Wonder Jane

Chapter Three

March 17th, Wednesday. Three weeks later.

She walked into the school, oblivious to the stares, and strutted confidently down the halls. Everyone could see the dark purple mark on the inside of her arm, and under her pants leg. But she didn't care. She wasn't the self-conscious, shy kind who hid behind baggy sweaters and sweatpants. She was the kind of girl you would catch at a club, dressed in jeans and a Harley t shirt, but was still the most beautiful girl in the club and everyone knew it, including herself. A butterfly, but a tiger at the same time.

I still hadn't gotten an explanation as to why I was kept in that closet for so long, but for some reason, I knew some how that it wasn't her fault I was left in there. I couldn't blame her for that. I always suspected that she was stopped by the Boneheads and they tried to do something to her, and she fought them until they finally gave up, moving on to easier prey. That would've explained the bruises she sported on her arms and legs the next day. I didn't try to say anything to her. I couldn't be bothered to walk up to her and ask why she decided to leave me in that closet until a janitor found me. I couldn't do it. I was cowardly.

But she wasn't. Instead, she marched up to me and stuffed a pair of pants into my hands, and gave me a handshake. Her cold hands clasped mine, and she walked off.

Since then, she's been my savior. None of the Boneheads decided it would be funny to mess with her anymore, since she hanged around my the whole time, but even when I was alone in the hallways and they were there, they would simply walk away, or turn around in the opposite direction.

And now, I watched her with a smile, used to the bruises and the red skin on her arms from where she scratched herself, as she walked up to me and looped her arm in mine and pulled me along to my class, chittering wildly about how the latest girl annoyed her so much. I couldn't get the smile off my face as I watched her odd eyes sparkle with anger, her button nose scrunch in disgust, her dark eyebrows pull together in confusion with how stupid that girl could really be. Her steps quickened, and her dark silken hair flowed like a dark waterfall, rampant with rage as it descended.

She looked at me again, but didn't bother to notice the way I stared at her as she carried on with her rage.

The other students ignored it too, because it was a regularly occurring event. We did this way too often - her dragging me to my own class as I stared at her Egyptian beauty in endearment. I didn't love her as more than a friend, of course. I couldn't. I shouldn't....

We reached my classroom, and we parted ways after she gave me a handshake again, sauntering off to her own class.

***

We sat on her purple bed and did our homework, occasionally starting up a conversation with each other about the latest scientific discovery, or how we would need to know Pre-Calc in the future, instead of how to dish out checks, and pick a proper job that could lead to a happy family. We sat there and did our work, until her mother came knocking on her pristine door.

"Jane, honey, it's late. Carter probably has to go home now." Her mother, Joy, announced.

Jane nodded at her, and Joy backed out of the room, closing the door behind her. I stared at the Supernatural-clad white door adorned with a black 'J' and 'C', nailed to the door after a week of being friends. Some people just clicked, and I guess we were those kinds of people.

I learned her name two days after the closet-incident, and was shocked to have found that it fit her so perfectly. But it also gave her an almost-innocent quality that didn't seem to come out until five days after the incident. And now here we sit, in silence, as I stall. I didn't want to leave just yet. Her home felt like mine already, and her bed was too comfy to leave.

I heard Jane sigh from behind me, as well as a rustling as she stood up from her position at the foot of the bed. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school, Carter."

I turned my head to look over my shoulder and saw her standing there with her arms crossed, a small smile gracing her grape lips. I looked down in font of me, somehow saddened by the thought of leaving. I didn't know why at the time, but I just knew I couldn't leave just yet.

I stood up from the bed and went to put my materials away, stuffing them into my backpack without so much as a glance at anything in the room, including Jane. I felt small arms wrap around me from behind, and I stiffened, until I realized it was just her.

I turned around in her arms to gave her and enveloped her in my own arms, trapping her there as she hugged my waist.

And we just stood like that for a minute, our first real hug, our breaths evening out to match each other's, hugging the other. My head laid on top of her daisy-smelling hair, and her head laid against my chest. And we stood there.

Eventually, we said our goodbyes, and I left, but who knew that goodbye might just have very well been a hidden suggestion to everything to come?