Chapter 11

A Chapter by Melissa

The next day after school Jason says that his friends are coming to visit. Katy rolls her eyes and mutters, “Great.”

Jason rolls his eyes back at her before leaving to go up to his room.

“Do you not like him friends?” I question her once he’s gone.

Katy sighs. “Some are okay… there are a couple like him, but he’s got one friend. David. God, I hate him.”

My mind flashes back to my mom. Her dealer’s name was David. I try to get a mental image, but I’m unable to. I don’t think I’ve ever seen his face before. “Why do you hate him?”

“After our parents died, David tried to help him get over by giving him drugs.”

“Jason does drugs?” I exclaim, interrupting her slightly.

“No, no,” she says quickly. “None of his friends do except David. Anyway, he tried to get Jason to do drugs. Luckily, Jason’s other friends were there and didn’t want him to get wrapped up in stuff like that. They also knew he didn’t want that either…”

I let out a sigh of relief. “If David tried to get him to do drugs, why are they still friends?”

Katy just shrugs. “Go ask him.”

I nod. “I won’t pry. But I am going to talk to him…” I go up the stairs and stop in front of his door. He’s playing music that’s very heavy on the guitar, but as soon as I knock it stops. There’s a bit of shuffling before Jason yells that I can come in. When I do, I see him sitting on his bed.

“Hey,” he says. “What’s up?”

“Just wondering if your friends know you have a new girlfriend or not?”

“No, my friends are unaware that I have a beautiful girlfriend,” he says softly as he approaches me.

I blush, letting my arms fall gently around his neck. “Beautiful, eh?”

“Very beautiful.”

A few moments later, the doorbell rings, and the moment is killed. Jason and I head down the stairs. I stand a bit behind Jason, my shyness seeping through as I suddenly become nervous. He opens the door, and I can see that there are four boys standing there. Everybody cheers loudly and hugs Jason before entering.

“Whoa, man, your house is huge!” a guy with blond and black hair says. He seems nice, but loud. His eyes are striking because of the gold undertones standing out of the brown orbs.

“Even bigger than before,” a boy with black hair and bright blue eyes says softly.

A boy with blond hair enters next, not saying anything. He’s the only one so far to notice me, and he gives me a small wave. I wave back shyly.

Lastly, another blond boy enters. His face is dazed, and he has a fairly scruffy face. He looks cocky, as if he thinks that his presence is a gift from the gods.

“Guys, this is Hayley…” Jason pauses. “My girlfriend.” Everyone looks at me in unison. I wave silently.

“Hey!” the guy with blond and black hair says. “So, Jason has always been sucky at introductions, so I’ll do it, okay? I’m Blake. That,” he points to the black haired boy, “is Alec. That’s Cameron,” he says, pointing to the quiet blond boy who noticed me before. “And that’s David,” he ends, pointing to the scruffy one.

Everyone waves again, and Jason takes his friends up to his room to play video games. I follow them up the stairs to go to my room. When we reach the top of the stairs, we see Katy.

“Katy-Lynne. Could that be you?” Blake says, sounding shocked and surprised.

“Why… yes! Yes it is!” Katy says, faking a southern accent. “Could that be Blake, my doll?”

“Nope,” he says, turning his head swiftly. Then he turns it back around, holding out his arms. “I’m a human, not a doll, Hun! Come hug me!”

Katy giggles and hugs him before hugging Alec and Cameron. She doesn’t even glance at David, and when she makes eye contact with Jason, she raises her eyebrows. He doesn’t say anything or acknowledge what she’s done. After they leave, Katy looks at me.

“Wanna go for a swim?” I ask her.

“Why don’t you come dance with me instead?” she asks.

“I don’t know…”

“Come on, please?”

“Alright… fine,” I give in. “But I don’t know what to wear.”

“Wear leggings or tights, shorts, and a cami,” she instructs.

