I freaked out a little bit while waiting until the end of the day to see her during fourth period Chemistry. We were picking lab partners for the rest of the year that day and at lunch she agreed to be mine.
“Dude, what’s going on with you?” Jesse asked during third period, before the band started practicing.
He pointed to my bouncing knee and the drumsticks nervously twirling in my hands. I stopped all movement before I answered.
“Oh,” I said, clearing my throat, “nothin’.”
“Seriously, you’ve got something going on lately and you’re not telling me.”
“I really don’t.”
He didn’t buy it.
“Okay,” I said, sitting up, “but listen, you can’t say a word to anyone about this. I’ve been talking to Jules...Julia lately and she’s skittish. I don’t want to scare her off.”
“Awww man! Elliott!”
All heads turned our way.
“Shhhhh! Keep your voice down.”
“Elliott, you can’t go out with Julia Jacobs,” he whispered.
“I can do whatever I want Jesse.”
He got unusually serious for a moment and his face and voice grew menacing.
“You’d be smart to stay away from her Elliott. Trust me, you’d be the smartest person in the world to stay away from her.”
“Whatever Jesse. That’s enough ordering me around. Class is about to start.”
I tried to pass off what Jesse said but it really rubbed me the wrong way. It wasn’t so much what he said, but how he said it that gave me the willies. I decided to ignore it. I had better things to think about, like Jules’ hair and skin.
After rocking it out for an hour and a half. I thought about changing my sweaty t-shirt but was too excited to see Jules. My hair even stuck to the back of my neck, I was so sticky with sweat.
I threw my book bag onto my shoulder, stuck my sticks in the back pockets of my jeans and hauled over to Mr. Belkin’s Chemistry class. I sat at the lab table in the back with my little friend Sawyer Tuttle. I say little, but the guy was at least six foot two with a broad chest that could probably take a few punches, darn it.
Jules wasn’t there yet so I took my sticks out of the back of my jeans to play with on the lab table while I waited for her to walk in. I really got into whatever it was I was playing because when she strolled in Tut had to shove at one of my elbows, causing me to drop one of my sticks, to get my attention that she was there and not because he thought Jules and I were talking. I’m pretty sure he didn’t have a clue that Jules and I were talking. It was because she was drop dead and that didn’t escape even one of the guys’ attention in that room.
No one wanted anything to do with her but they could not disagree that she was the most beautiful girl in that school. I knew. They all knew. Hell, she was the most beautiful girl in the entire world. It kind of infuriated me that Sawyer Tuttle noticed her; that all or any of the guys noticed her, really. It infuriated me even more that Tut thought I’d want to be one to delve into whatever private thoughts he was having about her.
I don’t know what got into me but I stood up, leaving the stick on the floor, eyed Tut like a dog eyes a piece of meat and walked right up to Jules. Placing my hand at the small of her back, I leaned into her ear, breathing in the scent of her hair.
“You haven’t changed your mind have you?” I whispered.
“No, Elliott. When Mr. Belkin asks me who my lab partner will be I’ll be sure to say your name. Now sit down and stop being mean to Sawyer, despite our history he’s still one of the few here who treats me nicely.”
She smiled and lightly tapped me twice on the face sending a short burst of sparks cascading from my cheek. I just stared into her eyes with a huge grin on my face. She was original, my Jules. Original and too smart, for my own good.
“Sit down Mr. Gray,” Mr. Belkin said beneath his reading glasses.
I walked back to my seat and Tut’s mouth matched his eyes, wide and in disbelief.
“Are you going out with Julia Jacobs?” He asked bluntly.
“No.”
He relaxed in his stool.
“Not yet, anyway” I threw out so his body language could grow back the tension I wanted it to be at.
The bell rang and Mr. Belkin began taking roll. When he was done, he went down the line of lab tables and asked each student who they’d like their lab partner to be. When he got to Jules, I straightened up in my stool, crossed my arms and winked at Tut. He smiled the most insincere smile I’d ever seen and I could almost hear the curses in his head.
