Killing Me Softly

Eight - I'm Not Going

I glanced down at portrait I had been drawing. It was supposed to be a person we admired. It looked nothing like my dad. I grimaced at the drawing. Sydney would be very disappointed.

“Why weren’t you in class yesterday?” Jensen asked.

“I was sick,” I simply replied. Please don’t ask any more questions, I thought to myself. But this was Jensen and he was going to ask more questions whether or not I wanted it.

“You had a cold?”

“No, I didn’t have a cold.” I tried to go back to focusing on my drawing, but I felt Jensen’s eyes boring into the side of my head. I sighed and put down my pencil. “I fainted. If you must know.”

“Why?”

“Why did I faint?” Jensen nodded. “I heard alarming news.”

“Alvarado?”

“Yeah…”

I glanced down at Jensen’s drawing. It was stunning. He had put in so much detail. The woman’s face that Jensen had drawn looked so real. I could picture exactly how she would look in real life. It was almost like a photograph.

“Who is that?” I asked.

The faintest smile appeared on Jensen’s lips. “My mother.”

“It’s beautiful.”

“Thanks.”

I looked back down at my drawing. It was awful compared to Jensen’s. The face was unproportional, the lips were to small, and one of the brows was arched and made him look angry.

“This is bad.”

“It’s not that bad. It’s unique,” Jensen said.

“You think it’s more unique?”

“Yeah. Plus, you can always say you were going for an abstract look.” Jensen gave a mischievous smile.

“Very funny.”

Class was going to be ending soon, so Ms. Love had us put away our drawings. While Jensen and I were packing up our belongings, Ms. Love made an announcement that we would have a small quiz tomorrow on the few artists we had learned this week. Groans erupted from the class.

“There’s a party this Saturday night at my friend, Trevor’s house if you want to come,” Jensen said.

“Oh, thank you but I don’t think my mom will let me go.”

“It’s not going to be a lot of people. Just like thirty or so. Not that much.”

“I’ll ask but don’t get your hopes up.”

Jensen chuckled. “I won’t.”

My phone buzzed. It was text from Paul. He was going to be late picking me up today. I shouldn’t be surprised that he was going to be late. I sighed and shoved my phone in my back pocket.

“What’s wrong?” Jensen asked.

“My brother is going to be late.”

“Did you want a ride home?”

“Thank you but it’s okay. I can wait for him.”

Jensen nudged my shoulder. “I insist on taking you home.”

“I don’t want to inconvenience you.”

“It’s not an inconvenience. I don’t mind at all,” he said with a smile.

It was very tempting to take Jensen’s offer. Knowing Paul, he would probably end up being an hour late. I chewed on my lip as I weighed my options.

“You’re sure it’s okay?”

“Of course!”

I gratefully followed Jensen to his car where Grayson was waiting. He frowned when he saw me. My heart sunk just a bit.

“Juliette needs a ride home,” Jensen said with a smile.

“Actually, I can just wait for my brother-” I began to say when Grayson cut me off.

“I’ll take you home.”

“I don’t want to be a bother.”

Grayson furrowed his brows in confusion. “It’s not a bother.”

Jensen lightly grabbed my shoulder, pulling me towards the car. He opened the door for me, and I crawled into the backset. It felt to be in the Mitchell’s car.

It was fairly silently on the drive to my house. Jensen would make a comment here and there to Grayson. We pulled up in front of my house.

“How do you know where she lives?” Jensen asked his brother.

Panic hit me. I didn’t want anyone to know about that night and I hoped Grayson wouldn’t say anything.

“I brought her home yesterday when she got sick.”

Jensen’s eyebrows rose in astonishment. “I see,” was all he said.

Later that night, Sydney had called me to tell me that Jensen had invited her to a party this Saturday. I told her that Jensen had also invited me to the party. As soon as she heard that, she begged for me to go. Each time she told me that I had to go, I told her my mom wouldn’t let me.

“I’m not going to the party,” I said for the hundredth time.

She groaned. “You have to go. It would be weird if I just showed up. You know him better than I do. Just tell your mom we’re going to study.”

“She’s going to know we didn’t study when I come home really late.”

“We’ll leave early! We can come back by ten.”

“I don’t know…”

“Please, Jules! Please, please, please do this for me. I like Jensen and I think I might have a chance.”

I threw myself back on the bed. “I’ll think about it.”

“Yes!”

“I gotta go. Goodnight, Syd.”

“Goodnight, Jules.”

I was pulling the covers back when there was a soft knock on my door.

“Yeah?”

Paul peeked his head in. “I heard you’re going to a party on Saturday.”

“Were you eavesdropping?” I asked, angry.

He held up his hands. “I was just going to offer to cover for you if you want to go.”

“Why would you do that?”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t on time to pick you up from the movies that one and I’m sorry that I was late to pick you up from school today.”

“You didn’t pick me up,” I deadpanned.

“I know. Just think of this as an “I’m sorry” present.”

“An “I’m sorry” present?”

“Yeah. I can sneak you back into the house while they’re asleep and they’ll never know what time you actually came home.”

I crossed my arms. “You would do that?”

He nodded.

“This isn’t some kind of trick where you actually get me in trouble?”

“I swear.”

I assessed him. He seemed to be telling the truth, but I still couldn’t be to sure. “I’ll think about it.”