Chapter 3

Daniel opens up a little more. And then a turning point in the story.

Chapter 3

     “Sorry, I can’t sit with you guys today. I have to sit with Phoebe and talk to her about something.”

     He sat with us only once, but I guess to Daniel that was an invitation to come with Claire and me on our private walks to the lunchroom.

     “Whatever you need to do,” I replied indifferently.

     “I’ll make it up to you guys when you come over again today.”

     Claire and I stopped with quizzical looks on our faces.

     “We’re coming over again?” I asked.

     “Aren’t you?” he asked back.

     Claire and I looked at each other. We wouldn’t mind; we did want to discover more about Daniel and Phoebe. It just seemed a little concerning that he’s already making plans for us so soon after only one day of hanging out.

     “Sure, I guess we have a little time to come over again, today,” Claire finally said.

     “Great. I’ll meet up with you guys after school,” Daniel said as we entered the cafeteria. He left for the lunch line as me and Claire went to our table.

     “Kind of sudden, huh?”

     “It is pretty classic,” Claire said. “He has no friends, so he thinks the first two people he does make friends with are always going to stick by him.”

     “Yup,” I said, trying to follow along.

     “Lonely people often try to force newfound relationships to work more quickly than naturally,” Claire explained.

     “Ah. Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I pulled out a sandwich from my lunch bag and gave half of it to Claire.

     “Thanks,” she said.

     “No problem. You know, I was surprised you wanted to go back again. I thought you would have stayed out of it considering all we did was play Halo yesterday.”

     Claire sighed as she was chewing. She swallowed, then said, “Yeah, any other person and I would have said no. But your curiosity is contagious and now I want to know what’s going on with him and Phoebe, too. Jim, we’re going to find out something today. You with me?” She raised her hand up for a high-five.

     I gave a half smile and raised my hand up to match hers.

     “What’s wrong?”

     “I dunno.” I hesitated before going on. “Sometimes it kind of feels like we’re using Daniel just to entertain us.”

     Claire thought a second before responding. “I can see where you’re coming from. But it’s not like we hate Daniel or anything, right?”

     “Right. He’s a nice kid. Just weird.”

     “Exactly. We both think he’s a nice guy. We’re both concerned about him. We’re both curious as to what’s up with him and Phoebe. Out of all the people in this school, we’re the only two that have taken an actual interest in him, the only two that really want to find out the real story behind them as opposed to making fun of him or gossiping.”

     “Aren’t we gossiping now?”

     “No. I don’t think so, anyway.” Claire looked at me and then gave me a hug. “You’re sweet. Look, if you’re uncomfortable with all of this, then we can let it go.”

     “I just…” I really had no idea what I wanted to do. I wanted to know more about Phoebe, I wanted to know more about Daniel, I wanted to know how all of this happened, but at the same time I felt guilty and I had no idea why. I thought, maybe I was breaching his privacy, maybe it was really none of my business, maybe because I had no intention of becoming a good friend of Daniel’s, even though he was a nice person and I had nothing against him. Daniel’s sudden attachment to us made me feel cautious, like that if we kept up what we were doing then all we were going to do was hurt him, mislead him into thinking we’re such close friends even though all we’re really doing is just getting to know each other.

     I looked at Claire, into her beautiful, soothing azure eyes as she gave me her trademark smile that almost always put me at ease. I wanted to tell her what I felt.

     “Never mind,” I smiled.

     Claire kissed me and we finished our lunch.

☺☺☺

       We met up with Daniel after school and walked to his house. He was kind of quiet again; I began to wonder if he also needed Phoebe to initiate conversations. There are some people that can talk about anything with anyone, and there are some people that shine when they work off of others.

     “So,” Claire finally said, “what did you need to talk to Phoebe about?”

     “Oh, she’s just getting jealous again,” Daniel explained.

     “Of what?” I asked.

     “You guys.”

     “… Um.”

     “She always gets a little jealous when I’m hanging out with other people.”

     He hangs out with other people?

     “She doesn’t get along with a lot of kids at school, so she gets scared that they’re going to take me away from her.”

     “Well I’m sure we’re no replacements,” Claire said.

     “Well of course not. Phoebe is always going to be my best friend no matter what.”

     Something scared me when I heard Daniel say that. I didn’t know why at the time; I was only 15 and I had limited knowledge of why I did anything. Looking back, I think it was something about the way he said it: a forced belief that he convinced himself was truth.

     “So I was wondering, Daniel, is Phoebe coming over with us today, too?” Claire asked.

     “Do you want her to?”

     “Yeah, sure. I want to let her see that we’re no competition for your attention. Right Jim?”

     “Right,” I said.

     “All right, let’s swing by her house. It’s only a couple of blocks away from mine, anyway.” Daniel turned around and headed down the street we had just passed.

     Claire looked at me and winked.

     I smiled, following her and Daniel. We walked for another ten minutes. Claire kept trying to get him to open up, but he kept avoiding her with vague and short answers. I was fine with just listening; I was trying to see if I could pick up on how Claire was picking Daniel’s brain. Maybe I could have been more help if I could do the same thing.

