The Art of Life

by Carter, Sarah

  My hand instantly goes to my neck and my stomach turns. All I whisper is, “Jeremy.”

  “Yes, well we were leaving,” he growls. Jeremy puts his arm around my back, and leads me outside.

  I start to choke on my breath. My chest tightens and tears well up in my eyes. “Did she see?” I gasp. “Did she see!?”

  “No,” Cassandra says, coming up next to me. “You can’t see anything. I promise.”

  We get to the car, and I climb in back. I hang my head and start to cry. Jeremy actually gets in on the other side of the car and sits next to me. He wraps his arms around me. I place my face into his shoulder as the tears come out. “She is such a…..” Jeremy growls.

  “Isabelle,” Kent says. “We promise she didn’t see anything. It’s not visible. The scarf completely covers it, and we wouldn’t let you go out if it didn’t.”

  I look up and sniffle. “I….I just don’t want anyone to see, especially her. I mean if she saw it, it would become so bad. The whole school would know and who knows where she would say that it came from.” My head turns to Jeremy. “I am afraid people will think it’s you, because they know nothing of my home life.”

  Jeremy grimaces. “Geesh, I never thought about that, but I don’t care what people think. As long as the police know the truth, we are all good. The other ones can kiss my butt. The people who matter know I would never, ever, ever hurt you.”

  “I know,” I whisper. We just stare into each other’s eyes and he strokes his fingers down the sides of my face.

  “Well, I thoroughly dislike that girl,” Cassandra declares in the front seat. “We were having such a good time, and she ruined it.”

  Shaking my head, I say, “No, I think I got it out of my system. I am with you guys now and I know nothing will happen. It just scared me so badly. If she saw……it would be the end to a lot of things.”

  “Well, what do you want to do now?” Jeremy asks me.

  I think about it for a moment and reply, “Go grocery shopping. There is this tea that I want to get. It helps me sleep at night. If that’s alright with you.”

  “Most definitely,” Jeremy states. “Do you guys want to drop us off at my car?”

  “No,” Kent says. “I need to pick up a few things, too, so we will go with.”

  Sitting back in my chair, I smile. I need to learn to not let Sonya get to me. These are the people who care about me. I need to concentrate on that.

  We go grocery shopping and it is absolutely ridiculous. Cassandra and I have to keep putting food back, because the guys want to buy every piece of junk food that we see. When we get home, Cassandra and Kent leave right away.

  As they are walking out, Cassandra turns to me. “I am coming to hang out with you tomorrow while Jeremy is at work. Plan to have a fun day.”

  “What are we doing?” I inquire.

  “It’s a surprise,” Cassandra replies. “Just be ready by 10.”

  With a chuckle, I sigh, “Okay.”

  They wave and then leave. Jeremy and I go into the kitchen and start to put stuff away. “If it is alright with you, I am going to go for a run tonight. I haven’t in days, and I am starting to feel sluggish,” Jeremy says, as he put all the plastic bags together.

  “Okay,” I reply. “I should be fine. I will just lock the doors.”

  “Are you sure?”

  I nod, “Yeah, positive.”

  “Good,” he replies. “I am going to go get ready then. I don’t want it to be too chilly outside.”

  “Okely dokely,” I retort.

  Jeremy goes to get ready for his run. I walk into my room and grab my book that I have been reading. Plopping down on my bed, I open it up. A few minutes later, Jeremy comes to my door. “I am going to go. I will lock the dead bolt behind me.”

  “Thanks,” I say, putting down my books for a second.

  “You want to come with?” He asks.

  Scoffing, I exclaim, “Um, NO!”

  “One of these days you are going on run with me,” Jeremy laughs.

  Shaking my head, I declare, “Not on your life.”

  “We will see about that. I am going to lock the door, okay?”

  “Yup.”

  He comes walking over and kisses me on the head. “I will be back soon.”

  “Have fun,” I whisper.

  He ruffles my hair and then turns to leave. I listen to him open the door. The sound of the dead bolt locking makes me feel better. Opening my book back up, I start to read. A while later, I start to get groggy, so I close my eyes. When my side lamp gets turned off, I open my eyes. Jeremy is standing there. “Hey, go back to sleep,” he murmurs.