“Julia Jacobs?”
“Yes, Mr. Belkin?”
“Who is to be your lab partner?”
“Elliott Gray, Mr. Belkin.”
“See ya’ around Tut,” I gloated.
I joined Jules at her table and she shot a look of disapproval my way. I just stared ahead, knowing well what I’d done but not caring. When he finished pairing everyone up, Tut got stuck with Robby Banden, sucker. Mr. Belkin explained the lab we were doing that day and gave us a few minutes to prep.
“What’s up with you?” I asked.
“You forget Elliott Gray. I can feel everything that you feel without touching you, if the feeling’s strong enough.”
“Oh,” I said, embarrassed, “the anger I felt for Tut you must have been feeling toward me and I couldn’t tell the difference.”
Have to figure out how to differentiate the sensations, I told myself.
She touched my arm, “I can tell you’re sorry, so I’ll drop it.”
Wow, this is going to work out really well, I thought.
“Though I don’t deserve it,” I said, “I’m glad you chose me today.”
“I’d have chosen you even if you had clobbered him onto the ground. It’s just jealousy Elliott. You don’t think I feel it for you when any one of these girls here looks at you? It’s only natural. Just don’t let it bother you. I’m interested in you and you alone.”
“Julia Jacobs!” I shouted in a whisper. “I believe you’ve just stolen my heart. God! Why do you have to be such a firework?”
“That’s an incredibly astute question,” she said, eyeing me slyfully.
I peered back over my shoulder at Tut.
“Tut seems to be kind of mad himself. Why do you think that is Jules?”
“Elliott.”
“What if I brushed your hair from your shoulder? Do you think that would anger him more?”
I brushed a long strand of hair off her shoulder and stared deeply into her eyes, trying really hard not to look back at Tut.
“I don’t like cruelty,” she said.
“It doesn’t feel like you don’t like my brand of cruelty.”
She let a smile slip through.
“I don’t deny that I like it when you touch me,” she said. Butterflies rustled in my stomach. “But,” she continued, “not at the expense of others.”
“But Jules, had you not thought that my touching you might help Tut get over you?”
I let the back of my index finger trail tiny zaps down her jaw line. She grabbed my hand and put it onto the lab table.
“In this class, you will not encourage Sawyer’s hurt.”
“I understand,” I said, suddenly ashamed of my cruel behavior. “You know Jules? You do strange things to me. I’ve had little to no control of some of the smallest emotions. For instance, this jealousy I feel over Tut?” I leaned into her ear. “It makes me want to kiss you in front of everyone in here. Just so they’ll know that I belong to you and you belong to me.”
“Well, as much fun as that would be,” she said grabbing my face and turning it toward our solution filled flask, “we have work to do.”
We both smiled flirtatiously then focused on the task at hand with only the occasional teasing remark.
When Chemistry was over, I walked her to her car. The five minute walk was inspiring, to say the least. Images of students slurred around us, but we were the only ones that ma
ttered. I hesitated for the first minute but eventually grabbed her hand in mine. The instant our hands connected, a pyrotechnic shower of light and heat cascaded over our heads before spilling onto the concrete. It was beautiful and I knew exactly what it was. It was the happiness we felt, together, and it reflected in the sparkled bits of electricity that fell at our feet.
“You make me feel like I’m flying Jules.”
“You make me feel like I’m falling Gray. The good kind. The ‘tip of the roller coaster before it plummets’ kind,” she said.
I could feel in my gut that she wanted me to ask myself over to her house but I didn’t give myself the opportunity. I needed to drag out the week so she’d feel obligated to come to my football game Friday. Something Jules never did. Also, the next day, I was determined to take her to Thatcher’s and that was going to be a task in and of itself. I peeled my hand away from the pleasant thrumming, seriously thought about grabbing her hand again, but willed myself away.
“Bye Jules! See you tomorrow,” I shouted as I ran off.
