#FreakshowFriday

Chapter 9: Fun Fact Famous

August 17, 2015

There's a heatwave going on. The temperature fluctuates while the day progresses at its sluggish pace, but Jamie estimates it's in the mid-nineties this afternoon. That means it's far too hot to do much of anything. And far too hot to wear a T-shirt.

Jamie's sitting at a desk that isn't hers, flipping through pages of a math textbook that isn't hers, either. Kaden should've returned this to their school before summer break started, but he didn't. If Jamie had to guess, he kept it just because he could and quite possibly to use it for bonfire fuel in the near future. The fate any sensible person would wish upon a math textbook, really.

"We don't have to go back to school for another week," Kaden observes from the other side of the room. "And I don't think you've ever opened a textbook outside of a classroom before. What's so interesting about that thing now?"

Actually, Jamie did open textbooks in the past. She used to at least try and do homework, but getting started and staying focused were always so difficult. She'd procrastinate until it was too late, or give up in the middle of an assignment when things got boring or challenging, or half-ass the whole thing to be done with it before moving on to activities she doesn't loathe with a passion. The end results were never pretty, though. Eventually, she figured she might as well not bother at all.

But Kaden doesn't need to know that. Nobody needs to know that. Let everyone believe she doesn't and never bothered to care. Jamie finds that much easier than explaining that she somehow just can't with things like homework. She'd probably get accused of making excuses if she tried, anyway.

She spins Kaden's desk chair around so she can face him. He's sitting on his bed, absent-mindedly scrolling through his phone and snacking on a rice cracker. He never bothered to put his own shirt back on, either. Nice. It may be too hot for sex, but Jamie can still enjoy the view.

"It's the names," she explains. "I swear the writers of these books give the people in their problems the weirdest names imaginable. I forgot to figure out what the most fucked-up name in this book was before I handed in my own copy, so I'm rectifying that now."

To Jamie, it's as good a way to pass the time as any, but Kaden raises his eyebrows. It reminds Jamie that his eyebrow game is strong. But of course it is. You can't be a Certified Bad Boy without your eyebrow game being insanely next-level. Jamie's pretty sure it's in the job description.

She's also pretty sure Kaden's giving her the look. The one that says I don't know if I should be weirded out or entertained right now. Jamie knows this look well, for she tends to see it multiple times on any given day.

She's generally well-liked wherever she goes—popular, even. She's nice, she's funny, she knows how to have a good time. But she overstays her welcome too fast and too often. At the end of the day, people often seem at a loss of what to make of her, and some may even be relieved once she's left.

She's confusing. Nobody likes being confused.

(Jamie doesn't, anyway.)

"Do you have a winner yet?" Kaden settles for this safe question, though his attention wanders to his phone's screen. Jamie knows he's scrutinizing himself in the selfie camera—can tell as much from the way he's trying to tousle his brown hair until it sits just right.

There can't be a winner when I haven't made it through the whole book yet, she considers telling him, but that's a letdown of an answer, even if it's the truth. So far, 'Mark-Matthew' takes the cake. Who in their right mind would ever call their child Mark-Matthew? For the love of god and all that's holy, pick one name or the other. It can't possibly be that hard.