     “We’re here,” Daniel announced as we walked up the driveway. He rang the doorbell, then waited for a few minutes.

     During those few minutes, I noticed a number of odd things about her house. For starters, there were no cars in the driveway. Not completely unexpected, it was around 2:30 and parents tended to work during the day back then. But the lawn looked like it hadn’t been cut in months and there were no lights or movement inside the house at all. I couldn’t tell from where I was standing, but what I could see through the front window appeared to be nothing at all. To top it off, the mailman drove right past her house and stopped next door. No pick up, no drop off, no nothing. It’s like the house didn’t even exist.

     I began to think to myself, if I didn’t know any better, I would say this house was abandoned. And as if to confirm it all, I noticed a for sale sign crudely buried in the bushes along the fence, just barely visible enough to make out.

     I looked at Claire, who was already looking at me and nodding.   

     “Guess she went out,” Daniel sighed.

     “Try calling her,” I suggested.

     “Nah, I don’t wanna bother her if she’s out. We’ll see her another time.” Daniel walked back down the driveway and led the way back to his house.

☺☺☺

     “I’ll sit out today. I’m not really up for losing,” Claire said as Daniel started Halo.

     “Okay,” he said, handing me a controller.

     “You sure?” I asked her.

     “I’m sure,” she smiled.

     While Daniel and I played Xbox, Claire occasionally got up and walked around his room, looking things over. I glanced her way a lot (I felt like back before freshman year ended, when I was getting used to the fact that there was something special about Claire that got me all hot and bothered), trying to see what she was looking at. I wanted to look over his room, too. I could play Halo anytime. Or maybe I felt left out; maybe I just wanted to be looking at stuff with her. Which felt silly; we were together. I already mattered a lot to her. Why would I have felt left out?

     Claire eventually ended up at his dresser, which I think is what we were both waiting for. She picked up the picture and looked at it for a couple of minutes, almost like she was studying it, trying to get a literal mental photo of it inside her head.

     “Is this Phoebe?” she blurted out.

     Daniel turned around to answer, but his eyes widened and he rushed over to grab the picture. He set it down and went back to the game. “Yeah, please don’t touch.”

     We both looked at him, waiting for him to say something else.

     “It’s a fragile frame,” he finally said.

     “Ah,” Claire said as she sat back down on the bed.

     “Can’t you tell?”

     “Oh, sorry it didn’t look worn or anything-”

     Daniel laughed. “No, I meant the picture of me and Phoebe. Couldn’t you tell it was her?”

     “She just looked so… young.”

     Nice save. Claire was witty like that.

     “I guess it got me off guard.”

     “Yeah that was… when was it?” Daniel asked himself as his expression changed. “I think that was when we were still in middle school. Yeah, I think that was the summer after eighth grade.”

     “You two look so cute in this picture.”

     “Yeah, yeah, everyone keeps saying how cute a couple we would make. We’re just friends, though.”

     “How long have you two actually known each other?” I chipped in.

     “Since second grade. She moved here ‘cause her dad got a new job.”

     “Wow, that’s a long time,” I said quietly to myself.

     “Yeah, some guys were bullying her on the bus one day because no one wanted to sit with her, so I threw a book at one of them to shut them up and let her sit next to me.”

     “Aww, how noble of you,” Claire said. “Jim, would you ever throw a book at someone that was making fun of me?” she asked.

     “And then some,” I quickly added. “No one’s gonna make fun of my girl and get away with it.”

     “Awww,” she said as she came over and gave me a hug and a kiss. “I love you, Jim.”

     “Love you, too.” I smiled.

     The doorbell rang. Daniel paused the game and went downstairs to answer it.

     “Didn’t expect anyone to stop by Daniel’s,” I said, surprised.

     “Maybe it’s Fedex or something,” Claire guessed.

     “Hey, man!” Daniel said loudly enough from downstairs so that we both heard it from his room. We got up and met with Daniel and his guest at the front door.

      “Oh, guys, this is my friend Anthony,” he said as we came down the stairs. “Anthony, this is Jim and his girlfriend Claire.”

     Anthony gave a warm smile and held out his hand. “Hi, nice to meet you,” he said as he shook my hand. He had a pretty strong grip.

     “Nice to meet you, too,” I said.

     “Man, I haven’t seen you in a while. What are you up to?” Daniel asked.

     “Not too much. Still getting used to the first couple of weeks of school,” Anthony said.

     “Yeah, same with us. How are your classes?”

     “Everything seems fine except for French. My teacher is actually from France, so between her accent and high expectations I’m even more lost than last year.”

     “That sucks. Well at least you only need two years of it.”

     “No, my school makes us take three. Agh, I hate French so much! I wish I took Spanish.”

     “You don’t go to our school?” I asked. “Where do you go?”

     “I go to East.”

     “Anthony and I were in the same middle school, but he moved across town last year and transferred,” Daniel explained.

     I looked at Claire and saw her eyes light up.

     “Anyway, drama club’s going to need me to start working on sets soon, so I thought I’d swing by and see how you’re doing before things get too busy.”

     “Thanks, man. Hey, we were just playing some Halo upstairs, you wanna join?” Daniel asked.

