Chapter 2

A Chapter by StundButerfly

It was easy to fall into the normal routine of school. Jayson got up early, took a shower, went downstairs to eat breakfast, woke up his sister, checked in on his mom, and left. He almost enjoyed the monotony of his routine. It was comforting

The walk to school was uneventful. It was cold and his breath came out in a fog. He liked this weather. Morning weather was the same in every place he had ever lived. Sometimes it was a little colder, but it was all the same to him. Jayson tried really hard to focus on his steps and the cars driving by so that he wouldn’t think about his mother’s black eye and his father’s abuse. He couldn’t afford to be angry this early in the morning; it would stay with him all day and that wasn’t the impression he wanted to give his new friends. Thoughts of his new friends brought up thoughts of Ricki. He wondered if Ricki would be as accepting as the other guys. If he was anything like his friends, he would be in a whole world of his own while still belonging to the universe of his friends.

Jayson got to school just as the bell rang. He didn’t wave to worry about being late; his locker was right by his first class. He grabbed his book out of the locker and walked into class, taking his seat next to Ristan. She smiled at him and the returned her attentions to the book she was reading. He couldn’t read the title, but the cover art looked a little scary. Jayson automatically tuned out the teacher and pulled out his sketch pad. He needed to calm himself, because, try as he might, he couldn’t get the image of his mother’s bruised face out of his head.

He put pencil to paper and didn’t really pay attention to what he was drawing, allowing his pencil to guide him. He had always loved to draw. When he was younger he had refused to speak, choosing instead to draw what he wanted. This has frustrated his father, but his mother had found it endearing. He eventually grew out of it, but the need to draw remained. It was his escape from the suffocating world he lived it. He never really thought he was that great of an artist, it was just something that he enjoyed.

Halfway through the class he caught Ristan straining to see what he had sketched for the last half hour. He smiled to himself and barely managed to suppress his laughter at the concentration on her face. He moved the paper to the edge of his desk so that she could have a better look. After studying the picture for a moment, she looked up at him and mouthed, “Thanks,” before returning to her book. Jayson glanced down at what he had drawn, noticing for the first time that it was a young woman with what looked like bite marks on her neck. This was surprising since he usually drew animals. After adding a few minor details, he returned the sketch book to his bag. He thought about the girl he had drawn, wondering what had inspired the thought. Unable to come up with an explanation, he returned his attention to the teacher for the last part of class.

After the bell rang, Ristan and Jayson walked to their next class. He didn’t really say much, still trying to decipher his sketch, but Ristan sure kept up her part of the conversation. He thought she was blabbering away about something they were planning on doing that weekend. He caught mention of a park and a barbecue, so he smiled at her, pretending to listen.

“So I’ll text you with details, k?” she asked as they took their seats.

He nodded, and then turned to look at the front of the class, trying very hard to concentrate on the lecture. It was near impossible to keep his mind from the sketch. There was something almost familiar about the woman and that bugged him. He couldn’t remember ever actually meeting her, which confused him even more.

All too soon it was lunch. Jayson hadn’t been able to concentrate and was hoping that the scattered conversations at the table would distract him. He walked into the cafeteria and grabbed a tray of barely edible food. Ristan waved at him as he moseyed his way to the table. He got a head nod from Josh and Jeff, Chrissy smiled and Jo actually said hello. The moment he took his seat they resumed their conversations. Jayson didn’t really pay attention to any one in particular, but, he did allow himself to become enveloped by the happy chatter. A few minutes later, something spiked Ristan’s interest.

“Oh, there’s Ricky,” she said excitedly.

Jayson looked up, expecting to see a huge guy, but instead his gaze was met by the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. If one could even call her a girl; woman seemed a more accurate description. He allowed his eyes to run over her perfect body. She had dressed herself in a tight leather mini skirt and a gray-blue silk blouse that fit her curves nicely. She wore above the knee black boots that snapped up the side, which she had left unsnapped for the last four inches. On most girls, this outfit would have looked ho-ish, but on her it looked classy.

He reminded himself that he needed to breathe as he tore his eyes away. He looked down at his food and tried to calm himself, knowing that soon they would meet, and he didn’t want his words to come out jumbled. He was shaking as he fought for control. Who knew that a high school girl could cause this reaction? Jayson didn’t. He slowly looked up to find Ristan hugging this new addition to their table. It was only moments before he was introduced.

“Jayson, this is Ricky, Ricky, this is Jayson,” she told us, winking at him mischievously.

Jayson suddenly realized that Ristan had planned this the entire time. She didn’t tell him that Ricki was a girl on purpose. She wanted to see him founder when he met Ricki. He was never going to let her forget this, but apparently, neither was she.

“Hi,” Jayson stammered, sticking his hand out for her to shake.

“Hello,” she said confidently, taking his hand in a firm grip.

He met her eyes and say that she had the most beautiful violet eyes and dark brown hair that shined when the light hit it. Actually beautiful did not accurately describe her. Gorgeous didn’t even cover it. He couldn’t think of a word in any of the three languages that he spoke, English, Italian or German, that came even close to describing her.

“You’re new,” she said, although it was obvious.

“Yeah I just moved here last week,” He didn’t really want to talk about his reasons for moving, but he didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity to talk to her either.

“Let me guess, your dad is in the military and you move around a lot?” she asked politely.

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“I’m in the same boat. My dad says this is the last place we’re going to live because my mom is dying, but I doubt it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, I don’t mind. I got used to moving, I think of it as an adventure.”

“I never really looked at it that way,” Jayson couldn’t believe that they had this much in common, let alone that she was actually interested in talking to him.

“It made moving that much easier.” Ricki gave him a sad smile, and although they shared a common strife, he still couldn’t quite grasp that she was like him. Before long, the bell rang and they went their separate ways. Once he was in his class, he remembered his sketch.

At that moment it all came rushing back to him. He knew the girl in the sketch, or at least he knew her mother. He had just met the girl. In the lunchroom. He had met her once before thirteen years ago. Their fathers were stationed at the same base in Italy. She had been almost a spitting image of her mother, and now that she had grown up, the resemblance had grown stronger. Her mother was quite the remarkable woman, and Jayson was surprised that her health was failing. She had kept to herself most of the time, preferring to raise her children than waste time socializing with women she would probably never see again. Jayson remembered her because he had been playing outside and had tripped. She had been nearby so she came to help him bandage his knee. It was bleeding slightly and he recalled that when she caught sight of the blood, her nostrils had flared and she had stopped breathing. He didn’t think much of it then, but it had left an impression. Now that he had sketched her daughter two hours before meeting her, Jayson wondered just how much Ricki’s mother had changed.

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