Chapter 8
For the first time ever, I woke up before Milo but not by choice. I had been dreaming something about Peter’s emerald eyes and gnashing teeth, but by the time I woke up in a cold sweat, I couldn’t really put it together. My heart pounded horribly and my head was swimming. It had taken forever for me to fall asleep last night, and I couldn’t shake the feeling of impending doom. They wanted me to be one of them? What kind of horror movie crap was that? Did they expect me to marry into the family (and if so, was I supposed to marry Jack… or Peter?)? Or was it something more horrific, like they were in a cult or something? Was I expected to be some kind of virgin sacrifice?
While taking a shower, I tried to wash away my trepidation. Despite all the unusual and sometimes frightening occurrences, I couldn’t imagine that Jack would ever hurt me. Mae and Ezra seemed sincere in their unexplained affection for me, and even Peter had shown a reluctance to hurt me. So the virgin sacrifice thing seemed pretty unlikely, as would any choice that would end with me being maimed or seriously injured.
All of it reminded me of a story I had read once. A young rather unattractive girl climbed a mountain and accidentally stumbled into a village of the most beautiful people she’d ever seen. Everyone in the entire town was absolutely perfect and amazing, but since everyone looked that way, they had grown bored with it. Being perfect was ordinary, but all the things about her that made her ugly in her old life made her stand out as beautiful and revered.
Everyone fell in love with her and had sex with her, and eventually she died of exhaustion and depression. There was some kind of moral to the story about how everyone just used her for the way she looked, and being liked for the way you looked is worse than not being liked at all.
That wasn’t what stood out to me about it now. Jack and his family were completely flawless, and I was just ordinary and boring. Maybe they spent too much time keeping to themselves, and my general homeliness was new and refreshing for them. It was the only explanation I could come up with for why they’d even want to be around me. But then, how exactly would I go about becoming one of them? And why would they even want me to? Just what the hell did he even mean by “one of them?” One of them what?
By the time I got out of the shower, I had used up all the hot water. I muttered an apology to Milo, but he shrugged and said he didn’t mind cold showers. Going to school had never seemed so much like a chore, but at least it was Friday. I could stay out as late as I wanted tonight, and I would spend every second of the night interrogating Jack if that’s what it took. I wouldn’t stop until he told me everything.
The day went by surprisingly fast, but that was in a large part due to the fact that I slept my first three hours. Over my lunch break, I text messaged Jack and asked him when we were going to hang out. Even though he usually responded to me within seconds, he didn’t this time, but that’s what I had mostly expected since he tended to stay up all hours of the night. Still, I couldn’t help but check my phone every ten minutes and feel a twinge of disappointment that he hadn’t answered.
When I got home, I turned the TV onto old Speed Racer cartoon reruns, but I didn’t even really pay attention to it. My phone was on my lap with the volume turned up full blast, and I kept bouncing my foot anxiously up and down.
I crossed my arms tightly over my chest to keep from biting my nails, but it was a very hard battle.
“Are you going over to Jack’s tonight?” Milo sat on the couch, absently watching the cartoon. He glanced over at me, and even in my distracted frame of mind, I couldn’t help but notice the pained expression on his face.
“Probably.” Then I looked down at my phone and sighed. “Maybe not.”
“I could make us supper if you stayed in,” Milo offered hopefully.
When he got like that, he was just like a puppy with big adoring eyes, and it killed me to know that I was going to have to say no to that. I really had been neglecting him a lot lately, and it had to be horrible sitting in this tiny apartment all by himself night after night. But I had to get to the bottom of things with Jack or die trying.
“That’s a nice idea, but not tonight.” I let him down as gently as I could, but his face crumbled anyway, and he looked away. Even though his voice had already changed, his face still carried all that baby fat that made him look like a little boy, and I couldn’t wait for him to grow out of that. Then it wouldn’t hurt so much when I broke his heart. “Maybe we can another day this weekend.”
“You’re gonna be out all night with Jack.” Milo tried to keep it matter-offact, but there was a bitter edge. “It’s the weekend and you’re seventeen. I really shouldn’t expect any different. And pretty soon you’ll be out on your own and have your own life and all that. I should just get used to it now.”
“Come on, Milo. You know you’ll always be a part of my life.” Before I had met Jack, I would’ve said that with a 100 % certainty. Milo was my brother and a huge part of my life, and there wasn’t anything that could take him out of it. At least that’s what I thought until Jack had half-warned/half-promised me that my life was going to change, that I was going to change. There might be someplace that I would go that Milo couldn’t follow, and as much as it would kill me to leave him behind, the thought of life without Jack and Peter and his family sounded far worse.
“Whatever you say,” Milo replied, and he was completely unconvinced.
Maybe it was starting to show on my face, that I already had one foot out the door.
I considered arguing with him more about it, but what was the point?
Things were changing, and we both felt it. I didn’t want to lie to Milo, so we sat in silence, watching the TV. I expected him to get up and go in another room, or at least somewhere else to mourn my impending absence, but he stayed out there with me.
When my phone finally jingled Jack’s ring tone, my heart skipped a beat and I jumped at it, but Milo just rolled his eyes.
When do you wanna hang out? Jack texted me.
As soon as possible. There was no need to play games with him anymore0. I was going to put myself out there in hopes that he would do the same thing.
You know what I think would be fun? Why don’t you bring Milo with? Jack messaged back, and I felt a wave of conflicting emotions run over me.
Bringing him along would definitely satiate my guilt, but it would also mean even less alone time with Jack where I could drill him for answers. Plus, I still hadn’t figure out what they wanted with me, let alone what they could possibly want with Milo. But he would like them, especially Mae. Finally I decided that there was only one way to make a decision.
“Milo, do you wanna come with me to Jack’s tonight?” I tried hard not to sound reluctant about asking him, and I even smiled when I turned to look at him, trying to make the offer sound somewhat enticing.
“What do you mean?” His eyes lit up and his voice raised an octave, but he wanted to make sure he understood what was transpiring before he agreed to it and got full blown excited.
“Just go over to Jack’s house and hang out. He has Guitar Hero and stuff like that.” That would be an added bonus for Jack. He’d have someone to play video games with him that didn’t get totally irritated by it or just sucked really bad at it.
“Do you really want me to?” Milo hesitated, and I smiled reassuringly at him.
“Yeah, of course I do.” I wanted to be around him, but I wasn’t sure that this was the best idea. However, it was the best idea I could come up with, and nothing bad had happened to me when I’d been with Jack. In fact, he’d saved my life twice. There shouldn’t be anything to worry about. So why was I worried?
“Then okay. Yeah. That’d be great.” He was practically beaming when he jumped up and ran into his room to change his clothes. He still had that crush on Jack to contend with, and I’m sure he’d be developing fresh new ones on Peter and Ezra.
He’s in. When are you picking us up? I replied to Jack.
Five minutes. I’m already on my way. There was Jack for you, not being psychic.
“You better hurry!” I shouted at Milo and then hurried into the bathroom to fix my make up. The clothes I was wearing would have to do, but at least I wouldn’t go there with smudged eyeliner. “He’s gonna be here in five minutes!”
“Ready!” Milo responded a second later. I peeked out the bathroom door to see him wearing almost the
