Chapter 5

 

The next day Janey was unusually early for school. Just thinking about cleaning out her room had been exhausting, and she had fallen sleep before dinner and woken up before dawn. She watched sunrise at the bridge, and had ample time to meander towards campus.

Decker, Student Body President, Ski and Snowboard Club President, Junior Prom King, and general enthusiast of society, had zero period, and had brought the twins along. But they had managed to slip out of the class, into the courtyard, and were pouring over a few old yearbooks stolen from the history office.

The back of Janey’s neck prickled at the sight, and she fought the urge to kick serious Irish butt because looking at yearbooks was not a crime. She tip-toed---tip-toeing was a skill well learned in the Moore household---up behind them to peer over their shoulders and exclaimed loudly, “Oh my God, is that really how long Billy’s hair was? Oh, memories!”

The red heads ducked, and turned. One had eyebrows raised high under his bangs, the other had his eyes narrowed villainously.

Oh, God, thought Janey, here we go. The difference between them will be as night and day, one with an even temper and high spirits, and the other a veritable Bart Simpson with a libido. But still, the two would be perfectly identical, and probably speak in unison when they wanted to be anonymous.  No wonder Taylor was so excited.

The surprised one glanced her up and down. “Oh, wait, are you supposed to be a girl? What happened to your hair?”

“I cut it. We’re real liberal about styles and stuff in the new world.”

The serious one grinned. “You’re Janey. We were warned about you. We have no intention of provoking you to go ‘G.I. Jane’ on us, as you apparently have done to past students.”

“Somebody’s been spoiling my plans,” said Janey. “Ready for another day without your personal bubble?”

They shrugged. “We’re getting used to it,” said the serious one.

Janey cocked her head to the side. “So, which one is Kelly, and which one is Edan?”

The serious one pointed at himself. “Edan.” He pointed at his brother. “Kelly.”

“Kelly is a girl’s name. I’m very sorry your parents got confused.”

Kelly’s eyebrows rose higher, if that was possible, but before he could say anything Edan said, “Apparently we’re coming to your house this weekend?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

The bell releasing students from zero period rang, which Janey had always found amusing, since there couldn’t be more than sixteen students with a zero period, and Decker exploded out of his respective classroom. Decker liked to explode out of things, and burst upon people, and rupture conversations, and detonate room-wide cheers. He was the obnoxious, sort –of cute sort who could get away with a lot because he had that geeky skinniness to him that made everything funny, not to mention his impeccable liberty spikes and an obsession with everything to do with rock except for the unhealthy bits like drugs, sex, and rock and roll.

“Janey!” He yelled precisely, since his yelling Janey’s name was not a common occurrence. “We’re on for this weekend, right?”

Janey nodded, imperceptibly irritated, and check her watch. It would be several more unfortunate minutes until more students would show up and she could slip away.

Decker slid between the twins and grabbed the yearbook. “You two,” he said, flipping rapidly through the pages, “Have not experienced a true party until you have been to a Janey party. Her parents are so freaking chill. Man, if my parents…” He buried his face into a sophomore year picture of his girlfriend, Amber, and promptly forgot everything else.

The twins looked up at Janey expectantly, and she rolled her eyes. “If you want something good, you’ll have to make something of it yourselves.”

Kelly shrugged. “We expect to.”

Something in Decker’s body jerked at this, and he threw Janey a meaningful look which Janey tried to avoid.

Author's Note

I'm looking to improve, so please write any criticism that comes to mind.