-2-

The next morning in homeroom, I was glad to see Rob in the back of the room, sitting in the seat next to the one I usually claimed as my own.  He had done as I had suggested and toned down his appearance.  His skin was a healthy tan and his hair was shorter and a little lighter, more natural.  The fangs, thankfully, were gone, and the green of his eyes were normal rather than the vibrant shade of the day before.

Sitting down next to him, I smiled.  “Glad to see you’re back for round two.”

Nodding in return, he reached out and put his hand on top of mine.  I smiled apologetically and pulled it away, glancing up at the front of the room.  His smile dimmed a little at the edges, but he seemed to understand, removing his hand from my desk as the teacher started role call.

After homeroom, we headed toward global events class.  This consisted of forty-five minutes of speculation on what the eggs could possibly be and how they had gotten to St. Ides.  Not a very eventful class at all.  After global, I had French 3, a class we didn’t share, followed by another uneventful forty-five minutes of creative writing.  

Then, we had lunch.  That was interesting, as Rob wanted to sit with my friends and I-next to me.  I didn’t really mind much, but it was starting to feel like Rob was trying to work his way into most of the facets of my daily routine.  After knowing him for less than a full day, I wasn’t sure how comfortable I was with that.  Sure, I liked him, he was a nice guy, once you got to know him a little, but that didn’t mean I was wanting him to hang all over me like a dead goose, either.

Naturally, I had to introduce him.  “Kate, Toni, Laurence, Jon, this is Rob.  He’s new, just transferred yesterday.  Rob, these are my friends.”  I pointed to them in turn as I named them off.

He smiled shyly at everyone and sat quietly next to me through out lunch.  Thankfully, he didn’t try touching me in front of my friends.  His second day here, it would have looked very inappropriate, I’m sure.

After school, he caught up with me again.  I didn’t mind his company, but having it constantly was starting to grate.  “Hey, Rob.”

Walking next to me, he smiled rather sadly.  “Did I do something wrong?”

I looked over at him as we walked.  “What do you mean?”

Shrugging, he continued on with me.  “You just seem…  I don’t know.  Like you don’t want me around you today.  Did I do something?”

Nodding slightly, I understood.  “Look, Rob.  Don’t take this wrong, but…  Well, you’ve been here a grand total of what?  Two days?  Most people want to talk and be friends before they move into the hand holding and kissing stage.”

Stopping to look at me, his face dawned with some kind of realization.  “Kissing?  Kissing comes next?”

I stopped and turned to him, hoisting my book bag up into a more comfortable position on my back.  “Sometimes, yes.  But, Rob, I want to be your friend, not your girlfriend.  We just met.  I know next to nothing about you, and you know just about as much, if not less, about me.”

He was clearly crestfallen by my statement.  “I see.  Alright.  I understand.  So…  I have to stop touching you, right?  But…  What about yesterday?”

Sighing softly, I closed my eyes.  “Rob, yesterday you looked like my dream guy.  A man I created in my head to be everything I find appealing in a man.  On top of that, you showed me something that should be impossible short of plastic surgery and hair dye.  I was a little…  well, I was a lot taken aback and surprised and in awe.  Let’s just put it that way.  Yesterday I probably would have let you kiss me, had you tried.  Yesterday would have knocked anyone for a loop.  Yesterday was yesterday.  
This is today.  Today we’re just friends.  Tomorrow we’ll just be friends.  Next week we’ll just be friends.  Do you understand?”  I opened my eyes to him watching me, his facial expression as neutral as I’ve seen on anyone not playing poker for money.

Turning to head home, I heard him sigh softly.  “Look, Rob.  It’s not that I don’t like you.  You seem to be a really nice guy.  But I’ve only known you for two days.  That’s not to say things might not change in the future, but as for right now, this is how it is.  I don’t want you to take it wrong, but that’s just the way it has to be.”

I heard him scuff his feet and then I didn’t hear anything else.  I turned around to see what he was doing, but he was gone.  Where he could have went to in just over a split second was beyond me, but I couldn’t waste too much time pondering it.  I had gotten yelled at yesterday for being home so late, I didn’t want to hear another lecture today.  Sighing, I went home.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I was in the middle of my math homework when the phone downstairs rang.  I didn’t think anything about it because my father was always getting phone calls in the evening.  What startled me was when he hollered my name up the stairs.

“Sophie, phone!  I think it’s Jon, but I’m not sure.”

I reached for the cordless handset in my room.  “Thanks dad!  Got it!”

I turned it on and heard the click of my dad hanging up the receiver downstairs.  “Jon?”

The line was quiet a moment, and then he started to talk.  “Sophie, it’s me.  I’m sorry about the way I acted today.  I just wanted to apologize.”

I couldn’t believe it was Rob!  I knew our number was listed in the book due to dad’s work, but if he had no place to stay, how was he calling me?  And just to apologize for earlier?  Maybe I had been wrong about the creep idea to begin with.

“Sophie, are you there?”

Closing my eyes, I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me.  “Yes, Rob.  I’m here.”

