Zac was uncomfortable with Chrystal around. She was nice enough; in fact, she was overly friendly. Something about her just put him on edge, though. She and Jaya were talking together about how bored they had gotten that day, and Zac walked nervously to Jaya's right as the conversation continued. He felt left out, which was unusual when he was with his brothers.
He sighed unknowingly. Jaya picked up on it and turned to him, her face suddenly sympathetic and smiling. "I'm sorry Zac, we tend to talk a lot. What do you want to do when we get to my house?"
Zac shrugged, grinning back, happy to have at least a little attention. He started bounding down the sidewalk . "We'll find out when we get there, right?" he said.
Chrystal laughed. "I suppose," she said, smiling happily. "Oh, I forgot! Hi Zac." She grinned.
"Hi Chrys," he said from where he was standing twenty feet in front of them.
"So what were you both doing?" Chrystal asked, curious. She knew Jaya had been wondering lately whether Zac and she would ever see each other again. Jaya hadn't said so, of course, but Chrystal had known her friend a very, very long time, and she could tell.
"Well..." Jaya glanced ahead at Zac, who was walking backwards up the sidewalk. He shrugged, as if to say, 'I don't care, go ahead.' So Jaya proceeded to tell Chrystal about the note, McDonalds, and the whole trick Taylor and Isaac had thought up. "Now we're just going to my house to chill," she said casually, as they made their way up her front walk. "Though I'm not quite sure what we're going to do. Does Super Nintendo sound okay to you guys?"
"Ye--"
"No. Absolutely not," Chrystal interrupted Zac. "I'm not falling asleep again. If I'm here, we're going to do something more entertaining than watching a bunch of cartoon figures jump on people's heads."
"We're not going to play Mario World, though," complained Jaya. "The game is differ--"
"I don't care. I fell asleep last time, remember? I'm not leaving you two alone." She eyed them both warily, and they blushed. Jaya carefully let them in the front door, then closed it snugly behind her. "How about we play some sort of game?" Chrystal suggested mildly.
"Okay, lemme root around in my closet," Jaya said, making her way up the stairs. Chrystal and Zac followed closely behind. The pounding of feet brought Jaya's mother out of her upstairs bedroom, since she wasn't informed of any company.
"Jaya? What's going on?" she asked, pushing back her burnished copper hair. All in all, she looked like an exact replica of Jaya, just taller and more adult. Her eyes, though, weren't as surprisingly blue-green, Zac noted.
"Nothin', Mom. This is Zac Hanson..." she pointed to Zac as she introduced him. "A kid that lives down the street a ways." Her mother gave Zac a suspicious look. "Don't worry, he's a perfect gentleman," she added hastily. "We're just going to play some sort of game in my room for a bit. You're not going to sleep soon, are you?"
Her mother shook her head. "No. It's a little early for me yet. You kids have fun, and if you need anything, I'll be in my bedroom." She made her way back, letting the door swing shut.
"Your mother is too nice," Chrystal muttered, the first one to actually step into Jaya's room. "I remember that time she went out to get us mint chip ice cream, just because there wasn't any in the house."
Zac's eyebrows raised. That did seem awfully nice. "Anyway," he said, "what're we gonna do?"
Jaya opened the door to her closet. Up on the shelves above her hanging clothes were several different board games and the like. She immediately zoned in on a game she hadn't played in ages. "Jenga?" she suggested, looking over her shoulder.
"Sure," chorused Chrystal and Zac. They each gave the other a startled glance, then smiled slightly.
So, after a few seconds of struggling to bring down the game and another few seconds of standing on a chair, Jaya took Jenga out of its longtime resting spot and jumped down to the floor. She sat down opposite Chrystal, who had settled on the floor with Zac. Carefully setting up the tower of wooden bricks, Jaya realized it could be quite a good thing to have hardwood floors. Then again, it would make the bricks clack loudly when they fell.
It was Zac's turn first by unanimous agreement. He gently poked a brick from the exact center of the tower, but then decided against that, seeing as it was stuck tightly. He then poked the one next to it, which was firm as well. He made his way down the tower, finally finding one which was loose enough to free easily. He tapped it, and it poked out the other side of the tower. Reaching around carefully, he pulled it out and placed it on top of the building.
Jaya was next. She repeated Zac's process, but with a different brick, and was quickly finished. Chrystal, too, followed the same pattern.