“Bye,” she said quietly, confused and waving her beautiful hand my way.
I ran as fast as I could to my truck in the other lot, leaving ribboned trails of Jules’ and my shared electricity behind me. Fireworks shot from my chest and hands, visible to only myself. I smoothly dodged around the crowded hallway of students and objects, dusting them with glimmering powdery dust. I never felt alive as I did in that moment, like I had sat in an emotionless body until I saw Jules that first day of school. Emotions pre-Jules barely registered in my thoughts. I let the light permeate the wind around me, raising effervescent fingers to the air, dropping shiny sparks of magnetic tensions and watched as they fizzled at the ground.
The drive home felt bittersweet. The electricity was fading without Jules around. I drove home to The Future Cast’s ‘Lovers March’ and blared the song out open windows, belting each word. I was a fool and loved every minute of it. I got home a little sooner than I usually did, ran up the hill to the house, and burst through our kitchen door, startling my mother.
“Elliott! What’s gotten into you son?”
“Sorry mama,” I said sheepishly, cautiously closing the door behind me. “I had a really good day at school today.”
“Oh really? Fix that little problem?”
She stood at the stove, one hand on her hip, stirring something in a pot.
“Yes ma’am,” I said, kissing her cheek and grabbing an apple before heading up the creaky stairs to my room.
I purposely took my ‘non-squeak’ path, as I called it, carefully choosing the random spots on the random steps that avoided sound. It took me years to figure out the combination and I got a kick out of knowing it by heart. Maddy bothered me incessantly about teaching it to her but my dad said it was good for her not to know for fear a seventeen year old version of Maddy would use it for dubious purposes.
“Got a lot of homework ma’. Just call me for dinner.”
“Okay baby!”
“What’s his problem?” I heard Maddy ask on my way up.
“He’s just happy, child. You should try it sometime,” I heard my mom answer as I shut my door behind me. I looked down at my mom’s cell phone in my hand.
The phone rang a couple of times before Jules answered.
“Hello Elliott Gray.”
“Hey Jules. How did you?”
“Because I just knew.”
“Cool.”
“Why did you just run off earlier?” She asked.
“Because I don’t want to bug you Jules.”
“Oh,” she laughed, “Sometimes I don’t mind being bugged.”
“Really?” I asked surprised. “What a complete one eighty you’ve done on me from the beginning of the week Jacobs. I don’t know what’s gotten into you but I like it.”
“Well, I’ve decided that you’re worth dropping my defenses for. Consider yourself lucky because I’ve never done that for anyone at Bluefield, except for maybe Sawyer.”
“I consider myself very lucky babe, but not because you’ve dropped your defenses.”
After another two hour conversation of talking about absolutely nothing yet everything that seemed important I had to let her go.
“Jules, I gotta’ go.”
“I know, me too. That’s okay. We’ve got tomorrow.”
“Alright, see you tomorrow.”
“Bye Elliott.”
“Bye Jules.......Oh, Jules?”
I waited for a while but no answer.
“Shoot. She hung up.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Why didn’t you answer me then?”
“Because I was waiting for you to say whatever it was you were going to say.......So?”
“I forgot now.”
We both laughed.
“Bye Jules.”
“Bye forgetful.”
I hung up the phone and swiveled my chair toward my bedroom door. Smiling at how things can change so quickly in such a short period of time. I didn’t forget what I was going to ask her. I just decided it’d be better if it waited until the next day.
I left my room and headed down the back stairwell to the kitchen to put my mom’s phone back on her charger. I finished my homework, ate dinner, talked and laughed with my parents, even played with Maddy before I forced my tired feet up the stairs and plunged into my sheets.
“Today was a good day,” I understated. “A very good day.”
The next day, we were barely able to speak during second period because Mrs. Kitt was on to us. Mrs. Jacobs’ best friend. Enough said. When class was finally over, I nervously walked two paces behind Jules toward the door. Mrs. Kitt was watching us very closely now and we tried to act as inconspicuously as possible.
