The 'L' word [Jay]

[JD Paerson]

JD glared down at the blank piece of paper in front of him. The desk was littered with crumpled sheets and the wrappers of several candy bars. He had been sitting for half an hour trying to figure out what to say.

He grabbed one of the rejected papers and smoothed it out to read again. "Roses are red, violets are blue. I'd do anything to go out with you." One of his more desperate attempts. With a scowl he wadded it up and threw it over his shoulder. He hadn't actually given anyone a "roses" poem in over a year.

Groaning, he put his head on the desk. "Why am I doing this to myself, again?" he asked aloud. "I mean, I could just buy a card or something. I don't have to...to...damn it, why does she have to like writing and poetry?"

The gift was already picked out. He'd wanted to get her something nice, but he couldn't really afford it without stealing from Zac. Besides, he didn't want to get something too nice in case it scared her. If he couldn't do nice, he was determined to get something useful. Namely, clothes. Remembering how much she didn't like the scar on her neck he thought she might like a scarf or something. But he absolutely hated scarves--terrible for running--so he'd settled for the sweater. It was black because he didn't know what color she wanted, and she looked good in black. Or most any color, but black was easy. Size was a bit harder, but he just went for a medium and hoped for the best. Maybe she could exchange it or something.

The present, in the end, hadn't been that hard. It was the message on the card that was proving difficult.

He wanted the card to say "Thank you for being my friend even though I'm sometimes a jerk and you're really beautiful and fun and I really like you and will you please go out with me," but he didn't know how to make it sound less, well, desperate. He was no good with words. So while he wanted to impress her with a beautiful poem describing how amazing she was, he was stuck staring at a blank sheet.

He'd debated stealing a poem from somewhere else, but it didn't feel right. And he'd debated about cracking a joke or making some nerd reference, but that wouldn't really send the right message either. He was really trying to show his true feelings, for once. And failing miserably.

In the end he borrowed a camera and trekked up the mountain again to get a picture of the snow-covered forest. He had the photo printed and got an envelope. The present was wrapped, the card sitting neatly on top, as he carried it to her door. At the last second he pulled out the photo and a marker and scribbled "Merry Christmas" on the back. He hesitated for a moment more before adding "Love JD." He stuffed the card into the envelope, knocked on the door, and tried not to look too nervous.

"Jalen?" he called as he knocked. "You there?" Too late he realized that he'd forgotten to change after his trek--he still wore his stinky shirt and a ratty old jacket, not to mention his old running shoes. Maybe he could run and change...

[Jalen August]

“JD!” She said excitedly, pulling him into her dorm room by his forearm. “Just the person I was hoping to see before break,” she said. Honestly, the girl couldn’t remember if they had planned to do anything before school let out, but she was glad this worked out. If it was planned, she would just go along with it. Jalen had completely disregarded the look of nervousness on his face and the present in his hands; she was too busy with the one she had planned for him. She pulled him into the small living area and beamed down at her gift for him.

A medium sized safe, black, was sitting harmlessly a top a makeshift board on wheels, which the girl had fastened together herself. The gift had a huge, and I mean huge red bow on the top, which she also had to make herself because they didn’t make bows that big in store.

It had taken a while to find something she thought JD would like. Money wasn’t really an issue (but it was limited), and she wanted to get him something practical, since he probably wouldn’t enjoy anything sentimental. The locking safe seemed to make sense to the girl, as the speedster would be able to put all of his more private things into it without anyone being able to snoop. The reason it was on a small trolley though, was because it was already filled, and very heavy. Hell it was heavy enough on its own, now it would give just about anyone back problems if they tried to lift it.

Jalen had been both creative, and thrifty, when she bought enough books to fill every inch within the safe, equalling to a dozen. They were different kinds of novels, but she figured JD would appreciate reading something for fun, rather than for school, especially over the break. A simple blank card with a Christmas tree on the front would be found within the peeking door, his name elegantly scrawled over the top. She didn’t want even herself to know the combo, and it had taken a while to make sure things didn’t fall out of the safe with the card inside.

The card was very sweet, but to Jay it came naturally:

JD,

You’re an excellent guy and it’s about time someone told you that. Your choice in friends seems questionable, but yours is a heart of gold. I’ve enjoyed getting to know you and love spending time with you; it’s great to have someone willing to stand up to me and maybe even beat me at my own silly games once in a while.

Thank you for being there when I’ve needed you most, I could probably learn a thing or two from you about that. Which reminds me – thank you for helping me with school, math has never been my strong suit. Anyways, I think I’ve rambled enough and I’m running out of room, so Merry Christmas, and I hope you like the gift.