     “Can’t really stay for too long, was kind of hoping we could just catch up. So you made some new friends, huh?”

     “Yeah, Jim and Claire have been hanging out with me since the first day of school.”

     I wondered if Daniel was exaggerating to impress Anthony or if he actually believed that asking me for a pen counted as hanging out.

     “That’s awesome, man. Glad to see you’re making some new friends.”

     “Yeah, me and Daniel are in the same math class, and we’re all in the same lunch,” I added in.

     “Very cool. Hey, we should all hang out sometime,” Anthony suggested. “My schedule’s a little tight, but maybe one of these weekends we could all meet up and do something.”

     “Sounds good,” Claire said.

     “Hey, you on Facebook?” I asked. “We could all chat a bit, might be more convenient than finding a day that works for all of us.”

     “Sure, why not?” he said. “I’ll look you up when I get home.”

     “Cool, thanks.”

     “No problem. A friend of Daniel’s is a friend of mine. Listen, I gotta run, but it was great seeing you again,” Anthony said to his old pal.

     “It’s always a pleasure,” he replied. “Stay in touch.”

     “Absolutely,” Anthony said as he opened the door. “Jim, Claire, it was great meeting you two. Take care of Danny for me.”

     And as he was closing the door, leaving just me, Claire, and Daniel standing there, I felt guilty again.

☺☺☺

     “Hey, Claire,” I said.

     “Hey, Jim. I just got out of the shower.”

     “Very sexy.”

     “Shut up.”

     “Then why’d you tell me?” I laughed.

     “What’s up?”

     I laid down on my bed and sighed. “Just felt like talking, I guess.”

     “You okay?”

     “Yeah.”

     “You sure?”

     “Yup.” I could hear Claire sigh on the other end of the phone.

     “What’s wrong, hun?” she asked.

     “Nothing. Just wanted to know your thoughts on today.”

     “Well I think it’s pretty obvious that Phoebe is more than a friend to Daniel.”

     “Okay, yes, after he freaked out, I will give you that.”

     “Now we just need to find out what happened to her.”

     “Anthony.”

     “I know! He actually has friends!”

     “Yeah, I was pretty surprised. But-”

     “I thought it was weird that you invited him to friend you. I thought you hated random friend requests.”

     “I do.”

     Claire took a moment before replying. “Ah. I gotcha,” she said, slyly.

     It’s true, I wanted to be friends with Anthony because I was certain (or hoping, I hadn’t decided which yet) that he could give me more reliable information about Phoebe than Daniel could. They all had to have known each other in middle school.

     “So what was wrong with you earlier today?” she asked.

     “Huh?”

     “After Anthony left, you quieted down.”

     “It’s nothing. Just something Anthony said.”

     “What was it?”

     “Don’t worry about it, I’m over thinking it.”

     “Jim.”

     “It’s…”

     It was just that when he said take care of Danny for me¸ it felt like he was passing on the torch. A torch I didn’t want the responsibility of carrying, at least not the sole responsibility.

     I wish I knew what kept drawing me to him. I knew how annoying I was acting. Why couldn’t I just shake the whole thing off?

     I laughed. “You know what, never mind. It really is nothing.”

     “Yeah, yeah, whatever. So what else are you up to?”

     “Just scrolling through news on Facebook.”

     “I was on there earlier. You know what’s weird?”

     “What?”

     “Daniel’s not on it.”

     “Everyone’s on Facebook.”

     “I know. Except for him.”

     “Maybe you spelt his name wrong.”

     “I spelt it exactly as it’s spelt in the yearbook.”

     “Maybe he’s under a different name.”

     “Well, I wouldn’t know what that would be.”

     “Oh, wow.”

     “What?”

     “The amazing Claire doesn’t know something.”

     “Shut up.”

     I laughed. “Just look on Anthony’s friend list. I’m sure he’s there.”

     “I haven’t gotten his request yet.”

     “Neither have I.”

     “He doesn’t know our last names, so I don’t think he’ll find us.”

     On cue, I got a notification of a friend request. “Speak of the devil,” I said.

     “You just got a message from Anthony?”

     “Yup,” I said as I approved it.

     Almost immediately after I clicked it, I got a message in chat.

     Has he mentioned a girl named Phoebe?

     I stared at the message for a moment, admiring how forward he was being.

     “Claire, I gotta go.”

     “Okay. Love you.”

     “Love you, too.”

     I hung up my cell phone and put the charger in it.

     It looked like Anthony had a use for us, too.

Reviews

[Tamelia Jade]

So I really appreciated you reviewing my story and thought I'd repay the favour. I am really liking where this is going so far and your characterisation and dialogue is fantastic and brings a lot of life to your work. I could imagine the scenes very clearly and giggled myself a few times.
The way you've described Jim's guilt and nervousness about potentially using Daniel and his inexplicable desire to understand him is great and Jim appears to have a lot of insight into himself (even if he is only fifteen!) I also like how supportive Claire is of the situation but I think it's sad that Jim is hesitating in telling her his doubts. Anyway, I can't wait to see more, keep it up! :)