After five minutes, the tower was teetering wildly. Zac looked slightly weak as he poked one of the lowermost bricks out. He carefully tried placing it on top, then drew back as the tower shook violently. He tried again, this time successfully.
Jaya just sat, dumbfounded. She was the one to lose. She knew that already, without even trying. Slowly and purposefully, she tried to find another loose brick. It was not an easy accomplishment. Most had already been taken out and stacked to the top of the tower, which was looking awfully precarious. She found one which, though it was tight, would move, if you tried hard enough. It was almost out when the force of the poking sent the tower wobbled and reeled, flying to the floor with a crash.
Chrystal sighed with relief. It had been her turn next, and she didn't know if she would've been able to do it. She suspected she couldn't.
Zac smiled, giving Jaya a reassuring glance, then a wink. He then proceeded to restack the game and they began anew.
"Yeah! I'm the champion!" Zac jumped to his feet and ran around in circles after the tower of blocks fell on Chrystal's turn. He stopped quite suddenly and give her a huge grin, thanking her silently.
"Oh, shut up!" Chrystal said jokingly. She tried giving Zac a playful punch, but he was slightly out of reach, and she fell to the side.
"Now now," he said, waggling his index finger at her. "Don't be like the tower, Chrystal. It's unbecoming."
"Bah," she said, a dark look flashing across her face before she giggled.
"Wanna go another round?" Jaya asked, smiling widely. She shot a look at Chrystal, who gave her one back.
"No way. I've got to go home, anyway, because I need to be up early tomorrow." Chrystal sighed, flinging her hands over her head. "Dentist appointment. Hate the annoying suckers... but what can you do?" Jaya groaned. "I know, I know," Chrystal said as she stood up. "Well, toodles!"
"See you!" Zac and Jaya called after her. They heard her thumping down the stairs after calling a quick good-bye to Jaya's mother. Then the front door slammed, and both winced.
The room was suddenly quite silent. One of the bricks that had been precariously tilting over the edge of the tower ruins clattered to the floor, as if to say, 'Well, SOMEONE had to make noise.' Zac peered at it, then prodded it with his toe, as if fascinated.
A moment or two later, Zac spoke up. "Well, now what do we do? I'm sure we could look at this thing all night, but you know..." He glanced over at Jaya, who just shrugged in response. "Can I call my mother, then?"
"Sure, phone's on the floor somewhere around here..." She stood up, picked up a few scattered shirts that hadn't quite made it to the laundry, and tossed them over next to her hamper. She bent down and peered under her bed, then stood back up, frowning, with her hands on her hips. "Where on EARTH did it GO?" she said, exasperated. Out of the corner of her eye, she finally spotted the phone cord, leading under her pillow. "Oh yeah," she said, rather sheepishly. "I completely forgot. I put it under my pillow to muffle the ringing this morning, since someone always manages to call... Mom's not too happy 'bout that."
"Why didn't you just turn off the ringer?" Zac asked, pulling the pillow off the phone.
"Because I'd forget to turn it back on again," she replied patiently. "I don't have the best memory, you know. I suppose after a few days of no phone calls I'd figure out something was wrong, but..." she shrugged as her words trailed off.
Zac just shook his head, giving her a knowing glance. Without another word, he dialed his home phone number and held the phone to his ear. "Mom? Yeah.... Yeah. Jaya's. Didn't Taylor and Isaac tell you?... Oh well, not surprising.... Yeah. No, I'm fine... Uh huh... All right. Okay, bye." He hung up, then turned to Jaya.
"So what did she say?" she asked, rather curious. She hated one sided conversations.
"She gave me a five minute curfew. Walking a block a minute is not my idea of fun, but I think I can manage. I've got to leave now if I'm going to make it, though." He paused, then stood up and crossed to the door.
Before he left, Jaya let slip from her mouth, "Call me tomorrow, okay?" She was even shocked at her own words. She wasn't even sure they were her own. Now what had possessed her to say that?
Zac turned to look at her with a stunned expression. He understood that it wasn't quite the same person that had said that. Then he grinned. "Of course!" He then took his leave, shutting the door quietly behind him. Jaya listened to his footsteps as he left.
Jaya was idly chewing on a clump of her hair. She suddenly jumped as the phone rang. "Whh.. what?" she gasped, completely disoriented. She looked around for the phone, but didn't see it. She patiently waited for the second ring. As it went off, she homed in on the source of the sound, and quickly found her phone under a pile of jeans.