Yours truly,
Jay

P.S. Would you like to come over to my house for Christmas dinner?

Jalen finally looked to JD and noticed he was carrying a haphazardly wrapped present. “Is that one supposed to be for me?” She teased, sitting on the couch and patting the cushion next to her so he would sit. She wasn’t expecting anything, but it was hard to hide how excited she was over seeing him. And the gift was nice too of course. “What’s with the duds?” She asked, gesturing towards his sweaty tattered clothes. He only wore things like that when he went running, so he wouldn’t ruin his better stuff. Hmm. Jalen raised a questioning eyebrow and waited for the boy to explain.

[JD Paerson]

"Hurk!" JD managed as he was pulled into the room. He didn't remember having ever been here before, so he took a moment to look around. There was a large safe on a board with wheels, and it had a huge bow on it. It was fairly conspicuous, admist all the other fairly commonplace supplies in the room.

"What?" he said, pulling his gaze away from the strange-looking gift and toward Jalen again. "Oh, yes. This one's for you. Sorry about the wrapping. I had some trouble with it..." He should've just gone for the shirt box, but it was too late for that now. He sat down next to her and thrust the messy gift into her lap. "Merry Christmas, anyway."

He coughed to try to cover his embarrassment. "Yeah, I know, I should've changed, but I just got back. From a run. You know, I don't like wearing my other clothes when I go out, and I didn't know if it would be muddy or anything, and I only took enough extra time to develop the picture and get the present from my room, so..."

He could have slapped himself. "Oh, yeah, the card!" He pulled it from under the mess of ribbon on the present and held it out. "Here, that's what it was. It's the picture, because you said you liked snow and stuff."

Trying to not look like he was being overly conspicuous, he craned his neck to look more carefully at the safe, which had a card poking out over the top. "Is that for me? Or are you friends with the other Jonah here, too?"

He wasn't sure how to feel about the idea that she had gotten him a gift as well. What that actually meant, well...he was fairly certain that the best word to describe how he was feeling was "happy." He hardly even noticed that he was smiling.

"Well, you should go ahead and open your present, I guess, since mine isn't exactly wrapped up, and it's probably better you get rid of that horrible wrapping paper--" it was lime green, the only thing he could find short-notice "--as soon as possible."

[Jalen August]

Jalen took the gift into her arms and grinned while he spoke, simply watching him instead of immediately tearing into the wrapping like she wanted to. He was too damn cute. He was rambling and she laughed a little bit and reached out to pat his forearm, “It’s alright JD, I was only teasing you, something you really should be used to by now,” she was smiling brightly and lifted up her present, rustling it around. She wasn’t too worried about ruining the wrapping, not anymore than it was already that is.

“I wonder what it could be...” She said, making a show of it. “Soft, squishy, kinda feels like a blanket...” She mused, casting the boy a side glance. It was then she noticed that he seemed nervous, maybe that’s why he was rambling so much. “Something wrong?” She asked, but then he recalled something and she started laughing again. “I was gonna ask what the hell you were talking about,” she said as her eyes cast downward to open the envelope. “I hope you didn’t try using snow as confetti or something, soggy cards aren’t-” she stopped to look at the picture.

It was beautiful. All of Pilot Ridge covered in snow, from the mountain they ran on together a couple months ago. Serene, captured forever. The trees were covered in frosting and it wasn’t a postcard. He had just gone to take it, print it, for her. “-my favourite...” Jalen smiled and flipped the card, smiling like an idiot now. “You remembered that I like winter,” she said, blinking away happy tears. Why was she trying not to cry? Instead she laughed and began unwrapping the rest of the gift delicately. “The picture would’ve been enough...” She muttered, glancing over her shoulder at his gift.

“Oh that old thing? Yeah, it’s always sitting in the middle of the living area like that, just waiting for someone to finally notice it,” she said, putting down the still unopened sweater to wheel the safe right in front of JD. The girl was grinning softly from behind the big red bow, “I’m getting tired of how obnoxious looking it is though, maybe you could empty it out for me or something?” She said, plopping down next to him to bring his gift into her lap. And to sit next to him again while he opened his gift too.

She tore off the paper in a childish way and crumpled it into the smallest possible ball. “Ugly wrapping, annihilated.” A black sweater was what was left in her lap, and she beamed at it. At least it was folded nicely, but she supposed the store clerk had done that. Holding it up by the shoulders, Jalen immediately fell in love. “It’s lovely,” she said, unable to come up with a better word, looking it over. “I’ll go try it on later, first you have to tell me what you think of your present.” She said a little proudly, watching him now. It was her turn to be nervous – she hoped he would say yes.

