Jump | Zach Mitchell

nine

"SHE'S the worst."

"She's not that bad."

"No, she's awful."

Zach laughs and shakes his head. "I'm telling you, she's not as bad as you're making her out to be." He takes a long sip from our shared cup of soda.

We stand at one of the small fast-food restaurant stops. Gray has wandered off to explore some of the interactive exhibits – you know, dusting off fake dino bones and matching DNA strands and all that fun stuff. Zara hovers behind him protectively, constantly looking between her phone and our relaxed position by McDonald's.

"Whatever you say." I take the cup and help myself to a long sip. I pass it back to him and sigh. "What time did Claire say that she was meeting us again?"

"I'm pretty sure it was-" Zach lowers his chin and raises his pitch, mimicking Zara's high British accent. "Around one o'clock."

I snort, shaking my head. "See? Terrible."

"She's not that-"

"You're still admitting she's bad, though." I quirk an eyebrow, daring him to disagree.

Zach rolls his eyes. "Okay, yeah. You got me there." He takes a sip before passing it off to me. "At least she'll keep track of Gray. Mom's not paying me to babysit."

"Gray's fine on his own," I say in the younger boy's defense. "He just... gets excited and tends to run off to follow the source of his excitement."

Now it's Zach's turn to snort. "Yeah, right."

"Aunt Claire!"

We both jerk our heads up at the sound of Gray's yell.

A pale woman with fiery red hair is descending a staircase, cell phone pressed against her cheek. She's giving Gray a small wave; he's running over to meet her.

"That's your aunt?" I ask, disbelief coating my tone. I toss the mostly empty cup of soda into the nearest trash can.

"I think so," Zach says stiffly. "She hasn't exactly been around." He pushes off the counter he was leaning against. "C'mon."

I follow after him, about a half step behind. Gray is embracing Claire, and she looks kind of surprised at the gesture.

"Oh! Oh my gosh, you're so sweet!" She laughs, awkwardly rubbing Gray's back. Then she turns her attention on us. "Whoa, Zach! Last time I saw you, you were like..." She holds her hand at about Gray's height. "That must have been – what? Three, four years ago?"

I snicker.

"Uh, seven." Zach jabs at me with his elbow. "Seven years. But, you know, you were close."

Claire's face is priceless. But hey, she deserved that.

I can almost see her think the words 'moving on.'

"So, this is the girlfriend?" She turns to me, sticking out her hand. "Juh-nel, right? I'm Claire."

"John-el." I give her a firm handshake. "And I'm the best friend."

"Ah." Claire nods. She shakes her hand out slightly, trying to keep the movement discreet by completing the action by her side. It doesn't go unnoticed. Zach sends me a smirk. "So, I see you have your wristbands." She nods towards Gray's arm.

"Actually..." I hold up my arm and Zach does the same. "No."

Claire turns to her assistant with a tight smile. "Zara, I thought I told you to give them their wristbands."

Zara glances up from her phone. "Oh, right." She rummages in her purse until she produces the thick plastic bracelets that are the keys to the promise land of amusement parks. "I gave Gray his when these two were... otherwise occupied."

"What – What do you mean by that?" Claire looks back and forth between us and Zara. "Is there something going on? Karen will kill me if anything happened-"

"Nothing happened, Claire," Zach quickly assures her. "We were just in another room."

I nod. "Talking," I elaborate.

"Talking," Claire repeats, looking back and forth. "Is that what the kids are calling it nowadays?"

Gray frowns. "Calling what?"

"Nothing, Gray, because all Zach and I were doing was talking, since we're best friends." I give Claire a sharp look.

She holds her hands up in surrender. "Perimeter breach acknowledged." Thankfully, she changes the subject. "This..." She pulls an envelope with the park's logo out of her pocket. "...is for food."

Originally, Claire hands the envelope to Gray. Zach is quick to reach over and take it out of his little hands. I hold my palm open and Zach passes the money to me. I tuck it in my shirt pocket and cross my arms.

"O-kay." Claire nods. "It was nice seeing you all. Zara will take good care of you until I'm done working tonight, okay?" She glances down at her phone, which emits a loud buzz as it receives a new message.

Gray regains her attention with the pitiful, disappointed question, "You're not coming with us?"

Claire's eyebrows jump. It's clear she wasn't expecting Gray to be this eager to spend time with her. I want to smack her: hello, lady! This kid hasn't seen you in a hell of a long time. Obviously he's going to want to spend time with you while he can!

"Oh, um, I really wish I could. But I have to work for the rest of the day. But tomorrow I can take you into the control room, show you behind the scenes and all of that. That's... that's gonna be cool, right?"

Zach rolls his eyes. I see Gray's shoulders slump slightly; I reach over and give them a squeeze.

Before she can say anything else, Claire's phone rings. Her finger hovers over the 'accept' button as she starts backing up towards the staircase. "Okay, so, I will see you tonight at, uh... six?"

Zara's shaking her head before Claire's even finished her guess. "No, don't forget you have the-"

"Right! Of course." Claire smiles at her assistant before turning back to us. "I will see you at eight. What time do you go to sleep? Or... do you go to sleep at different times?" She stares at us questioningly.

Zach gives her a dead stare. Gray's watching the lights reflect off the floor. I open my mouth like I'm going to answer her, but then I just yawn.

Claire's phone starts to ring again. She glances down at the caller id and puts one foot on the stairs. "Okay, so, um, have fun!" I can't be sure if she's talking to us or her own reflection in the cell screen.

She bothers to spare a glance and a pointed finger at Zara. "Take very good care of them." She turns back to us and gives us a wrinkled-nose-smile before answering her precious phone and bounding up the staircase.