by Meg Brenner
“Well, I guess that’s about it for this one. Stay tuned for more.” And with that, the CD went completely blank. I sat in the silence of my room. I kept my eyes straight on the computer screen. It had gone black, waiting for me to wake it back up again.
I nearly jumped out of my skin the second that my Mom knocked on my door. I threw the blue case into my drawer just as soon as my Mom came in. “That Keiffer boy sure is nice, isn’t he?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess so.”
“Why don’t you introduce him to Brad tomorrow. He seems shy, like he could really use a friend. Besides, he came in halfway through his senior year, I bet he’s nervous.”
I shook my head slightly. “Yeah, sure.”
“Yeah, sure, as whatever, mom? Or yeah, sure, I’ll do it?”
I shrugged my shoulders again. “I’ll introduce him.”
“Good, that’s what I like to hear.” She kissed me lightly on my forehead before slipping back out into the hallway. I opened the desk drawer again and pulled out the blue case. Snapping the CD back into it, I placed it high up on my book shelf so no one could see it. This was going to be an interesting semester, I could already tell.
Chapter Three
By the time Friday came along I was in no mood for a party. My mom had made invitations to pass out to all my little friends. I had been mortified handing them out, but I did it anyway. I had only spoken one or two words to Keiffer within the past few days. He seemed to have been ignoring me through class and even when I smiled at him in the hallway he would keep walking, not a single expression on his face. The most we talked was when I handed him his invitation.
I found him that afternoon during lunch. He was sitting at his usual lunch table – the one all the way in the corner. He sat by himself, though he never seemed to mind. I had watched him for the past few days while eating lunch. No one even tried to come up to him to talk, whereas I had practically the whole cafeteria’s attention. However, never once did he even look up from the book he was reading.
After passing out all of the invitations, besides one, I excused myself from my lunch table and walked over to his. I could feel the stares from my fellow peers as I stood across from him. I cleared my throat nervously, waiting for him to finally acknowledge my presence – in which he never did.
“Are you going to let me sit down, or make me stand all day?” I asked, embarrassed over the cold-shoulder he was giving me.
“You need an invitation, neighbor?” He said without looking up at me. I slowly bent down, sitting across from him as he continued reading. Placing my bag on the table, I ruffled through it and took out his invitation.
“Funny you should say that. I’m having a party at my house tomorrow night. Nothing exciting. There’s only going to be a few of us, but you’re more than welcome to come if you’d like to.” I slid the paper across the table to him. He finally looked up from his book, his eyes meeting mine.
“Brad gonna be there?”
I nodded my head. “Brad, Lacey, the girls from the cheer team. I even invited some of Brad’s football friends so maybe you can get in good with them.”
“I don’t want to get in good with them,” he answered rudely.
“It’s just a party, Keiffer…I’m not asking you to sell your soul to the devil or anything,” I tried to push the invitation towards him again, but he pushed it back to me. “Did I do something to offend you? Listen, I know I haven’t been the nicest person to you, but after the CD –“
“SHHH!” He scolded, looking around the cafeteria.
“I didn’t tell anyone,” I reassured him. “Anyway, ever since that you’ve been avoiding me. What gives?” I didn’t know why I even cared that he was ignoring me, but I just kind of did.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I opened my mouth to retaliate but then a strong hand grabbed onto my shoulder. Knowing immediately that it was Brad, I jumped to my feet and turned my back towards Keiffer. For some reason I felt embarrassed that I had been talking to him. It was like I was feeling guilty over nothing.
“Hey, Brad.”
“Who’s this?” Brad asked, looking around my shoulder at Keiffer. I tucked my hair nervously behind my ears. “You’re the new kid, aren’t you?”
Keiffer nodded his head. “New kid, old kid, who cares. My name’s Keiffer.” He extended his hand toward Brad, who shook it with hesitation. “You must be Brad.”
“How do you know?” Brad asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
The same odd smile crossed Keiffer’s face again. I knew he was up to something – he was always up to something. “Oh, not a big deal. I just recognized you from the picture next to Jenna’s bed.”
“What?!” Brad said angrily. His face was turning red and my heart began to pump wildly.
“It’s not how you think,” I started.
“Blue’s a good color on you, pal. Really brings out your eyes.” Now Keiffer was just dangling this in front of Brad. I was growing angry, but also growing nervous. Brad pointed his finger at Keiffer from across the table.
“I swear, I’ll kill you if you go near Jenna. Do you hear me? I’ll kill you!” He spat at Keiffer. I opened my mouth to try to calm everything down, but before I could get a single word out, he began pointing the same finger at me. “And you? Jenna, how could you do this to me? Why was he in your room?”
“Brad –“ I began.
“Why was he in your bed?”
“It’s not how it sounds – “
Instead of listening to me, Brad turned around and hustled out of the cafeteria. By this time, everyone had grown quiet and listening to our conversation. Tears swelled up in my eyes as I followed him out of the cafeteria. By the time I got into the hallway, Brad was already too far away to talk to.
“He’s just my neighbor, Brad!” I yelled down the hallway. He didn’t stop walking.