[JD Paerson]

Slightly embarrassed, JD rubbed the back of his neck. Sure, he should be used to the teasing by now, but that didn't change the way he actually reacted. He was also still nervous that she would completely hate the present, so when he finally shut up--closing his mouth with an audible snap--he waited while she looked at the card.

"No, no snow as confetti," he said as she looked at the picture. "I know I can be dumb, but I'm not Robbie or anything." It was still good to know she liked it. Even if it didn't have a good poem or anything on it. "Yeah, I was going to put a poem on it, but I just couldn't think of anything..." Had he already said that? He couldn't even remember. Which meant he was rambling again. And should shut up.

"Oh, well, if it's bothering you, I could probably take it off your hands," he said with a grin. Bantering he was more comfortable with. This, at least, was familiar territory. He raised an eyebrow at the bow, though. "Do you think you managed to find a bow that was big enough?" he asked. "I don't know, I think I can still see the present from under this thing."

He opened the door to the safe and browsed over the books but didn't pull anything out until Jalen had finished opening her gift. She looked happy with it. JD smiled again as he started pulling the books out of the safe.

"Did you manage to pack enough of these in here, do you think?" he asked, tugging on the first volume. Once it was free, he glanced at the cover. "The Colour of Magic?" he read. "I haven't heard of it." He glanced at the back cover, then set it aside. He hadn't heard of most of the books, though some of the authors' names looked familiar. Looking up after all the books were placed around him, he gave Jalen a confused smile. "All right, I get the safe, and it's great of you for thinking of something that not everyone can get into. But are the books a sign that I should be more literate or something?"

Not that he was complaining, of course. Mostly just confused. As a bit of an afterthought, he pulled out the card and read it. He almost missed the postscript, but once he spotted it he had to read it again to double-check what he was seeing.

"Wait, you're actually...you don't..." She wanted him to come to Christmas dinner? The Halloween party had been one thing, they'd gone as friends and he'd been there to ward off the frat boys. But Christmas would actually involve meeting her family and spending more time...in short, it sounded wonderful, but unreal.

"I'd love to have Christmas dinner with you, if you're sure it's not a problem. Um...it's with your family, right? Do they live very far away?" How big a trip would this shape up to be, after all? He didn't have any plans to go visit his parents for Christmas, but he still had his younger brother at the school to think of.

[Jalen August]

Jay grinned before her caring ways continued. "If you had put a poem on the back, it would've wrecked the picture." But then her softer side came out to make up for her being a smart ass. "But i think its perfect just the way it is - poems are my thing anyways, wouldn't want you stealing my thunder." Okay it wasn't completely soft, but she did say his gift was perfect, surely that was a grand compliment.

Jalen watched him happily as he pulled out the books. "I hope you like reading," she said. If he didn't, she hadn't paid as close attention as he had. Perhaps due to her excessive talking? The blonde could feel herself grow red as she laughed, an embarrassed hand on her face. "I wasn't sure what kind of books you liked, or if you like books at all," she sighed - had her present been a complete failure? "I just thought it would be something you'd enjoy," she said in a last ditch attempt to explain her thought process.

Now she would have to sit and squirm while he read the card, which was meant to soften the blow of the question. In short, she was feeling quite stupid. If he had been teasing before, she hadn't caught on.

"Y-you don't have to come..." She said, jumping the gun, clarifying what she had been thinking in her mind. They were good friends, and she looked down at her lap defeated. Maybe beating up Zac would help her feel better...

Jalen smiled a little at his ability to make her feel better about the whole mess. "If it was a problem, I wouldn't have asked you at all." She said, standing up then to get away from the situation and try on the sweater. "They live in Pilot Ridge," she said before shutting the door to her bedroom to change.

Wiping at her face to try and get rid of the colour, Jalen realized she was just making things worse for herself, so she simply changed, coming out in a black sweater that was a little baggy on her.

Jalen spun around a little for JD to get a good look before sitting on the floor instead of next to him. She wasn't sure what to do now - this hadn't gone as she had planned. "It's a bit big, but it's very comfy," she offered before drawing her knees to her chin and glancing back to him. "Do you want to meet my family?" She asked. JD would also have her older brother to contend with, so she needed to know how he felt.

[JD Paerson]

"No, the books are fine, I just didn't understand..." JD said as he was pulling out the card. Had he been paying more attention he probably would've said more, but as it was he was busy reading her message.

