Alive
Chapter Ten“Justin, you don’t need any help with your Spanish.” Sarah slammed the book shut and glared at him.
“Either you’re an amazingly fast learner, and were able to learn everything we need to know for the test in, oh-”
she glanced at the clock- “twenty minutes, or you already knew it.”Justin flashed a smile at her. “I needed an excuse to spend time with you.”
Sarah laughed and shook her head. “You didn’t need an excuse to spend time with me.”
“So, if I were to ask you out, you’d say yes?”
“Well, if you were, I’d say yes, but you’re not, so I can’t give you a direct answer.”
“It was meant to be a hint.”
Sarah snickered. “A hint for what?”
Justin rolled his eyes. “You’re not being funny, you know.”
Sarah started laughing, trying not to be too loud. “If you want me to go a date with you, just ask.”
Justin couldn’t help himself. He laughed. A little too loudly.
“Please keep it down,” the librarian told him.
Justin laughed harder.
“Shut up,” Sarah told him, in a whisper, trying not to laugh.
“I can’t help it,” Justin said.
“Learn to laugh quieter, then.”
The librarian kicked them out of the library then, because Justin couldn’t stop laughing when Sarah told
him to learn to laugh quieter.“Gee, thanks Justin,” Sarah began, as they walked to their cars. “Get me kicked out of the library.”
“You started it,” Justin told her. “You made me laugh.”
“I didn’t hold a gun to your head and tell you, ‘laugh’. You just laughed at things I said.”
“You shouldn’t have said funny things.”
Sarah rolled her eyes. “You’re a dork, Justin.”
“No I’m not. I’m the ‘sensitive, wise guy’. Lance is the dork.”
“Well, if we’re getting into clichés, what am I?”
“The ‘somewhat rebellious smart girl’.”
“Only somewhat rebellious?”
“You’re not as bad as your friends, especially Elona. She’s the ‘rebellious one’.”
“No, Lona is the ‘freak’. And she takes that as a compliment. Faith and Cat are the rebellious ones.”
“And the ‘popular jock’ is Wade and JC is one of the little ‘followers’.”
“And their ‘slutty cheerleader girlfriends’ are?”
“Britney Spears is the ‘head cheerleader’ to Wade’s ‘captain of the football team’. JC doesn’t have a
girlfriend.”“And how do you know all of these things?” Sarah asked.
“I pay attention to people. Remember, I’m the ‘sensitive, wise guy’. I know things like this.”
“You have a class with them, don’t you?”
“Damn, you guessed.” Justin tossed his backpack into his car. “Would you like to go to the movies and
dinner with me?”Sarah glanced at her watch. “Well, it is only five in the afternoon, I don’t have to up tomorrow until nine,
and I don’t have anything better to do, so sure.”“Make it sound like a chore to go on a date with me,” Justin mocked.
“Oh, it is. I have to listen to you talk. Such a hard thing to do.”
“Gee, I love you, too.”
Sarah laughed. “You do? How sweet. But I don’t fall in love that easily.”
Justin looked up at the sky, his body shaking with laughter.
*~*~*
“Want to help me do some more studying for Spanish tomorrow?” Justin asked, as he walked Sarah to her
door.Sarah waited until she had the door open and was inside before she responded. “Justin, you don’t need
help with Spanish. It would just be a waste of time.” She closed the door.“That was another hint,” Justin called.
“Don’t give hints, Justin. Ask, or I don’t answer.”
“Fine then, I’ll ask you tomorrow.” He walked to his car.
Sarah leaned against the door, laughing at the frustration she heard in Justin’s voice.
“Have fun tonight?” Faith asked, looking up from the book she was reading.
Sarah sat on the couch next to her. “Justin’s such a dork.” She laughed. “No, wait, that’s Lance. Justin’s
the ‘sensitive, wise guy’.”“I’ll take that as a yes, you did have fun.”
“He was just using the ‘help me study’ as an excuse to spend more time with me.”
Faith laughed. “How long were you two studying before you realized that?”
“For about twenty minutes.” Sarah glanced at the clock. “I didn’t realize it was already eleven.”
“What’d you two do?”
“Went to the movies, dinner, and then wandered around town. Are Cat and Lona here?”
“Cat’s asleep, and Lona’a out with Chris and Joey.”
“How did Chris and Lona become friends? They are such total opposites it’s amazing they can stand to be
around each other.”“I think it’s because they’re such opposites that they’re friends. Chris needs someone to hold him down so
he isn’t always wild and crazy and Lona needs someone to cheer her up.”“The entire opposites attract thing.” Sarah shook her head. “Wait, you said Cat’s asleep. But it’s
before midnight.”“I’m the one who doesn’t go to sleep before midnight. Cat does, at times. At least I think she’s asleep. I’ve
been closeted in my room all night. I only recently came out.”“Why?”
“JC came over to talk, and I got pissed.”
“Did you actually talk to him.”
“No, I screamed at him through the door. He almost told everyone my full name. I basically told him to
fuck off. Then he went away and I stormed off into my room.”“Interesting night.”
“Oh yeah,” Catriona said from the hallway. “A night I’d love to repeat.”
“Me too.” Sarah laughed at that.
“Well, I wouldn’t,” Faith said.
“Don’t you think you should give JC a chance?” Catriona asked.
“No.”
“He deserves another chance. Everyone does.”
“He doesn’t.”
“All humans make mistakes. JC is human. Therefore, JC makes mistake. All mistakes need to be
forgiven. JC made a mistake. Therefore, JC’s mistake needs to be forgiven.”“Cat, didn’t anyone ever tell you not to use words like ‘all’ in fallacies?” Faith asked. “Because generally,
they prove to be wrong.”“Ok, fine. All humans- and they all do, that is solid truth- make mistakes. JC is human. Therefore, JC
makes-”“Cat, you can shut up now, we’ve heard it,” Sarah said. “Faith, just agree with her. Because I really don’t
want to hear anymore of her ‘logical’ arguments.”“Hey, I am too logical,” Catriona protested.
Faith and Sarah looked at her with eyebrows raised.
“Just because I wasn’t logical once, doesn’t mean I’m not always not logical.”
Faith and Sarah continued to stare at her.
“Ok, so it was more than once. But I’m not always not illogical.”
“Cat, you just said you were not logical,” Faith pointed out.
Catriona glared at her. “You’re a bitch, you know that?”
Faith laughed. “Ok, then I won’t be friendly to JC the next time I see him.”
“No, you still have to do that,” Catriona told her. “But you’re still a bitch.”