Going Downhill

 

Chapter Nine

The next two months went by so quickly I barely noticed.

Every weekend, I went to a different party with Sam. She got buzzed every time, though she was normally pretty good about stopping before she became completely drunk. I had to be home by midnight, so she would ride with her sister, who turned out to be the girl that served me the punch at the first party. Usually the same group from the first party hung out somewhere outside of the actual party, smoking and talking amongst ourselves. James was usually there unless he had to work, and it was almost uncomfortable even during lunch to sit around him, knowing he was probably fuming every time Sam and I kissed.

I dragged Matt along to one of the parties and he managed to get a date with a senior from a nearby high school. They hit it off, and I was surprised to see just how faithful Matt was�"he completely stopped making comments about other girls to me. Jess came along once, but was picked up early by Ethan, who had been furious she completely forgot about their plans for that night.

Brandon usually wasn’t home from work until 12:30, so I could fudge the curfew a little without alerting suspicion. Most Fridays I could count on Alex coming over as well, so I would have a weak screwdriver with them thatBrandon insisted on mixing himself before going to bed. I started keeping a spare shirt in my car so I didn’t smell too strongly of cigarette smoke, so Brandon assumed Sam’s mother was a smoker�"perfect cover for everything that went on. I avoided all the drinks at parties that I didn’t open myself, not wanting to relive my hangover, so I never went home drunk.

Jess was alright, I guessed. She was really quiet some days, but anytime she was quiet Matt started talking, so we never had an awkward moment during lunch. She looked extremely tired some days, but any time Matt asked her about it at lunch or during our biology class she’d say she couldn’t sleep the night before, which was entirely plausible judging by the purple undereye circles she’d try to cover up with flesh-colored goop she said was makeup. Could have fooled me�"it looked like runny cake batter.

Classes at Meadow Grove were pretty easy, so I had almost no trouble pulling off A’s in the same classes I struggled to earn B’s in while I was in Fort Worth. The homework load was so light it was a joke, one that Andrew back home was supremely jealous of when I boasted over the phone. When I told Matt about the amounts of homework we used to receive in Fort Worth, he became more and more horrified until finally, looking dumbstruck, he said, “Thank God I live here, then!”

I’d gone to see Mom a few times too, who looked better than I’d expected. It was almost frightening to have to go to a jail to see her, but I couldn’t just leave her there�"it was Mom. I had all these horrible mental images of her looking sickly and gaunt, several shades paler and shaky, but when I finally got to see her she looked just fine�"she was tanned, healthy-looking, and serene. She asked about school, like any mother would, and she was proud to hear I was making mainly A’s. In Fort Worth around my old friends I would have felt a little nerdy with those kinds of grades, but hey�"if it made Mom smile, then I figured it was worth it. Besides, as she was always pointing out, good grades could get me into a good college for cheap.

The next Monday brought mixed feelings�"it was a Monday, but at the same time Thanksgiving was this Thursday, so the school week consisted only of Monday and Tuesday. The school seemed strangely empty�"a lot of people were probably off visiting family for the holidays.

I sunk into my chair in biology just as the first bell rang, shooting Matt and Jess a small smile. Mr. Berkeley didn’t bother to look up from his hunting magazine and just told the class to stay quiet since he didn’t want to grade work over the break, so after the scraping noises from rearranged desks ended, a hum of conversation ensued.

I turned to Jess, not surprised to see her with her head on her desk, hidden underneath another large hoodie. “Jess? Are you awake?” I asked, poking her side gently.

She jerked upright. “I’m awake! Don’t poke me!” she grumbled, swiping a stray piece of coffee-colored hair away from her eyes and half-heartedly glaring at me.

Matt squinted at her. “How much sleep have you been getting?” he asked. I took a closer look and realized with a jolt that Jess’ undereye circles were much more pronounced than I remembered, and her skin was a few shades lighter as well. “You don’t look healthy at all,” he added disapprovingly.

The skin around her eyes tightened the way Mom’s did when she was biting her tongue. Instinctively I shrank back, expecting a nasty tirade, but Jess just shrugged. “I just haven’t been able to sleep well. I’m fine,” she insisted, stretching languidly and rearranging the jacket’s vast folds around her.

I had to smile at the sight; it was kind of funny. “Are you that cold?” I teased her. She smiled slightly, her eyes going soft.

“That, and it helps me feel closer to Tyler,” she said, putting her head back down and, to all appearances, fell asleep. I looked at Matt in confusion, who was watching Jess sleep with a sad look on his face.

“Tyler’s her older brother. He’s in the military�"he’s touring Iraq right now. They were really close,” Matt said softly, glancing at me. He shifted in his seat, staring intently at the huddled form across the aisle from us. “I knew those hoodies looked familiar,” he muttered.

My eyes darted back to Jess, and I felt sorry for her. I couldn’t quite imagine the worries she harbored, but I could imagine the loneliness�"I figured it was kind of like what I felt for Mom. I heard an odd quiet clicking noise beside me and saw that Matt had pulled out his phone, typing furiously on the miniature keyboard it possessed.