"Oh, just Pilot Ridge? Well, that'll be great then! I'll--" And she shut the door.

Had he done something wrong? Maybe he should've talked about her present more. It really was a nice gift. He'd just have to make sure he talked it up more when she came out again. Maybe that was the only problem. And it wasn't some sort of thing he'd said about her family...

He was busy reading the first couple pages of one of the books when Jalen came out again. He smiled as he looked up at her, holding up the book. "It looks really interesting!" he said. "I guess it's just strange to actually have books to read. We weren't really encouraged to, since they were so heavy..."

Realizing a bit late that he was supposed to be looking at her in the sweater, he nodded as she sat down. "Maybe it'll shrink or something?" he asked. "That happens sometimes to clothes, right?" But maybe that was a bad thing, so he decided to try to patch up the statement. "Though you still look good, even if it is a little big. And if you don't like it maybe you can exchange it and get a better size or something."

He put the book down and looked at her again. "Yeah, I'd love to meet your family. So long as they're willing to try and feed me. As you already know, I tend to go for large portions." He smiled again as he patted his belly. Growing serious again, he gave her a sincere smile. "Really. I'm glad you invited me. And when we get back you can meet my brother Josef, if you haven't already. We usually spend part of Christmas together, at least, and call our parents. We can't always make it home for Christmas, but we try to stay in touch." At least on Christmas, if not any other time.

"So, wanna help me get all these books back to my room?" JD asked, raising an eyebrow at Jalen. "You were so skilled at packing them in before, and I just don't think I could do the same job."

[Jalen August]

Jalen watched him hold up the book with a smile, and she could feel herself melt. She could remember the time where JD barely smiled around her at all, now it seemed to be the only face he could make. “I’m glad, I sort of just picked them at random,” that was when she sat down, “you’ll have to tell me what you make of them.” She herself was an avid reader when school wasn’t bogging her down, and it would be nice to have something to talk about.

Maybe he just didn’t get the gift, but not everything needed to have a purpose, there was nothing that needed to be understood here, just enjoyed. Jalen recalled him saying something along those lines before she shut the door on him. “I just thought they would help you relax,” she said, picking up one of the browned books and flipping through it without actually reading the words.

Touching the cuff of the sweater, Jalen tried to remember if this material shrank or not. “Maybe, we’ll see,” she said with a soft smile, “but I’m not returning it, it wouldn’t be the same sweater that you picked out for me then.” Yes, she was sentimental and found meaning in things that didn’t have a monetary value. “At least I look good,” she teased, bumping his knee with her head, letting her temple rest there.

“Try?” She said, her back to him still. “I do have a father and older brother that need to be fed, I’m sure you can compete with them,” she challenged, knowing that JD just might try. He knew how competitive she was, surely it wasn’t a surprise that her whole family was as well. “Again, I wouldn’t invite you if the food wasn’t good and plentiful,” she said, playing with the worn book in her hands. Jalen wasn’t looking at him in order to hide her excitement – she would be bringing a boy home for the holidays after all.

“I’d love to meet your brother,” she said, turning her head to glance at him and catch his smile. He broke the trance by talking about the books again, and she nodded a few times. “Oh! Yeah, you just have to start with the big ones first,” she said, putting the book in her hands on JD’s lap, “you’ll just have to wheel the safe out, it’s pretty heavy.” And one by one she replaced the books as though she had done it a million times before. Even the card was slid over the top of the books.

“Before we go, you should pick a combination so we can actually shut the thing and not worry about the books falling out on the way to your room,” she said, leaning against the bottom of the couch with her hands covering her face and eyes, a cheeky smile on her face. “I promise not to look!”

[JD Paerson]

JD sorted through the pile of books. "Relax, huh? Maybe when I have the time." Everything was just getting busy again. Sure, there was Christmas, but he'd just gotten his acceptance notification from Harvard, so he would have to apply for scholarships there and still take the AP tests, not to mention completing all the various assignments. Books had never been his idea of relaxing, anyway. But if Jay thought they would help, he could probably try.

"I don't mind if you return it, really," JD said as she placed her head on his knee. "There were a whole bunch all just the same at the store." He shrugged, but also tried not to move too much so he wouldn't jostle her.

"Would it be them together against me, or every man for himself?" he asked with a sarcastic grin. "Because, of course, we'd want to be fair." Despite all early predictions, it looked like Christmas was going to turn out to be a good holiday after all. Why had he been scared to come by earlier, again? He almost reached out and ran his fingers through her hair, but she turned just then, so he put his hand down at his side again.

