Leap Before You Think

Chapter 13

"Keep up, Lo."

"I'm trying. How much further?"

"Not much,"

This is the sixth time he's said this and it's almost five in the morning now, we ditched the no-speaking rule the first time I asked about our location, and we still seem to be walking aimlessly.

"You keep saying that. Do you even know where we are?"

"Yes, I know where we are. I think."

"What?!" I hiss.

"Joking."

I sigh. It's like he wants me to constantly be annoyed with him. Like he takes joy in seeing me angry. And honestly, it's working so far. I drag my feet making a quiet squeaking sound on the wood floor. He turns left and we come face to wood with a door. Judah opens the door and steps inside holding it open for me. He's bent down low in a bow, as if I'm a royal and he's simply a footman. I get through the door and grab his arm just below his shoulder and drag him in with me. He laughs as he stumbles into the room after me. He flips on a switch and I can finally see where we are.

The room is full of different paintings and sculptures. I didn't know that this place had a museum. The only other bits of furniture in the room are velvet couches with gold accents.

"How do you know about this."

"Because it was my idea," He looks around the room.

I'm I wrong or is he blushing? I mean I knew he could draw, I think, but he doesn't talk about it much.

"Really?"

"I mean I don't make a habit of lying to you, Lorie."

"No, I know its just . . ." I let my sentence trail off. I start to walk around the room. Judah laughs and walks to one of the couches and throws himself down on it.

There are self-portraits, still life paintings, screens playing small films, metalwork, glasswork, oil painting, art made from trash, and more. One of my favorites is a glass sculpture of a rose. I can't tell if it's at the start or the end of its life but it's beautiful either way. I keep walking looking at all the art but only one more truly catches my eye.

It's a very realistic painting of three kids sitting on a small wooden dock looking out into the distance as the sun rises over a lake. It appears to be through the eyes of a fourth person. One of the kids is a boy with dark skin and hair. The second is a girl with long blond curls and skin kissed by the sun. The third kid is another girl, her hair brown is to her shoulder, and her skin has also been touched by the sun. All three of the kid's skin sparkle with droplets of water. Towels lay near the kids and birds fly in the summer sky. I look at the corner and see the signature of the artist who painted this and a smile spreads across my face. I walk back to Judah and sit across from him.

"You painted us." I say still smiling, "How long did that take you?"

"Do you like this place? I saw you staring at the rose for a while. Can you guess who made it?" He avoids my question with his own.

"Judah, how long did it take you to make it?"

"Three weeks and three days," he looks down at his hands as if that is something to be ashamed of.

"Wow, I wish I could do that."

He laughs, "You can sing and I wish I could do that."

"But that's just it, you can sing. I've heard you."

"And you can paint." He gives me a look which changes to a different look. "Hey, by the way, I'm sorry about almost hurting you earlier."

What does he mean by that? He hasn't "almost hurt me" tonight, in fact I don't think he's hurt me since he told me we couldn't speak but that problem has been fixed. I give him a look and he looks back at me. His eyes meet mine and I . . . Oh, wait, I know what he means. He didn't really almost hurt me though. I mean I've seen the move before. I could dodge it in my sleep.

"I dodged you, remember."

He laughs, "You only missed because of past practice with Harper."

I roll my eyes and look at my watch, "Everyone gets up in two hours, if you want to go back to your room to get some rest you could."

"As long as you're feeling better." I nod my head but I'm lying, "Well then, I guess I could use a two-hour cat nap right about now."

>>>----<>----<<<

I yawn and drum my fingers on my desk waiting for my classmates to finish up their tests. I finished mine an hour ago and, today, I dumbly forgot to think of anything to do after I finished. I wonder when all of them will finish. Or maybe I'll just have to keep sitting here staring at the wall for another hour.

Judah is beside me, angrily erasing one of his answers. The whole desk shakes. This is the exact test that I was stressing over and now I'm done and he's still on page two of the four-page test. I switch from drumming my fingers to quietly humming a song. Maybe that will make it a little easier for him to focus, then again so would being quiet. I rub my eyes, sleep is finally starting to hit me. Maybe I should've just lied in bed till I just fell asleep naturally. But no, I had to sneak out, wake my best friend, then run around the school with him.

I'm so smart sometimes.

I blink but it feels slow and it sends another wave of tiredness crashing down on me.

I hear a slight woosh and then something hits my back. I glance at the teacher's desk, the old man is fast asleep snoring slightly. I casually turn around and look down at the ground. A paper airplane lies on its side on the ground, my name is written in a pretty script on the side of the plane. I bend down and pick it up then slowly rise into a proper sitting position for a desk chair. I open the little plane and read the note that's written inside of it.

Hey, Lorie, it's Jason. Meet me after class. I want to get to know the girl who showed me what I have to work up to. I thought we could go to the place where I met you for the first time and you could show me step one of running the track with my eyes closed. Nod your head "Yes" if it's a yes and "No" if no.

I reread the note several times. I thought he would've forgotten about me, I mean I haven't talked to him since that night. Maybe this is some sort of sign. I nod my head yes. Judah taps my hand and I look over at him. He glances down at the paper in front of me.

"What's that?" He whispers.

"Nothing,"

"Why is "Nothing" making you smile like that?" Why is he looking at me like I've committed a crime?

I place my hand to my mouth. I didn't realize that I was smiling. But for some reason, I can't stop. I have no reason to be. It's just a note from I guess someone who's a friend. I shake my head and Judah looks at me for a few seconds more then turns his attention back to his still unfinished test. Why is a note making me so happy?

It feels like forever but class finally ends. I practically jump out of my seat and rush out the door. I think Judah calls my name but I'm not really sure.

I half-run and half-walk to the playground. I wonder what he wants to talk about. How does he want to get to know me better? How am I supposed to teach him how to run the course with his eyes closed? I taught myself unintentionally. I was just bored, plus I can sort of see things even while my eyes are closed. Like visions, x-ray vision? I wish I knew how to describe it, it's almost like I have a sort of superpower. Some people have super speed, or they can read minds, or maybe they are inhumanly strong. I can see things while my eyes are closed, as long as nothing else is covering my eyes.

I tried to tell Judah once and he looked at me like I had three heads. It hurt for a bit that he didn't believe me but I got over it, there are plenty of things that he tells me that I don't believe. One of them is that he made a plant grow once simply by touching it. Another time he said that he changed the direction a raindrop was moving down a window. Both of those sound far more ridiculous than my seeing things even while my eyes are closed.