He started to head toward her, but tripped over his own foot. His top half flung forward as he tried to right himself. The commotion pulled Jade's attention in his direction. She looked up with watery blue eyes and they locked on Zander's just as he regained his footing. One look from his dream girl, and Zander was frozen. Did she feel the connection, too?
The annoying black eye floater re-entered his vision, and Jade’s eyes widened. The two of them stood motionless for what felt like an eternity.
The bell rang, signaling the end of class. The social studies classroom door opened, and Jimmy stepped into the hall. The black spot disappeared.
“Jade, is everything all right?”
Zander felt a burning sensation in his chest, like he wanted to punch Jimmy for interrupting his moment with Jade. Instead, he knelt and pretended to tie his shoelace.
Jade quickly wiped away tears and smoothed her hair. “Yes, I'm fine.” Her armor back in place, she was guarded once again.
“If you are mad at me for what I said—it was just a stupid debate.”
Jade forced a laugh. “I know.”
“It's not like you’re an immigrant, right?” Jimmy asked. Jade smiled and looked at the floor. Jimmy moved on to a topic he cared more about, “Forget the debate. You're coming to Parker Knight's party tonight, right?”
“Yes, of course,” Jade said. Something in the way she said it made it seem like she wasn't happy about the party, but Jimmy didn't notice.
“Thanksgiving Eve is the second biggest party night of the year. It's gonna to be lit.” Jimmy led Jade back to the classroom. He ignored Zander's presence as he passed by, but Jade looked over.
Zander tried to read her face. Was she unhappy with her oblivious and average-intelligence boyfriend who said borderline inappropriate things in class? Was she as disappointed as Zander that Jimmy had interrupted the moment between them? Or was she puzzled by Zander's odd behavior? Zander wished he knew.
Zander dropped his tray and graying hamburger onto the table. He didn't plan on eating the unpleasant meat, but force of habit made him collect the so-called meal from the hairnet-wearing lunch aids in Woodpine's high school cafeteria.
“Did you hear about Parker's Thanksgiving Eve party tonight?” he asked his sister, Rayley. She recently had her braces removed, but her frizzy, untamed red hair made her look like a little kid.
“Parker Knight, the cheerleader?” Rayley's best friend, Vicki, asked. She eyed him with suspicion as she popped a French fry into her mouth. “Were you invited?”
Vicki was a tall, thin brunette. The two girls were sophomores, but Rayley barely passed for high school age while Vicki could be mistaken as twenty-five.
Zander spent most of his free time studying, and he therefore didn’t have many friends his age. Rayley and Vicki filled the void when they entered high school. Perhaps it began out of convenience, but now he enjoyed spending time with them. Of course, as an older brother and a senior in high school, he would never tell them that.
“It's a senior party. Everyone in my grade is invited,” Zander said. He hoped he sounded confident.
“You're going to Parker Knight's party?” Rayley asked with a look of complete awe.
“Maybe,” Zander hedged, not looking up from the sports statistics he pretended to scan on his phone.
“You totally are! Does that mean you are one of the popular kids now?” she asked. Rayley looked up to her brother. In her eyes, he was smart, funny, and the coolest kid in school.
Zander rolled his eyes. “You watch too many movies. Popular was a term manufactured by Hollywood.”
Rayley ignored his comment. “Maybe you’ll make out with a cheerleader!”
“Ridiculous, Rayley. You have a wild imagination. I’m sure it’s just seniors hanging around Parker’s house.”
“You are going to the party? Oh, please, please, can we come?” Rayley begged, grabbing Zander’s arm.
“Why do you want to go to this party?” Vicki asked. “You never went in the past.”
Zander dug a fork into the green vegetable mush that had been dolloped on his tray. “I don't know. I heard some people were going.”
“Some people, eh? Could it be some beautiful blonde you have had your eye on in the hallways?” Vicki asked with a smirk. Zander shrugged his shoulders.
Vicki crumpled the paper that previously held her sandwich. “I'll tell you what. We are going to go with you to this party whether you like it or not, but my curfew is ten o'clock.”
