Little Green Stars

Chapter 5-Down with the Sickness

For having the last name Shamrock, Jaxson and I are pretty unlucky. Moreso me, but my unluckiness seems to sand-pile over to Jaxson, creating a giant mess for him to clean up. How is he going to clean up this mess? I mean, he finally gets a girlfriend, and she has to have a crazy cousin that's allergic to me. This is just another example to add the list of reasons Jaxson's life sucks because he's related to me.

The second half of the school day had passed without even a glimpse of Jin. I think he continued running down the hall and straight out of the school. I mean, it's not a big school so I shouldn't have missed seeing the only Japanese boy between classes, right? But not seeing him didn't stop me from thinking about the way he acted when he saw me or what Rina said. Ghost? It just doesn't make sense. At least school is over, and I can get the hell out of here. Jaxson comes billowing to meet me, and soon Rina is too.

"Did you get a hold of Jin?" Jaxson asks as Rina runs to meet us at my locker.

"Not since the last text," Rina says, the worried look still on her face.

"He just needs to get down with the sickness," Jaxson says, with his corny smile appearing on his face.

"I don't understand," Rina says, looking over to me for translation.

"Jaxson is just trying to cheer me up," I say, fighting against the clutter to shut my locker. "It's our song. Ever heard of Disturbed?"

"No," Rina says, obviously embarrassed.

"It's like this," Jaxson begins, putting his arms around both Rina and me, "Us Shamrocks are the sickness around here, and you just gotta get down with it."

"You're so dumb," I laugh as we head out the doors, all eyes on us—obviously still laughing about the video.

"I don't get it," Rina nervously laughs as we turn the corner to the crosswalk.

"He means people don't like us because we're different, and if you want to hang, you're gonna have to be ok with it."

"I can get down with it," Rina says, smiling up at me.

"That's my girl!" Jaxson yells, leaning over to give her a big kiss on the check.

"Gross," I say, moving away.

Rina's phone rings, and she quickly wanks it out of her pocket to answer. Jaxson and I stand back, anxiously waiting.

"Hello," she says.

I can hear rapid words blaring through the phone. Rina answers back in Japanese, leaving us more confused. After what seems like a heated conversation, she hangs up.

"My dad. I got to go," she says, shoving her phone back in her bag, obviously upset.

"Everything ok?" Jaxson asks, reaching for her hand.

"Ya, just something stupid," she says, letting go of his hand and heading off.

"That was weird," Jaxson says.

"Guess she couldn't get down with the sickness."

"Not funny," Jaxson says, the spirit in his face fading.

"Come on," I say, pulling Jaxson's arm.

"Where we going?"

"Workout," I suggest.

"Don't we need to talk about the house, and what the hell happened today?" Jaxson looks concerned.

"I can't. I don't even want to think about it. I just want to go run until I explode, and all this bullshit won't matter anymore."

"Is there something else going on that I don't know about?" Jaxson says.

Only the fact that I wake up every night at the same time and can't move. "No." I walk ahead so he can't see my face.

"Vel!"

"What?" I say, keeping my lead. "Why?"

"Because you're off, that's why. You've been unusually quiet, and you didn't explode about the house the way I thought you would, and then this whole thing today, it's just—"

"It's nothing! I'm plenty pissed about the house, but I can't do anything about it! What do you want me to say?! And ya, I'm quiet because I'm tired, I'm SO tired, and I haven't been sleeping good! And I have NO IDEA what that was about today!"

"Are you sure?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask, stopping to turn to him.

"Is it maybe that you're jealous I have someone else to hang out with now and—"

"Stop! I never said I didn't like Rina! I'm happy for you!"

"Are you, though?" Jaxson's eyes become suspicious.

"Are you seriously asking me that?"

Jaxson shrugs in response.

"Screw you. You're just like your mom!"

"Ya well, you're just like yours," Jaxson says.

"What's that supposed to mean!" I yell, slinging my backpack at Jaxson, knocking his phone out of his hand.

"This is what I'm talking about!" Jaxson yells as he picks up his phone, "Vel, I love you, but damn, you make it hard sometimes."

"What Jaxson! What do I make so hard?"

"Trying to be normal."

"Who cares about being normal."

"I do! Sometimes I just want to fit in instead of standing out."

Wow. Looks like Jaxson isn't always down with the sickness. With those words in the air, Jaxson backs away in irritation, leaving me standing in the middle of the crosswalk. Oh, look, more irony. Here I am, yet again standing in a crosswalk. As I see it, I have two paths: be utterly pissed at Jaxson and never talk to him again OR realize that my bad luck is screwing up his life and do something about it. Damnit. I love Jaxson too much to not do something about it. So before I know it, my feet are heading towards Hillcrest drive to face my demons head-on.

*Things are just getting started! Please take a second to vote if you're still enjoying :) -Barbara