She reached over and picked it up. "Hello?"
"Hey Jaya, want to come to the mall with me? Isaac's offered us a ride, if you can go." Zac's voice came clearly to her ears. So he had called! Jaya was ecstatic.
"Sure thing!" she said enthusiastically. "Give me fifteen minutes, okay? I just woke up about half an hour ago, and I'm a snail in the morning."
"A snail? You'll have to teach me how to do that. The only thing I know how to be is a lazy human being." His voice was sardonic and teasing.
"Oh, you!" Jaya said, giggling. After a few minutes of useless banter, Jaya hung up and rushed to get ready. Since it was now Monday, her parents would both be at work, and she didn't need to ask permission to be out and about. She grabbed a pair of white cutoffs along with a lavender knit top, yanked them on, and dashed into the upstairs bathroom. After a quick face wash and some brushing of her teeth, Jaya ran downstairs to forage for cash.
She found twenty dollars, mostly one dollar bills. Her father usually had a hole in his pocket, and Jaya certainly wasn't going to tell him... Her thoughts were disrupted as the doorbell rang. She yanked open the front door and dashed out to the car, Zac hot on her heels.
"Where do you want to go first?" Jaya asked, looking around the Southland Shopping Mall with considerable interest to some of the more major stores.
"Nowhere with a mass amount of girls, okay? Mobbing is really quite frequent, only if there's one of us around... we're quite noticeable. Especially recently." Zac said that with a slight lilt to his voice, but his eyes held no such humor. He was completely serious.
"Oh, fine, be that way," Jaya said, a slight pouty tone coming to her.
"No," Zac said, completely serious.
"All right." And that time, she was earnest in her speech. The two walked together for a bit, keeping an eye out for any potential followers. They didn't see many, and when they did see some, they quickly ducked into a nearby store and weaved their way through the aisles before coming out again. They usually dissuaded or confused most people.
After a while, Jaya grew bored of just walking. She felt like the twenty dollars was burning a hold in her pocket. She wanted to spend it. She glanced around, finally picking a small store called 'Sweet Things.' It was an interesting store, composed of candy bins and greeting cards of all sorts, and also a few other novelty items besides. She grabbed Zac's arm, and before he had a chance to protest, yanked him inside.
She roamed up and down the card aisle, laughing at some of the more silly greetings, frowning at the more repulsive ones. That led her to one end of the store, which held a shelf of coffee mugs and journals. There wasn't really an order to the place, which made it all the more interesting to Jaya. Zac even seemed to be enjoying himself. Jaya picked out a rather large coffee mug that had a huge yellow happy face plastered around it. That would be perfect for her father in the morning. He was always a little over-grouchy, and this would cheer him up. Hopefully. Jaya paid for it at the register and she and Zac both walked out of the store.
Suddenly, Zac heard a gunshot. He gasped, his face turning ashen, as Jaya's mug crashed to the ground.
A girl barely younger than Zac stood trembling, twenty feet away. She lowered her gun, staring at the floor where Jaya lay, a pool of blood beginning to ooze from beneath her. Zac was numb with shock. He couldn't do anything. He most certainly couldn't move, and thinking was out of the question.
A pair of officers came running into view, taking in the scene with a single glance. They asked a few witnesses to gather, making sure they wouldn't all walk away before they had done some good questioning.
"Now," said the first one, a woman with hair colored like Jaya's. Zac felt a pang. "Little girl.. what are you doing with that gun?"
"I..." she faltered. Zac stared at her wide-eyed. She had completely lost her nerves. Then she seemed to regain her composure, and returned Zac's stare. "I had to shoot her. I love Zac."
"WHAT?!" Zac screeched, outraged.
"Quiet, please," said the second officer, a rather tall man with sandy blonde hair. "How did you acquire the gun?"
"It's my father's," said the girl, who stood rigidly, as if daring anyone to defy her.
The woman officer bent down to check for Jaya's pulse. Frowning, she stood up, shaking her head.
"What? What's wrong?" Zac asked, panic taking hold of his heart.
"I'm afraid she's dead." Zac went numb again. He listened to the conversation that was going on before him, each word penetrating his mind with painstaking clarity.
"Now, girl, what's your name?"
