This chapter dedicated to:
I.am.me.xxx
Rainbow Giraffe
Miketiketofu
T-t-t-ouch.
Bekahlu
Verita
Bobbychu
Claire
Trishcbury
Casey. Clearly.
Chameleonduality

Chapter 6

James Ryland’s house was two miles away. The party was already well under way. Anna had to park around the block in order to find a spot.

It was a nice neighborhood. The house was big and could have been delivered right out of a catalog. Then again, that was to be expected considering James drove a present year Cadillac.

As they headed up the lawn, Jeff seemed to know and like everyone. Everyone apparently knew and liked him. He cheerfully introduced Anna whenever anyone looked at her twice. Male eyes went straight to her low neckline, seeing as Jeff threatened to tell Garret everything on Monday at school unless she left the sweatshirt in the car.

Somehow Stacey found them.

“Anna! You made it! You look great!” Her eyes went directly to her tan work boots and the giant grin on her heavily made-up face vanished. “Oh no. You cannot wear those. Jeff! I thought I told you to find her some nice boots! Those are hideous!”

Jeff shrugged helplessly.

“They were her only pair,” he replied.

“And she didn’t have any ballet flats that would have sufficed?”

Jeff looked perplexed.

“You are hopeless!” Stacey exclaimed, slapping Jeff’s right bicep. He didn’t look affected. “Anna, quick, take those off. I’ll go hide them. Plenty of people here aren’t wearing shoes anyway.”

“Uh, I’d prefer to keep them on.”

“Ugh, fine. What. Ever. I was only trying to help.” Stacey looked pissed for all of three seconds before beaming again. “You want something to drink?” Without waiting for Anna’s answer, “I’ll get you something to drink. Beer okay?”

Stacey was gone before Anna had time to decline.

She turned to Jeff and gripped the front of his shirt, standing on tiptoe in order to put her face close to his. His eyebrows rose with concern.

“The favor was to come with you. We came, we conquered, now I’m leaving before Stacey comes back.”

He grabbed the wrist of the hand holding his collar before she could pull away, eyebrows sinking with displeasure. “No,” he stated. “The full favor extends to staying with me and dropping me off after. We’ll leave before you have to be home so don’t give me that look. I’m just making an appearance here. If it were fully up to me I’d be at home in bed with a book.”

That gave Anna pause.

“What?”

He dropped her wrist and turned away, muttering a “Never mind.”

Just then Stacey returned with two beers. Jeff accepted them both, responding to her frown with a cheering grin.

“Anna is my sober cab,” he explained. “But we appreciate the gesture. I accept these on her behalf.” That said, he popped the cap off one and stuck the other in the pocket of his khakis. “We’re gonna go meet more people. Thanks for the beers, Stace! Let me know when your boyfriend surfaces; I want to wish him a happy birthday! Later!”

Jeff grabbed Anna’s hand and escorted her into another room that looked extremely similar to the last one. It was louder in here with the music blaring from some hidden home theatre system.

“See!” Jeff shouted. “It’s not so bad! Just relax, try to enjoy yourself! We can even pretend you’re someone else for the night. Do you mind going by Bunny? I’ve always been fond of that name.”

“No.”

“Trixie!”

Anna rolled her eyes, already positive that the pseudonyms just got worse after Trixie.

“What about Candy?”

Proving her prediction correct.

An hour later, Jeff still appeared to be enjoying himself. Once Anna stopped attempting to flee every time he turned his back he even let her wander around on her own, so long as she stayed within sight.

Meanwhile, Anna became aware her stomach was growling, having never gotten that pizza she never ordered. She wondered if it would be rude to go snooping in James’s kitchen. Maybe she could order a pizza using Jeff’s cell phone and wait outside for it? Or would that just be too weird? And what if people expected her to share? Anna didn’t like to share with strangers, especially if they attended her high school. It was too much like giving a mouse a cookie…

Anna found herself being pulled into a room where everyone was dancing.

“Jeff, no!”

“Wrong date.”

Her eyes flew wide.

“Garret?” She stared at the blond hair atop his head, but his eyes were the same grey-green when he smiled over his shoulder at her. “Are you wearing a wig? And—” she couldn’t help laughing, “—that mustache couldn’t be more fake.”

“Shh, I’m in disguise. Let’s dance.”

“But—”

“No buts! You haven’t danced all night.”