“Fine,” Zander said. Both girls squealed with excitement. Embarrassed by the sheer volume of their shrieks, Zander scanned the neighboring tables for judging stares. He shouldn't have worried. Two sophomore girls and a lame nerd weren't worth anyone's attention at this school. He rolled his eyes but gladly accepted that they were coming because it was better than walking into the party alone.
Jade sat in the passenger seat of her parents' white Honda CRV parked in the driveway. Singing every word to Taylor Swift’s latest hit, Jade’s cousin Marcus tapped his fingers to the beat on the steering wheel while they waited.
Jade’s mind barely registered the song. She leaned her head on her hand and stared through the dashboard, drifting back to social studies class. She pictured the strange look on Zander's face when a floater passed between them. Had he seen it too?
The movements of the spot had been life-like. She had been unable to look away, and it felt like the floater knew it. It taunted her until she couldn’t take it anymore. She had been embarrassed to run out of class, but she had to get away.
It wasn’t the first time a floater looked alive, but it was the first time someone else noticed. For the longest time, she thought everyone saw the spots and accepted explanations about shadows on retinas or tricks of the eye, but today there was something different.
“Can we leave by eleven? I’d like to watch the soccer match in Germany that is streaming live later tonight,” Marcus said, pulling Jade from her memories.
“Fine,” Jade said. She didn't want to go to the party anyway.
“Cheer up, Debbie Downer. We are on our way to a high school party with all your friends the night before Thanksgiving vacation. No one’s forcing you to eat broccoli or take a math test.”
Jade smiled at her cousin. She knew he was trying to lift her spirits, but he didn’t understand. Her mother did force her to go and socialize with the popular kids, whether she wanted to or not. She wished Zander was going to be there. She wanted to speak to him, but he was never at parties.
The front door to the house burst open and Jade’s brother Bobby came bounding out. He had a sinister grin on his face. He leaped into the backseat of the car with zest.
He leaned forward and said to Jade, “Mom's not happy that I’m going to the party with you.” Bobby loved causing arguments. He felt a thrill watching someone’s temper rise.
Jade shrugged her shoulders, feigning nonchalance. “She doesn’t get to say who’s invited to the party. I'd feel more comfortable if you were there.” She had strategically invited Bobby to the party. Her brother was boisterous, which meant fewer eyes on her. She worried about his rowdy behavior, but also enjoyed not being the center of attention.
“She’s on her way.” Bobby sat back and put his hands behind his head, like he was ready to enjoy the show.
“Hold the car right there, Marcus,” Ms. Miller’s voice traveled through the open car window. She had rushed out the front door and was approaching Jade's side of the car.
“Should you be bringing Bobby to Parker Knight's party?” She always knew about the popular kids' parties. “He's only a sophomore.”
Jade crossed her arms and kept her eyes straight ahead. “There will be other sophomores there.”
“Will Jimmy Johnson be there?”
Jade clicked her tongue and sighed. “Yes.”
“I don't want Bobby to ruin your chance with him.”
“It's fine, Mom.” The tone of her voice reflected her utter frustra
tion.
Her mother reached into the open window and handed Jade a tube of lipstick. “At least pretend to care about the way you look.”
Jade stared at the tube of lipstick like it was moist slug. She grabbed it just to end the conversation. “Let's go,” she told Marcus.
Rayley, Vicki, and Zander sat in Zander's jeep outside Parker's house. The music blasted from the two-story colonial and could be heard down the street. As they sat there, dozens of people passed in and out the front door.
“We better head inside now if we have to leave at a quarter to ten, Zander. That's the deal,” Vicki reminded him. “My mom will kill me if I’m late.”
Zander looked somber as he stared through the car's side window. House parties were not his scene. There would be thugs who had given him wedgies in middle school, and girls who ignored him in the halls. However, there would be one person that would make it worth it. Jade.
“Got it,” Zander said, popping a wintergreen mint into his mouth. “Let's go.”