JD glanced down at the book now in his lap--Lord of the Rings, the complete trilogy, which he'd never quite gotten around to actually reading--and nodded. "Great job with the packing. Is that a practiced skill, or were you born that way?" he asked as she loaded up the books.

"All right, combination. I can do that." He closed the door to the safe and punched in the four-digit number code, hearing it click shut. "Done. You can turn around now. Though thinking about it, just because you didn't see it doesn't mean much. Is there a way your hearing can be turned up so you can tell which buttons to push to open it? Or is it just that you'd be able to pick a regular combination lock?" He carefully balanced the safe on the board and began to push it toward the door.

"Thank goodness we have an elevator," he said, wheeling it outside. "The board idea is clever, but wouldn't do so well with stairs. I could always rig up a pulley, but it would just take a lot of extra time. Whereas now," he pushed the button for the elevator, "it only takes a simple push."

After wheeling into the elevator, he stuck his hand in the door to make sure it didn't shut. "You coming with me? I still need to find a place to put all of these, if you're interested in helping out. I promise my room is...not more than usually unclean." Minus the scratched-out love letters lying around in crumpled balls. But he could stuff those into the trash can really quickly and there wouldn't be a problem.

[Jalen August]

“You have to make time,” she said, pushing her hair behind her ears. Jalen understood – people were busy, they had lives, they had things to do and places they wanted to be. But she was a little more laid back and liked to take her time, stop and smell the roses and all that. Books had always helped her lose herself when her life was getting a bit chaotic, so she thought she’d share said gift with JD. Was it wrong to assume that smart people were automatically the type that enjoyed books?

She glanced at him thoughtfully, “But it wouldn’t be the same sweater,” she reiterated. Surely he couldn’t argue that fact. Yes it would be the same make of sweater, but it wouldn’t be the same sweater.

“It’s usually every man for themselves, my dad and my bro usually try to outdo one another and both end up winning the same prize – a massive stomach ache,” she grinned at the memories that arose each year, one she wasn’t particularly fond of included the two of them vomiting outside in the snow. That stuff just doesn’t go away until spring. She patted his leg before moving away, “You’ll be fine.” So long as he didn’t puke all over the place, she could still find him attractive.

“A little bit of both,” she said, putting the card on top, “I sort of had to pack and repack this stupid thing a few times before I got them in right, I think I know the shapes of the books better than the titles.” Jalen chuckled a bit, going to cover her eyes. Of course she didn’t peek, giving JD the privacy he didn’t get from LaRousse some people.

Uncovering her eyes and following him towards the door, Jalen courteously opened the door for JD, and shut it behind them, key in her back pocket. “Why do you want to know? Are you going to keep things in there you wouldn’t want me to take a look at?” She asked then with a smirk, answering his question with more questions. Jay wouldn’t use her powers to snoop on JD, that wasn’t how she rolled and it wasn’t how she wanted to treat him. She trusted him and didn’t really think it was her business to know what he used the safe for. She wasn’t so devious as to give something like a safe to him, only to use it to see his dirty secrets, which she wasn’t thinking about.

“Well if I was more of a handyman I could’ve made something sturdy enough to fly down the stairs.” Jalen said, doddling behind him, she practically rushed/jumped into the elevator. “Of course I’m coming with you,” she said with a grin, hitting the button on the inside of the elevator before he could. Jay glanced up at him as the doors closed and they began to descend. “Now we just need some cheesy elevator music and we could dance,” she smirked and looked back to the doors. What a sight that would be for whoever wanted to use the elevators on the main floor.

Once there, she stepped out and semi-lead the way. JD’s dorm room door had been left unlocked for some reason so she waltzed in, grinning at the sight. “Trying to squeeze in some last minute homework?” She asked, kicking up a stray paper ball – so much for being “clean”. The things were everywhere, and she was going to help him clean them up. She wasn’t trying to read it, but her eyes caught her name on a crumpled bit and she paused with her hand over the garbage can, drawing her arm back in.

Looking at JD with a little smile, she waved the paper in her fingertips. “Is this... Are these all...?” But she didn’t really know what to say, and she didn’t have the heart to read them, so she simply gestured around the room, the letter in her hand flapping around. Were they all addressed to her?

[JD Paerson]

JD snorted a bit. "You make it sound easy. Even if my workload hadn't just increased...but all right. I guess you're right, it's easy enough to read a book instead of play a game."