Her eyes narrowed as he pulled her into a hug. A slow song was on. “How would you know?” The answer came to her immediately after she asked, “Stalker.”

“Actually we just got here. But knowing you came with Jeff, and Jeff can’t dance, I highly doubt you’ve experienced the great pleasure that is dancing. Now put one hand in mine and the other on my shoulder.”

“What?”

“Two years of ballroom dancing lessons starting when I was ten. Fun story. Tell you later. Put your hands where I said or I’ll grab your ass.” Grudgingly, Anna did as directed. “Thank you. Now follow my lead. Look at your feet and I’ll step on them. And forgive me if it seems like all I’m doing is threatening you; this is how my teacher taught me.”

They began waltzing. Anna was surprised how naturally they moved together. After stepping on his feet only fifteen times, Anna felt as if she could have been waltzing her entire life in Garret’s arms. He grinned every time their eyes met. For just that reason, she looked everywhere except at him. Slowly it dawned on her that a circle had cleared around them as people moved out of their waltzing pattern’s way and stood aside to watch.

“Garret, people are staring.”

“Of course they are. I’m dancing with the most beautiful girl in the room.”

Anna scowled. She hated his compliments. Compliments from Garret Thompson were like his flowers; they were communal, never actually meant for one person in particular. What she hated more was how her heart did a happy somersault when he said it.

Jerk.

“We’re not even waltzing to a waltz,” she said. “This is 50 Cent.” She had no idea where that knowledge came from, seeing as she never listened to rap. At the shop her dad played classic rock and anyone who dared touch the radio dials was dealt a hefty punishment.

“The music is in my head. All you have to do is follow my lead and you’ll be able to hear it too.”

“And I’m sure she’d love to listen to it all night,” snarled a voice behind Garret right before Garret bumped into Jeff. “Unfortunately it’s time to go. Come on, Anna.”

Anna stepped away from Garret, breaking their pattern.

Even as she moved to stand beside Jeff, he continued to glare at the other boy. His hand slipped over hers. Anna noticed that Garret noticed, and that just about everyone else in the room did, too. Her face on fire, she ducked her head and tugged Jeff toward the exit.

Outside, Jeff was less contained.

“Who the hell does he think he is?” Yelling this, he kicked over the Ryland’s garbage can. He had released Anna’s hand soon as they were outside the house. “Who did he think he was fooling in that stupid fake wig and mustache? I hate Garret Thompson! Cocky bastard, crashing Ryland’s birthday party like that! I hope the guys kick his ass.”

Jimmying the lock on Chuck, Anna decided her response was not called for.

“And you!” She looked up at that. Jeff pointed an accusing finger at her. “How could you dance with that douche? You came to the party with me, incase you’d forgotten. If you wanted to dance you could have said so. I would’ve danced with you.”

Anna fought not to roll her eyes and slid into the driver’s seat, opening the passenger’s side for Jeff.

He plopped in gracelessly and sat with his arms folded across his chest, pouting like a little boy.

“Firstly,” she started, “you’re drunk. So I’m going to ignore most of what you’re saying. Secondly, I came as a favor to you. The favor was to accompany you; that doesn’t mean I’m your date. Meaning it’s none of your business who I dance with. Besides, you didn’t ask.”

“Like you would have accepted if I did. You like Garret.”

She started up Chuck, the grumbling engine drowning out the rest of Jeff’s drunken rants.

It took a while for Jeff to correctly direct them to his home. Apparently he had absolutely no sense of direction when intoxicated.

When finally they pulled into the driveway, Jeff was halfway passed-out already. Anna helped him to the door, before Jeff woke up enough to tell her they needed to sneak in the back way. She snorted under her breath. There was no way anyone in the neighborhood had slept through Chuck’s thunderous engine, let alone Mr. and Mrs. Parker. Yet she did as instructed and helped him around the house to the back door. It let into a cellar, which was decorated like a comfortable-sized bedroom.

Another few seconds passed before Anna put it together, as Jeff stumbled down the stairs.

“This is your room? In the cellar?”

“Better than my old room upstairs,” Jeff slurred out. Anna helped him over to the queen-sized bed covered in a red goose down comforter. Everything was in good repair. There were three bookshelves and hundreds of books. “Parents are always screaming at each other. Usually Tricia—you know my little sister? Nine years old? When it gets real bad usually Tricia brings her sleeping bag down here. It’s nice and quiet down here. I cleaned it all up myself, brought down the bookshelves and my bed. My ex-girlfriend decorated, brought in the curtains to cover the brick walls and the rugs to cover the stone floor. It’s a lot warmer than it was.”

