Unsound: A Horizons Book (9 page)

I walked out of the office, with Jon close behind. He forgot to wait around for Marie. 

“Hey, wait up,” he called after me.

I slowed, but didn’t turn to look at him.

“Where are you going?” he asked, “does your head really hurt?”

“What are you? My doctor?” I asked.

“Okay, I’ll get to the point,” Jon said, his voice deeper with frustration.

I stopped walking, “What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Before…”

“Before what?” I asked with a tone of innocence. I was baiting him.

“Me and Marie… outside,” Jon couldn’t tell if I was messing with him, or really didn’t see anything.  I turned and continued to walk towards the cabin.

“I think ‘Marie and I’ would be the correct phrasing,” I stated casually as I reached the cabin door. I’m sure Jon rolled his eyes behind my back but followed me into the empty cabin.

“Listen,” I said, taking off my shoes and sweatshirt, which was covered in mud from tackling Marie, “what are you looking for from me?”

“Can you just, not say anything?” Jon asked, now being the one to avoid eye contact.

“Not say anything… at all?” I challenged. I walked towards the bathroom to wash my hands and take a look in the mirror. The back of my neck stung, I wanted to see the damage from Marie’s grubby little hands.

“You know what I’m talking about,” Jon said. I could hear the exasperation in his voice growing and it only egged me on.

“Jon, I’m sorry. I simply don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, my words trailing off a bit as I lifted my hair off my neck. There was a cut on it all right. The blood was sticky and I was carefully peeling the hair off of it when Jon appeared at the doorway.

“Marie did that?” he asked with a smirk, “it hurt?” He took a step towards me but my glare from the mirror stopped him in his tracks. “Listen, about Marie and me. Can you just not say anything about what you saw?” Jon asked.

“Now why would I do something like that?” I asked with a sweet smile, despite the venom in my tone.

“Can you just not say anything to anyone?” he repeated.

“Fine, I won’t tell,” I said, wetting a washcloth and cleaning the blood off my neck, “
if
you’ll tell me the real reason why you don’t want me to say anything.”

“What are you—”

“Don’t play dumb. I know you’re a smart boy. You know that Jeff won’t find out because no one in the group would rat you out. Truth is: you don’t want anyone else in the group to find out for another reason. What is that?”

A few moments of silence passed as I walked out of the bathroom over to my bed. I knew I wasn’t getting anywhere; I wasn’t even able to get all the blood off me. But I got what I wanted. His silence admitted to me that he was embarrassed for whatever was going on with Marie. The whole thing made much more sense to me now. He was bored and just used her to pass the time. I was annoyed at myself for being jealous.

“I won’t say anything, Jonathan. No worries,” I said. I climbed into bed. My head really did hurt, and so did my neck. I was going to have to go to the nurse at some point for something to clean out the cut.

“Really?” Jon asked.

“Jeez, what’s with you people? No one wants to believe that I can keep a secret,” I said to no one in particular.

“I mean, this is coming from the girl who vocalizes her major trust issues every chance she gets,” Jon said, taking the washcloth from me. He walked to the bathroom. I heard the water turn on, then off. Then he was back with the washcloth folded neatly. He gently brushed my hair away from my forehead and placed the washcloth down.

“Sometimes this helps when my head hurts,” Jon said, suddenly uncomfortable.

I was sure I gave him a strange look; I just didn’t understand him.
Frustrated and angry at the drop of a hat, then pulling out the sweetest gesture anyone’s ever–.
I stopped that thought before I let it fully form.

“I’m going to try to sleep for a bit,” I said, closing my eyes then added, “and you probably shouldn’t be in here.”

“Sure,” Jon said as he slowly backed out of the cabin. I could feel his eyes on me for a few more moments.

“Bye Jon,” I said without opening my eyes, holding in a smile. I turned on my side and tried to take a nap.

JONATHAN

I walked out of the cabin, and spotted Marie walking towards me.

I walked towards her, putting some more space between me and the cabin in case Julie could overhear, “Hey you,” I greeted her, “I was waiting for you.”

Marie smiled up at me, “really?” she asked running her fingers through her hair.

“So what happened with Jeff?” I asked, skillfully avoiding the question.

“Oh, he just yelled at me some more. I’m on dish duty for every meal for two weeks, starting Monday,” she answered with a shrug.

“That’s not bad,” I commented, “I’ve gotten worse punishment than that. What about Julie?”

“Who cares?” Marie said flippantly, but then she looked up at me and saw my expression, “I guess you do. I think she just has to do dishes the next two Tuesday’s.”

“Why aren’t you on Tuesday?” I asked.

She shrugged again, a slight flush forming on her cheeks, “tutoring.”

“Oh,” I said. I looked down at her, confused.
Have I misread her this whole time?

I heard a car and looked over to see a dark blue sedan pulling up to the school.

“Listen, I’m gonna go,” I said, itching to get away and wishing I could take my mind off of things—mainly Julie related things. I had a lot of energy and I wanted to go on a run. Without thinking, I leaned down and gave Marie a kiss on the cheek before running over to my cabin. 

As I walked in I received applause from Jason.

“What’s going on dude?” I asked. Anthony was sitting quietly on his bed. His parents were arriving soon and he was anxious to see them. Every milestone we reached warranted a reward. Anthony had now been at Horizons for a year and a half, so he was allowed a visit from his parents. This was even more special since Tony’s parents were from Florida. To get him away from the gang life he was involved with, they picked the farthest corner of the country to send him. It had been a long time since he had seen his parents and I knew he was pumped.

“Impressive Johnny…. “ Jason started, “didn’t think you had it in you.”

“What’s he talking about?” Anthony asked.

