SKIPPING TIME

Chapter 5

Underneath the bronze of his skin, Jess still looked much too pale. He was trying to hide the fright in his eyes, but it wasn't working. The knot of heat in her turned cold. Some friend she was. Instead of reassuring him he'd be okay, she'd fallen apart and then wasted time lusting after him. Nice.

Jess said, "How did we get here? What happened? I can't...we were walking..."

She kept her voice as gentle as she could, "You don't remember anything?"

He gave his head a brief shake and tried, "We went into one of the other rooms, away from the group. We were walking together and then..."

She flinched at the stark fear in his eyes when he asked, "What the hell happened?"

She tried to talk evenly. "I don't know. You just kind of went away. You were completely out of it. I stood right in front of you but you couldn't see me."

As she talked Jess's eyes dropped to his feet, which he compulsively tapped. One beat. Two. One beat. Two. He held onto his necklace so tightly that his knuckles were white. She decided to not mention how the paintings had fallen. Instead, she asked, "Have you ever had anything like this happen?"

Something flitted across his face. Shame. A memory. Something. He stayed quiet, eyes down.

"Have you?"

He shook his head rapidly and mumbled, "Why am I okay now? What brought me out of it?"

She paused, uncertain. She'd brought him out of it, she knew that much. She just wasn't sure how. That part still felt all confused. She needed time to think. She went with part of the truth. "I gave you a hug and, after a minute, you just woke up."

Jess gave her a suspicious look and-deflecting more questions--she asked, "Are you sure you're alright? We need to find the teacher. You have to be checked out."

"No."

"What? Why?"

Jess stood up unsteadily. "We'll be in trouble for leaving."

She shook her head. "You should sit back down for a minute."

Jess's eyes were darting around now, the whites in them showing too much, like an animal on the verge of bolting. His voice was noticeably shaking as he said. "It's too small in here. I gotta get out of here."

For the first time since he'd "woken up" she became aware of how small and stuffy the room was. Even as Jess spoke, he was staggering into the hallway. She grabbed her backpack and followed him, asking, "Do you want to sit out here for a minute?"

"No. I'm fine. We need to find the group before they realize we're gone."

She nodded to appease him. Maybe when they found the teacher she could talk him into telling. They made their way slowly down the hallway, Jess repeatedly stopping. When, for the third time, he lurched and grabbed for the guardrail she insisted in a shaky voice, "Jess, we have to tell. I don't care if we get in trouble. You're not okay. Please."

Jess turned but kept his eyes averted. "I'm fine, Cace. I promise. If we tell they'll realize we were gone and tell our parents. I forged the permission slip, remember?"

She was suddenly frustrated by how little she knew of his life. Sometimes the things he'd told her seemed like a skeleton with no meat. And, even though she always rationalized it, deep down she knew there were things about Jess that didn't add up. She said, "Explain to me again why you had to forge it?"

Jess scowled, "This isn't the time to go into it."

"Then when is Jess? You do everything for your aunt and uncle. Why would they care about you taking one day off? I seriously doubt they'd care more about that then you getting sick."