The Art of Life (60 page)

               
“You don’t have a shirt on,” I
say, just staring at him.

               
He looks at himself.
 
“What an astute observation.
 
I am planning on putting one on.
 
Unless,” he grins, “you prefer me without one.”

               
“You are awful!” I snap.
 
I walk in and shove him away from the
sink.
 
“Let me brush my teeth.”

               
Suddenly, I am up in Jeremy’s
arm.
 
“Uh oh, uh oh, you are touching my
bare skin again, uh oh.
 
Does that make
you all hot and bothered Isabelle?”

               
Laughing hysterically, I say,
“Put me down you jerk.”

               
Ever so gently, he puts me back
down on the ground.
 
“You are so timid
around me still.
 
It’s me.
 
You have seen me more naked than most
girls.
 
We live together.
 
I promise you will never see me naked.
 
Well, unless you wanted to.”

               
“Oh
my gosh
!”
I yell.
 
“Get over yourself!”

               
“What if I want you all over
myself?” He quips back.

               
With all my strength I shove him
back and out of the bathroom.
 
“Get out!”

               
He laughs and turns to go into
his room.
 
I dramatically roll my eyes,
even though he can’t see me.
 
After I
brush my teeth, I turn off the bathroom light.
 
Now, there is only a soft glow from Jeremy’s lamp.
 
I practically run across the hall and jump
into his bed.
 
He opens his arms.
 
“Did the movie frighten you that much?”

               
Crawling underneath the covers
next to him, I snap, “Yes.
 
I told you I
believe in ghosts.”

               
“Well, none will get to you,” he
assures, turning off the light.
 
I scoot
over so I am as close as I possibly can be to him.
 
I face out though.
 
“You usually sleep facing me, why the
change?”

               
“Then I can see what is coming
at me,” I giggle.

               
Jeremy rolls over and pulls me
against him.
 
“I will keep you safe from
the things that go bump in the night.”

               
“You better,” I whisper.
 
We lay there for a while, when I ask, “Are
you asleep?”

               
There is laughter from behind
me.
 
“If I were, you would have just
woken
me up.”

               
“True,” I reply.
 
“Do you believe in ghosts?”

               
“I don’t know if there are
ghosts, but I think there are things we can’t see.”

               
I roll over and look at
him.
 
“Do you think you have ever seen
one?”

               
“No, but I lived in house that
had a whole lot of stuff happen in it.
 
I
didn’t live there for very long, thankfully.
 
I was little and it scared the
bejeebers
out
of me,” Jeremy states.

               
“What kind of stuff happened?” I
ask.

               
“Let’s see,” he starts. “You
would hear people calling out when no one was home.
 
One night, I heard this guy whispering stuff
to me in the bathroom.
 
Trust me, there
was no one around.
 
Then one night, some
guys and I were using the Ouija board.
 
It was me and two other boys.
 
One
of them kept going off on how fake it was and blah, blah, blah.
 
Well, he got up to go to the bathroom and so this
other kid and I decided to do it while he was gone.
 
Well, my back was to the closet and this
other kid was against the wall.
 
We were
saying random stuff, but we suddenly asked, ‘Show us a sign if you are
here.’
 
The candle we had sitting by us
shot up in the air.”

               
Grimacing, I am like, “That is
scary!”

               
“Oh no, the scary part was
seeing the other boy’s face.
 
He was
looking behind me and was white, like no color white.
 
When I turned to look at what he was seeing,
the closet door slammed shut.
 
We got up
and ran out of there as fast as we could.
 
When I asked what happened.
 
He said,
the candle shot up and then the closet door started to open slowly.”

               
“You aren’t serious right?” I
inquire.

               
Jeremy looks down at me.
 
“Oh no, I am dead serious.”

               
“Promise?”

               
He nods.
 
“I promise.
 
So later, we went back up to the room.
 
We needed to see what was in the closet.
 
So, we walked over to it and I grabbed the door knob.”
 
Jeremy pauses for a second and my heart is
just pounding at this point.
 
“We slowly
opened it and the suddenly…” Jeremy yells and grabs me.
 

               
I just scream bloody
murder.
 
He grabs ahold of me and pulls
me on top of him.
 
“I hate you!” I shout,
smacking him.

               
He laughs so hard he tears
up.
 
“Oh
my gosh
,
that was awesome.”

               
“You promised it was true!” I
snap, sitting up on top of him.

