Eternity by M.E. Timmons Page A

calculus
class.
    “Really Jack,
it was nothing. Adrian and I kind of used to be friends, but then I
did something that he didn’t like and he got angry and stopped
talking to me. I don’t know why he started talking to me today, but
he came out of nowhere.”
    “I didn’t know
you two were friends. I only saw you with him once, and it was at
the ball. He always seems to be alone.”
    “We have a
class together,” I explained. “We started talking there.”
    “So why did you
stop talking? What did you do that made him angry?” From what he
was feeling, I could tell that Jack thought I had done something
completely different than what had actually happened. He seemed to
think that I had made a move on Adrian. Clearly he still didn’t
know that Adrian had kissed me first, and hadn’t since that
day.
    “It’s not what
you think, but I’d rather not explain.”
    “How am I
supposed to trust you if you never talk to me? I feel like you have
a lot of secrets from me. I never felt that way before we got
here.” Jack sounded really hurt now, and it made me cringe. My
attempts to protect him were doing more harm than good. It was time
to tell him the truth, though I feared what would happen when I
did. I knew it would hurt him, but at least he would understand
what was going on.
    “I know how you
feel about me Jack,” I started. “I care about you a lot, but I’m
not in love with you. I don’t want to hurt you. Your friendship
means more to me than anything else in my life, and I don’t ever
want to lose that.”
    “I know you
care about me Jules, and I’m content with just that. I just can’t
trust you if you keep lying to me.”
    “I know, and
I’m sorry. I should have told you about Adrian sooner, but I didn’t
know how you would react since you clearly don’t like him.”
    “Tell me what
about Adrian?”
    “I like him,
Jack. I don’t know why, but I do. He kissed me the night of the
ball, but he hasn’t since, though we talked a lot. Then I did
something that he didn’t like. I went down to the rooms beneath the
school on the night of the second full moon of the school
year.”
    Jack looked
shocked first, then angry. “You did what?! Do you have any idea how
dangerous that was? Even I might have hurt you in a situation like
that, and Adrian’s way worse than I am!”
    “I guess I
didn’t understand before I went, but I learned that well enough
when he tried to kill me.”
    Jack turned
pale. “I’m going to kill him.”
    “Don’t be
ridiculous. If he’d succeeded I wouldn’t be here, would I? Mr.
Ramirez was there, and he stopped Adrian. He didn’t really know
what he was doing. I could see that in his eyes. I opened the door
and he merely reacted instinctively, and I don’t hold that against
him. It was more my fault than his for thinking he wouldn’t hurt
me.”
    “But you could
have been killed!”
    “Yes, and I
think that’s why he’s been mad at me. He said today that he still
is, but I can’t help but be a little happy that he’s at least
talking to me again.”
    “You should
stay away from him Jules. He’s dangerous and unstable, and he’ll
only end up hurting you. I’m not saying that because I want you for
myself. I’m telling you that as a friend.”
    I sighed. “I
know that everyone sees him that way, but I really believe that
there’s more to him than he likes to show.”
    “Well, if
you’re so intent on being stupid, at least be careful, okay? I
can’t stop you from seeing him, but if he does anything to hurt you
I’m not going to let him get away with it.”
    “We aren’t
together anyway, Jack.”
    “Not yet, but
you want to be, for some reason beyond my understanding.”
    I couldn’t
argue with that. I did want to be with Adrian, no matter how much
he avoided me. I had probably screwed things up today by being so
rude, but I had been upset that he was still mad at me. I didn’t
know what to do.
    Jack was shaken
by what I had told him, and I could