He was a bit confused at her idea that it wouldn't be the same sweater. Because they were all the same, right? They all came out of the factory. That one had just happened to be on top of the stack when he'd pulled it out. But he wasn't going to argue the point, since she seemed happy about it.

JD made a face. "Why would you eat until you're sick? That just means you can't have any more later..." But then his logic was a little different. He could eat a full meal and be hungry half an hour later due to his increased metabolism. He'd just learned to wait a bit and then he could have more if he wanted it.

He flushed at her accusation at what he might keep in the safe. "No, I just...I was just wondering. I mean, it could be pretty cool, if you were able to do that..." He swallowed the small lump in his throat and coughed a bit. "I guess it's just the idea of being able to use your powers in different ways. That's all."

He was bent over a bit to hold the safe steady so it wouldn't roll it around, but he started a bit at the suggestion of them dancing. "I don't think that's a good idea," he said after a second of stuttering. "Not if you value your toes." When the door opened he pushed the cart out of the elevator, but it got stuck a bit on the door. The moment he took pushing it out Jay had taken moving ahead down the hallway. Which meant she made it to his room first...

It was worse than he'd remembered. Had he really written that many of the stupid things? He pushed the safe into a corner and started darting around, picking up as many of the papers as he could to stuff in the can. "Yeah, they're just...homework. We're doing an assignment in English and I was having a lot of trouble with it."

With fear in his eyes he glanced up to see one of the papers unfolded in her hand. "Uh," he said, frozen in place, bent over as he reached for one of the other sheets. With luck she'd pulled out one of the ones that didn't have her name on it. There were some of those in there, right? "Yeah. They're all poetry. That's the assignment, we have to write a poem. Kind of dumb, right?" He dumped his armful in the bin and grabbed another bunch. "I'm going to get this figured out sometime, but it can wait." Trying to keep from looking too guilty, he held the trash can out behind him, not even looking as he lifted it for Jalen to put the papers she had into the rubbish. If he treated it as though it was nothing, hopefully she would act the same.

As he picked up the last of the papers he could see and put it into the trash, he finally hit on a distraction. "Oh, did I tell you yet? I got my acceptance notice, just today. For college, that is. Oh, well, I guess I wouldn't have told you, since I only just found out...in fact, I haven't told anyone. But, I mean, it's kind of official, I've basically accepted it..." Realizing his rambling again he finally blurted it out. "I'm going to Harvard."

[Jalen August]

“You don’t have to read them!” Jalen said, waving her hands in surrender, suppressing laughter. “I’ll get the gift right next time,” she said, “besides, I could just bring them back to the thrift store and get you something better.” The blonde smirked – she wasn’t serious.

“Why you ask?” She sighed. “Because the men in family make game out of outdoing one another, it’s fun to watch actually, you’ll love it.” Jalen smiled. Truly she loved her family and she felt lucky to have them. There seemed to be as many broken homes and deserted kids as there were people with stable families and she was happy to fall on the stable half.

Nodding her head a couple times as he tried to explain himself, she smirked. “Right right, cool.” Jalen crossed her arms and thought about what he said. “You know, I never really tried using my powers beyond showing off, and pranking people, but never for evil. This is a whole new side I’m seeing of you JD.” She said. She didn’t think he would be interested in different aspects of her powers, especially the more criminal ones like breaking into safes.

“No matter,” she said over her shoulder upon entering his room, “I’ll just dance on your toes.” Charming, as usual. Jalen did him the courtesy of throwing out the letter in her hand and believing him. “I think about you when I do my math homework; how romantic.” She helped him pick up a few of the other ones strewn about and met him somewhere in the middle. “But next time you can just ask me for help, I owe you one for that time you helped me with Calc, remember?” But he wasn’t looking at her. “I don’t think poetry’s dumb,” she said, but JD had other things to talk about.

Sometimes Jalen forgot just how smart JD was, he seemed too fun to be ‘Harvard material’. The blonde grinned enthusiastically about the news, forgetting her own lack of acceptance anywhere. “Congratulations! That’s so awesome!” She said, clapping her hands together in front of herself. She wanted to give him a hug, as this was no small feat, but something stopped her. Words likes ‘official’ and ‘first one to tell’ were ringing in her ears, and coupled with Harvard, well... she couldn’t help but think maybe it was a good idea they remained solely friends, despite feelings. Like feeling special somehow – he wasn’t doing it on purpose, she was just reading too much into it.

She went to the safe and pushed it close to JD. “Where do you want this thing?” She asked. Jalen was good at changing the subject as well. She didn’t ask when he was leaving, or how he felt about it. She just pushed it to the side where everything else was collecting dust and decided to live in the moment. "You can take it off the trolley and all that," she said, glancing down at it, bring it with you to college... she thought solemnly.

