Jenny
“Hey Jenny,” Drew begins after school. “Yeah?” I ask slowly inching away from him. “Uh . . . you wanna go to the library?” he asks. I bite my lip. Work starts at 3:30 and it’s 2:30 now. “I can’t. I’ve gotta go to Le Café.” I explain. Drew groans annoyed. I look at the floor. I’m being a biscuit. I love him but he sees right through me. He always knows when I’m not myself. I can’t have him see me as a freaky lizard. So I avoid him. “They totally overwork you! You’re only fourteen!” he whines. Normally, I would add that he’s still thirteen until August but I don’t. I like to make fun of the fact I’m older and he always reminds me that he’s still way taller. But I don’t feel like messing around today. “So? I need this job.” I reply. In all honesty, I do need the job since my dad doesn’t have a job and my mom said she might lose hers. “Do you even get paid minimum wage?” he asks. Five bucks an hour. Who needs working papers when your employer is already breaking the law? “No I do not. But the sooner I leave now, the more money I make today.” I point out. I kiss his cheek feeling a rush of guilt and dash off.
I don’t wrestle Hunter and Krys at Le Café. I just lose myself through work. We still mainly only get old ladies as customers since they think we’re all so cute. They always tell me that I’m lucky to have such thick hair and when I get to be their age I’ll appreciate it. What makes them think I don’t love having a fudging afro? I try to avoid those people but they’re our only customers. “You okay?” a voice asks while I mop the floors. I whirl around to see Hunter and Krys. “Couldn’t be better!” I cheer happily. “I’m in the mood for sugar.” I add to convince them. “You always are.” Hunter teases buying my act. Krys still seems to know something’s not right. “Are you sure?” she asks. “Of course!” I give her a big hug and she pushes me away. “Whatever Jenny. We’re not stupid you know.” She says fiercely. “I never said you were.” I reply returning to my mop. Drew isn’t stupid either.
A few days later, Drew appears at my locker. “I looked at your schedule online. You don’t have to go to Le Café until 3:30. We have an hour right now.” Drew says as though he’s been reciting this. “Uh . . . I have to walk there though.” I say clearly not as prepared for this conversation as Drew. “It’s only five minutes away from the school.” He points out. “Yes but . . . I have detention today.” I lie. “With who?” he asks quickly. This feels like trivia. “My math teacher.” I hope this sounds reasonable. “The math teacher left early today.” Caught in a lie. Should I bother continuing? “I know you’re avoiding me. Why?” Drew demands. I look at his shoes. “I dunno. I just have stuff. You know?” I mumble. “What stuff?” he persists. Katy and my other friends believe running from your problems is weak. I agree completely. But yet I find myself taking off. I hear Drew behind me. “Jenny!” he cries. If he’s six feet tall, that means he probably has long legs. This means he’s probably pretty fast. And being 5’3 I can’t imagine my legs are very long. Meaning that I’m not that fast. Drew grabs me.
I struggle to get away from him. I can’t let him find out about my freaky alter-ego. “Just tell me what’s going on? Do you want to break up or something?” he asks. I am wrong. So wrong. “No!” I shout. I can’t just expect him to stay with someone who avoids him. I promised forever. “Then why are you-” I whirl around and grab his shoulders. I kiss him long and hard. I’m not into PDA but I know I have to. As I kiss him, I feel his grip on me loosen. When I pull away he lets go of me. “I swear I love you I just have some things I need to sort out before I can talk to you or anyone else.” I mumble. He groans. “Alright.” He agrees. He looks mad as he walks away. I can’t stand this. “Wait!” I call out but I feel a hand clamp over my mouth. Nick!
I squirm hard and bite down on his hand until I taste blood. I feel something cold press down into my skin and it stings. Nick slides his knife against the back of my neck. I freeze as I feel blood trickle down my neck. I look around for another student to help me but I see no one. I’d scream for Drew who couldn’t have gotten that far but Nick’s hand presses against my mouth. “Walk.” He commands through clenched teeth pressing his knife into my back. I trudge forward reluctantly. If I scream or reach for my gem, he’ll stab me. I don’t know where he’s guiding me until we end up walking down the stairs that lead to the Vacant Hallway. He shoves me down when we arrive. “You know I thought even you would have enough of a heart not to fudge up love.” I mutter dizzily standing up. “What? You mean you and Drew? You know little kiddie love never lasts.” He teases. “Either way, I’m about to end it right now.” He holds out his knife. I’m about to transform when I hear a voice. “Get away from her!” Drew cries running down the hallway at Nick. He sees Nick’s knife and gasps. Nick begins to get his orange glow and his ears appear. “What the fuck?” he whispers. He shakes his head and ignores the craziness.
“Leave her alone.” Drew says firmly. Nick laughs. I stand in between two giants. As tall as Drew is, Nick stands a couple of inches taller. It may just be his baseball cap. “She can fight for herself. But she won’t.” Nick looks at me. He’s got me beat. He could kill me or I could transform and be seen as a freak by the one I love. “What does that mean?” Drew asks. “You know that thing I need to sort out,” I begin. I pull out my purple gem and transform. I look at him and he looks at me. Typical frizzy red and purple hair and perfectly positioned arm-warmers. “Happy?” I ask. He kisses the top of my head. “I don’t judge.” I’m dumbfounded he isn’t even surprised. Even I was surprised the first time I transformed. I turn and face Nick. I hold out my hand and shoot him with my purple beam. Even though it doesn’t knock him down, he doesn’t fight back. He teleports away. I look up at Drew. “You look beautiful.” He whispers. Do I really? I swish my lizard tail and feel my claws. What’s beautiful about that? I shake my head. “I’ve got a lot to tell you. But I’m done avoiding you now.”
