Fire and Ice

jane

     I saw Amanda standing only a few feet away from me at the water fountain looking the same as always: cashmere cream sweater, matching flats, light pink jeans, and makeup caked perfectly on her face— she's been practicing since the beginning of summer.

I could've sworn she reached out to tap me, a sign she wanted to talk, but then the other two cheer-musketeers slid between us as a barrier.

Where do they even come from?

To my surprise, she looks past them and right at me. I didn't know how to respond: wave or give her a tiny grin as an offering? I always had a third option which was too leave, and that's exactly what I did. My face in a grimace, turns away taking my strawberry sprite with me and out of the cafeteria doors. By the time I finish my can I end up at the library. I remember Zeke telling me he was catching up on some work, but there was no harm to stop by and say hello, maybe even help.

I spot him almost immediately. It wasn't difficult, his neon green skull and sneakers to match glowed like a beaker in the dull library lights. I make my entrance by plopping down in the bean bag across form him. He looks up from his book and the crease of concentration and maybe irritation fades from his face.

"Hey."

"You look pretty busy there, but I was just dropped by to say hey."

"You can stay," he says closing his book. "I'm done anyway."

I lean forward trying to catch a glimpse of what Zeke was reading. He help me out by turning over the book front page revealing a dark navy green book with Earth Science in big, bold words.

"I hate science, absolutely despise it."

I laugh at the disgusted face he makes. "I can help you, I'm pretty good at it." I move the bean bag so I was right beside him.

"What even is a altostratus? It sounds like a transformer."

I bite back my smile. "Its a stratus cloud at an intermediate altitude of. . ." I pause wracking my brain of the rest of the correction mileage, ". . . two to three miles, I believe. It's not very difficult to remember, the name is even in the definition."

Zeke stares at me and I think I see a twinkle in his eye. "I don't even need a textbook when I have you. Can you please be my science study buddy?"

I place my finger on my chin tapping it slowly, mocking to think. "Hm. . . I don't know. . ."

Zeke takes my hand in his making my heart jump. "Please Jane, I'll do anything!"

I am somehow at lost for words but I manage a 'sure'.

"Great!" He throws his arms around me causing my whole insides to jult. "How about after school today?"

"Can't, have plans with Alec, have a zombie game to finish."

"Boo," Zeke fake pouts, but holds on tighter. "How about tomorrow?"

I look up at him, big mistake. His emerald green eyes are sparkling like a gem and our faces our only an inch apart. If he notices, he's doing a good job at not making a big deal about it.

"Okay," I reply in a sheepishly, "tomorrow it is."

I take the initiative to remove myself from Zeke's embrace as the bell rings notifying students lunch is over. Zeke stands back up but slumps his arm around me again, squeezing for a second, then letting go.

"See you tomorrow study buddy!"

"See ya."

I push the library doors open feeling Zeke's gaze on me as I leave and catching a glimpse of the scowl on the librarian towards me. There was strict rules about no PDA in here, but Zeke and I weren't doing anything except goofing around, right?

— — — 

     It took me about a millisecond to drop of my bag and run into the den where Alec was watching T.V. He turns his attention to me and we lock eyes: it's zombie time.

"I don't think I've ever seen you move that fast Lighting McQueen," he jokes handing me a controller.

"Shut it, and let's play."

My mom was leaning against the wall in the den clearing her throat loudly, that's when I noticed I blinked and it was suddenly dark outside.

"Jane, do you know what time it is?" She waits for me to answer and when I remain silence, she answers for me. "It's seven! You need to do your homework. Clearly, you haven't even opened up your binder."

Homework is always a buzzkill.

Thankfully, I only had an algebra worksheet so I wiped through that pretty quickly and easily. Once I finished dinner was served and I still had an hour remaining before bed, so I took that opportunity to finish the game with Alec: we beat it.

I climb into bed after the victorious defeat of all the zombies and being crowned the zombie queen by Alec. As much as that was entertaining, my mind wanders to another somewhat: Zeke. I replayed our "PDA" in the library and I found myself smiling and wondering how I never noticed the golden specks hidden in his emerald eyes.