The Apocalypse (28 page)

Jake inhaled loudly, not entirely sure what to make of the situation. Libby was a slut, yes, but she didn't usually fawn over him—at least not in Hannah's presence, since Hannah probably would have screamed over it. She'd flirted with him a few times, but that had never happened in front of Hannah's friends either. Quite frankly, Libby's displays of affection caught Jake off guard and threw him way off track.

"So…gonna talk to me?" Tisha asked Jake, her smile still remaining. "How are you? How's Hannah? What brings you here?" She giggled at her rush of questions. "Take your time."

Jake's spirits were definitely going downhill. This was precisely why he didn't like Hannah's friends—Tisha was an airhead, Libby was a skank, and Morgan was bossy. He'd definitely had a lapse of good sense when he called Morgan earlier. However, if he ran away now…well, Jake wasn't a runner. So he shrugged and decided to try his case anyway.

"I'm pretty good," he answered slowly, trying—with limited success—to keep his eyes on all three girls, looking for reactions. "And Hannah's kind of the reason I'm here." Quickly, he explained his purpose for being there, how he believed that learning about Hannah would help her get back to normal, how they'd have to help him…

Finally, when Jake had finished talking, he was met with silence. He saw a bigger smile on Morgan's face (which helped her look less demented but more mentally ill), which was oddly inspiring. Libby's sultry expression had been replaced by deep concentration, and when Jake looked at Tisha, he nearly went deaf.

"
Awwwww!
" Tisha shrieked, making Jake cringe. "That's absolutely precious, Jake!" Tisha positively beamed and reached over to give Jake's arm an encouraging brush. "Jake, you're gonna be friends with Hannah—just wait and see."

Not on your life
, Jake's mind screamed, but he figured saying it would lose the support he'd just gained. He momentarily froze, wondering why said support was so important to him.

"That's…actually a pretty good idea," Libby decided after some more thought. Her blue eyes flickered over to Morgan. "Don't you think? Hannah's been spending more time with Jake than us, right? So…he's the bigger influence." She paused, narrowed her eyes, and sent the evil look back to Jake—
quite
the opposite from her flirty expression moments ago. They were
all
bipolar. "Unless you take advantage of her somehow—fill her head with lies, use her, make her into—"

"Lib!" Tisha interrupted, sounding scandalized. "Stop it. If Jake was going to do something mean, why would he come to us for suggestions first? He wouldn't
tell
us his plans or anything!"

That seemed to disappoint Libby and her conspiracy theories. Still, she muttered darkly, "That's what he wants you to think."

Jake rolled his eyes. "Oh come on. Listen to Tisha. She's making a whole lot more sense than you are."

"I think so too, Lib," Morgan admitted, sounding somewhat careful in Jake's opinion, but when he looked at her, she was still smiling that creepy smile. "You
are
right about Jake being the bigger influence though."

When Libby had nothing to say to that, Jake grinned. "So let's get cracking."

"You should play Hannah's favorite music," Tisha suggested excitedly. Her entire face was lit up at the prospect of helping Hannah, and Jake actually found himself almost liking her. For the moment, anyway. "She likes a lot of classical junk, but Han's really been into the Rascal Flatts these days."

"And lots of early nineties stuff," Morgan added. "I think her favorite song of all time is 'Hey Jealousy' by the Gin Blossoms."

Tisha's light brown hair bounced as her head nodded. "Yeah, and she hates rap and hip-hop and all that stuff. But if you play it around her, she usually gives
a
funny reaction." Looking more than a little nostalgic, Tisha swallowed and went on softer, "She can complain forever about it."

Coming to life suddenly, Libby reached around and rubbed Tisha's back sympathetically, simultaneously snapping at Jake, "Shouldn't you be taking notes or something?"

Resisting the urge to snap back, Jake shrugged. "Couldn't hurt. But that'd be evidence for Hannah to realize we're planning things behind her back." All of the girls looked stricken for a moment, and Jake replayed what had just come out of his mouth. Quickly, Jake covered himself, "But it's not like it's bad planning. She'd probably appreciate it."

The girls relaxed, and Tisha agreed, "Of course. We're doing this
for
her, not against her."

"Yeah. I'll go get some paper," Morgan offered, disappearing into her house somewhere.

Watching her go, Jake felt a flash of guilt. Hadn't Hannah been hesitant about remembering stuff when Jake talked to her after Formal? But Hannah
had
to have her memory restored; she couldn't go her whole life not remembering things.
But she's doing a good job of it right now
. Freezing again, Jake shook his head gently, confused by his sudden mixed emotions. Apparently he was now suffering from multiple personality disorder. Because Jake was more familiar with the self that disliked Hannah, he forced the goal of getting rid of Hannah by the return of her memory into his head.

"You okay?" Tisha asked suddenly, looking at Jake through concerned blue-green eyes. She bit her lower lip gently and leaned toward Jake.

Surprised, he nodded. "Yeah, sure. So tell me more about Hannah."

Morgan reappeared and placed a pen and some paper in front of Jake. "Piano is Han's life," she reminded him. "Make her play it."

"And make her watch
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
," Libby commanded sternly. "It's her favorite movie of all time."

"Oh, and throw in
My Best Friend's Wedding
for good measure," Tisha giggled. "She loves that one too."

