As Josie walked away to leave Jake and me alone I had no idea what to do or say, I barely knew Jake and this would be the first time we would be alone and talk despite knowing each other for most of my life.
''Again, I am so sorry, are you fine though?'' Jake asked again now we were alone.
''Yes, I'm fine Jake, feel like walking?'' I asked since walking around made it feel a bit less awkward to talk to Jake, who was basically a stranger. Honestly, I felt weird about this, why would Lillith's brother want to get to know me, and talk to me all of a sudden?
"So, are you surviving living with Lilly, or do you need saving so bad the halfway house sent you away for a week?"
See, he was mainly curious about his sister, I told myself. I didn't know why his attention made me nervous in the first place, boys never made me nervous. ''It's better than before she arrived, it can be quite isolating, to be honest.''
Jake nodded, and a pain I knew myself all too well filled his eyes for a second. He probably hoped I hadn't noticed it, but it told me everything I needed to know. He has felt alone all this time too.
We kept walking for a while in silence, the sun was about to go down in a few hours, and in this specific light the sun made his eyes a beautiful warm brown, or even warm gold, it was beautiful. His long hair looked good on him, so I decided to think for a moment before responding again.
We talked till we both had to go because it was dinnertime. Though it felt weird to be looked at by everyone, since Jake was the most popular guy at our school, It was nice to hear Jake was doing well despite the home situation he was in.
''So, what did Jake want of you?'' Josie wanted to know as soon as we had time to talk after dinner. A game night was held while groups were being called outside for a haunted trail.
"I live with his sister, and he wanted to know if I was doing okay," I shrugged and continued my move as we played checkers.
''Really?'' Josie raised one of her eyebrows and gave me a sceptical look not able to imagine Jake like that. I had no idea why she thought so bad about him, or what his reputation was, but whatever it was, I needed to know it.
"So, how do you even know him?" I asked while it was her turn.
"He's in my class, he's stupid and lazy, and all the girls seem to want him but you just know he won't end up nice after high school," Josie explained. "You know you deserve better than a guy who is like that right?" I rolled my eyes and we continued playing the game without paying any more attention to the subject.
When she had to leave with her group for the haunted trail I walked around, looking for anything else to do. Just when I wanted to go and look for a book or something I saw Jake sitting with a group, playing some game with cards.
''Can I join?''
Jake didn't even look at me, he treated me as if I wasn't there and the air felt like there was tension, in my mind, I tried to figure out what I did wrong while he got called for his group to leave.
The entire time before my name was called and I had to leave myself, I wasn't able to figure out what I did wrong for him to ignore me like that while the last time I saw him he was nice to me and even curious about me. Maybe Josie had been right about him and I should just forget about him aside from him being Lillith's brother. When my name got called I found out I was grouped with the buttkissers sadly enough, Ashton and Alwin.
When we walked outside it was dark already, I felt cold and wished I had grabbed a coat before starting the haunted trail.
Though Ashton and Alwin were usually an extension of Kevin without their own personalities, without him they were actually nice to me. As we walked in the dark and followed the trail, they noticed along the way I wouldn't get scared like them.
After a while, it was Ashton who asked the question on both their minds. ''Are you even human? Why aren't you scared or affected by any of the jumpscares?'' he wanted to know.
''Yeah, you're more though than us and we're men.'' Alwin chimed in.
''Just saying, being scared is for people who have a bad conscience,'' I said, ''and also, my life is already scary enough, scarier than things like...''
I didn't notice we weren't alone, as I wanted to answer them hands grabbed my ankles and I was pulled to the cold ground so fast, I didn't even know it happened till I was on the ground...
My fall wasn't hard, two strong arms were wrapped around me, and without even seeing his face I started laughing.
''If you wanted a hug you could have just asked for one instead of scaring these poor guys, look at them!''
Andrew started grinning, a deep sound, and replied, ''But what would be the fun in that?''
Andrew's arms held me a little bit tighter for a second before he decided it was well enough and got up from the ground, he reached for me with his big hand, he felt warm despite being outside for I had no idea how long and helped me wipe my clothes clean from leaves and dirt.
The rest of the group came closer and started bombarding me with questions and when they were done we started walking back to the camp.
Andrew walked with us, we were the last group of the night. ''So, You said you wouldn't come along?'' I wanted to know. I referred to the conversation we had when I found him crying this morning right before the bus left.
''Since I offered to help out voluntarily, plans have changed,'' Andrew answered with a crooked smile.
''How brave, we all know how that could hurt your image as a tough guy,'' I joked and Andrew grinned again, this time I could see the boyish smirk on his face, a crooked smile while I heard the deep sound of his grin.
''Well you know me, how did you even know it was me? Andrew looked at me and raised his eyebrows.
''Didn't you know?'' I asked with a teasing tone in my voice, ''I could smell your nonsense from miles away'', I said while Andrew rolled his eyes, clearly not done with the mystery of how I knew it was him.
As the buildings came in sight we were still laughing about it while Jake came in sight, outside of the building, alone on a bench. I wasn't planning on greeting him, I felt great and I was still confused about why he was so distant and ignored me, right after showing a sudden interest in me earlier today. That was till Jake decided to chime in.
''Wanna hang Jade?'' Jake asked, and I had to think a moment.
''Why?''
His tone was neutral when he answered my question, but I sensed a tension underneath that tone, it wasn't his body language or anything betrayed in his tone, it was a feeling I got I couldn't explain.
''Why not? it's a nice sight to see the stars for once in the sky.''