Chapter24. Them

Genesis' campaign posters were plastered all over the school district. They came in loud, bold colors of orange, purple, with strong catchphrases underneath like 'In it to win it,' or 'If her father can do it, so can she.'

The pictures of her followed me wherever I went. There was one near my classroom, with her smiling brightly though her eyes said anything but. And another one near the fire exit where Woody and I had weekly, almost daily meetings of our own.

"You might as well get one and put it in your own room," Woody remarked when we passed a poster. We were on our way to the fire exit before lunch. Free period for me, while I didn't know what subject for her. She could get out of whatever she was doing without a problem, though she never said how.

I checked the poster once more; of the neat way it was stuck to the wall, down to how straight and aligned it was to everything else. Genesis had always been like that, always careful with the smallest details. Details that people tended to overlook but could be used to her advantage once she needed it. The letter she gave me before leaving Bear Creek was an example. It was a timely goodbye without me knowing it.

"She's not even listening to me," Woody grumbled.

I looked at her when we were safe on the fire exit stairs and had taken our usual places. My mind was still on the posters though. "It's everywhere."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Woody had taken a utility knife from her pocket and was carving a piece of wood. The shape wasn't finalized yet, but dad had always said that you should only judge a finished work, not the monstrosity it began from. Could that also apply to people?

"It's not a good thing." I sighed. "I'd rather have her than the posters."

"But where is her?"

"That's grammatically incorrect, you know that right?"

She shrugged. "I'm not training to be a writer. I'm working for something else." She continued cutting the wood, letting the small shavings get blown by the autumn wind. I shivered with it.

"Have you seen her? Rox, I mean?"

"Who hasn't?" Woody said. "She's always in the school."

"What do you think of her?"

"She's perfect."

The groan I made was so low, maybe Woody didn't hear it. If she did, she pretended not to and went on with her woodcraft. "They're always together," I complained. "Always talking. Always giggling about something. I can't cut through."

"It pisses you off."

"As much as it pisses me off that you're always straight to the point with me." I puffed out my cheeks. "You never sugar coat anything, do you?"

"Shorty said I do."

"Fudge what Shorty thinks. You're meaner than her sometimes." I paused when Woody's hands stopped working on the wood. I thought she'd say something to slam my observations about her, but then she made another shrug and started with her knife again. "For whatever it's worth, it's refreshing to have someone be truthful to me for once."

"I thought you hated it," she said.

"Not as much as I hate it when people keep stuff to themselves."

She didn't raise her head, but I knew that we were thinking of the same person.

Woody and I parted ways when lunch bell rang. I hurried to the cafeteria, wanting to avoid being squished by dozens of hungry teenagers heading the same way.

No such luck. I was swallowed by the rest of the school, and as a result, arrived on our table five minutes later than I'd have wanted. The twins were already there, and so were Gene and Rox.

"Hey you," Genesis said when I sat across from her. The twins were on each end of the table, Rox beside Gene. "You look like you ran a marathon."

"I feel like I ran a marathon." I turned to the counter. "What's for lunch?"

"Rolls if you want it." Spencer pushed his agenda, aka Bertha's famous bags in front of me. "Spaghetti ala vomit if you prefer something else." He pointed to Ester's soggy plate.

"Stop picking on my lunch," Ester complained over her book.

"Just saying, sis."

I tilted my head to Gene who was back to talking with Rox. I couldn't even hold her attention nowadays. "Hey, so, we're both going to the freshmen party tomorrow, right?"

"Freshmen party?" Ester asked.

"Genesis and I were part of the Welcoming Committee weeks back," I explained. "We made small contributions, but they still want us to join the party this weekend. Didn't you get a text, Gene?"

She finally pulled her gaze from Rox and nodded to me. "I received the message last night. They said to bring a friend or two."

My stomach knotted. I thought it was just us on the party.

Spencer kicked me under the table, but with his long leg, everyone felt it too. "I'll come in my tux," he said while wriggling his eyebrows.

I sighed under my breath and turned to Ester. "You might as well come too. It's nothing too formal, so you can wear whatever. Won't it clash with your study sessions?"