[JD Paerson]

"No, no, that's not what I meant. It's a good present, really. Just...different, I guess. Whatever." He shrugged. He wasn't exactly used to receiving gifts from others, and accepting them graciously wasn't really a strong point.

JD made a face. "You enjoy watching your family make themselves sick?" Looked like the dynamic would be different there, too. Just as it was with most families he visited--about all five of them. Maybe it was his family that was so strange? "I'll take your word for it, I guess."

He rolled his eyes. "It's not evil. It's...different. Think of it this way. You could use your super-hearing or whatever to overhear conversations between dangerous people and find out if they're making secret plans! I know you wouldn't do really bad stuff. But sometimes breaking into things isn't even bad. Like, what if you had to get into someone's locker because they'd just stuffed one of the new kids in there? Wouldn't it be useful if you could listen to the lock better?" Not that he had a really firm grasp on exactly how her power worked, however. He knew it had to do with enhancing the waves, but would that allow the sound to carry further, or was it merely a limitation on how loud it could be in a certain area? How were you even supposed to test something like that?

"Please don't. I value your toes enough not to trample them with my quote-unquote dancing, I'd appreciate the same courtesy. I need my feet to run." The idea in his mind of them mutually injuring one another and being forced to use crutches was not so much romantic as just rather stupid. Better to avoid the whole situation, right?

"Oh, right. English. Yeah, well, next time I'll probably ask you. It just kind of slipped my mind this time. Though I don't think you really owe me or anything..." He didn't see anyone as owing any other person there. Weren't they both even--they'd done enough for one another that he was fairly certain it wasn't possible to keep track any more.

He grinned. "Thanks. I was a little worried I wouldn't make it, but since everything pulled through, well, now I just have to make sure I keep up my grades for this semester. And then find a way to pay for it all." He pulled a face as he thought about the new debts he'd pile up. Before he could ask Jay about her plans for college, though, she pushed the safe at him.

"Hmm," he said, placing his foot on the top of the safe and resting his chin on his fist in the "Thinker" pose. "I think I should probably put it somewhere out of the way. I think there's some extra room under my desk. Normally I might just leave it in the middle of the room like this, but it makes those nighttime bathroom runs a real pain." He grinned again and reached down to grab the safe off its trolley.

He frowned as he stood up with the full safe. "I realize now," he said, "that I probably should have taken the books out first, since they're going on the shelf anyway. Which reminds me. Do you want to clear off the bookshelf over there?" He pointed with his chin toward a dusty shelf above his bed. It was currently full of old drink cans and some old mail. "You can dump the cans, and the letters can go on my bed. I need to sort through those one of these days."

He rested the safe on the floor and shoved it back into position, then punched in the combination again to open it and unpile all the books again. When they were all stacked on the floor, he stood again and stepped back, managing to catch the side of the trolley with the heel of his foot. The back end of the board swung up and hit the back of his knee, and the front jumped and scraped his ankle through the sock.

"Scheisse!" he said, stumbling back and sitting on the bed. He grabbed his knee with one hand and gently prodded the back. "That feels like a bruise." And after looking down at his ankle, he frowned. "And a nice scrape, too. I'm doing a great job of hurting myself today."

[Jalen August]

Jalen laughed at the face JD made. “It’s not like I can stop them from acting like morons,” she said with a shrug. “Your competitive, isn’t the rest of your family?” She asked then, tilting her head to the side. And yes, she really didn’t enjoy watching the males in her family making total fools of themselves, who wouldn’t really.

“A day in the locker might teach them something, like how to fight back next time,” she said rather seriously. Jalen looked at JD, “Not really the hero type.” She grinned, thinking about it further. The truth was, if she could help someone in need, she wouldn’t hesitate to do it. She was more the hero than the villain, but that wasn’t really important here. What was important, was trying to get a reaction from JD. “I also don’t like eavesdropping, the conversations tend to be pretty boring.”

She hit his arm lightly, “Is that supposed to be a fat joke? I could stand on your toes without hurting you, I do that to people all the time! Oh I know! I’ll teach you how to dance. Then no one gets hurts because we both know what we’re doing – problem solved.” Jalen was rather adamant on dancing with JD, and she had decided she would talk him into it yet.