  I sit up and say, “I need to brush my teeth.”

  “Alright, I will let you in the bathroom first.”

  Smiling, I get up and go to get ready for bed. When I come out of the bathroom, Jeremy is standing in the living room. He is standing there in his running pants, with no shirt on. I kind of stand there for a second, staring at him. He does look really good. I can’t lie. Seeming to sense me, he turns. “I wanted to say good night,” I declare timidly.

  “Okay toots, Cassandra will be here tomorrow. I will doubly make sure to lock the door when I leave in the morning,” Jeremy replies.

  “Thanks, good night,” I say.

  “Sleep well.”

  Turning, I smile and go to bed.

  Chapter 16

  I wake up the next morning, I shoot up in bed. I didn’t have nightmares! I didn’t have nightmares! I clap my hands in excitement, and then stop. I am seriously not clapping my hands. Happily, I get out of bed. The clock says 8:30. Cool, I have time to eat breakfast and get ready.

  Walking into the kitchen, I find coffee already made. There is a note propped up against the pot. It reads: Izzy, good thing, bad thing. Good thing, you didn’t seem to have nightmares last night. Bad thing, I kind of missed you. Have fun with Cassandra today. I will probably text you at lunch. Don’t get into trouble. Jeremy.

  Aww, that actually makes my heart swell. He missed me? Seriously? Wow, okay. I put the note down and stare at it. Why does part of me want to keep this note? Put it somewhere safe, and keep it? I shake my head. That’s silly. I take the note and crumple it up. Turning, I toss it into the garbage, but part of me feels torn. Taking a deep breath, I go on with my morning.

  A while after ten, there is a knock on the door. I walk over to it, “Yeah?”

  “Isabelle, it’s Cassandra. Are you ready?”

  Opening the door, I answer, “Yes.”

  Cassandra is standing there, with a huge smile on her face. “Did Jeremy leave you a key?”

  “I have no idea. Come in. I will check.” I open the door wider and Cassandra walks in. “He left a note, but didn’t mention a key.”

  “Well, I didn’t exactly tell him we were leaving,” Cassandra replies. “We can stop by his work and pick it up on our way back.”

  I nod. “Where are we going?”

  “It’s a surprise,” she giggles. “You need to experience more girl stuff. Soooooo, we are going to be busy for the next few hours.”

  We look but there seems to be no key anywhere. “Jeremy said he would probably text me today, so I will ask him about a key.”

  “Sounds good, we need to go though, so we aren’t late.”

  I grab my jacket and reply, “Let’s go.” We drive across town. “Where are we going?” I finally ask.

  “You will see,” Cassandra replies, with a smile.

  When we pull up to a building, I just look at her. “Really?”

  “Yes, get out of the car,” she commands.

  As we enter said building, I am overwhelmed. “This may be a little too girly for me.”

  “Nonsense, sometime in their life, a girl should experience a manicure and pedicure.”

  Looking at Cassandra, I whine, “I just learned to fight back yesterday. The next step is not to go get your nails done!”

  “Yes, it is. Shush, we are a few minutes late for our appoi
ntment.” I begrudgingly walk over to the receptionist with her. “Yes, two appointments under Cassandra Voight.”

  The receptionist nods and gestures for us to follow her. “I hate you,” I hiss under my breath. Cassandra just smiles and ignores me.

  Two girls meet us at the pedicure chairs. One says, “My name is Kelli and this is Jasmine. We will be taking care of you.”

  “My name is Cassandra, this is Isabelle,” Cassandra replies.

  Jasmine grins. “Well, Isabelle, if you want to take a seat, we can get started.”

  My gaze turns to Cassandra and daggers nearly shoot out of my eyes. This seems to make her grin even more. I take my shoes off and climb onto the chair. Jasmine fills up the pedicure tub and has me put my feet in it. “What kind of polish would you like?” She asks.

  “Polish?” I say. “Who said anything about polish?”

  “You are going to get your nails painted,” Cassandra snaps playfully. “Tell them a color you want. Then they let you pick from a whole bunch of them.”

  I hang my head. “I don’t know. You pick and NO PINK!”