Anna was quiet. She had never really considered Jeff Parker a real person with real feelings, with real family issues. Adjusting her view of him took a minute.

“That sucks,” she said softly.

Jeff looked up at her, and then turned his whole body toward her. “You mind staying a little bit?” he asked. “Until I pass out? Being down here alone doesn’t really bother me, but I like company. Not as a favor,” he added, seeing her eyebrows arch. “But just… I dunno. If there was ever a time we could’ve been friends. For the sake of being a good person?”

She checked the bedside clock.

“It’s late.”

“You have a half hour, and it’s a ten minute drive. I’ll probably pass out in five minutes. But whatever.” He turned to lie on his back, staring up at the ceiling. “You’re right. You should get going.”

She sat on the edge of his bed. Jeff looked at her, smirked, and then moved to set his head in her lap.

“Now talk,” he said.

“About?”

“Why’d you quit track?”

Anna looked at the ceiling as if the answer was written up there. “It lost its purpose,” she said simply. “I ran to… I’m not sure. I ran because I was faster than everyone else. It made me feel good to be better than anyone at something. After my mom went to jail, though, that feeling went away. Suddenly I didn’t want to run faster than everyone. I wanted to go the same pace. My turn. Now you know all this stuff about me and I don’t know much about you.”

Jeff’s eyes were closed.

“What do you want to know?” he murmured.

“Whatever you want to tell me, I guess. First off, why did you make that deal with me instead of just tattling?”

“Because I—” He stopped, cleared his throat, and then started again. “I don’t tattle.”

“Word is that you ratted out Garret because you suspected him.”

“No, I know it was him. I was standing right there when he did it. But I didn’t tattle. My mom saw the damage while she was on her lunch break and went to the principal. Mom knows Garret and me are always at each other’s throats. Naturally she assumed he did it. Garret might think I ratted, but then it wouldn’t have made sense for Principal Dane to let him go with nothing more than a week’s worth of detention after he directly vandalized the son of a teacher’s car. Schools are really sensitive about that—they’re extra careful with the kids of teachers because we get bullied for being ‘favorites.’ When a student is mad at their teacher, they go after her kid—because you’ll only get suspended for fighting with the kid, where you’d get expelled for throwing a punch at a teacher. Anyway, my point being, I know you didn’t do my car.”

Anna was speechless.

“Whoops. I meant my point was that I didn’t tattle. Damn Freudian slips.”

“You knew I didn’t do your car?”

“Look at the time! Maybe you should get going after all…”

She frowned. “So you’ve been playing the Garret angle from the start,” she said, figuring it out. “Once you put it together that I did those other cars to get Garret off the hook, you knew about my crush on him. But what do you get out of this?”

Jeff started snoring.

Anna slapped him. He grabbed his forehead and slit his eyes.

“Ouch. What was that for?”

“You were faking it. Now answer my question! Why did you want three favors from me?”

“Favors are nice to have. Geez, that hurt.” He rubbed his forehead some more and the boyish pout was back. “And I got free replacement windows out of it. Remind me next time to instigate a no-slapping rule.”

She stood, shoving Jeff’s head off her lap.

“There won’t be a next time.”

“You owe me one more favor!” he called after her as Anna headed up the steps and out the door, slamming it behind her.

-

-no author's note-

Note to Chameleonduality: Sorry, couldn't find another way to privately reply to you and you pointed something out I wanted to address. Firstly, I wanted to say thanks for your feedback! And as for why Anna so readily talked to Jeff about her mother (and about quitting track in this chapter), it's because Anna doesn't really have secrets. The whole school (at least the people who paid attention) knew about what happened with her mom because something like that would be on the 9 o'clock local news and maybe in newspapers before the end of the week it happened. In other words, Anna just doesn't know HOW to hide her feelings and etc. She had a naturally open personality before what happened with her mom, and even now that she's not the socialite she once was, she just doesn't know how to turn off that honesty and openness. I relate to Anna in the same respect; I'm an open person even as I'm not very social. Anyway, thanks again for your encouragement! Really does motivate me to write better and update faster ;) Take care!