The girls giggled under their breath as they walked up the front steps. Zander shot them a look. He was beginning to regret his decision to allow the sophomores to tag along. What if Jade thought it was dumb that he brought them?
The front door opened and a drunk gaggle of girls stumbled past them. Zander’s eyes widened. He looked ready to head back to the car, but Vicki slipped in the door. Rayley grabbed her brother’s arm and dragged him inside.
The living room was packed with meatheads gulping down beers and scantily dressed girls grinding to the music blasting from the speakers. A table with plastic cups in opposing triangle formations was setup in the dining room. The sweaty and inebriated competitors were throwing ping pong balls into the beer-filled cups and pounding their chests.
Vicki felt a buzz of excitement as she looked around the senior party. She pushed back her shoulders, feeling right at home with the upperclassman.
Rayley recognized the change in Vicki’s demeanor. It meant Vicki was turning on her flirtatious charm. Rayley didn’t mind playing the quiet sidekick, but she didn’t think Zander needed to witness it. She swatted Zander’s arm to get his attention. “Zander, look who's here.”
Zander followed her gaze. From the top of the stairs, they had a perfect view of Jade and her friends sitting on the couch in the den. She laughed at someone’s joke and her face lit up. Her beauty shined so bright that the rest of the room dimmed in comparison.
“You only have an hour. Go talk to her.” Vicki gave Zander a shove.
Zander stumbled down the first few steps, bringing attention to himself. He could feel his ears burning. Jade looked up from the couch. The look on her face changed when she saw him. Was she pleased? Zander must have imagined it.
Zander forgot to keep walking. He stood midway down the staircase, like a fool. He scanned the room, praying that he could think of a decent reason to be meandering toward Jade. He spotted a beer keg in the corner. Bingo. He made his way down the stairs.
Grabbing a red cup from the table, he glanced over his shoulder. Jade pushed a stray strand of golden hair behind her ear as she watched his movement out of the corner of her eye.
“Hey, can you bring me a beer?” One of the girls on the couch with Jade asked.
The empty cup slipped out of Zander’s hand. He mumbled an answer. Jade's friend giggled and said, “If you can handle it.”
Jade popped off the couch. “I can help you.” She began pumping the keg like a professional partier.
“Thanks,” Zander murmured. She grabbed the cup from his hand and filled it, at ease with the process.
“Jade, look who just showed up to the party.” One of the other girls pointed at the window. The door to an SUV opened and Jimmy Johnson stepped out from the driver’s side.
Jade didn’t miss a beat. “Want to head outside for a minute?” she asked Zander.
“Sure,” Zander responded a little too eagerly. He could kick himself for sounding and acting so lame.
He followed her up the stairs and through the dining room. On her way to the door, Jade grabbed the arm of one of the jocks playing beer pong. “Bobby, don't forget, Mom is going to interrogate you later. Try not to get too drunk.” It sounded like a warning, not an attempt to embarrass him.
Bobby brushed her off. He had one goal for the night: get drunk. He had learned early that alcohol dulled his anxiety. He took aim and threw the ping pong ball across the table. It landed dead center in the front cup. He threw his arms up as the room cheered. Someone handed him a beer. He chugged the contents in a single gulp and crushed the cup. Jade shook her head and said nothing.
Marcus, Bobby’s beer pong partner, ignored the raucous display and said to Jade, “This doesn’t look like someone named Jimmy Johnson.” He raised his eyebrows at Zander.
Jade gave him a shove. “Shut up, Marcus.”
Marcus threw his hands up. “I’m not going to tell your mom.”
“Who let the sophomore play beer pong?” someone shouted into the room.
In one angry movement, Bobby cleared the empty beer bottles off the table with the back of his arm. “Do you want me to teach you a lesson?” He puffed out his chest and raised his fists. Bobby didn’t trust anyone. In his eyes, everyone was out to get him. He saw it in the glares of the people he passed on the street.
Marcus stepped in between Bobby and the senior who’d yelled. “Let’s calm down,” he said as he motioned for Jade not to worry about it. Marcus was used to breaking up his cousin’s fights.