               
Putting his hands behind his
head, he says, “What I promised happened, happened.
 
That last part didn’t happen.
 
We tried to not go back in there if we didn’t
have to.”

               
With my arms crossed, I ask,
“How in the world am I supposed to sleep?”

               
“In my arms,” Jeremy chides
back.

               
“Yeah, I am more afraid of you
now than I am of a ghost!”

               
Using his fingers, Jeremy says,
“Cross my heart, no more scaring you.”

               
My eyes narrow.
 
“Promise?”

               
“Yes, I promise.
 
Come on, just lie back down.”

               
I flop down on the bed next to
him.
 
He turns on his side and looks at
me.
 
I sigh and say, “Why do I put up
with you?”

               
Giving me a devilish smirk,
Jeremy replies, “Because you love me, don’t deny it.”

               
I groan and roll over away from
him.
 
He once again grabs me and pulls me
against him.
 
“Good night Jeremy,” I
sigh.

               
“Night Izzy.”

               
Saturday and Sunday fly by.
 
We just hang out at the apartment.
 
I try to teach Jeremy how to cook and that
ends being a mess.
 
Could
be because we get into a food fight.
By the time that it is done, we
have to clean the floor, the cupboards, the counters and part of the
fridge.
 
We end up ordering out for food,
because dinner is all over the wall.

               
Honestly, at least to me, it’s
like Jeremy and I have known each other our entire lives.
 
I get so used to being around him.
  
We laugh, we joke, I still cry from time to
time, though that is getting less frequent.
 
Finally, I am sitting on the couch with him.
 
It’s late and we are watching the news.
 
Jeremy turns to me, “Are you ready for
tomorrow?”

               
“Yeah,” I sigh.

               
“Are you positive you want to go
back?” He asks.

               
Shrugging, I reply, “I have to
go back sooner or later.
 
I don’t want to
fall behind in school too bad.
 
I do plan
to graduate with honors if I can pull it off.”

               
“Okay, well, I will take you to
school in the morning then.
 
We should
probably get ready for bed.”

               
“Yup,” I mumble, scared out of
mind.
 
“We will see how it goes.”

               
The next morning I am standing
in the bathroom.
 
I can’t stop fidgeting
with the scarf around my neck.
 
I am so
afraid that the bruising will show through.
 
No matter how I shift the scarf, the bruise doesn’t show, so that makes
me feel a little better.

               
Jeremy comes to the door, “Are
you ready?”

               
“I think so,” I sigh.
 
“I don’t want to be late.”

               
It is very quiet while we drive
to my school.
 
When we pull up, I just
sit there and stare at it.
 
“You don’t
have to go in there Izzy.
 
I can take you
home.”

               
“No,” I whisper.
 
“I need to do this.”
 
I look at Jeremy and give him a weak smile.
 
“I will be okay.”

               
“If you need to leave, call
me.
 
I will come and get you,” he states
seriously.

               
I grab his hand and
squeeze.
 
“I think I will be okay.
 
I should go in though, before I am late.”

               
“Okay
toots,
I will see you when I get home from work.
 
Do you have your key?” He asks.

               
Pulling it out, I jingle
it.
 
“Right here.”

               
“Good, have a great day,” Jeremy
murmurs as he leans forward.
 
He gives me
a gentle kiss on the forehead.

               
“Bye,” I say, as I climb out of
the car.
 
I shut the door behind me and
stand there for a second.
 
Taking a deep
breath, I walk forward.
 
I have this
overwhelming fear that everyone is going to stop and stare at me.
 
Like I have a big sign on me saying that
something happened.
 
But no one looks, no
one says anything.
 
The anxiety starts to
ebb and I can breathe better.

               
The halls are bustling with
people and I feel better getting lost in the crowd.
 
I go to my locker and open it.
 
I put all my books away except for the ones I
need.
 
Suddenly, I hear, “Isabelle.”

               
I turn to see Eric.
 
“Hey,” I whisper.

               
“Where have you been?
 
I was going to text you today if you weren’t
here.
 
We all were wondering where you
were.”

               
They noticed I wasn’t here?
 
“I had an emergency,” I finally reply.

               
“Everything
alright?”
Eric asks.

               
What do I say to that?
 
“Things have been better, but I am okay.”

               
“Good,” Eric says, smiling.
 
“Are you going to eat lunch with us today?”

               
My stomach turns a little.
 
“Umm,” I mumble.
 
“I don’t know.”