  Cassandra smiles. “What is your favorite color?”

  “Blue,” I reply.

  Jasmine interjects, “Oh, we have some really fun blues. I will go get them, while you soak your feet.”

  She and Kelli leave and I take a deep breath. Okay, the foot bath actually feels nice. “So, let me ask you a question,” Cassandra starts. I look over at her. “I have been dying to ask you. What is going on with you and Jeremy?”

  “What do you mean?” I ask.

  “Seriously Isabelle, you guys are the most ridiculously cute couple. I love Kent and all, but he doesn’t even look at me the way Jeremy does at you.”

  My mouth drops open. “Jeremy does NOT look at me in any sort of way. We are FRIENDS.”

  “Yeah, okay, friends who are in the bathroom together, friends who end up on the floor with each other, friends that kiss each other like it’s nothing, and trust me, that was not Jeremy just kissing a girl, that was a kiss that had some feeling behind it,” Cassandra states.

  “What? No. That’s ridiculous. We are friends, so there will be a little emotion behind it, because we care about each other, but not like that. No, not with Jeremy,” I stutter.

  Cassandra just raises an eyebrow. “Nothing else has happened. He hasn’t done ANYTHING else affectionate?”

  I bite my lip. “Okay, he holds me as we sleep when I have nightmares.”

  Bursting out laughing, Cassandra exclaims, “Come on! If that is what friends do, I have been jipped my entire life. I would have loved to been FRIENDS with a super hot guy when I was your age, and have him hold me at night.”

  “Shut up,” I giggle. “Really, I promise, it’s nothing. He is just protective of me, for whatever reason.”

  “Alright,” Cassandra sighs, obviously not believing me. “So, if you aren’t interested in Jeremy, there has to be someone else.”

  Bashfully, I look at the floor, “Eric, his name is Eric.”

  “A boy from school?” She asks.

  Nodding, I reply, “Yeah, he never really acknowledged me, but since Jeremy came into my life, he has shown interest.”

  “Guys are like that. If this guy didn’t pay you a lick of attention why are you so enamored with him?”

  I shrug. “I don’t know. He has had a locker next to mine our entire high school life. Everyone has always said how nice he is, and that seems to be true. He has been nothing, but genuinely kind to me. Jeremy says he will get me a date with him.”

  “Well, Jeremy would be the one who knows how to get a date with someone,” Cassandra notes.

  “He dates a lot, huh? I mean, that’s what he says, but he hasn’t had a date lately.”

  Cassandra looks at me thoughtfully. “Honestly, you have been the center of his attention. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a bad thing, but I don’t think he has NEEDED a date. You fill that void.”

  “Yeah, but someday he will want something…..well, something else, and I won’t fill that need,” I whisper awkwardly.

  A wicked grin passes over Cassandra’s face. “You could if you wanted to.”

  I get a shocked face and laugh. “Cassandra! Oh my gosh!”

  “Forget I said that,” she giggles. “Oh, the look on your face was priceless.”

  “I have never done anything more than kiss somebody and that was Jeremy. I don’t think he would want me to fill that NEED. Dear lord have mercy on me. You embarrass me almost as much as Jeremy.”

  She just laughs in reply. “I forget we have some years on you. If you’re around the guys enough, you will learn to not be so easily embarrassed. They are an embarrassment to themselves but they don’t care.”

  “I like having you guys around. I have never had friends and you make me feel so welcome. I didn’t think these types of friendships really existed,” I mumble.

  “Oh, we adore you. You are a blast to be around. I don’t understand what other people’s problems were,” Cassandra counters. “As you get older, that whole high school shallowness starts to disappear.”

  I take a deep breath. “That would be nice.”

  Suddenly, the girls come back over. “Now, these are the most unusual blues that we have,” Jasmine says. “Do you like any of them?”

  Looking at them, I exclaim, “Oh! The electric blue one, that color is awesome.”

  “See,” Cassandra interjects. “You will like this.” Sitting back, I think she may actually be right. I watch with some odd fascination as Jasmine does my nails. It never dawned on me how pretty your feet can look. When she is done, I hold up my feet. “Very pretty,” Cassandra declares.

