Returned to me

Chapter Two

September 1941,

"Jamie!" Joanna cried as she chased him down the street. His long gated strides kept her from catching up to him. "Give it back!" She yells frustrated. He stopped letting her catch up to him. But the moment she reached for the folded note, he held it above his head making it impossible for her to grab. "Jamie!" She yells jumping all over him trying to get the note. He peels open the folds of the note. "Don't read it!" She shouts as he begins reading.

"Joanna meet me after school by the tire swing near the creek. Xoxo Alex."

"Stop!" She shrills hooking his arm by the shoulder. She pulls him down before swiping the note back. "You don't even listen."

"I thought you didn't like Alex." He says as he pushes back his mop of hair.

"I never said that." She disputes as she puts the note back into her dress pocket. "I said I don't know if I like him. I didn't say I didn't like him. There is a difference."

"Well sounds like he likes you." His voice had a hint of jealousy in it. Joanna didn't catch onto it as she walked away. "You're gonna go?" She only shrugs to his question. He huffs not happy with her.

"My mother would have a fit if I was caught alone with a boy that wasn't you." Joanna says simply as she thumbs with the edges of the note in her pocket.

"So what does that mean?" He chuckles as he kicks a rock.

"You are not like the other boys." She smiles. "You're just a friend."

"I see." Jamie felt down-cast by this news. Joanna was a friend, but had become more than a friend a few months ago.

"What?" She probs. "Is that not what we are?" He doesn't say anything as there was nothing to say. She doesn't prob any further. She didn't want to know if they were more than that. A kind of thought would run wild in her mind. She had an extraordinary imagination. "Anyway, I thought you and Alice were going on a date soon. Isn't it this friday night?" She was changing the topic.

"Yeah, we are." He didn't seem excited. He had been dating Alice for nearly two years. She was perfect in every way. A true girls next door. She was popular like he was. They were what you would say the perfect couple. But he didn't really feel that way towards her anymore. He didn't know if he started dating her only because of the image it would create. She was sweet, but entitled. She was a good kisser, but he didn't care for that. She was every guy's dream, but not his. It was a true conundrum.

"Well," Joanna didn't know what to say as he was normally excited for those dates. She had noticed that those dates were lessened in the last six months. She would hear Alice talk out on the football field to her snobby friends. "Are you going to break up with her?" She daringly asked. He got quiet more than he already was. She could read him like a book from cover to cover. It was clear that he was going to eventually, but she didn't think he would actually admit to that.

"Probably." He did what she wasn't expecting. He admitted to it. He kicked an empty aluminium can while looking into the clouds. "I just don't know why I'm with her anymore. At first, I genuinely liked her. As time went on I just don't anymore." He now looked at her catching her eyes. They looked hopeful which seemed odd to him. He straightens his back and swallows the rising feelings. "I'll see you around, Jo." He said this before walking around awkwardly and unnaturally. 

She watched him leave confused by his sudden departure. It was unlike him to leave like he did. They normally would hang until the stars came out unless he was with Alice. "Jo!" She hears her name making a turn around. She finds her second older brother cantering her way. He was covered in dirt and sweat from working all day with their father. Joey had the biggest grin as he swept her in his arms. She protested for him to put her down, but he rubbed his rough face on hers. She hated when he didn't shave right away. It was coarse, rough, and most of all sweaty.