Earth Angel
Chapter Seven
(Quick
replay of Chloe/Jan on the pier. Or
would that be Janoe?)
Chloe
sobbed deeper and brought her knees to her chest. She sat like that for what seemed like an eternity and cried
until there were no more tears left in her.
She had finally stopped crying and began breathing normally when she
heard a set of footsteps coming up behind her.
She slowly turned her head and saw a figure emerge on the other side of
the pier.
Her
mouth opened in shock, "What are you doing here?"
Brady
smirked and crossed his arms. "Maybe
I should ask you the same thing. What the hell are YOU doing here?"
It
was then that Chloe realized what a mistake she had made.
This was not Jan's special place, it was Chloe's.
Big mistake. Chloe stood
slowly and matched Brady's cross-armed stance with her own.
She
raised one well-shaped eyebrow and replied, "Why do you care?"
"Let's
just say, I'm surprised to see you here.
But, maybe not as surprised as I was to see you at that memorial
service."
Chloe
shrugged nonchalantly and kept on playing the part of Jan.
"It's a free country, you know.
I can go wherever I want."
"I'm
not trying to stop you either. I'm
just curious, that's all. From
what I've heard, you never cared one bit about Chloe... why would you want to
go to her memorial service? And,
secondly... why would you just so happen to end up at the place that Chloe
always went to when she was upset afterwards?"
"Well,
first off. I don't really know
you, so I don't HAVE to answer your questions.
But, if you REALLY must know... I went because I was curious.
Sure, we weren't friends... in fact, we were pretty much mortal enemies
but it's not like I'm not completely heartless.
Underneath this cold, hard exterior... I do have blood running through
my veins and a heart too."
Brady
snickered quietly. "Really?
Because I always thought you were some kind of android.
Like that robot movie with the Sixth Sense kid.
You look like a human being, but you're actually not."
Chloe's
eyes narrowed in anger and she pointed an angry finger at Brady.
"You don't know ANYTHING about me, Brady.
I know what everybody thinks about me, but it's not the real me.
I'm sure your sister and her friends have told you plenty of stories
about me, and they're all true. But,
there's more to me than just being the bitch goddess of Salem High
School."
Brady
shook his head in disbelief. "Well,
you could have fooled me."
Chloe
rolled her eyes and nearly spat her words out.
"Well, you would know, wouldn't you? You're not exactly the king of fluffy clouds and rainbows,
are you? Oh yeah... You think I
don't know you, but I know more than you think.
Oh, you make with the happy talk now, but it hasn't always been like
this. I've heard about the way
you treated your stepmother, and the way you've acted towards so many other
people. But, now you've changed
your ways... and everything is all sunshine and roses.
See, Brady... people CAN change."
"A
leopard can never change her spots."
Chloe
threw her hands up in frustration. "You
did. Didn't you?
Or was the 'bad boy' thing just an act?
No wait, maybe it's the other way around and the 'good boy' thing is
just an act... Which is it?"
Brady
sighed and muttered quietly, "It's neither."
"Okay
then... shut up about me. I'll
have you know, I can change... and I'm going to change for the better.
The only difference between you and me is that you had something to
change for. You have a family who
loves you, and a sister... I don't have anything.
I just have to do it anyway, or else I'll never have someone."
Brady
wrinkled his eyebrows together in confusion.
"I'm sure that's not true... you're not alone, Jan."
"That
statement just goes to FURTHER prove that you know nothing about me.
I have no one. My parents don't care about me.
I don't have any friends. Nobody
cares about me. Do you want to
know why I left the memorial? Because
when I was watching all those people talk about Chloe, it just reminded me
that if I died tomorrow, nobody would say those kinds of things about me.
I doubt anybody would even show up at the church... including my
parents."
"So...
it reminded you that you have a shred of humanity left in you somewhere?"
Chloe
pouted slightly and returned, "Yeah, something like that.
I'm surprised you're actually going to admit that I even have any
humanity left. Don't tell me
you've changed your opinion of me this quickly."
Brady
shrugged slightly. "I don't
know... only time will tell, right?"
"Well,
coming from you... I'll take that as encouragement."
"You
can do that... but you never did tell me WHY you're here, at this
spot..."
Chloe
bit her lip nervously and hesitated. "Well...
I didn't know that there was something important about this spot, but
apparently there is. I just got
upset at the church, and I ran until I got tired... and I ended up here.
Period. End of story. Now,
why are YOU here?"
Brady
glared at her silently and turned around to face the other direction.
"Because... this is an important place to me.
I like to come here to think, and being reminds me of someone.
And... the rest is none of your business."
"Okay...
fair enough. I'm gonna leave you
to your thinking and get the heck out of here then."
Brady
turned back around and faced her. "And
what are you going to do with yourself now?"
Chloe
nearly laughed out loud. "Wow,
you sound like you almost care. That's
fantastic. I think I'm going to
go off in my little corner and polish the chip on my shoulder for a while.
Alone of course, since everybody in this town hates me."
Brady
shook his head and spoke with complete seriousness, "Not everybody,
Jan."
Chloe
almost fell off the pier in shock. "Not
everybody? You're not admitting
that you might actually like me, are you?"
"Oh
no, no and NO. I'm not saying
that I like you, because I don't. I'm
just saying I don't hate you. In
fact, you remind me of someone."
Chloe
cringed slightly. "Please
don't say... 'You remind me of Satan.' Cause,
I've already heard that one before."
Brady
laughed out loud and replied, "No, that's not what I was going to
say."
Chloe
breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled softly, "Oh good... so who do I
remind you of?"
"This
girl that I used to know. You've
got the same fire in your eyes that she did.
She used to love to fight with me."
Chloe
grinned at him and silently wondered if he was talking about her.
"What happened to her?"
Brady
looked down sadly. "She...
went away, very far away." He
paused and breathed in slightly, the next sentence he spoke quietly as if he
almost didn't mean to say it out loud, "And I never got to tell her I
loved her."
Chloe
realized that he wasn't talking about her, she knew Brady had never felt that
way for her. They had only been
friends, and nothing more. Her
expression softened as she spoke, "Well, I'm sure there'll be another
chance for you to tell her how you feel.
It can't be a total lost cause."
Brady
shook his head. "No, it is.
I should have told her before, but I never did.
And now she's gone, and it was out of my control... one of those
'higher power' things kept us apart."
Chloe
nodded understandingly. "Higher
power, huh? Boy, do I know about
that..."
Brady
lifted his gaze and looked at her curiously, "And how is that?"
"Long
story... never mind. Forget about
it. I'm gonna go now."
Brady
continued to glare at her with curiosity, "Okay... see ya around
then."
Chloe
walked up the stairs and stood at the top of them for a moment.
She watched Brady turn and walk towards the water.
He stood at the edge of the pier and stared into the dark water.
Chloe thought that she could see him wipe a tear off his cheek, but she
wasn't sure. For some reason, she
felt like she wanted to stand there and watch him all day but decided to turn
around and grant him his privacy.
Chloe walked away from the pier sadly, and decided to take a trip to Dot.Com. She desperately wanted to reconnect with her old life in any way she possibly could and although she knew things would never be the same, at least she could enjoy the comforts of her favorite hangout.