Running From the Dark | Double Lives Series | Book 1

Chapter 4-Surprise!

I don't remember anything from summer break except this one moment that led to an almost fight. It was June 2, 2006 Friday afternoon. I was hanging out with my friends in my room. I was reading my letter that I had got from Lulu. Since this was the mid-2000s, cell phones weren't really a thing. Lulu and I wrote letters to each other instead of talking on the house phone. We thought it was easier.

"Whut's dis Jake?" Josh curiously asked, snatching the letter from my hands.

"Give it back," I demanded as I tried to snatch it back, but he moved the paper away from me.

Josh was one of my friends, but he was more like a frenemy. He always got on my nerves. I've known him since first grade.

"Dude, what's with you and these letters? I see you reading them all the time," Kevin said, folding his arms and looking at me.

Kevin is my best friend. I met him in 6th grade when he moved from Sacramento, California.

"They're all from Lulu, if you must know," I told them.

"Would you guys leave him alone?" my other best friend, Mike, said sternly.

"Josh, give him the letter back."

Josh didn't listen. He just kept it in his hand. Then in a snarky tone, he said, "Why do you lak Lulu? She's not dat special."

I gave him the evil eye. In seconds, the letter was ripped in half. Mike and Kevin gasped. I clenched my fists.

"You asshole!" I swore as I lunged at him.

Josh didn't even have time to react. My fist smashed into his nose just before my friends pulled me off of him.

"Git. Out," I growled at Josh, still heaving in anger.

"But-"

"Git out!"

I pushed him out of my room and slammed the door shut.

'Ugh. Why am ah still friends with him?'

Mike and Kevin just stayed quiet. I looked at them and sighed. I picked up the ripped letter and placed it on my dresser. Then I walked over to my bass guitar and grabbed it.

"Wanna hear me play?" I asked Mike and Kevin.

They both nodded.

I sat down on my bed and strummed a chord. Playing the guitar was one of the things that kept me calm. It became my passion when I was just 11 years old.

I started to play the guitar solo that appears at the beginning of the song "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns N' Roses.

2 and a half months later I went back to school for 8th grade. It was Monday August 14 2006. As I walked in the classroom, I noticed there were some kids that were in my class last year. I remember seeing two goth girls staring at me, whispering to each other. Since I could hear from a long distance, I heard them saying how cute I was.

'Wow. As soon as I walk in.'

I quickly found a seat and sat down. All of a sudden, my eyes lingered on a beautiful girl as she walked in. She had caramel skin and long curly brown hair, but something caught my eye. Her bracelet. I instantly recognized who she was.

"Lulu!" I called out to her.

She turned her head towards me.

"Oh mah god. Jake!" she exclaimed. She ran to me as I got up from my seat.

We hugged each other tightly.

"How though?" I asked, looking at her.

"Mah mama decided tuh move back tuh this side of town and thought me and you shouldn't split up," Lulu explained.

I blushed. "Ah'm so glad you came back."

The teacher came in and told everyone to sit down. We all did.

Later on at the lockers, Lulu and I were talking about stuff. Stuff that wasn't discussed in the letters.

"So did you tell Mike and Kevin about you know yet?" Lulu asked.

"No. Ah'm actually afraid to," I responded.

"Jay, you need tuh tell them. They're your friends–"

"Our friends," I corrected her.

She rolled her eyes. "Our friends. They shouldn't see you as a freak."

She was right. I've been friends with them for so long that I should be trusting them.

"Alright."

Then I saw those girls. Those girls as in Emma, Ariana, Evelyn, and Ashley. Their group was called the "BAD GIRLS". Their "boyfriends" were behind them, which were the "BAD BOYS". Their names are Michael, Chase, Landon and Chris.

I rolled my eyes as Emma made her way towards us.

"Hey Jay. I see dat you and Lulu reunited," she said in a snobby tone.

I cringed when she said my nickname. Emma was my enemy. She was basically the "Queen Bee" and a very spoiled rich brat. She's the daughter of a dangerous mafia leader who is getting life in prison. One thing that everyone avoided was her eyes. Her eyes were electric green and would often glow, usually due to her using enchantment.

"Leave us alone," Lulu demanded.

"Aww she speaks," Emma teased with an evil grin. She shoved Lulu against the locker and her friends started laughing.

"Whut is wrong with you?!" I yelled at her madly as I pushed her away from Lulu.

"Nothin' is. The problem is you. We all know what you really are," Emma said as she pointed her finger at me.

'How could she possibly know whut ah am?'

I grunted and shoved her, making her land on the floor.

In a split second, I was being shoved against the locker by Chase.