“Wow, he sure got mad fast,” Keiffer smiled as he stood next to me in the hallway, my backpack swung across his shoulder.
“You had no right!” I spat at him. The tears finally started to roll down my cheeks. “I’ve been dating him for four years! Four years! We’ve never had a fight before!”
“Never? Wow…” he pushed his hair back. “It’s not healthy for you to never have a fight.”
“What’s wrong with you?” I pushed his shoulder slightly. I never became physical when I was angry, but I was still frustrated. “Just because it didn’t work out between your mom and dad, doesn’t mean that it can’t work for anyone else, okay? And if we’re going to be friends or whatever than you can’t do stuff like this to me!” I grabbed my backpack off from his shoulder angrily.
“I didn’t ask to be invited,” he retaliated.
“Then don’t come!” I practically screamed at him. The bell rang and the students began to file out from the cafeteria and into the hallway where we were. Just like always, the crowd walked around me, making a ring around us.
“I wasn’t planning to,” he said slowly. He unhooked his sunglasses from his t-shirt and put them over his eyes. Without a single sign of remorse, he stepped out into the hustling crown and became one with them. I felt my anger rise at the thought of him leaving the conversation without a single explanation of why he did what he did.
By the time cheer practice came along, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with anyone. Honestly, I just wanted to crawl into a well-deserved hole and never come out until everything was right. I had the girls doing laps around the gymnasium. They begged and pleaded for me to let up on them, but at that moment I felt like I could’ve run a whole army. I had so much anger built up in me that I never wanted them to stop.
After three miles of non-stop running, I called them in. They were panting, their faces beat red. One girl ran to the bathroom to throw up because she was so fatigued. In a way I felt bad that I was punishing them for something that they had nothing to do with them. However, this was my one way that I could get my frustration out. I kind of lik
ed looking into their dripping faces. How sick was that?
“Hustle!” I yelled, my voice echoing a million times against the walls. “Come’on! Get in position!” The girls jogged over to the middle of the basketball court, still panting like a dog. Once they were in place I started to count. “One…two…three” I counted. Once I got to three they started their routine. We had gone through the same routine for the last couple of months, which meant they had it down solid. But with graduation right around the corner I wanted to make sure that they were on their A-game.
We had put together a five minute routine that we would be performing on graduation day up on the stage. It was like a final goodbye for the seniors. It was always very sentimental for those who were graduating. In a way I was happy that graduation was only four months away. I was tired of this responsibility.
One of the girls pointed to the stands behind me. I turned around, locking eyes with Brad. He sat on the top bleachers, staring down at me. I tore my attention away from the girls, who continued to perform the routine. Once I got to the top step, Brad stood to his feet. He handed me a dozen red roses that I took cautiously. I felt the corners of my lips pull down. He was the reason why I was in such a bad mood.
“I don’t know what happened at lunch,” he started. His own eyes looked bloodshot, which made me start to cry. “I’m so sorry about my behavior, Jenna. I don’t ever want to fight again.”
“Me either,” I admitted. He wrapped me in a hug. I melted against his skin…this was exactly what I had wanted. He kissed me lightly on the lips.
“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I don’t want to give it up because of jealousy…”
“There’s nothing to be jealous of,” I said while wiping my eyes. “I swear. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you. Keiffer is my neighbor, okay? That’s all. My mom wanted me to introduce you guys. That’s why I talked to him –“
“You know what? It doesn’t matter. This Keiffer guy doesn’t have anything on me,” he laughed. “You’re my girlfriend which means I have dibs first.”
“Most definitely!” I kissed him again. The girls on the squad started whistling and we pulled apart, both blushing slightly. “Girls!” I playfully yelled. “Take it from the top!” The girls all complained but within seconds they were restarting the whole routine.
“Well, I’m late for work. Tom’s going to kill me if he finds out – and you know he will. Midshift always tells on us,” he laughed. “Take the night off, okay? I can handle the shop tonight.” He touched the necklace that was around my neck. It was a present that he had given me last Christmas. It was the first step to a Promise Ring.
“Are you sure you can handle it?” I teased.
“Take the night off, sweetie. You do enough every day. And you know what? Let these girls have the night off too. You all work too hard. Do you want me to come over tonight after work? We can do some homework or something?” He held my hands and started swinging them lightly.
“It’ll be late by the time you’ll get there,” I answered.
He shrugged his shoulders. “We’ll cuddle. Just like old times.” I agreed and he finally left to go to work. I took his advice and let the girls off early. Though I felt like I should have kept them there the whole time, I knew he was right. These girls were always willing to take my commands, even when they didn’t feel like it was necessary. Even the valedictorian needed a break once in a while.
Coming home five hours early before normal felt strange. My parents had gone out to dinner, like they did every Friday night. I called Lacey and we talked a bit. She seemed like she was getting better, but she still had a wicked cough. I went straight up to my room, hoping to get some reading time in. I set my backpack on the floor next to my desk, opened my window, and laid down on my bed. The ceiling fan slightly turned above me, which gave a dull breeze. I felt my eye lids get heavy. No matter what I did, I couldn’t stay awake.
