Grey

Eleven: Discovery

Jeff yawned widely and frequently during the History lesson. He hadn't slept very well last night, from all the excitement. Even though he was worried about Lisa's safety with the Queen bee company, at the back of his mind, he felt a pounding curiosity that wanted to be appeased.

After what seemed to be ages, the period came to an end, and sighing with relief, Jeff walked out of the classroom, only to be greeted by his extremely annoying twin sister.

"What's up, Jeff?" She asked with a large smile. That smile was definitely that of a sibling wanting a favour. He raised his eyebrow, questioningly.

"Nothing! Do you need help with homework, or an assignment maybe?" She asked with a smile.

They were eighteen, but her lack of tact hadn't changed from the time they were eight.

"What do you want, Jess dear?"

"Actually, there was this dress I really wanted to buy..." She trailed off.

"I don't have anything to lend you," said Jeff. In fact, he did have quite a lot, but he needed it.

"Oi, wait for me," said Dan joining them, "You think you could drop me off today Jeff, I really don't want to walk."

Dan's family had a car once, back in middle school, but one fine day, his father had left the family, taking the car and most of the money, leaving him stranded with his mother and little brother Aston. Now, even though their financial situation was a lot better, they still didn't have enough for a car.

"No part time today?" Asked Jeff with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, actually, the owner..." And he trailed off, looking at something behind him. Jeff too, turned to look, and saw Lisa, walking to probably the parking lot, deep in conversation with Elaine and Nancy, flanked by Blake and Nigel.

"Such a bitch," said Jessica, "she just ditched us in a moment for popularity."

"Of course," said Jeff, "you think she would stay on after all the things you've accused her of?"

"They were quite true, she is a bitch in the end."

"No," said Dan, "I think you drove her off. She was always an insecure person, and you speaking like that— she couldn't take it."

"You're taking her side too, Dan?" Said Jessica, shaking her head, "you don't know anything about her, do you?"

"Jessica, stop!" Said Jeff, already understanding where this was going.

"He has to know," said Jessica, then turning to Daniel, she said, "I saw her with Blake Smith in the afternoon, they were talking quite familiarly."

"They were just talking," said Dan with a shrug.

"There are also rumours that they were flirting in Physics class."

Jeff had underestimated the pace with which rumours travelled around this school. But now he understood that it could easily keep up a pace of fifty mouths a second, if it was sensational enough.

"They are just rumours," said Dan firmly.

"Then why doesn't she reply to your texts, or take your calls?"

To this, Dan had no answer.

"Let's go," said Jeff, patting Dan on the back, and he whispered to Jessica secretly, "Hitch a ride with someone else for today."

She nodded without complaint and walked off.

In the car, Dan took the front seat next to Jeff, the same one on which Lisa had sat on that fateful night. He felt some kind of guilt building up within him on remembering the stolen kiss from then.

He looked in front of him and drove.

"You know," said Dan, "She talked to me just fine, even after the incident with Jessica."

Jeff simply nodded.

"It was a few days after that, that she started avoiding me."

"Say, Dan," said Jeff, changing the topic, "I'm going somewhere today, you want to join?"

"Where?"

Jeff did not reply, but simply drove on the route to Cecile Sowerse in complete silence. Dan didn't object, lost in thought, he tried not to lose his mind over Lisa or her choices. The external silence between the two boys was quite a contrast to the clamoring chaos of thoughts in each mind. One was trying to look for facts to explain a certain someone's uncharacteristic behaviour while the other was trying to uncover the reasons of another someone's ghastly end.

They rode on, at a steady pace, and reached the place of interest.

"Is this it?"

"Yes, we're going to meet a friend."

"I didn't know that you had ever left town."

"Sorry, I forgot to inform you, Dan." He said, rolling his eyes.

Daniel let out a short dry laugh and followed Jeff up a large pebble path to a magnificent house, outside which Jeff had parked his car. Dan felt completely out of place in his rugged old clothes.

"Hey, I think I'll roam the town," said Dan,"while you do the catching up with your friend."

Jeff shrugged. He had thought of letting Dan in on the secret but this worked just fine.

"Give me your phone," said Dan, holding out his ratty touch and type phone, "you take this little douche bag."

Jeff raised an eyebrow but passed on the phone anyway and took Dan's before knocking on the door. "I'll just play around a little," he said sheepishly.

Dan slipped out slowly as Jeff turned away. He had plans.

He walked out the of the high end locality and kept walking, trying to gather up enough courage to go through with his plan. He patted his pocket and felt Jeff's phone there. He had reached a dingy street, now. He sat himself in the corner of a dead end between a closed up tin shack and a seemingly deserted house. With shaking fingers and unconcealed emotions, he opened Jeff's phone. It was true that Lisa wouldn't respond to him, but what about Jeff? Wouldn't she respond to him, either?

At the exact moment, as if by some divine intervention, there came in a message from Lisa. Dan opened it without a second thought and froze at it's contents.

Going out on a date with Blake, not Suzy's party.

What did the whole thing mean? Were the rumours true? And why had she sent the message to Jeff? Was she in touch with Jeff? And Jeff knew that it wasn't all just a rumour?

His head ached and he felt tears slip out of his eyes. He felt some kind of unfamiliar anger and resentment take over him. He tossed the phone away with all his strength and watched it bounce off the muddy road. He then punched the floor, hard enough for a little bleeding, but he sat there motionless.

He had believed her. He had thought that she really liked him. He had stood up for her— no matter what anyone said and she had just dropped him like a worthless piece of trash. In spite of all his emotions, he couldn't believe it. It was this little spark of sanity that kept him from pouncing onto Jeff and dragging him to Lisa and confronting the two of them together.

He sat there for long. It only felt like a few minutes, but he was there for very long. He heard the phone ring, from where it had landed. Sighing, he walked over and picked up the phone to see who it was. Through the numerous cracks and cakes of mud, he could see her name innocently flashing in white.

Lisa.

He just silenced the phone and put it in his pocket, calmly walking. It rang again, but he ignored it. The next time, it was a message.

Grudgingly curious, he opened the message. He could barely make out the words through the numerous cracks.

I Don't feel too safe, but I'm not backing out. Keep checking your texts.