“Alright,” I say before turning and entering my room. I lock my door behind me, and change. When I leave, I close the door behind me. I see Katy waiting outside my door.

“Took you long enough,” she teases. Then she holds up two pieces of fabric. “These are FootUndeez. They protect the balls of your feet while you dance.”

“Oh,” I say, taking the pair with the cheetah pattern that she’s holding out to me. As we walk, we chat absentmindedly. I’ve never been in the dance studio, excluding the tour that Natalie gave us. Once we get there, Katy shuts the door and sits on the mat in front of it. “Put on your FootUndeez.”

I sit behind her and watch her put her FootUndeez on, trying to figure out how to copy her. Once I do, we stand up and she pulls an iPod out of a bag that I didn’t even notice she had. I follow her to the other side of the studio, where there’s a door. She opens the door and I see that there’s a speaker system in the small closet. Katy plugs her iPod into it, and scrolls through her music. She eventually settles on a song by a band I’m unfamiliar with.

“Sit right there,” she says, pointing to a spot on the floor. I sit there, and she sits beside me. She takes me through a fairly large amount of stretches and warm-up exercises, and I know I’ll be sore tomorrow. Finally she agrees to take me through a routine. “Would you rather see ‘The Silence’ or ‘Rebirthing’?”

“Both!”

She laughs at me a little but agrees to show me them both. After she goes through them both, so turns to me. “Now which one do you wanna learn?”

My mouth drops a little. “Neither!”

“Why not?” She pouts.

“I can’t do that! My body doesn’t bend that way!”

Her smile returns. “Yes you can! They’re not that hard, I promise.”

“You’re not going to give up until I let you teach me, are you?”

“Nope.”

“Fine. The first one then.”

She beams. “I was hoping you’d pick that one!”

“Oh gosh. What have I gotten myself into?

It takes her a while to get me halfway through the routine. “We’ll pick it up again next time,” she promises once we hit the halfway point. “Want to swim now?”

“Sure,” I nod, exhausted from dancing. “Let me go change.”

“My suit is in that bag so I’ll meet you down here after you change, okay?” Katy says.

“Okay,” I say, still breathing heavy.

“If you’re really hot you should take off the leggings before you go. You’d be surprised how much it helps.”

I nod and do as she says, managing to remove my leggings without needing to remove my shorts. “Much better,” I mutter.

“Told you.”

I roll my eyes are her before leaving the room. I can hear all the boys talking and cursing at whatever video game they’re playing as I reach the top of the stairs. I turn the handle on my bedroom door but it won’t open. I try four times being giving in to the fact that I’ve left it locked.

I know I can get in through Jason’s room, but I’m hesitant to go there dressed the way I am. I consider putting the leggings back on but I know that I can’t do that without removing my shorts and I’m hesitant to do that, paranoid that the boys will come out while I’m in the middle of changing.

Finally, I walk over to Jason’s door and knock, regretting my decision as soon as my knuckles touch the door. Everything inside immediately goes silent, and there’s a lot of shuffling before the door finally opens.

“What?” Jason says as he opens the door. He stops and his eyes freeze on me before he can say anything else. They trail down my body, and I blush horribly, hating myself for making this decision.

“I manage to get myself locked out of my room… can I get in this way?”

Jason tears his eyes away from me before saying “sure” very softly.

I say “thank you” and Jason steps aside, leaving me room to get by. I step in and all the boys turn to face me.

Blake wolf-whistles at me playfully. “Gee, Jason. You sure are lucky!” he says with a fake southern accent.

I know he’s joking, but I can’t stop the blush from growing as I roll my eyes at him playfully. Cameron, Blake, and Alec continue talking to each other as Jason leads me through the obstacle course that his room as already become. David’s eyes, however, do not leave me and I can feel him staring at me right up until I close the bathroom door behind me. My body shivers involuntarily, and I’m filled with a sickening feeling.

Something about that stare was just not right.

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