“Stupid town and their stupid gossip. I know she’s just itchin’ to call my mom,” Jules whispered under her breath to me once we reached the end of the hall.
“Let’s go to Thatcher’s after school, avoid prying eyes,” I said joining her side.
She stopped short and I took a step back to join her. For a long time, she hesitated.
“Please say yes. Don’t make me beg you Jules,” I pleaded with a smile.
“Okay,” she leaned in and whispered back.
I could feel her warm breath on my neck when she leaned in to my ear and shuddered at the tingle it gave me. She never knew it, but in that moment I about said ‘screw it’, but when I was close to dropping my bag and books and sweeping her into my arms to kiss her, Mrs. Kitt walked by.
“You going to lunch kids?” she asked, eyeing us gingerly.
You’ve just been saved Julia Jacobs.
We walked to lunch and entered the cafeteria doors. As the daily custom now, all eyes shot our way.
“Wanna’ sit with me and Jesse and the rest of the team? A change of pace?” I asked.
“Absolutely not,” she laughed.
“Why not? They don’t bite.”
“Yeah, but I might.”
“Oh whatever Jules. Come on. You might like them.”
“Yeah, the guys would probably be polite, but the cheerleaders won’t. They hate my guts.”
“I don’t think so Jules. You’re imagining things.”
“No, I’m not, but if you really want me to, then I will, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Just pay attention to how Taylor Williams and her comrades act toward me.”
“What did she do?” I asked, finally feeling safe enough about us to pry.
I knew how awful Taylor Williams could be. Over the summer, she called me like fifty times to see if I wanted to go to the movies but I was about as interested in that as a cat is in his bath. She was foul. A true sociopath. She constantly gossiped, was cruel to people who she thought were beneath her and was about as intelligent as the lemming she so eloquently emulated.
“Don’t you remember that awful fight we got in to last year in art class?” She asked in disbelief.
“No,” I honestly said.
Whenever Taylor’s name was brought up around me I’d phase out, uninterested.
“Well Taylor accidentally,” she finger quoted, “poured an entire can of blue paint on the piece I was working on for my final project. It also got all over me but when I got up from my stool, dripping in paint, she started to apologize. I thought it was an accident until I saw her wink at me behind Mr. Stewart’s back and all her little followers started laughing at me.
So, of course, that’s when I snapped. I had spent over thirty hours on that painting. I started to confront her but Mr. Stewart stopped me and sent me to the Principal's office. I almost got suspended because of her.”
“Jules, I had no idea. Don’t tell me any more stories of her being mean to you. It makes my blood boil. How about this? Let’s just stay at the far end of the table with the guys, away from the girls.”
“I’m not afraid.”
“Of course you’re not Jules. I only suggested it because I was afraid for Taylor Williams.”
“You can take an interest in her well being, do you?”
“Jealous?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Your hand tells me otherwise.”
She yanked her hand away.
“Come on Jules. I have absolutely no interest in her well being whatsoever, but if you gave her a black eye, then she’d attack you in retaliation and then I’d have to punch a girl for attacking you. I’d forever be known as that jerk who punched a girl. Plus, we’d both get detention, possibly suspension. I’m just not at all eager to spend the first few days I’m getting to know you again under adult supervision.”
“Really? Hmm. Maybe you do have ulterior motives.”
“Does it feel like I have ulterior motives?”
“No.”
“Then, come on!”
I dragged her to the three rectangular tables pushed together and ten of the guys from the team made room for us. We dragged two chairs together and sat at the end cap. Taylor and her idiot followers began to roll their eyes before we even sat down and immediately all five bent in to talk about us. The guys were, at first, pretty aloof, engrossed in a story of how David, our tight end, spent the summer on the coast of North Carolina with his aunt and all the girls that inhabited the beach there. When David was finished they all sat back in their seats and finally took note of us. Really, they took note of Jules.