“What are you doing?” I asked, peering over his shoulder to get a better look.

“Looking up news about Iraq�"this might be why she’s not sleeping well,” Matt said absently, his eyes glued to the small screen.

After a minute of furious typing, Matt merely frowned and tucked the phone back into his pocket. “So, was there any bad news?” I ventured, hoping I didn’t hear a yes.

His lips tightened. “Several bombs went off in Kuwait, near an outpost�"I think that’s where she said Tyler was stationed. According to this, they’re still clearing rubble and pulling survivors out. There are four soldiers unaccounted for�"maybe Tyler’s one of them,” he mused, a slightly horrified expression on his face. “No wonder she’s touchy.”

“I said I’m fine!” Jess sniped, her voice muffled since she kept her head down. Matt gave me a look and hurriedly changed the conversation to an essay we had due in English after break, glancing at Jess occasionally.

After what seemed like an eternity, the bell rang for the next class and Jess trudged off to Yearbook while Matt and I went to English, making sure not to bump into any cocky football players.

The English teacher didn’t want to grade homework over the break either, it seemed, so after a short pop quiz we graded in class she also let us talk and goof off for the rest of the period. I turned to face Matt and asked, “How long have Jess and Ethan been together?”

Matt screwed up his face in concentration. “Just over a year, I think.”

“And how long has Tyler been on this tour thing?” I persisted.

“He’s been there since maybe a month or so before Jess and Ethan started dating�"I remember Ethan being with Jess when Tyler left. I think he’s about halfway through the second tour now�"he got a few months off before the military decided to ship him off to another tour,” he answered, looking at me oddly. “Why?”

I raked my fingers through my hair and shrugged. “Just wondering, I guess.” I sighed, rubbing my eyes and staring at him blearily. “What, I can’t ask questions?” I joked.

Matt smirked. “I’m impressed; I didn’t know you could show concern for others,” he said wryly, giving me a pointed look. I stared back at him, confused. “Oh come on, Aiden! You’ve had your head stuck so far up Sam’s a*s lately it’s been close to a miracle to get you to notice anything else!” he drawled, rolling his eyes extravagantly at me.

I merely raised an eyebrow. “Oh, because you haven’t been so involved with that Danielle chick?” I shot back coolly, wondering if he really meant what he was saying.

Matt’s eyes narrowed. “Whatever, dude. It doesn’t matter,” Matt said dismissively, waving off whatever he was going to say and shrugging nonchalantly. He pulled his cell phone out and started texting, so I turned my attention to the random doodling I’d been doing and wondered if I’d managed to piss him off.

By the end of the class period, I had a rough manga-style sketch of Matt and Ethan facing off against each other, with Jess in the background hiding her eyes. Matt glanced over before I could shove it into my notebook and chuckled.

“Make sure I win, okay?” he said, smiling as he inspected my crude drawing. I nodded, shoving everything into my backpack just as the bell rang.

Lunch later that day was an odd affair. Ethan had somehow managed to convince his fifth period teacher to let his dual-credit class have the entire week off, so he was sitting at the table with us while Matt’s weird cheek tic came back full-force. Sam moodily picked at her food and glared at everyone, and James eventually gave up trying to start a conversation and went to sit with other friends�"to my amusement, they were at the Goth/punk side of the lunchroom, just as I’d predicated James could have been. Jess smiled and laughed and tried to keep the conversation going after James left, but Ethan and I were the only ones responding so the smile she’d valiantly tried to plaster on her face slid off, leaving a confused pout in its wake.

“F**k this,” Sam growled softly, standing up so suddenly I had to make my flinch look like an intentional shift. She glared at Ethan and, curiously, Jess, venomously before stalking off in the direction of the band hall, her shoulders taut.

Jess sighed, slumping down in her seat defeatedly. She stood up a second after I did, following me in Sam’s direction. I heard Ethan swear and call to Jess, but I figured she ignored him judging by the unrelenting footsteps behind me.

I saw Sam disappear into the long hallway leading to the band room and finally caught up with her as she threw the heavy door open and stalked inside. I looked around speculatively, seeing small groups of people hanging out in various areas, with music and gleaming instruments littering the space around them.

“I can’t�"f*****g�"stand him,” Sam growled, sweeping long bangs out of her eyes as she sank down in a back corner, moving several broken drumsticks out of her way. I sat down gingerly next to her, dreading sitting on splintered wood she might have missed.

“This might sound really retarded, but why do you hate Ethan?” I asked, trying to act completely clueless so I could get her side of the story.

She raised her perfectly-sculpted eyebrow, piercing me with an astonished (and astonishing) ocean-colored gaze. “You mean you don’t know?” she asked, leaning in closely. I shook my head, shrugging a little as I went over the details of the fight story Jess told me in my mind.

“I have no real clue, besides the fact that he doesn’t seem to like you, either,” I said.

Sam sighed, an angry look overtaking her features. “Ethan is abusing her.”