Zenon's Game Chapter 47

"Live for a thrill," he offered me a helmet.

Black helmet with two signature red streaks on the side. I stared at it and slowly, reluctantly, took it in my hands.

Live for a thrill, he said. As if I hadn't almost drowned in a lake, been mauled by a brown bear in a forest and attacked by a biker gang at the very place we were going to now....

"Sure," I smiled sweetly, "Let's live on the edge."

My arms wrapped around his waist, helmet strapped on tight. We raced through the streets on the back of his motorbike. It roared louder than my busted car's engine. My legs squeezed against his sides until he asked me to loosen up.

I was apparently constricting his blood circulation.

My B.

The ocean came into view before the beach did (image above). We drove down into the valley and parked by the Surfside Shack. It was just like I remembered. Surfboards against the blue building and people strolling in from the beach.

Jake held the door open for me. The Shack was crowded with seniors from our high school. They were hanging out around the bar, using their fake IDs for drinks. The back doors opened out onto the beach and people spilled outside, to watch the sunset.

Jake guided me to the restaurant part of the Shack. He slid into a corner booth and put his arm around the back of my headrest.

"It's too crowded over there," he said, scanning the menu.

I nodded, trying to act chill. Nothing about this situation was chill.

Bryce was the loudest guy here and I noticed him the minute I walked in – hanging out with Zenon and Axel and half the girls' volleyball team. I hope they hadn't noticed me, even though others had. Other people were staring at us, wondering what Jake was doing with a nobody like me.

"Who's the new girl Jake's with?" Omi asked, noticing Zenon had stiffened when they walked in.

"A nerd. He's probably using her for homework," Bianca guessed, "Why is he over there anyway? Jake should be hanging out with us."

"Who?" Axel asked, turning to the girls with a drink in his hand.

"Jake and..." Bianca struggled to remember the girl's name.

Axel lost interest and started to chug his drink.

"Candace," Zenon answered coldly.

Axel spat into his glass.

The girls stared at Zenon, surprised he was paying attention to their conversation and even more surprised that he remembered a girl's name. Meanwhile, Axel choked on the side.

"Candace?" he wheezed, setting his glass down.

"Do you know her, Zenon?" Omi asked, confused how there was a new girl she didn't know about.

Zenon ignored the girls and walked towards the booth.

"What just happened?" Bianca seethed.

Axel now tried to subtly back out of this without being noticed.

Bianca's beautiful face contorted. She turned to her minions and snapped, "Who is that?"

They all looked at each other. They had no idea who the nerd was, and why both the school's hottest boys knew her.

"Find out," Bianca dictated, "And we'll make her life misery. No one disrupts our system."

"We have first dibs on our men," Omi reminded them.

Bianca laughed, "She has no chance of that."

"We'll have the brown butter toffee milkshake and..." Jake stared at the menu again, "Want to share the watermelon wave?"

I nodded enthusiastically.  I had wanted to try that last time.

Jake handed our menus back to the waiter and, after the waiter left, he draped his arm over my headrest again.  

I blushed. He saw how uncomfortable I was.  I didn't mean to be, but I could still feel the eyes of other seniors' staring at the back of our heads.  I felt like a parasite. And I didn't want the attention.  I really didn't want attention.

"Sorry," Jake apologized, "Is this too much for you?"

He thought he was making me uncomfortable. I felt guilty, since he was everything but that. It was the others; how they were judging us. I was about to respond when a famous face dropped in on us. 

"Am I interrupting something?" Zenon asked, looking between us like we were guilty of something.

I looked up at him, remembering how I'd pushed him out of my shop and how he left me at Axel's party to be with the coach's daughter. 

"Someone left your cage open?"

Jake sat back in surprise and stared at me like I was a different person.  In a way I was.  I was shy around Jake.  And nice.  But Zenon brought this out of me.  

"Aha," Zenon chuckled, "Missed this."

He leaned forwards, arms crossed over the booth, as he looked down at us like we were little kids.  His eyes narrowed on Jake's arm, draped over my headrest.  He slapped it.

Jake retracted his arm, glaring down at our table. 

"Here we are!" the waiter cheerily returned, carrying a tray of our order, "One brown butter toffee milkshake and a watermelon wave." 

He placed the items on the table between us, alongside spoons for Jake and I to share.  

"Where's the whipped cream and cherries?" Zenon asked, "Isn't that how you like it?" 

He was right - I totally would've ordered double chocolate with all the toppings.  But Jake had ordered for us.

I glanced at Zenon whose mischievous look betrayed that he knew me.  Zenon was a smart guy.  And he was way more perceptive than I gave him credit for.

Zenon feigned surprise, "Did you order for her?  Wrong move, buddy."

"No one invited you here," I told Zenon, not pleased with how he was treating Jake. 

"Do I need to be invited?" he smirked, with a bar full of his friends behind us.

To be fair, if anyone was expected here - it was him.  We were the intruders.  Well, just me.

I stuck to my point, "For this booth, you do.  Friends invite friends.  They don't just show up."

Where was all this anger coming from? Zenon had unlocked so much passion in me. I felt brave around him and it was coming out in this aggressive form.

"Well you don't want to be my friend and he is definitely not my friend."

What did Zenon mean by that?  I looked between them now.  How did they even know each other?

There was an awkward silence.

Were they enemies?

I stared between them, expecting one of them to speak.  I didn't even want to dwell on the part of Zenon's sentence when he said 'you don't want to be my friend'  because that was also news to my ears.  It made it sound like he did.

"OK, one of you speak." I told them, my curiosity breaking the silence, "What's going on -why aren't you two friends?"

"Jake isn't my friend," Zenon repeated, dragging this out and enjoying it. Jake squirmed in his seat. "Jake isn't my friend. Because he's my brother."