Three hours later I was awoken by the worst sound in history. My head jerked up and my book that had been resting neatly on my stomach fell to the ground with a loud thud. Outside my window came the sound of super loud rock music. It was nothing like I had ever heard before. It was so loud that the glass of water, that I had been drinking the night before, had a slight ripple going through it. I jumped to my feet and ran towards the window. Of course the God-awful music was coming from Keiffer’s house. Fury ran through me.
Pounding on his front door felt good. It felt like I was punching his face in. No matter how long I knocked on the door, no one answered. Anger kept filling me as I pounded harder and louder on the door…all while not getting a single answer. With careful consideration, I opened the door and let myself in. If I thought the music was loud from my house, it was nine hundred times worse in his.
I followed the music up the stairs until I was standing outside of his room. There was a sticker in the middle of his door of a blue surfboard. I knew for sure that that must have been his room. I pounded on that door, but still no response. Without a thought in mind, I threw open the door, scanning the room for the CD player that was letting out the awful music. I ran over to the corner where the player was sitting and ripped the plug out of the wall.
“Can I help you, neighbor?” Keiffer’s voice filled the void of the music. He was standing there in a white towel…only. I couldn’t help but noticed how ripped his body was. He had a six pack and was about nine shades darker than what I could ever imagine being. He almost looked like he stepped right out of a Men’s Fitness magazine. His hair was dripping wet as he stood there with that same dumb smile spread across his face.
I quickly turned my back to him, holding my breath. “I’m so sorry!” I squealed at the sight of him. My cheeks were turning red as I stared at the wall instead of him. I should have waited for him to answer. Just think if he wasn’t even wearing a towel!
By the sounds of it, I could hear his rustling in his dresser drawers for clothes. After a few seconds he told me that he was dressed. I don’t know what’s dressed to him but all he had on was a pair of khaki cargo shorts. I still tried to advert my eyes, though his body was very inviting.
“Is there a reason why you turned off my music?” He asked, laying across his bed.
“Is that what you call it?” I snapped. He smiled while picking up the plush football that he kept next to his bed. He started tossing it in the air and catching it. He didn’t answer my snotty question. “Don’t you think it was a little loud?”
“Loud?” He caught the football and turned his direction towards me. “311 could never be loud enough.” He waited for me to respond, but I had no idea who that band even was. “311? You don’t know 311?”
“Don’t act so surprised,” I snarled. “In fact, I’m glad I’ve never heard of them because by the sounds of it…they kind of suck.”
“No, no they don’t. Jenna, have you ever heard any of their songs?” He stood up from the bed and snatched the player from my hands. “What kind of music do you like? They have everything.”
“Well, I know for a fact that I don’t like any of their crappy music,” I responded. He motioned for me to sit down on his bed. He placed a new CD into the player.
“You’ll probably like this song. It’s called Amber,” he paused so he could see my reaction. The song was actually pretty good. I felt myself begin to relax with the beat. It sounded like something that Keiffer would listen to. It sounded hippish. It sounded fun. “So do you like it?” He asked while swinging with the music.
I shrugged my shoulders. “It’s okay,” I lied.
“Okay? It’s only like the greatest music of all time. You know what? I’ll make you a mixed tape of their songs. Trust me, you’ll love them.” He sat down at his computer and started to work on it.
I really did want the CD so I didn’t try to argue against him. Instead I got up from the bed and started walking around his room. It was messy, but I kind of figured it would be. Brad’s room was clean like me – which made us a goo
d couple. We both liked to have order in our lives. Keiffer, however, liked to spread everything out around his room…including on the floor.
My eyes ran across a photo that he had tucked behind a baseball on his dresser. It was of a young boy holding a baseball in his hand. An older man, who looked a bit like the boy, stood behind him, a big smile on his face. I turned to look at Keiffer…who had stopped making the tape and sat staring at his computer. I placed the picture back, not wanting to say anything.
“My dad,” he finally responded.
“You lied.” I tucked my hair behind my ears. He didn’t respond but just kept his gaze straight forward. “You said that your dad passed away before you were born.” I started to walk towards him, but suddenly his mood changed. He scrambled to his feet, his face showing no signs of a smile.
“Everybody lies, Jenna. Everybody. No one is perfect…not even you.” He pointed towards his bedroom door. “You need to leave.”
“Keiffer, I didn’t mean to pry. You don’t have to tell me anything –“
“Leave! I’ll give you the tape Monday at school,” he snapped. His voice was getting rougher by each second that passed.
I began to grow worried for him. How was he able to change emotions so quickly? I reached my hands towards him, hoping that he might cool down. “Keiffer, if you need to talk to someone about it –“
“Then it won’t be you! I don’t need anyone. I don’t need you, I don’t need my mom, I don’t need anyone. Get out of my house now!” He pointed even harder at the door. I didn’t need to be told again. I hurried down the stairs and ran out of his house without looking back. His sudden change of mood scared me to death. How was he able to be hot and cold in only a few seconds?
Chapter Four
Saturday came before I knew it. My mom told me to only invite a few choice people, but those people knew other people, who knew other people, so it turned out to be a huge house party. My parents had decided to sneak out for the night so we had the whole house for the party.