I could hear the smile in his voice.  “Oh, good.  I, uh…  I was also calling to see if you could help me with number sixteen on the math homework.”

Smiling, I cradled the phone between my head and my shoulder, picking up my pencil and turning the page back to the equation in question.  “You had me a little freaked there for a moment, Rob.  I’ll have to admit.”

He laughed into the phone.  It was the only thing he hadn’t changed from yesterday and it sent a tingle up my spine.  “I didn’t think calling and saying ‘hey, help me with the homework’ was very tactful.  I thought I’d start out by admitting I was probably really wrong today.”

“Well, I’ll give you one thing, Rob, you’re defiantly not a normal guy.  Most guys think they’re never wrong.”

“Well, beyond me really not being normal, I know when to admit I’ve probably crossed a line somewhere.  I really value you as a friend, even though, as you said, it’s only been two days.  You’re the only friend I’ve got, after all.  And a really good math tutor, I’m betting.”  

I could hear the smile getting wider as he spoke.  “Flattery isn’t going to guarantee you a correct answer, you know.  Now, where are you getting stuck?”

We talked about the homework for upwards of twenty minutes.  He wasn’t really messing up much, but in math, as our teacher always says, ‘if it’s not quite right, it’s absolutely wrong’.

After I got off the phone with Rob, I called Toni.  Of course, she had her opinions on things, as I knew she would.

“You two seemed close today.  What’s up with that?  It took you and that Mark guy better than six months to be that friendly in public.”

I rolled my eyes.  I so did not want to talk about Mark.  “We’re just friends, ok?  He’s new and was lost.  Turns out we have a few classes together.  That’s it.”

“Sure it is.  He seems to think it’s more than that.”

“You think all guys think it’s more than that.”

“That’s why I don’t date guys.”

“Like us girls are much better.”

“You’d be surprised.  Besides, you’ll never know until you try.”

“No thanks.  I’d rather take a romp with the new guy unprotected in front of the whole school before I’d get that close to another girl.  No offense.”

“None taken, so really.  What’s up with him?”

“What do you mean?  He’s just the new kid.”

“Well, you said he’s been here for two days.  I don’t remember seeing him the other day at all.”

I knew this was going to come up eventually.  “He has gym class with us.  You’re seriously telling me you didn’t see him?  He was the shy kid on the other team that no one was throwing the ball to.”  I was hoping she’d take the mental jog.

“Oh!  Oh, yeah, I remember him now.  Poor kid.  One in every class, I suppose.  It’s good you’ve taken him under your wing, then.  He’s going to need a shield if things keep up like that.”

I rolled my eyes again as I doodled in the top corner of my French homework.  “That’s not very nice to say.  You make it sound like he belongs on the geek squad or something.”

“Well, with his looks, he really wouldn’t fit in with them, would he?  I don’t know.  He might make it.  I’m not into guys, but I’ll admit he’s cute.  Got a nice butt.”

Blushing , I scribbled out my doodle.  “I wouldn’t know.  I didn’t look.  Besides, we’re just friends.”

“So you keep saying.”

“That’s because you keep implying otherwise.”

“Do not.  That’s just your guilty conscience twisting my words.”

“I don’t have to defend myself against you, you know.”

“I never said you did.”

I could hear the laugh in her voice.  “I’m going to hang up if you keep it up.”

“Go ahead.  You’ll just call back later to talk about him.  That’s why you called this time.  Just admit it.”

“Admit what?”

“You like him.”

“I never said I didn’t.”

“You never said you did, either.  Not that you have to.”

“God, you’re driving me nuts!”

“Better me than him, though, right?”

“I’m hanging up now.”

“See you tomorrow, chicka.”

Laughing, I hung up the phone, putting it back in its cradle before getting back to my French homework.  Maybe she had a point.  But, then, maybe she was completely wrong.  Either way, we were just friends and that was that.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

School was uneventful for the next couple days, everyone slowly letting the egg talk die down.  The students were more interested in the upcoming weekend, anyway.  Granted, it was just a normal weekend, but to a high school student, any weekend was something to look forward to.

Rob backed off, not trying to touch me or get too close.  He became one of the group, in a very short amount of time.  Toni kept sneaking looks at me, followed by a wink and a smile.  I knew she was wrong.  She had to be.  Rob, for all I knew, was a criminal with amnesia, or even an alien.  The possibilities were pretty much limitless at this point.

I never did find out where he was staying.  Not that I bothered to ask.  I figured if he wanted to talk about it, he would.  He was pretty good about those things.  I had started telling my mom about my new friend and she suggested I invite him over for Sunday dinner, after she and dad got back from church.  I didn’t know how to reach him, so I told her he was busy on Sunday, maybe next weekend.  She seemed to accept my answer, but my younger brother, Todd, didn’t.

“Come on, sis,” he said to me Saturday night after dinner.  “What’s up with that new kid?  I’ve seen him a few times in the hall.”

I looked at him when he told me that.  “When?”

