Dream and Nightmare

Chapter 11 - Love, Fe

"You're sure?" Jack asked, staring up as her from his spot on the ground. She had to laugh at the look on his face. They had faced a monster of a dragon earlier that day, but climbing up a drain pipe scared him.  

"Wimp!" she hissed. Her hands were shaking from fear of getting caught, but the adrenaline rush almost made it fun.  

"Never!" He declared in a whisper, wrapping his hands around the pipe. He pulled himself up, slipping once before eventually scaling his way to the top.  

"Good job, monkey-boy," Anah teased. She was hit by a sudden temptation to mess up his hair, but restrained herself, not wanting to make things uncomfortable when they were getting along so well.  

"Come on this roof doesn't feel stable." He crouched low to the shingles, climbing the rest of the way up to her window. 

Under the cover of dark, Anah wasn't expecting to get caught, but she should have anticipated Roze smoking on the roof, connected to her room by a long, tangled phone cord. They made eye contact and Anah's heart stopped. She had seen her, and she had seen Jack, and she would tell Mary on her.  

Roze mouthed the word 'whore' to her, one of her usually greetings, and perhaps appropriate considering that Anah was sneaking a boy into her room. Then Roze surprised Anah by putting a finger to her lips and turning away like she hadn't even seen her adopted sister. As the light from her window caught her face, Anah could see a shadow of a bruise on her jaw, or was it just a trick of the light? 

Anah slid into the window behind Jack, trying to get Roze out of her head. Jack was wandering quietly around her room. "I wouldn't have thought of pink for you," He mused, referring to the color of the walls.  

"Not my choice." She went to her closet, stuffing a duffle bag full of clothes as Jack explored.  

He picked up a photo on Anah's bookshelf of her and four other girls from her school. "Your friends?" he asked. 

"I suppose. Not really. I don't like them." She grabbed an extra pair of sneakers. 

"You don't like your friends?" 

"Well I like you, but those girls are mean. They're all mean. It's a small school. You don't survive if you're not a bitch." She moved to the bathroom she shared with Roze to pack a few supplies that Jack didn't have before zipping the duffle shut. 

Jack replaced the photo. "But you're really nice, how do you survive?" 

"I pretend to be one of them. How do you survive school? Surely you go to private school?" 

"I've been homeschooled my whole life. Technically, I don't exist, and my grandfather never wanted to get forged documents." He did one more sweep of the room before following Anah back outside.  

Roze was already gone, only a faintly glowing cigarette left as evidence she'd been there. Anah still didn't relax until they were back at Jack's house. She changed into her pajamas before curling up on her makeshift bed on the couch.  

Jack lay down on the floor next to her where Rendel had slept the night before. "Just in case we get anymore dragon visits, or random, burning pain. Anah, are you even listening to me?" 

Anah poked her head out of the blankets that made up her tortoise shell. "Yes." 

Jack laughed. "You're so weird." 

"I'm perfect and you know it." 

"Yeah," Did he just agree with that? Anah ducked her head back under the blankets. It didn't stop Jack from talking. "What do you think of Rendel?"