Hunt Me Down - Chapter 15: Chapter 15

Valery’s POV
“What’s with the long face, bro?” I asked, leaning on my locker and angling my body towards him. Are you upset that Lady Satan is coming over this weekend? And just in time for Halloween too!”
“It’s not because Great Aunt Sarah is coming to America. I think Irene is still avoiding me. I think…” He hesitated. “I think she’s even taking alternative routes to classes just so we wouldn’t walk together. We always used to run into each other before.”
“It’s Monday and we’ve only had a couple of classes so far” I tried to cheer him up but to no avail. “Do you want me to keep an eye on her today?”
“Keep an eye on her?” He repeated, taking a large book from his locker and placing it in his messenger bag.
“Yeah, I can follow her around, see if she really is going out of her way not to be around you.”
His hand froze mid-air just as a couple of notebooks were about to follow the same fate as his book.
“You mean stalking?”
“It’s not stalking; it’s observation,” I corrected.
“It is stalking, Val,” he contradicted and placed the notebooks in his bag.
“Observation,” I emphasized. “So do you want me to or not?”
“I don’t know; it doesn’t seem right.” He scratched the back of his head. “And I should probably talk to her myself…”
“Yeah, but it might turn out to be nothing. And if it is just your imagination, you’ll look like an idiot.” He flinched at the thought of that. “Let me watch her; just for today. I’ll be subtle about it,” I added as he was about to protest.
“Fine,” he agreed, closing his locker. “But just for today.”
“Great!” I extended my hand towards him with the palm up. “Now give me some cash.”
“What for?”
“I’ll need a wig, a pair of dark glasses and new clothes to stalk her without her recognizing me.”
“I thought you said it was an observation,” he pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Just kidding,” I ruffled his hair.
“About it being an observation or about you needing money?”
“Bro, I always need money. But I don’t want any from you… Now. And I’m not buying a wig but I could use new sunglasses.”
“It’s almost the end of October, Val. What do you need sunglasses for?”
“As an accessory,” Hunter – who had just walked behind my brother – replied instead of me.
Nat’s hands darted up to smooth the hair I’d disorganized with my affectionate gesture.
“Hey,” he muttered as a greeting.
“Hey,” Hunt replied and I gave him a hug. “Won’t I get one from you?” He tried the same thing that had gotten him no previous result with my brother.
“Maybe next time,” Nat said quickly and asked: “So how about Halloween? Are you doing anything special?”
“That’s a really lousy attempt to change the subject, bro,” I commented.
“I’m not trying to change anything,” he replied, glancing towards the floor. “I was just wondering if Hunter and his aunt celebrated it.”
“Boot Camp Aunt and I are a bit too old for trick or treating, don’t you think? But don’t worry; I have a special lollypop for you, Natty.”
People turned their heads towards us when I laughed aloud, seeing my brother’s eyes double their size as he attempted to speak and gasp at the same time, resulting in a loud bellow, followed by a cough and one of the deepest shades of red I’ve ever seen him blush. He moved back and slammed into the lockers as he tried to avoid Hunter’s attempt of patting him on the back.
“What’s the matter, Natty? Would that be your first lollypop?” My friend teased.
“Enough with the insinuations, Hunter!” My twin croaked out.
“I’m not insinuating anything. Halloween is a holiday in which treats are given and I thought I’d give you something to put between those pretty lips of yours.”
“Hunter!” My twin whispered angrily, looking around the hallway to make sure no one had heard our neighbor.
Hunt shook his head and said:
“I got to go.”
“Naughty Hunter Harris is skipping school today,” I sighed. “Nat, give him a spanking, will you?”
“Vallery!”
Hunter laughed.
“If your brother would give me a spanking, I’d ditch more often,” he commented and walked towards the exit. “Oh, and, Natty?” He asked turning around. He was still close enough for us to see his lopsided grin. “I’ll give it to you on Halloween,” he announced, looking my brother straight in the eyes.
*****
“I can’t believe Hunt would ditch us just because Blake called,” Lyn complained, the ash from her cigarette falling over the roots of the tree she was leaning on. “Then again, it’s Blake.”
“Who’s Blake?” This was the first time I’d heard of him.
“Blake Nelson,” Colin filled me in, staring at the space before him with an empty gaze. “He and Hunt used to be friends before our boy moved here to live with his aunt.”
“Yeah, right, friends,” his sister muttered so that only I could hear her.
“Boyfriend?” I mouthed towards her. I was aware that she knew my neighbor was gay but I was pretty sure her brother didn’t. I’d have to be careful what I say when I was around him.
She shook her head and took another drag of her cig, slowly exhaling the smoke.
“Aren’t you supposed to be stalking your brother’s girlfriend?” She asked aloud.
“She is not his girlfriend,” I corrected and looked to my left. “Besides, she’s over there,” I pointed towards where Irene and the rest of the students committee had gathered to discuss the Halloween ball.
“She’s not bad for a book worm,” Colin noted, concentrating on something for the first time since we got to the school yard to have lunch.
“I’m sure she’d appreciate the compliment,” I sneered.
“There are a lot of things I’d appreciate her doing for me,” his lips moved to display two sets of yellowish teeth.
“And for one of those she won’t even have to get undressed; just unzip your pants,” Lyn noted, throwing her smoke on the ground and extinguishing it with the top of her black boot.
“And get on her knees,” her brother added, his grin widening.
“She appears to be a flexible girl; she could just bend at the waist…”
“Enough you two,” I interrupted.
“Why? Do you like her?” Lyn laughed.
