We hear someone whining in the background. “Babe, come back to bed. You can talk to your other girls later.” Em and I exchange looks. Jake sighs, sounding muffled when he speaks again.
“I’m talking to my best friends. Give me a minute, I'll be right back.” There’s some shuffling and the sound of a door closing. “Sorry about that.”
“Um, did we interrupt something important?” Em asks awkwardly.
“It’s just a girl I hook up with sometimes, nothing serious. If it were, I would tell you,” he says quickly. “What is it that you need?”
Em speaks up again. “We need some information on a current student, their school address to be precise, and we need it by tonight.”
He goes silent.
“Jake?” I question after a couple of seconds.
“I’m still here.” He clears his throat. “You’re seriously not going to tell me why you need thisnow?”
Sighing, I snatch the phone from Emma’s hand. “Jake, I know I’m asking for a huge favor, and I promise one of these days I will sit you and Levi down and explain everything, but right now, it’s extremely important that I have this information by tonight. I’ll owe you one.”
There’s another long pause. “Fine, I’m in. Give me all the information you have on the guy.”
After thanking Jake profusely, I give him Cameron’s full name, the name of our old high school, his major, and finally, his parent’s names.
“If you know so much about this guy, how do you not know where he lives?”
“We said no questions,” Em reminds him.
“Whatever,” he breathes. I can practically hear him rolling his eyes. “You should have the information in your email by nine tonight at the latest.”
“That’s amazing, thank you. Now go have fun with Ms. No Name.”
“Thank you. I plan to make her come multiple times.”
“Ew,” Em and I say in unison.
Jake laughs, and we say our goodbyes before hanging up.
My roommate turns to me. “And now we wait.”
Walking into my room,I decide to take a nap while waiting for the information on Cameron. Right now, I can’t focus on anything else other than that pending email. It’s only six-thirty, meaning it’ll most likely be a couple more hours until it’s received.
Some shut-eye sounds nice, and I need to let my mind rest for a while, or I will drive myself insane. I lay down, hugging my softest blanket, and try to tune out the rest of the world. Sleep drags me in, along with thoughts of the past, particularly a moment that happened during my junior year of high school.
About four years ago
First day of school. I’ve always dreaded it. New classes, new classmates, and new schedules. But my sister, oh, she thrives on it. The social part, that is. We grew apart during our sophomore year but still have lunch together. I miss her, as crazy as that sounds. I don’t really talk to anyone else except for some classmates. I’m not bullied or treated badly in any way, I just don’t know how to socialize well without Ana.
I’m thinking about trying out for the cheerleading squad. Unlike other schools, it’s truly about the talent and not the popularity. There’s no real hierarchy at Green Hills High, and I need something that’s my own without my twin. I need to learn to be an independent person away from her. We’re turning sixteen in less than a month, for Christ’s sake. It’s time for a change.
If I play my cards right, I can make friendships that last a lifetime and pile up on extracurriculars for college.
I make my way to homeroom and sit in the middle row of the classroom. I’m a little earlier than everyone else to ensure that I got to pick a seat I felt comfortable with. Taking out my current read, I open the marked page with anticipation. It’s a murder mystery and highly addicting. I don’t read often, but when I do, I get hooked. I’m entrapped in a scene where one of the characters is about to open the door to a secret passageway when I hear a voice boom next to me.
“I’ve been sitting here for the past five minutes, staring at you, and you haven’t looked up once. That must be one hell of a book.”
Turning ever so slowly, I’m met with the brown eyes of the boy sitting next to me. He’s tall for somebody around my age. He’s thin but not too thin, has brown hair that covers some of his forehead, is white but not pale, and has an angular chin with a strong jaw. He’s smiling at me and raises one of his eyebrows skeptically. It’s then I realize that I haven’t answered him yet.
“Oh, yes…it’s an okay read. I got up to a good part, is all.”
“I see.” His eyes don’t stray as though he’s trying to get a read on me.