“Slipped your mind,” she pried a little bit, “even though my name was on the paper? Hmm, you were probably subliminally thinking about me then right?” She asked. Jalen thought he would just continue going along with the possibilities she was throwing out there. It was sort of amusing to watch JD dig himself a deeper and deeper hole, rather than just admit to the truth. If he was going to avoid his feelings, Jay was going to have fun with it.

“You were worried?” She asked, shaking her head. “If you were worried, I guess I better be doubly worried.” Jalen didn’t think JD had anything to worry about, considering how well he was doing in school; she was a completely different story. “You’ll get scholarships and all that, plus you have LaRousse for a friend and if he gave you a car I don’t see why he wouldn’t give you money for an education.” She said offhandedly, thinking aloud. “I have no doubts about your grades staying high,” she added, making a face as she pushed the safe. The damn thing was heavier than she remembered.

Smirking at his smart pose, Jalen nodded along in agreement. She couldn’t stop him from lifting the safe, and she was thinking the same thing about the books as he spoke about them. “I would offer to take them out now,” she said, hurrying to grab the garbage can, “but I didn’t eavesdrop, so I don’t have the passcode.” Jalen pushed the garbage can nearly completely under the shelf on the floor in his bedroom, plucking out the letters from the shelf and putting them on his bed like he asked before using her arm as a giant sweeper to put the cans in their rightful place.

Jalen began taking the books and putting them on the shelf in alphabetical order. “If anyone wrecks these besides you, they’ll have my fist in their face faster than they can say ‘what’s going on?’” She looked behind her as letters fluttered to the floor from JD’s impact. “You’ll live I think,” she said, assuming he had been through worse injuries. While he attended to his wounds, she finished putting the books on the shelf and when she was done, she sat on the bed next to JD. “You gonna be alright there sweetheart?” She asked, touching the underbelly of his knee. “Oh that does feel soar, does it hurt?” Jalen was trying to be caring rather than destructing.

There was no good way to transition to this, so she just started talking. “So Christmas dinner is on the 26th at my house, I’ll e-mail you my address. Don’t come before six unless you wanna help make the food.” She said, grinning like mad. Jalen was quite pleased indeed to be bringing JD over for dinner. Hopefully he wasn’t scared to meet her often overbearing family.

[JD Paerson]

"Not really, or at least not so much competing against one another," JD said with another shrug. "Dad was gone a lot, and when he was around he demanded more respect than that. And for Jo and me, it was kind of us against the world for a while. It wasn't me being better than him or anything, just...us being better than everyone else." He said it matter-of-factly, as though there wasn't really a doubt about their family being better.

"Or it could just teach them that they're losers who will always be kicked around. It's not losing that convinces people to try harder, it's winning, and wanting to win more." He frowned and looked down at the floor.

JD hadn't been implying anything with his comment other than that if she would stand on his toes while dancing it probably meant they were both poor dancers. But if she was going to teach him how to dance...he was confused. "O...kay?" he said. "But I really can't dance. It's not that I don't know how, I'm just really bad. All injuries are on your head."

He stuttered for a moment as he tried to think of a reason why her name was on the poem, since she had, he now realized, unfortunately found one where he'd mentioned her. "Um. Maybe. I mean, most poems are lov--er, the assignment called for us to write about someo--friends, er, people. Who we..." Why am I so bad at lying? "Anyway. I had something in mind, but it didn't work out. Words aren't really, um, my strong point." Understatement, however, did seem to be a skill.

JD looked at Jalen with surprise. "I'm not going to take any money off Zac. I haven't ever before, and I'm not going to start. I only took the car because it was a present. He always goes overboard with his gifts." He was a little hurt that she would think of him like that, as though he was only friends with Zac for his money. Of course, that might make more sense than the real reason they were friends, but it still upset him.

He raised an eyebrow at Jalen as she looked at his knee. It was hard for him to tell how serious she was being. "I'm sure I'll be fine," he said slowly. "It just hurts, that's all. Mostly I think it's shock; I wasn't expecting to trip over something." If she was being sarcastic, she thought he was a wuss. If she wasn't...why was she calling him 'sweetheart'?

As he pulled a bandage out of the drawer of his desk and applied it to the back of his ankle, he listened to Jay and nodded. "The twenty-sixth? Your family thought the traditional date was overrated or something?" He finished with the bandage and pulled his jeans back down over his slightly bloody sock, which he decided to leave on for now because it was better than trying to take off his shoes while Jay was there. The smell wasn't going to be pretty.

"All right, I'll be sure to be there. Is there a dress code for this thing? I mean, I figure it's pretty casual, but I'd rather be safe than sorry." If it was fancy, well, he had some new suits he'd been meaning to try on...