"You should watch them with her," Morgan added coyly. When Jake started to question her tone, she went on quickly, saying, "And give her tater tots. Seriously, Jake, I don't know why you didn't think of that before. Tater tots and Hershey's chocolate."

For the next almost hour, Jake listened to Hannah's friends more than he had in his entire life. It was actually probably the longest he'd kept his own mouth shut as well. Unbelievably, he found himself smiling a little when the girls would fuss over the status of Hannah's number one favorite whatever versus her number two favorite whatever. But what was even more unbelievable to Jake was that he realized that he already knew quite
a
lot of what the girls told him.

Finally, the time came for him to leave. Back in his truck, Jake backed out of the driveway and took off down the road, remembering his plans to meet up with his friends to play basketball. Halfway across town, his phone vibrated, and Jake snatched it up in his hand, flipped it open, and read a text message.

Morgan Owens: its ok to admit u like hannah

Taken aback, Jake could only stare at his phone, but nearly ditching his truck made him focus his attention back on the road. After thinking about it for a couple minutes, Jake broke his rule about texting while driving and texted back, asking Morgan what she was talking about. Mere seconds passed before Morgan's answer came.

Morgan Owens: u wouldnt go thru so much trouble if u didnt care about her

"Man, this is sad," Ethan panted, dribbling a basketball up the court of the high school's gym. "We had a break from practice during Christmas break, and yet here we are—playing basketball."

Ethan shot the ball, but it bounced off the rim and into Kirk Godfrey's hands. Kirk took off running with it to the opposite side of the court. "At least you play better at a real practice," he called over his shoulder.

Jake caught the ball when Kirk passed it to him, but Brent easily stole it from him, passed it back to Ethan, and the four boys went running again. "Jake clearly does too," Brent smirked just as Ethan passed the ball back to him.

Brent shot the ball into the basket, and Ethan made a face, despite that he and Brent were playing on the same team. "Too bad you play better at an unofficial practice, Brent."

"Shut up, man." Brent flipped his friend off and watched Kirk race to the other end of the court and go for a successful lay-up. Sighing, Brent stretched out on the hard floor. "I'm too tired for this."

Drinking from a bottle of blue Powerade, Jake plopped onto a bottom bleacher. "You're a pansy."

"We're all pansies," Ethan declared, looking very pissy about it. "Kirk's keys got us into the school, dude. Why are we not wrecking havoc? Senior prank time, guys. Seriously."

Since Kirk had returned to the side of the court where the others were gathered, all three guys murmured unintelligible responses to Ethan's proposal. "Too early in the year," Kirk said reasonably, starting to shoot foul shots. "We'd get benched from games and probably get freaking suspended."

"It's true," Jake agreed, stretching out on the bleachers. "Wait until April or May. Then I say we hire a
stripper
for the principal. Have her show up at graduation or something."

"Heck yeah!" Brent grinned. "Or hire strippers for all the graduating class."

Ethan tilted his head in thought. "Eh, maybe. But I've been waiting years to vandalize this place."

Laughing lightly, Kirk ran after the basketball and continued practicing, like the captain he was. "As if writing profanity on desks and lockers hasn't been your thing since freshman year…" Kirk paused and glared at Ethan suddenly. "Vandalize my gym, and I'll kick your ass."

Ethan waved his hand carelessly, and Kirk returned to shooting. As the ball swished through the net, something else caught Jake's attention—vibration from the cell phone where Kirk's car keys were laying on the bleachers. "You're vibrating, Godfrey," Jake announced, squinting to see the name on the caller id while Ethan muttered something perverted. "It's Mercedes."

Kirk tossed the ball at Ethan's head—narrowly missing contact—and moved to his phone. Smiling a little, he answered and walked across the gym to talk to her. Jake couldn't help watching curiously.

"Didn't they get together at Formal?" Ethan asked lazily.

Jake shrugged. "Something like that, maybe."

"I need a girlfriend," Brent groaned from the floor. "I'm bored. Who's available?"

Ignoring that, Ethan declared decidedly, "I need Hannah. She'd make a good girlfriend."

Jake's eyes snapped to his friend. "Not right now, dude. She's got a lot on her mind." There went his multiple personalities again. Normally, Jake would have said something negative about Hannah and about how Ethan deserved better, but… "What about Tisha, Ethan? She's almost all right."

Ethan wrinkled his nose. "Nah."

Kirk returned then and tossed his phone back on the bleachers. "Cedes says hey to you guys," he informed them as he went after the basketball again. He glanced at Jake. "She also said not to forget to go to something about student council, Jake. But I already forgot what."

Yawning, Jake answered, "Probably a meeting of some sort."

Suddenly releasing the ball into nothing but air, Kirk angled himself toward Jake again. "Why'd you and Mercedes break up, anyway? Weren't you together for like…how long?"

"A billion months," Ethan supplied helpfully.

Jake was quickly growing uncomfortable because of the subject, but he tried to hide it. "Almost a year." Jake shrugged and lied, "I guess we just got tired of each other or something."

Ethan laughed. "Who wouldn't after all that time?"

"She's a nice girl," Kirk stated cautiously, watching Jake. "I mean, I've only hung out with her a few times, but she's cool. You over her, Jake?"

"Uh-huh. We're just friends." Jake took a drink of his Powerade and assumed that Kirk was asking permission to go for Mercedes. So he granted it. "You guys would probably get along great."