Life's Fear

Chapter Thirty-Six

The paper felt heavy to hold once I'd read through it about ten times, just to ensure what I had read was accurate.

Was it some kind of sick joke? Was it a prank? Was Jason executing his revenge on me for having him arrested and Scarlett was a part of play in this sick joke? I hated the notion of the funeral. She hadn't died, had she? She can't have. I saw her only last night and she seemed in good spirits. And there's no way they would let you gather in a room where someone had died in, right? They'd clean the room, dispose of the body accordingly and get it ready for the next patient.

She was still alive then, I thought. She had to be. They were just preparing for the worst, and that made my stomach churn. They were preparing for the worst, so did that mean this was Scarlett's idea.

I put the invitation back in my locker, folded up, on top of the pebbles for now just in case I needed to get it out again at some point in the day and it would be easier than placing it under the pebbles and pulling it out carefully. Then I aimlessly wandered out to the front of the school, so I'd see when Jason would arrive. I watched him on the sidewalk, hands in his pockets and his gaze seemingly even. He didn't turn his head or get his attention diverted. When he rounded the corner into the parking lot, he seemed to notice me at once, and even from this distance, I saw a smile toying at his lips.

I suddenly realised what it was that people experienced – and perhaps I in the past – with Jason. I was just staring at him and completely neglecting the world around me. No one else seemed to matter, and nor did they even exist in my line of sight. It was just Jason and I in this world and absolutely no one else. Just us, and I didn't at all mind it that way, if I was honest.

The entire walk to me, Jason had a permanent smile on his lips. I could see that. That was all I was looking at. His gait was as casual as ever, and people had to sidestep to elude walking straight into Jason, though without looking at him, you would think that they hadn't even seen him anyway.

"Did you look in your locker?" Jason asked me. That was the first thing he said to me; we didn't even get to exchange pleasantries, because as soon as he was within respectable talking distance with us, he just asked that out of the blue.

"Yeah," I said, "I don't get it."

Jason said nothing for a moment and instead, with a hand gently placed on my lower back, he guided me into school and he navigated us to his destination which was his own locker. He exchanged some books, and only when he closed his locker did he say to me, "I know it's not the rudimentary present you'd give to your girlfriend, but Scarlett got worse last night and this morning. She wants this more than anything and she's specifically asked for us two to be there. She really wants you there."

"Girlfriend?" was the initial thing I got from his explanation. It was only then when I began to relay what else he had said in my mind and I realised Scarlett's condition had indeed deteriorated. "Is she okay?" I asked quickly, hoping to seem like the caring girlfriend that I was and not just some stuck-up, egotistical bitch.

"She's finding it harder to breathe now. She has to be hooked up to this machine to aid her. And yes," he added, rather sheepishly if I did say so myself, "if you would like to be my girlfriend."

I wanted to smile, but after what he had just said about Scarlett, I couldn't find it in my heart to be so ruthless and uncaring, so I offered a small one and replied, "Of course I would. But how is Scarlett coping?"

Jason's smile never left his face for the rest of his day; it may have faltered whenever Scarlett and her new condition were mentioned, but it never perished.

"She's okay. She just really wants this "funeral" before it's too late, you know? I normally head to homeroom now." His latter sentence seemed more of a placeholder as if to act as a catalyst. Did he not want to talk about Scarlett?