  “I love it,” I state, very happily. “Now what?”

  “Now, we do your finger nails,” she replies. “Do you want just a manicure, or do you want nails put on?”

  Turning to look at her, I say, “I don’t know. What do you have?”

  She holds up her hand, “I have fake ones. They last a while, but you have to get them filled regularly.”

  “I don’t know,” I say hesitantly. “I don’t want it to interfere with my art work.”

  “Then pass for now,” Cassandra retorts. “A manicure will still make your fingers look awesome.”

  I grin. “Okay.”

  So, we finished our pedicure and then went over for our manicures. Right before she puts the polish on. My phone rings. Jasmine smiles. “Do you want to get that?”

  “Yeah, hold on, sorry,” I say, grabbing my phone.

  It’s Jeremy. The text says: Lunch break, what are you up to?

  I reply: Doing girl stuff, busy. Can I stop and get a key? We left and had to lock the door.

  A few seconds later, the text reads: Girl stuff? Okay. Yeah, just stop by and I will give you the key. We will need to make you one. So, come by and get a key and a kiss.

  “Oh jeepers,” I say out loud.

  “What?” Cassandra asks.

  “Nothing, Jeremy is just ridiculous sometimes.”

  I send him a text back, saying: Whatever, you are so weird. I will stop by and get a KEY.

  Ha ha ha, okay, is the only reply I get.

  “What did he say?” Cassandra asks.

  “That we can stop by and get a key,” I reply. “He said I should come by and get a key……and a kiss.”

  She smirks and says, “Yeah, NOTHIING is going on.”

  “He was joking!” I exclaim, with a smile. “I am going to keep my mouth shut next time.” Cassandra just laughs at me.

  The girls put our hands under these little lights. Supposedly, this dries them. When we are done, I look at them. Cool. “Are you hungry?” Cassandra asks.

  “Yeah,” I answer. “I can make something at the apartment, if you want.”

  “Silliness, we are going out to lunch. We will go bother Kent at work,” she states with a grin. “If we bat our eyelashes and flirt with him, he will buy us lunch.”

  That makes me giggle. “Awesome.
”

  Cassandra pays for our nails and we leave. I thank her and tell her she didn’t have to, but she just shushes me. We get into the car and she drives us over to the restaurant.

  When we get inside, the hostess obviously knows Cassandra. She smiles, “Kent is in back.”

  “I figured,” Cassandra says. “Can we have a table for two, please?”

  “No problem,” the hostess replies. She takes us and seats us in a booth. “Courtney will be right over.”

  When the hostess walks away, Cassandra makes a gagging face. “Courtney drives me nuts. She wants Kent so bad, but he doesn’t see it. When I bring it up, he is oblivious to it.”

  “Aren’t you worried?” I ask. “They work together.”

  Bursting out laughing, Cassandra answers, “No, I trust Kent completely. His last girlfriend cheated on him and it broke his heart. He would never do something like that. Anyway, he has me, why would he need anything else?”

  “True,” I retort. “So, what’s good here?”

  “Anything,” we hear from our side. I look up to see Kent. He smiles. “What are you girls up to?”

  “We are here to view some serious eye candy,” Cassandra states with a huge grin.

  Kent smiles, “Aww, thanks.”

  With a sly look, Cassandra counters, “Who said it was you.”

  “Ouch!” Kent exclaims, grabbing his chest. “Well, if that’s the case, then you can buy your own lunch.”

  “Cassandra said if we flirt with you and bat our eyelashes, we would win you over,” I say, smiling.

  Kent slides into the booth next to me. “Yeah, maybe if YOU flirt with me.” He leans back and puts his arm around me. “See, I don’t need you Cassandra. I have Isabelle now.”

  “Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa!” I laugh. “Sorry Kent, I already have to deal with Jeremy. I don’t need to deal with you, too.”

  Cassandra interjects, “Yeah, that is what you have to do, deal with Kent.”

  “Oh, you love me. Don’t deny it,” Kent chimes.

  “Yes, I do. Why? I have no idea,” Cassandra returns.

  Pulling me towards him, Kent says, “What are you crazy girls up to anyway?”

  I put my hands out. “Cassandra got my nails done.”