Within the Lines

12.

We'd go home together by car after football practice, Atticus and I. 

Well, Dad would be there too of course, but he'd be driving. Atticus and I would be together in the backseat...Silent. Just like we were every day. Just like we were on the way to school this morning. 

I needed to stop thinking about Atticus. 

The chat did not exist. 

Escape Rooms, on the other hand, did exist. I tried to focus on the fun memories of yesterday afternoon. Chiara, Dad, and I had opted for a pirate cabin Escape Room, and we won in the nick of time. It'd been fun. We laughed a lot, like the tensions at the breakfast table had never happened. I wished Atticus had been there, too. 

I cringed. Damn it, there Atticus was again, getting into my head. He'd even shown up when I was doodling in my room. Aimlessly, or so I thought, until I realised the guy in the sketch was slowly turning in a football player. 

It was crazy, incredibly crazy, but somewhere way, way in the back of my mind, the notion that Atticus had been talking about me in that chat box was floating around. You know, just, casually hanging out and asking: 'hey, who would be more inappropriate for him to ask out than his stepbrother?' Jonah had typed my name, too. 

Who knew, though. Atticus had been so mysterious thus far, I had no idea what was floating around way, way in the back of his mind. I doubted he was going to tell me anything. Mandy was obviously off the table as an information source as well. 

Then there was Jonah. I wondered if Jonah and Atticus were even really 'friends.' It was all incredibly confusing. I paid attention this morning right before we entered the classroom, and they didn't seem to talk to each other at all in school hallways. 

And now, inside our English classroom, they could almost literally not sit further apart. Atticus was in the back with Corey and some other jocks. He'd switched places. He sat in the centre last time. Becky and I sat at the front, with Jonah and Kim behind us. Mandy was behind Jonah and Kim. I hadn't spoken to her since the party. 

Mandy and I briefly made eye contact and I did return her smile, but I wasn't planning on talking to her more than I needed to. I turned my attention to Becky and Jonah. 

"Hey, I didn't see you at the party anymore," Becky told Jonah, who shrugged. 

"Nah, sorry Becks, I had to be somewhere else," he vaguely replied. 

Jonah leaned back in his chair, relaxed, and my eyes lingered on him. I wondered if he'd gone outside to talk with Atticus during the party, and what they were talking about. 

Damn it, stop! I scolded myself. Amnesia. Remember: you have amnesia. Wait, that didn't sound right. 

"So, any chance the theatre group can have some of those paintings you made? I'm sure we'll be able to use them for a play some day. With some adjustments." 

It took me a solid four seconds and Becky clearing her throat to registerer that Jonah was asking me a question. 

"Sorry. Yeah, sure," I quickly replied, smiling and shaking my head. "I'll even help with the adjustments if you want." 

Jonah raised his eyebrows in question, but then returned my smile. "Great. We'll probably take you up on that. We suck at getting our sets done in time, and painting as an after school activity seems more like your thing than football anyway." 

Jonah's incredibly odd but beautiful brown-blue hazel eyes sparkled with amusement. 

My thing? Was that code for something?