Jump | Zach Mitchell

seven

"DON'T pull shit like that again," Zach hisses into Gray's ear. "I mean it." He releases his little brother's arm roughly, almost shoving him away. 

"So-rry." Gray splits the word into two syllables while he rubs the red, now-tender area. "I just wanted to see the gate."

"We saw the gate from where we were sitting." I jerk on my bag, trying to get it to stand straight. "You just need to be patient sometimes, Gray."

He purses his little lips into a line. "But did you see-"

"Yeah, we saw it." Zach cuts him off. "Big letters and tiki torches. Great."

I snort at the lack of enthusiasm in his tone. "Definitely something to write home about, eh?"

"Oh, shut up." He smiles and shakes his head. "Where the hell is-"

"This way, children." Zara appears from the mass at the Monorail hub, not a hair out of place. "Your aunt arranged to meet you at one o'clock. You're to stay in the hotel room until then."

Gray bounces in place. "But what if I want to look around?" He glances up hopefully at Zach.

Of course, Zach shoots him down. "No way. I'm not going anywhere with you unless I have to."

Seeing Gray's downcast expression, I put my hand on his shoulder. "I'll walk around with you," I tell him. "Just let me put my bag upstairs-"

"And call your Mom," Gray reminds me. When he receives a strange look from Zach, he back-pedals. "Or don't. It's just an idea."

Zara glances at her wristwatch. "Let's get a move on, then." She starts in the direction of the escalator. Gray, naturally, charges ahead. Everything that we had just said to him about being patient goes in one ear and out the other.

"Can't he slow down?" Zara groans.

"Nope." Zach speeds his pace, obviously not wanting to be near her nagging. "Jonelle, keep up."

"I'm not in a rush," I say, but I still match my strides to his.

"What's with you and Gray?" He demands. "You're my best friend, not his. You should be doing stuff with me."

A wave of hot fury washes over me. "Yeah, well, you're not being a good big brother or a good best friend right now. Of course I'd rather hang out with him."

He has no idea what I'm talking about. Of course. "What the fuck? Why are you being such a bitch?"

"Me the bitch? Try you the bitch, bitch." I angrily step onto the escalator, dragging my suitcase behind me. It thumps against the wall. Zach stomps on beside me. Even when we're fighting, he stays by my side.

I can feel people looking at us – something that always bothers Zach – but I don't care. "This entire trip you've been a dick. Snap out of it. We're on vacation, for Christ's sake."

Zach takes a deep breath, looking around at everyone else. "Maybe I wouldn't be in such a bad mood if you weren't such a goddamn cry baby all the time."

"How in the hell-"

"I want to have a fun time with you, but if we're near water for a second, you start freaking the fuck out. It's water, Jonelle. Do you get that? Water."

My teeth sink into the side of my cheek. I force myself to breathe deeply. In all honesty, if we weren't in public right now, I'd probably slap the shit out of him. He knows it, too. Everything he just said was extremely low.

"How dare you?" Is all I say, and it comes out in a furious whisper.

He doesn't even have the decency to apologize. "It's the truth."

I shake my head. "You know what? Fuck you, Zach. I'm done with this conversation. Call your Mom and leave me alone."

"Don't tell me what to do."

"I'm going to, and you're going to listen to me. You know why?" We step off the escalator. I whirl around and jab my finger against his chest. "Because you wouldn't be able to fucking function if I wasn't around. I'm your best friend. I help you through everything, but when it's something that I'm afraid of-" I cut myself off, shaking my head. "You're so fucking rude, Zach."

He tries to say something, but I hold up my hand. "Fucking rude." Then I turn away from him and follow after Gray and Zara, who has somehow passed us up while we were arguing.

___

OUR hotel room is incredibly lavish, but I don't have the time to take it all in. I feel like I'm seconds away from exploding – whether in tears or in curse words, that remains to be seen.

The boys share the larger room with two beds. My room connects to theirs, sporting a single bed. I have my own bathroom. The kitchen area is in the boys' room though, so if I'm hungry I'll have to venture onto their side.

Not that I'm hungry now. In fact, I don't feel like I'll ever be hungry again.

Zara talking about VIP passes or something. I don't even bother listening to her. I storm into my room and slam the door shut.

It's dark. I push my bag off to the side and carefully make my way around the bed to open the heavy curtains.

The sunlight is nearly blinding. I blink several times, squinting through the yellow force to see the park.

It's incredible. There's a large tank of glistening blue water with something ominous and massive swimming around within it. The Monorail's sleek silver service shines as it wraps its way around the green elevation. At the center of it all is the Innovation Center, shaped like a volcano with people bustling all around it.

I'm grateful to be here. Really, I am. Looking at all of this, taking in the amazing sights and knowing that in a less than a few hours I'm going to have the privilege of seeing animals that were once extinct, it's almost too much. I know that my parents would never have been able to afford to come here. I'm thankful for the kindness of Zach's aunt.

...even if I'm a little upset with Zach right now.

I retrieve my phone from my bag and flop down on the massive queen bed. It's soft yet firm. I roll onto my back and dial Mom's number.

She picks up on the first ring. "Hi, sweetheart." Her voice is sympathetic, like she knows how awful the trip here has been. "How's it going?"

"It's, um..." I bite my lip hard. "It's going."

"How are things with Zach? Did you two stop fighting?"

"No." I roll onto my stomach, swiping one of the throw pillows from the top of the bed and resting my chin on it. "In fact, just before we got here, we had an even bigger argument."

"Oh, no." She sighs. "I'm so sorry, baby."

"I just..." My eyes dart all across the room, trying to find something to focus on so that I don't start crying. "I just don't get him, Mom. He's such a..." I have to choose the word carefully. "Jerk sometimes. I don't even know why I like him."

Mom knows, though. She's a mom, after all. "He makes you happy, Jonelle."

"Yeah, when we're not fighting." I pick at the edge of the pillow. "I know you think I should tell him, and Gray thinks so too, but-"

"Gray knows?"

I nod even though she can't see me. "He found out earlier today; he heard me when I was telling you."

Mom takes this into consideration. "Well..." she begins. "If I think that you should tell him, and Gray thinks that you should tell him..." She hears me groan and her voice twangs slightly, like she's smiling while she's speaking. "Then maybe you should think about telling him, sweetheart."

When I let out a sigh, she says, "Gray and I can only tell you so much. It's going to come down to you and what you want to do."

"But I don't know what I want to do!"

She just sighs.