"Albie. Albie Fuenten."
I've heard that name before, Zac thought, trying to remember.
Albie went on. "Jaya was my friend," she declared, looking down her nose at the dead girl without any trace of regret. "But when she said she and my Zac had kissed, I had to take action."
"I take it this is Zac?" The blonde police officer motioned at Zac. Albie nodded her affirmation. "Do you know this girl, Zac?" asked the officer, turning to the young boy.
"I--" Zac tried to gather his muddled wits. "In... only by name... Chrystal said something about her and her sister once... I think..." He looked down at Jaya, whose face was paling considerably from lack of blood, which was seeping across the floor towards him. He watched it pool around the toes of his shoes.
As if that set off some sort of reaction in him, Zac suddenly flew into a blind rage. "Albie, you... you... oh, there's NO WORD. You just KILL your FRIEND? I can't believe all you obsessed fans. You think you own me, because you love the way I look. You love my eyes and my hair and my voice. You love my craziness, you love what you think is me. Well that's not me, as Jaya found out. You're a disgrace to fans everywhere, to just kill... my God, Albie! This is disgusting! You have no idea how low I think you are right now." He was absolutely livid, glaring at the girl who had disrupted his sense of self.
The officers had not stopped his tirade. Albie looked at him with a stricken expression, tears coming to her eyes, her lip beginning to quiver. "You don't love me?"
"I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHO YOU WERE!" Zac screamed at the top of his lungs. This girl was something else. He had heard of airheaded, but this was worse... this was lead headed.
The police officers quietly took Albie by the hands, then mumbled something into their walkie talkies. Within minutes, more police officers arrived at the scene. Jaya's body was covered, then quickly carted out of the way. Albie was apprehended and gone, just like that. Only the woman officer was left, with her straight red hair that was frighteningly like Jaya's. Zac tried not to look at her.
She put her hand on his shoulder, and he winced. "I know you hurt now, Zac," she said softly. "But eventually it will get easier. It will take a lot of time, but you're young, and you have plenty of time to heal. I didn't want to make a big fuss over who you were, but I recognized you... you have plenty of other people in your life, if you decide that you're still looking."
"I'm never falling in love again," he swore through gritted teeth, his eyes filled almost to the brim with tears. He willed himself not to cry, not to make a fool of himself in the middle of a shopping mall... but who was he kidding? Who would care? He had just lost someone very dear to him. She was, perhaps, not as close as his family, but with time, she could have been. When she fell, he felt like half his heart fell with her. The other half was lonely, pulsing quickly, wishing beyond wishes that she might come back again. There was a huge hole in his spirit.
The officer hugged him tightly, even though she didn't know him. He didn't care. He let the tears flow freely, and he sobbed into her shoulder. Patting his shoulder quietly, she allowed him to weep.
The funeral was short, but it still managed to seem like an eternity to Zac. He had requested sitting next to Chrystal, and she had agreed... she needed support, too. She was now sitting at his left, her face buried in her tenth box of Kleenex. Zac was on his twelfth. He was absolutely nervous. He was supposed to give a speech for Jaya, and he had no idea what he was going to say. When it was time, he walked up to the podium, looked down at his hands, and then out at the audience.
"Well, if you've seen the MTV music video awards, this is going to look like I'm copying Fiona. I suppose it could be true, in the sense that I didn't prepare a speech. I couldn't. If I thought of Jaya for more than thirty seconds, I started crying. The paper didn't like that much." He sighed. "It's hardly been a week, but the Southland Shopping Mall has already placed metal detectors at each of its six entrances. They're tracing for any weaponry. Every time I walk through those doors, it's going to remind me of Jaya. She was a very special person, I think. Maybe not the most giving, or the most perfect... of course, nobody's perfect... But to only live for eleven years is just stupid. It reflects on us, in the whole. Our society's pretty stupid. I'm not sorry I got involved with her, but I'm very sorry... more than sorry, that being involved with her got her killed." He paused, as if searching for words. "If I could do it all over again, with the knowledge of what was going to happen, I would have still loved her. I'm sorry if this seems like a lot of silly rambling, but that all came directly from my heart... or, in actuality, my half heart." Zac stepped off the podium and walked back down the aisle. Then he stopped and turned to the open casket, letting the tears flow openly down his face. He was no longer ashamed of crying. Jaya wouldn't want him to be.