Jade walked out the side door, trying not to worry about her brother. She would have stayed to help, but she had to get out of the house before Jimmy Johnson appeared.
As Zander followed her, he spotted Rayley and Vicki in the corner of the living room. Rayley had two thumbs up and an encouraging grin on her face.
Vicki tapped her watch and put her hand on her hip. She was rooting for Zander, but she was in shock that he was actually leaving with the girl.
“Is that your jeep?” Jade asked as they ambled down the walkway.
Zander’s brain reignited his vocal skills. “Do you want me to drive you somewhere?”
“No,” she said and leaned against the jeep’s side door, facing away from the party.
He watched her stare at the sky. The stars were barely visible through the clouds. “What are you thinking about?” He wasn’t sure why he asked it, but she looked like she was concentrating hard.
Her eyes were the color of the ocean when she looked at him. He felt a rush of exhilaration just leaning on the car next to her. “I’m trying to figure out how to ask if you see the floaters.”
“The eye floaters? You mean the tiny shadows on your retina cast by microscopic fibers?”
Jade stared at Zander for a moment, feeling disappointed. She could have sworn he saw the spot, too. She must have been mistaken. She smiled and looked back at the stars.
Zander couldn't take his eyes off her. She was breathtaking. He was having a private conversation at a house party with the girl of his dreams. It was more than he could have hoped for, and he didn't want it to end.
“Do you ever wonder if there is something else out there?” She wasn’t sure why she asked him. Maybe it was because he had already caught her with her guard down in the hallway earlier that day. She didn’t feel like she had to pretend to be someone else when she was with him, so she asked the question that was on her mind.
“Like other beings in the universe?”
She shrugged.
Zander could tell his answer mattered. “Sure, I do. I don’t think we’re alone.”
Jade turned her body so she was facing him. “What if they were closer than we realized?” Zander didn’t have a chance to answer. “Come on!”
She climbed the back of his jeep, scaling the door until she was crouched on top. She reached over the side of the car, offering a hand to Zander. Unsure how he ended up on this adventure with Jade, he clasped her hand and climbed up.
“Zande
r?” Jade had wrapped an arm around his shoulder and Zander’s arm instinctively wrapped around her waist. There wasn’t much room on the roof and one small move might topple them over the side.
“Yes?” Zander asked, expectantly. He was on the edge of his own reality, ready to do anything for her. Did she want him to kiss her? Tell her that he loved her? Whisk her away to live happily ever after?
“I know they are out there,” she whispered. The feel of her breath on his face and her body tucked against his own rendered him speechless.
Jade looked up at the stars and shouted, “I know you’re out there!”
* * * *
Chapter Two: The Second Thanksgiving Eve
Freshman Year of College
Age: 18
Jade's phone buzzed. She pulled it halfway out of her pocket and scanned the message, sighed and dropped the phone back into its place. It was from her mother. There were no words, just a picture of an average-looking twenty-something guy who worked at the deli in town. Jade had heard the pitch for him as a potential suitor many times before. Her mother began by praising his father and the family store as a stalwart of the community.
Her mother was relentless on her quest to marry Jade into a well-respected family. Did she think they were in the Middle Ages? Jade wasn't a piece of property that could be sold to improve the family’s reputation.
Jade frowned at the floor. Perhaps she had brought the wrath of her mother upon herself. Jade had pacified her mother by dating Jimmy Johnson during her senior year of high school, but she refused to continue the charade. Jade broke up with Jimmy on graduation day. Instead of leaving Jade alone, her mother had doubled down on finding a local boy for Jade.
Jade collected the tickets of two movie goers that were ten minutes late to the hottest action movie of the year. Thanksgiving was a busy weekend for movie releases, and that was the draw of Jade’s new job. If her mother insisted she attend the local college and live at home, Jade needed a reason to get out of her mother's house. The movie theater job kept her out of her mother's clutches, which was especially important the week of Thanksgiving.
All Shadows Eve Page 2