“Well, it’s not hard to miss him.  He’s always hanging around you guys.”

Letting out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding, I nodded.  “Yeah.  He’s just the new guy, I guess.”

“Why’d you lie to mom then?”

Putting my drawing pencil down, I looked at him.  “What do you mean?”

Shrugging, he didn’t look up from his own art homework.  “You said he was busy tomorrow so you can’t invite him for dinner.  You were lying.  You did that thing you do when you lie.”

Sighing, I shrugged.  “I just don’t think I’m ready to have him over, I suppose.  I don’t know.”

Smiling, he looked up at me finally.  “I think you like him.”

Huffing, I glared at my younger brother.  “I do not.  We’re just friends.”

“Sure you are.  That’s why you’re blushing and getting mad.”

Growling, I picked up my work and stormed upstairs.  Was everyone but me seeing this?  We were just friends.  That’s the way it was.

Everything was quiet and normal until Thursday.  That’s when we got a new guy.  He was another rather common, plain person.  He was sitting in the back of my French 3 class when I walked in.  It was almost the exact same thing as with Rob.  Obviously, I was on edge.  How could this be happening all over again, just over a week apart?  What was going on?  But then, I could have been wrong.

Sitting down in my normal seat, next to the new student, I went directly into my schoolwork.  I was trying not to have another ‘Rob’ incident.  Unfortunately, that didn’t work.  After class, he came up to me, tapping me on the shoulder.

“Excuse me.  I’m new here and don’t quite understand this schedule.  Could you help me?”

Sighing, I couldn’t say no.  “Let me see it.”

He handed me the slip of paper and I examined it.  Closing my eyes, I took a moment to breathe.  He had all the same classes I had.  Opening my eyes, I looked at him.  He was looking back at me, expectantly.  I handed him his schedule and adjusted my arm full of books.  “Basically, follow me.  We have all the same classes.”

Nodding, he did just that.  Surprisingly, Rob didn’t seem to notice.  I suppose it was the whole ‘plain Jane’ common appearance thing, like I had done the first day I met Rob.

After school, I was followed home by, not Rob, who had stopped following me by Tuesday, but the new kid.  Stopping, I turned around and looked at him.  “Look.  I don’t know your name, and if my prior experiences tell me anything, you don’t know it either.  Am I right?”

He looked rather surprised at my deduction but nodded all the same.  Opening his mouth to speak, I held up my hand to stop him.  “Let me guess.  You don’t know where you come from, how you got here, what you’re doing.  However, you do know you can do things you don’t think you should be able to do.  Am I right?”

Again, he nodded, shock registering plainly on his features.

“And, once more, you want to show me because I was the only person all day to help you when you needed it.”

Another nod followed by a rather sheepish smile.  He didn’t try to speak, though.

“Well?  Aren’t you going to say anything?”  I waited a little impatiently.

Finally, he opened his mouth again.  “You’re right.  I don’t know my name.  However, I really like the sound of Orrin, so I think that’s what I’ll go with.  I heard people call you Sophie today.  I was hoping you’d help me, but it seems you’ve already had to contend with this kind of request, so if you want me to, I’ll just leave you alone.”

I was really startled by his mannerism.  He was very thoughtful and there was just something in his voice.  Yet again, I found myself following a strange guy behind a little used building.

Leaning against the back of the building, I looked expectantly at him.  “Well?  Any ideas?”

Shrugging, he looked back at me.  “I thought you could help, really.”

Sighing softly, I thought for a moment.  “Okay, I’ve got it.  We’ll work bottom up.  I’m sure certain things you can handle all by yourself, so we’ll go for the most obvious things.  Healthy tan.  Toned muscles-everywhere.  Golden eyes.  Silver spiked hair.  Small goatee.”

I was once again amazed as I watched him change before my eyes.  Smiling, I had to laugh at his hair.  “Yeah…  You’re not getting that right.  How about just a short messy look?  And, if you’re going in public, you might want to go more of a white blonde rather than silver.  Silver’s not a natural color.  The goatee is a hit or miss.  Your own preference, really.”

Nodding, he made the appropriate changes and then looked expectantly at me.  “What do you think?”

Giving him a once-over, I nodded.  “Now to do something about that voice.  You talk to someone and they’re not going to remember talking to you.  You’ve got a very common, boring voice, sorry to say.  You need to add a bit more maleness to it.  Perhaps a little honey, so to speak.”

Nodding, he cleared his throat and tried his new voice out.  “Like this?”

Smiling, I nodded.  “Sounds good to me.  Orrin, you said, right?”

Nodding, he picked up his pile of schoolbooks.  “I don’t want to keep you.  I don’t want anyone to worry.  Thank you, though, for all your help.  I really appreciate it.”

With that, he was off, across the street and down the next intersection.  He was completely different from Rob that was for sure.  Unfortunately, I had basically created them both, so it was hard not to have a crush on them simply from the appearances we had created.

Walking home, I came to the conclusion that I really should have made one of them ugly.

Author's Note

Same as before. The more c+c you give me, the better this can be.