Her eyes poked from the top of the pages. "Depends on whether you have fictional people attending."

"It's not that cool," I admitted. Doubly not cool since Rox was obviously going with Gene. I scowled at the bag of rolls in front of me.

"You still have me," Spencer butted in. He'd been looking at me intently.

"Gee thanks," I murmured. But he wasn't who I wanted to notice. The girl I wanted to talk to was still murmuring with Rox, their heads close to each other. I might as well not exist.

It was on my way to last period, head bowed down, backpack on my shoulder, when I felt like someone was following me on the hallway. This itchy feeling, this strange phenomenon has been happening for quite a while. I didn't want to tell my friends because I was already weird enough as it was. They didn't need to be more concerned, especially Genesis who had to focus on her campaign, and not, you know, me.

But I was tired of looking over my shoulder all the time without seeing anyone there. So I decided to strike back.

With one last look behind me, I dashed to the corner and unzipped my backpack. "Let's see who the real creep is," I mumbled.

Now that my footsteps had disappeared, the couple of ones preceding mine grew louder. I knew someone following me!

I waited with bated breath, trap on my hand, before springing forward and tossing Boy to the culprit. "Gargh!" I screamed.

Genesis' eyes narrowed to me, then to Boy on her hands, right before the corner of her lips pulled up. "Our baby."

The nervousness in the pit of my stomach ebbed away at her expression. How could she be so genuinely happy to see Boy when she hadn't been with me? Did momma's become jealous of their children sometimes, or was that just me?

"What are you doing here?" I asked. "Your classroom is the other way."

Genesis lowered Boy and pretended to look at the window nearby, but I could see redness spreading on her cheeks. "I followed you," she said.

And just like that, the jealousy, the doubts, disappeared in favor of the flutter of butterfly wings. I just wished it wasn't so close to my throat.

"You followed me," I repeated. "What for?"

"I don't know. It seemed like a good idea at the time." The lines on her forehead deepened before she handed Boy back to me. "I've made you late for class, Des. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

She was about to turn around when I dropped Boy to the ground, the strings connecting him to me the only thing drawing him up. Genesis' eyes flickered as the puppet began to dance.

I grinned at her and followed Boy's small footsteps. We circled Genesis who had started to giggle. "Isn't he cute?" I said.

She followed so the three of us moved clockwise. "Very."

"Are you impressed?"

"Always am with you." I only stopped when she grabbed my shoulder. Boy fell limp on the floor. "You hadn't talked to me after the game, Des. What was that about?"

The flutter of the butterfly on my throat was stronger, powerful. It almost made swallowing unbearable.

"Is this some secret club I don't know about?" Rox, beautiful and radiant with her boyish charms, came out of nowhere and stepped to Genesis' side. She looked upon me and Gene, then flashed a guilty smile. "Oh. I didn't know I was disturbing anything." She backed away slowly, hands raised. "I'll catch you later, Genesis. Meet me at Aunt Maggie's office for our painting sesh."

"Alright." Genesis turned to me again when Rox was out of earshot. Her different-colored eyes were galaxies beckoning to me, but I could no longer get to her. I'd fallen back on earth. "What were we supposed to talk about after the game again?" she inquired.

I shook my head and faked a smile. "Nothing," I said. "Absolutely nothing." I took Boy, gave her a small wave, then turned around to head to my classroom. I left her there looking clueless by herself, while all those time, I was realizing who taught her how to paint.

The party was on a Saturday night, 6pm. Dad was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs, a camera on his hand thirty minutes before the due time. It flashed when I was almost down.

"Dad! It's a freshman party, not prom!" I blinked the tears away and slapped the hand he was reaching to me. My father was going to shake my hand, for Christ sakes! "Stop teasing me."

He stepped out of the way and followed me to the kitchen. There, he placed the camera on the table and swiveled around with a white rose. "I got you this," he said.

"I swear, dad, one more tease. . . Oh, alright. Let me have it." I took the rose begrudgingly and wagged a finger at him. "But only because you're insistent."

He gave a small bow and beamed. Dad had just gotten off from work and was still wearing his apron. But he looked refreshed, like seeing me on a simple blue dress with no make-up on was something to be happy about. "You look grown," he commented.

