The Tribuo - 3. part 1, chapter 3

- III -

WEDNESDAY

I couldn’t believe how fast Wednesday zoomed by. To my greatest astonishment, I kept thinking about the English project nonstop. It was bizarre, but I kept writing down random thoughts and ideas for it. I was never much into writing, but this whole thing got my interest. Jennah came up to me before the last class.

“I am going home,” he said as indifferently as before. “If you wanna do more of that thing, come over after you done.”

He is going home? Okay, whatever.

“Yeah,” I said, and then I noticed Julie. Oh thank God, she wasn’t with Jess. “I’ll come over around four or so.”

“See you,” he said and walked away.

“Julie!” I called and was surprised when I didn’t feel as gleeful as before when she blushed again.

“Hey, Matt,” she smiled. “How’s your project coming up?”

“It’s not too bad actually,” I nodded, and she made a small 'huh' sound. “What?”

“It’s nothing,” she shook her head. “It’s just… Well, the guy that you got as your partner… He doesn’t seem like someone who’d be great at this sort of thing, you know?”

“He is actually quite good,” I said with a shrug. “I was surprised myself,” I added when I saw her doubtful eyes. “Hey, you wanna grab a quick coffee after school today? I promise I won’t keep you too long…” I gave her one of my best smiles. “I need to get to Jennah’s place to do more of that project.”

“Sure,” she blushed even harder. “Coffee sounds great.”

“Awesome,” I beamed at her.

****

It was three-thirty, Julie and I weren’t even done with our coffees, and I couldn’t wait to get out of that coffee shop. Julie turned out to be beyond boring. The only thing she talked about was school. I had to bite my inner cheek to keep myself from yawning. Finally, I threw a quick glance at my watch. Ugh, good Lord… It was only 3:40 right now.

“Are you in a hurry?” Julie asked and she sounded offended.

“Oh, God, I am sorry!” I really was sorry. She wasn’t supposed to see me looking at my watch. I am losing my skill, damn. “No, I am not in a hurry… Well… Maybe just a little,” I admitted finally.

“Oh,” Julie said in a small voice. “I see… Well, I guess I’ll just…”

“Julie, it’s not what you think,” I sounded as sincere as ever. “It’s just… I promised Lucas that I would come over at four.”

“Lucas?” now she was confused.

“Jennah,” I said. “The whole project thing… We really need to finish it as soon as possible. We don’t want to be stuck with it for the weekend, you know…”

“Oh, right,” she smiled with relief.

“Umm,” I said. Should I ask her out or not? I mean, I could barely survive through thirty minutes alone with her. If I asked her out, it would have to be for at least three or so hours…But then again, if we go to a movie… “Hey, do you wanna hang out this weekend?”

“This weekend?” she bit her lip. “When?”

“Friday? We could go see a movie or something…”

“Sure,” she said quietly. “That sounds good. What time?”

“I’ll call you, how about that?” I offered and was relieved when she nodded. “What’s your number?”

She told me the number and I wrote it on my hand.

“Cool,” I nodded. “Well, I better go to Jennah’s place if I want to finish that god-awful thing before Friday…”

“Yeah,” she smiled again, and this time, her blushing annoyed me a little. I mean, come on! She can’t possibly be that shy, can she?

“Let me walk you to your car,” I said and ignored her pink cheeks.

I walked her to her car, and she was fiddling with her keys for a minute or two. I sighed. I guess she was waiting for a kiss or something… Suddenly, the idea of spending the entire evening with her, even in the movie theater, didn’t seem as appealing as it did before. Wonder if I should ask Jess for a favor or something. I mean, she should be more than happy to 'save' an innocent soul from my evil ways, right? We’ll see.

“Well, drive safe,” I said finally and gave her a quick hug.

I guess she really did expect a kiss, because she leaned towards me somewhat too fast and bumped her nose into my chin, since I had no intentions of kissing her. Well, this is awkward… I planted a light kiss on her forehead as though not noticing the whole leaning-in thing.

“Yeah,” she said quickly, and pulled away from me as if I were contagious or something. Well, maybe I wouldn't have to ask Jess for a favor after all. For some weird reason, I felt relieved.

“Well, Matt…” my nasty inner voice whispered. “You wanted someone different… Here you go! Happy?”

“See you tomorrow, Julie!” I said cheerfully, ignoring the voice that was giggling like crazy by this point.

“Bye,” she muttered and got into her car.

I watched her drive away, and suddenly, I had a craving for a cigarette. Interesting. I smoke once in a while, but I never craved it before. Great, I suppose I am picking up yet another bad habit. Thanks a lot, Jennah… I sighed and went to my car. Soon enough I was parking in front of Jennah’s house.

****

I got out of his house at almost 9:30 in the evening. I smelled like a tobacco factory, and I knew that my mother would yell at me for at least an hour tonight, but I was in a good mood. The project was almost finished, and I was certain that it would be done tomorrow. I thought about Julie. I just might call her on Friday, we’ll see. I mean, if I don’t go out with her, I’ll be bored out of my skull. Plus, who knows, maybe she’ll surprise me or something. I almost made it to my car, when I heard Jennah’s voice behind me.

“Hey, Matt!”

I turned around. He was leaning on his front door, hands shoved in his jeans pockets, cigarette clenched between his teeth.

“I am not coming to school tomorrow,” he said. “So if you wanna finish this dumb thing, come over whenever.”

“Not coming? How come?” I was somewhat disappointed. I didn’t even know why. I guess I could become good friends with this guy after all.

He shrugged, as indifferent as ever.

“Don’t want to,” he grinned. “Don’t worry, they won’t kick me out for this.”

I laughed at that.

“Whatever. But if you will get kicked out, make sure that it happens after we turn in the project! I seriously don’t want to get it all screwed up!”

“Word,” he grinned again. “Later!”

I watched him go back inside and closing the door, and I laughed again. Well, what do you know! The Weirdo is not that bad!

I was chuckling all the way to my house, and then all hell broke loose when I waltzed in smelling the way I did. Yup, I was right. My mother yelled at me the entire evening, and Jess just kept smirking. I guess some things never change.