I didn’t feel like feeding into whatever Jay was talking about so I started looking for my headphones. I just wanted to escape for that run.

“I saw Jon snagging a kiss…” Jason answered. I paused mid-search.

“Kiss?” Anthony asked.

When I started sneaking off with Marie, I didn’t realize that Tony had a thing for her, but soon it became obvious to everyone but her. Knowing how he felt, I always wondered if he could tell something was up between us. After all, he spent the most time with her. I knew it was going to bother him.

“Marie and Jon: an item,” Jason spoke to no one in particular, “You know, I don’t really see that… but I did see that so I guess…”

“Shut up dude. I don’t want this getting out. It’s nothing. Really,” I said as I grabbed my sneakers. I was really itching to run now. Now that everyone knew, I felt even more restricted.

“Why are you trying to hide it, man?” Anthony asked. I looked over at him and saw the anger behind his eyes. I wasn’t sure what pissed him off more, the fact that I kissed Marie, or the fact that I was trying to brush it off.

“Dude, I’m not trying to get in trouble. And it’s nothing serious; she was just upset about the fight. Listen, I’m going on a run. Tony, when do your parents get here?” I tried to change the subject.

“Soon,” he responded, clearly not feeling up for small talk.

That was fine; I wasn’t really paying attention anyway. I finished tying my laces and grabbed my iPod as I stood.

“I’ll catch you guys later,” I said and took off out the door.

*  *  *

After spending quality time with Anthony, seeing campus and meeting the group, his parents insisted on taking the entire group out for an early dinner with Jeff and Lena. Jeff took care of the reservation and the van as everyone prepared to go out for dinner in town.

We were all in the front hall, waiting for the van to arrive. I sat on a bench next to Jay, away from the adults.

“They’re so generous,” I heard Marie’s voice carry over. I looked up and saw Mindy and Julie share a look and an eye roll as they walked towards us. Marie was talking to Lena, who had a polite look on her face.

“What’s wrong?” Jay asked as the girls approached.

“For the last half hour pretty, pretty princess over there primped while she went on and on about how fabulous Anthony’s parents are and how charming his brother is. I guess when we all stopped responding, she searched for a new audience,” Mindy commented.

“After the day I had with her, hers was the last voice I wanted to hear,” Julie added.

Jay laughed as I grunted in response. I could understand where she was coming from. He elbowed me, “you’re not gonna defend your woman?” he whispered jokingly. I glared at him until his smile faded. I heard Julie cough and I looked up to see her smirk.

“I had nothing to do with that, so I guess the cat is out of the bag. How quaint,” she remarked.

I knew that I could glare at her all I wanted, but she wouldn’t back down to me.

Finally the van pulled up and everyone piled in. Jeff was in front with the driver, Lena and Tony’s parents were in the first row. Tony, his brother and Marie in the second.  I climbed in next and skipped the row directly behind Marie. Any space I could get between us was good. Jason sat next to me to let Mindy and Julie sit in the row in front of us. We spent the short trip seeing how much we could bug the girls before they snapped at us.

Once at the restaurant, I wanted to maintain my distance from Marie, which was easy because she hadn’t left Tony’s side since they got out of the van. She was mesmerized by his family which was fine by me. Probably too fine with me, but I didn’t care. We were nothing.

Lena and Jeff sat in the middle, so I sat on the end of the table—far from Marie. Julie sat next to me and Mindy and Jay across from us. There were definitely perks to being on the end—mainly not having to be included in the conversation but being able to listen to the good stories.

It was great being off campus and in a town with other faces, laughter, and music. Anthony’s parents were loud and happy and so proud of their little Antonio. Marie was right, Freddy was charming. No one had heard much about him and we wondered why Anthony didn’t talk about him when he was full of loving stories about his parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles.

Appetizers had just cleared away and Anthony excused himself for the restroom. His brother followed.

I listened to some story Mindy was telling about Jay. It was still bizarre to me how they both ended up here. The chances were just so small that I almost couldn’t believe it. Julie was absentmindedly playing with her straw and I found it hard to look away from her mouth. I wanted to be that straw.

Then everything seemed to happen at once.

I turned my head and saw Anthony walk back from the bathroom, his brother in tow. They both seemed pissed off. Jeff stood up from his seat, angrier than I’ve ever seen him; a vein was even popping out of his neck. I looked over at the front door and saw the reason. Michelle walked in holding hands with Deputy Evan. That made a few things click—like why Michelle was on a first name basis with the young officer. No one else seemed to notice the anger in Tony or Freddy’s faces.

The night ended quickly thereafter. Evan and Michelle apparently left the home an hour early so they could have some extra time together and not get her in trouble. That backfired.

We piled back in the van as Marie tried to quietly explain to Tony’s parents what happened. On the other side of the parking lot, Jeff shared angry words with Evan, and walked back to us with a promise over his shoulder to call the Sheriff. Michelle’s sobs from the last row of the van were the only sound to break the silence on the way home. Julie sat next to her, arms around Michelle as she wept.

lena

“He said this has been going on for months!” Jeff said, continuing his pacing. This was one of those times he wished he could crack open a new bottle of Johnny Walker to soothe his anger and numb the feelings of disappointment he had.

I had let him pace back and forth for twenty minutes but now he was repeating himself and I had just about had enough.

“Jeff, you need to calm down,” I started in on my case, “they’re teenagers.”

“Evan is not!” Jeff spun to stare at me, “
Deputy
Evan is an adult. He’s a cop for Christ sake, he should know better…. Dating one of my
students
?” And with that, he continued his pacing.

“And Michelle. How could Michelle do this to me? Lie to me all this time,” Jeff ran a hand through his hair as he turned to pace away from me. I got up and moved towards him.