"Yuck."

"Okay, okay." He raised both hands, then gestured to the living room. "I'll take you to school, then go back here to drink with the boys."

"You're old enough not to get drunk," I said.

"I'm old enough to know how to." He removed his apron and tossed it to the chair. He smelled of wood shaving. "Genesis is coming with you, right?"

My stomach rumbled as I ducked to the door. "She's meeting me at school with the twins. They're coming too."

With high school parties, or any party in general, it was always unwise to arrive at the right time. You'd end up being early like I did. The price of punctuality.

Because the party was going to be held at the gym, and because I had nothing to do anyway, I headed there straight away.

On my way, I wished I'd brought a coat or scarf to keep myself warm. November was fast approaching, and with it came gusty winds, chilly temperatures, and the need to curl beside something warm, preferably someone you loved. Someone like Genesis.

Speaking of the devil, I spotted her walking on the grass by herself. She wasn't heading to the gym. She was going someplace else.

Curious, I began to quicken my steps, glad that I wore flats instead of the high-heels that Ester was suggesting. The things she was picking up from reading books.

"Gene!" I called. "Gene!"

She couldn't hear me through the wind. The whisper of the grass was louder than my cries.

"Genesi—"

I stopped on my tracks. Someone had put a hand on my shoulder. "Can we talk?" Spencer asked.

"Not now, Spence. Genesis is. . ." He swung me to him just when I saw Rox approaching from the other side of the grounds. She was about to reach Gene.

"Woah!" Spencer caught me just when my knees gave way. Strange thing was he was always there to catch me, even when I didn't want him to. "I'm taking you to the bench," he declared before lifting me up.

I was rigid on his arms while he carried me. Rigid because I realized that I hadn't eaten since yesterday at lunchtime. Rigid because a part of me was still remembering his unwelcomed hands.

Spencer placed me down on the bench and sat beside me without touching. He was trying to be a gentleman, looked like one too on his new buttoned-down shirt. "Don't beat yourself too much," he said. "Not all of us are the favorite person of our favorite person."

"Let's not talk about that."

"Okay." He stared at the stars. "Let's talk about us then. I've learned to accept that I'm a monster. Can you still be friends with that?"

I glanced at my trembling fingers, all thoughts about Genesis, her possible romantic connection to Rox, gone. This was the first time in ages that I've talked to Spencer. I've been avoiding this forever.

"I don't know if I can forgive you, Spence. I'm still mad."

"You have a reason to." His shoulders sank down before he diverted his eyes to me. He was close to tears. "But I love you, Destiny. More than anything in this world."

"But you hurt me too, Spence. You terrified me."

"I was stupid."

"You almost raped me."

"I'll pay for it all my life."

"You're not Genesis."

Both of us took a deep breath after that, me exhaling first. He gave a defeated smile, then nodded. "I know I'm not her, just as you know that Rox is not you."

"That's foul."

"It's called playing my cards." He wiped the edge of his eyes and gave another shaky inhale. It was a sad to see a big guy like him trying to pull it together, and for that I had to give him at least a sliver of respect, the very few that was left since that day in the forest. "You're my best friend too," he said.

"I know. This hurts me more than you can think."

He quieted down, and somewhere on the grounds, people were arriving. Their footsteps crunched on the grass, the leaves blown from the trees. Still, we sat there, wondering where this friendship would lead us.

"Can you at least trust me to walk you to the party?" he asked.

I looked at him and bit my lip. That moment, he wasn't the big bad Spencer I was scared of in the woods. He was just Spencer, my closest friend. "Okay," I murmured.

He didn't attempt to hold my hands when we walked. He didn't even try to bump his elbow to mine. Spencer gave a low laugh when he opened the door to the gym. Turning to me, he said, "Looks like I was wrong."

He moved away so I could step inside. The party was in full swing. I wish I could say much about the balloons hanging on the ceiling, or how lovely the decoration was.

For now, my eyes were focused on one thing, the huge painting above the stage. A painting of me.

A/N: Funny how you could relive someone else's life from a story and feel everything they were feeling, see everything they were seeing through your mind's eyes right? The power of storytelling...

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