“She’s nice,” I replied.
“She’s boring,” she shot back. “You need more friends like me.” She wrapped her arm over my shoulders and squeezed them.
“You haven’t spoken with the girl who is supposed to be your best friend in weeks,” I pointed out without removing her arm.
“The bitch stole my boyfriend,” she raised her voice.
“He was not your boyfriend,” Colin butted in. “You just wanted to sleep with him but she also did and she got to him first. You are just angry that she beat you to it.”
“Whatever! She shouldn’t have done that to her friend. How many times do I need to punch her for her to learn that? Oh, and you are already hanging out with someone nice,” her last sentence was aimed at me.
“How can you live with that brother of yours?” Colin asked. “He’s everybody’s favorite. Mommy and daddy’s Golden boy, the teacher’s pet… The little pushover is always trying to…”
“Colin,” I started, moving in front of him and smiled. “Be very careful what your next words about my brother will be. Or,” I grabbed him by the elbow and twisted his arm. He screamed and lowered himself on one knee. “Or the way Lyn treats you when she’s pissed off will seem godsend. Got it?”
He nodded.
“Good!” I smiled again. “I’m going to catch up to you two later,” I said, seeing that Irene had gotten up and was about to walk into the school.
“Where are you…” I didn’t wait for Lyn to finish her question and sprinted towards my target.
“Hey, can I talk to you for a second?” I asked, grabbing her by the arm.
Irene turned around, surprised, but nodded for the rest of the students committee to go on without her. They walked away, a few of them throwing glances towards something behind me.
“Your friend looks angry,” Irene noted, pointing with her chin to where I’d come from. I turned around and saw Lyn shaking her head with her arms crossed. I’d bet she was frowning. “So what did you want to talk about?”
“Are you avoiding my brother?” So much for being subtle. But hey, I never said I promise to be subtle.
When a light blush covered her cheeks as she looked toward the ground, I could not help but think how much she reminded me of my brother with her shy and somewhat socially awkward behavior.
“No,” she squealed.
And obviously they were both terrible liars.
“Just give me the short version of it,” I ordered, leaning on one of the many tables that were scattered around this part of the yard.
“I…” She puffed. “When he asked if I was going to the party, I thought he’d asked me out,” she finally admitted. "Please don’t tell him, Val! I don’t want things to be awkward between us. It was my mistake and I feel so foolish.”
“So you are not angry with him?”
“No! No. When I repeat our conversation in my mind now, it’s pretty obvious he didn’t mean it that way. I just… I just kind of wanted him to ask me out so…” She slumped on the bench beside me with a heavy sigh. “I am so foolish…”
“You really like him, huh?” I asked, seeing her pained expression.
“Yeah,” she looked up to me guiltily. “We’ve known each other for such a brief time but we just clicked. From the first time we were assigned to work together, we just clicked. I’ve never built such a rapid connection with anyone before. We like so many of the same things, we have the same interests, the same views on education, religion, human rights… I admit, the way he looks also played a role,” redness covered her cheeks again, “but it is mostly his personality that I’m interested in.” She bit her lip. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you all this. But you won’t tell? You promise, right?”
She looked at me with such pleading eyes that I couldn’t straight out say no to her and I tried to weasel my way out:
“I think that if anyone tells Nat about this, it should be you,” I said, avoiding the fateful ‘I promise’.
“But what if he doesn’t feel the same?” She asked.
Well, he seems to like you but Hunter usually has his attention and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to share, I thought.
“Maybe you could ask him,” she worded out slowly. “I’d understand if you don’t want to get involved though,” she quickly added. I was prevented from replying by Lyn and Colin’s approach.
“We still on for after school?” Mohawk girl asked coolly, not even sparing a glance towards Irene unlike her brother who took the half-Spanish girl all in.
What was her problem?
“Yeah, sure,” I answered and she nodded before they walked away.
“How can you be around people like them?” Irene asked, wrapping her arms around her torso. “The way the boy looks at me…”
“Like he wants to drag you to his bed?” I helpfully suggested. “That’s because he wants to…”
“Okay, okay, you don’t have to say it!” She shivered as if the mere thought of her and Colin disgusted her, which it probably did. “I just don’t understand how can you be around them.”
“Here's my secret: I don't take them seriously.”
“But why would you want to be around them?”
“Now that is one long story. Even if I tell you, you probably won't understand. And even if you do understand, you probably won't agree,” I replied honestly. You’d have to be in my shoes first to do that.
“Try me,” she challenged.
I sighed.
“Long story short? They are people I can easily forget.”
Irene furrowed her eyebrows.
“Easily forget?”
“We move around a lot,” I tried to explain my logic. “The worst time was in what you’d Americans call our freshman year: we lived in five different cities, in three different countries, on two different continents. Whenever Nat and I would get attached to someone, it was time to leave again. So I started hanging around people like them; people that I wouldn't miss.”
“And Nathaniel?” She asked hesitantly.
“He tries not to get too attached too.”
“Oh.” She looked down. “So there’s no chance to be with him,” her voice trembled and I groaned. I hated making the good kids cry!
“Look,” I pushed myself off the table and moving in front of her, I lifted her face towards me. “I know my brother cares about you to a certain extent. He wouldn’t be so upset that you were avoiding him if he didn't.”
“He was upset?” She actually smiled for a second before springing from her seat with a worried expression. “I must find him,” she walked fast towards the school building and I followed her. “I must find him and apologize.” She stopped for a brief moment. “Thank you, Val,” she gave me a quick hug and ran inside.