Jacobs’ residence.”

“Hello? Mr. Jacobs? This is Elliott Gray. May
I speak with Jule, uh, Julia please?”

“Just a moment.”

The silent wait was torturous. My bouncing
knee would have kept time with a hummingbird’s wings.
    “Hello?”
    “Hello? Just hello?”
    “Hi Elliott.”
    “Jules.”
She didn’t correct her name. My heart swelled.
    “Can you talk?” I asked.
    “Just a sec,” she said and laid her hand over
the receiver before continuing, “Pop, please? I’m beggin’ you.”
There was a ruffling sound and a chair scooting backward. “Thank
you! I hereby retract calling your love for ‘Tiny Dancer’
lame!”
She yelled the last part then laughed.
    “Okay Gray. It’s not true, by the way. I love
that song, especially after ‘Almost Famous’, but if I let him know
that, he’d never let me live it down.”
    “You’re funny Jules.”
    “Nah. So, did you get all your homework
done?”

“What are you my mother?” I teased.

“Um, no. That would be gross.”

I laughed.
    “Why would that be gross? My actual mother
doesn’t feel that way. At least, I don’t think she does.”
    “Because that would mean we’d have to change
your name to Oedipus and mine to Jocasta.”
    “Yup, that would be gross. Those names are
hideous.”
    “Hardy, har, har.”

“We wouldn’t have to change names, just yet,
anyway. We’d have to marry first, then have children who also
happen to be my siblings,” I said.

“You’re right. What was a I
thinking?......Uh, this conversation has taken a turn down ‘I never
thought I’d talk about something like this’ lane. Serious change of
subject por favor?”

    “Hey, you brought it up
Freud,” I said, both of us laughing. “How about we start over by
you telling me something about yourself that no one else
knows.”
    “Um, I have nothing to tell,” she said.
    “Um? You hesitated. Besides,
everyone
has
secrets. Are you afraid to tell me?”
    “Well, I’ve got
one
but I’d never tell
it, especially not to you.”
    “Come on! I’ve got to know now. Would it help if
I told you one about me first? Then, would you tell?”
    “Nope.”
    “Oh come on Jules! Now that you’ve piqued my
interest you’re just going to leave me dangling on your hook?
That’s some cruel bait there Jules.”
    “Alright, fine but if you so much as
think
of letting it pass your own lips, even on your death
bed, you’re a dead man Gray.”
    “If I’m already on my death bed you can’t very
well threaten me with death, can you? What would be my motivation
to keep quiet?”

“Gray.”

“Okay, scouts honor. You can’t see it but I’m
crossing my heart and hoping to die.”

“Good.”
I waited.
    “No, baby. You’ve got to go first!” She said
laughing.
    “Alright, alright, alright.” I sighed loudly,
trying to think.

“Okay. Well, if I had my druthers I’d rather
stay home on Friday nights and watch seventies era BBC
comedies.”
Complete silence.
    “Are you kidding me? That’s your
big
secret
? My God Elliott! That’s almost boasting. There’s no way
I’m gonna’ tell mine now! Especially since you used a word like
‘druthers’.”
    “Oh come on Jules! I just can’t think of
anything juicy right now. Please Jules!”
    “No sir. No way. Not after a revealing bit of
information like that. How could I possibly follow the scandal that
is nineteen seventies era British television? Gimme’ a break!” She
laughed. “I mean, if you had said something like, ‘On Friday nights
I’d rather lounge around and watch old BBC reruns on PBS while I
switch the heads on my sister’s Barbie dolls. Now, that would have
been something. I could have worked with that but no, I would just
humiliate myself now.”
    “Switch the heads on my sister’s Barbie
dolls?”
She laughed.

“What is wrong with you?” I asked. “Alright,
hold on. Let me think........Okay. Okay, I think I’ve got one.
Okay, don’t tell
anyone
but once a month, I volunteer at
Shady Pine’s retirement community and play cards and games with the
older residents who don’t have much family.”

I think I heard a pin drop.

“Anyway,” I continued, “I have to admit it’s
one of my favorite things to do.”
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
    “Seriously Gray? Seriously! ‘Don’t tell
anyone’,” she mocked, “‘but I’m a super nice person who likes to
spend time with old people....Tee hee!’ My God Gray! Just sit
tight. Whew! I’ve got to tell you my secret just to explain to you
what a secret truly is.”
I laughed.
    “Alright,” she sighed, “over the summer I drove
Carmen down to....”
    “Who’s Carmen?” I interrupted.
    “Oh, right. Carmen is my Karmann Ghia.”
    “Oh,” I chuckled.
    “Anyway, over the summer I drove Carmen to the
creek, near the rock bridge, that we used to fish for tadpoles in.
Remember it?”

“Yeah, I remember. The shallow pool?”

“Yeah. So, I got out and trekked the little
quarter mile to the creek and enjoyed the beautiful nature of it
all. Well, it was July and it was getting kind of hot and I was
dying to jump in but didn’t want to get my clothes wet.” I shifted
uncomfortably in my computer chair. “So, I looked around to ensure
that no one was there. I mean, it is in the middle of nowhere and
you and I are the only two people in the world that I knew of who
had any idea where it was so I took off my cut-off’s and my tank
top and left them with my flip flops on that tree stump that got
hit by lightning when we were kids at the edge of the creek.
Anyway, so I dove in. I was having a marvelous time just swimming
and enjoying the cool water but when I got out and started for the
stump where my clothes were, they weren’t there. I started to worry
that someone had seen me and I kind of began to panic until I
remembered that I had left half a candy bar in my shorts’ pocket.
That’s when I noticed the raccoon tracks trailing away from the
scene of its crime.”

    “What’d you do?” I said,
swallowing hard.
    “The only thing I could do. I put on my flip
flops and walked back to Carmen in my underwear.”
I laughed so hard.
    “How did you drive through town without people
noticing?”
    “Well, when I got back to the car I remembered I
had an old hand towel from my Tribal dance class in the back so I
draped it over my chest and practically sped through town. I say,
practically
sped because I didn’t want to risk embarrassing
myself or your Uncle Danny.”
My Uncle Danny was the town’s sheriff.
    “Oh my gosh, that’s hilarious.”
    “Well then came the hard part.”
    “The hard part?”
    “Yeah, so I made it home right? My parents
weren’t there and I had no way of calling for help. Plus, go
figure, I only had one key and it was for the front door, meaning
the back wasn’t an option. I parked the car as close to the house
as possible to avoid exposure and studied the neighborhood for a
second. I didn’t notice anyone or anything so I rushed out and
bolted up my porch to the front door. Just then, my neighbor,
Sawyer Tuttle,” She paused.”Do you know him? He’s in our Chemistry
class.”
    “Yeah,” I laughed, “I know him. I sit next to
him in class.”
    “Oh, anyway, Sawyer comes sauntering around to
the front of his house from the side and catches me in all of my
underwear glory. Well, there was no sense in hiding because he’d
already seen everything. Plus, like a deer in headlights, the kid
just stared with his mouth open. He didn’t even bother turning
around. So, I winked at him and finally opened the door.” She took
a deep breath. “And that’s my secret. Well, mine and Sawyer’s
secret. Well, mine, Sawyer’s and that naughty raccoon’s
secret.”
    “And mine,” I threw in.
    “Yes, our secret.”
No wonder Tut stared at Jules the way he did. I couldn’t blame him
but that didn’t change the fact that I still wanted to bash his
face in.
    “You know, I said something that
no one
else knew. Sawyer knew.”
    “Whoa buddy! It counts. Trust me. It
counts.”
We both laughed.