Page 184 of Finding Us

Jade has a ton of pens. She pretends it’s a collection but it’s really just a bunch of freebie pens she picks up at various locations. Frank and Ryan bought her some better ones last year and she guards them with her life. I don’t dare use them because I always lose pens and she’d kill me if I lost one. For Christmas I’ve decided I’m going to buy her an assortment of nice pens so she’ll toss out those freebie ones that never work.

”I’m going to put a pen in here, just so you’ll have it.”

“Okay, Jade. If it makes you feel better, go ahead.”

I watch as she returns to the table with my backpack and starts searching through her pen box for just the right one. This is more entertaining than watching TV.

“Were you always this way?” I ask her.

“What way?”

“Do you always pack like this for class?”

“Usually, but I didn’t last semester and it was a complete disaster. I went to the first day of class totally unprepared and it was all your fault.”

“What didIdo?”

“You kept luring me to your room for sex and because of that, I didn’t get myself organized for class.”

“I don’t think that was my fault.”

She finally picks a pen and sticks it in one of the pen slots in my backpack. “It was totally your fault.”

“How so?”

She sighs and looks over at me. “Like you don’t know this already? You’re really hot. And you smell good. It’s completely distracting. I’m lucky I got anything done last year.” She unzips one of the pouches on the front of my backpack. “You still need more supplies, Garret. You want some cough drops?”

She’s so serious about it, I have to laugh. “I don’t want any cough drops.”

“At least we see each other between classes. I can loan you stuff if you need it. Hey, you’re taking accounting. That’s a math class, which means you’ll need a calculator. And you don’t have one. Ha! I told you you weren’t packed.”

“I’ll use my phone. It has a calculator app and so does my laptop.”

She comes over and slumps down beside me. “Okay, I think I’m done.”

“You didn’t pack your laptop or your books. The two most important things.”

“Damn!” She bolts up. “I knew I forgot something.”

I’m laughing again. I should’ve got this on video.

Now that the Jade show is over, I pick up the remote to watch some TV. Before I turn it on, someone knocks on the door. It’s several hard, fast knocks.

I get up, glancing back at Jade. Nobody ever comes to the door so this is strange. The knocking starts again. Any normal person would just answer the door but I don’t have a normal life. I’m always watching my back, expecting trouble. I look out the window and see a cop car.

“It’s the cops,” I say quietly to Jade. She meets me at the door but I step in front of her and open the door just a crack. An older guy with white hair is standing there. He’s wearing his uniform.

“Can I help you?” I ask him.

“Yes, I want to talk to you about an incident in the area.”

“Can I see your badge?”

He has a jacket on and it’s covering his badge. He seems annoyed, but moves his jacket aside just enough to give me a quick flash of the badge.

“I need to look at it, please.”

He sighs and takes his jacket off.

---