Certainty (3 page)

The rest of my classes went by quickly, though I started all of them by trying to find Ren. I wondered if I would have any more classes with him. And did he live in a blue Victorian house?

At lunch I ran to my locker and texted Katie.

I met a hot new guy.

When?

In Spanish.

Nice.

I would see her in two minutes for lunch but I couldn't wait to tell her. I scrambled through the halls and walked to the cafeteria, my stomach grumbling. The cafeteria was filled with round tables and the smell of fries and pizza. For some reason it didn’t matter how early I got to lunch it was always full, as if there were some conspiracy against me getting in a short line. I saw Katie and she made her way through the crowd to me, her books in the crook of her arm and her purse hanging from her shoulder. Her eyes met mine across the crowd and I could tell she couldn’t wait to talk.

She pushed past the last cluster of people and met me. Her eyes sparkled, her arched eyebrows going even higher. "Soooo, who's the new guy?"

"His name is Ren. What if he lives in the house on my street?"

She smiled sweetly. "You would have to invite me over. Did you talk to him?"

"Yes! He's from California." I said, obviously excited about his geographic location.

"California? What else?"

I confessed that I only talked to him a little after class but we both agreed it was promising. We joined the Line of Eternity. It gave us plenty of time to speculate about Ren. We made it to the food and filled up our trays, me with pizza and chocolate milk and she had a salad.

We found our usual table. Noriko and Steve were there and I could see Noah making his way across the room with Crystal. Our group, Noah included, whether I liked it or not.

Noriko was reading a book, as usual, her forehead resting on her hand. Her long, sleek black hair spilled between her fingers.

When we sat down she raised her head from her book and waved her hand at us. She didn’t have to deal with lunch lines because she always brought her lunch. A red plastic tray sat next to her, the sushi rolls neatly arranged like works of art.

"What are you reading?" I asked, putting my tray down next to hers and moving over for Katie.

"Basmat Chronicles," she answered and then laughed at my expression, brushing back her long hair. "I know. Another kid’s fairytale, sort of. Except all the monsters are good and the fairies are bad."

Steve was madly typing away on his calculator, his light brown hair hiding his face. Katie asked him what he was doing and he looked up, pushing his glasses up on his long, thin nose.

I'm not sure where he goes to get his hair cut but it always looks like a bowl. He didn’t seem to realize that stereotypical nerds cut their hair funny, wear their pants too high and tuck their shirts in. He obliviously commits every nerd crime there is, which is a shame because no one can see what a nice guy he is. All they see is nerd.

"I'm making a program to make my calculator run symbols like the matrix screen." He bent his head back down before we could say anything.

Katie and I looked at each other.

"That's great," I said. He's probably going to make an atom bomb out of a toaster someday.

“Hey, everyone, this is Ren, he's new here." Noah stepped up behind us and there was Ren, casually standing next to him.

Everyone at the table looked up and Katie’s eyes went wide.

She glanced over at me, but I pretended I didn’t see her.

Ren nodded to me, his dark eyes searching my face again, the way he had done in Spanish. "Hey, MacKenzie."

"Hi." I remembered how much I liked his voice. And how on earth had Noah made friends with him so fast? It was maddening.

Noah put his hands behind Katie’s chair. "This is Katie."

She waved at him.

Crystal smacked Noah, so he gestured to her. "This is Crystal."

She smiled up at Ren, her lips curved into a perfect strawberry crescent. Her eyes were stunningly blue and wide, with thick dark lashes, even without mascara. For some reason she always wears short skirts or tight jeans and tops that plunged down to show way too much, but her eyes were always clear and innocent. I could never quite figure out if she didn't know what size she wore or if she knew her body made boys turn into jelly.

Other than being a rumor magnet,  she was one of the sweetest friends I had, so I ignored the hey-check-me-out fashion statements.

Noriko waved shyly and introduced herself. Ren took the empty seat next to her which left only one seat for Noah--next to me. He didn’t even hesitate.

He walked over to me and pulled the empty chair away from its spot and moved it next to Katie. He nudged her with his shoulder. “I like to sit with pretty girls.”

Katie smacked him. “MacKenzie is pretty too!”

Noah looked over at me as he put his lunch on the table. “She tries.”

“Noah, that’s mean,” Katie protested, and everyone else ignored him. No one wanted to choose between us.

I avoided Ren’s gaze and bit into my pizza hoping he didn’t agree with Noah.

"Where are you from?" Noriko asked Ren.

"California--but my parents are from Yasu, Japan." He leaned back in his chair, assuming the odd air of someone in an interview.

Her eyes brightened. She had a soft voice. but I could tell she was excited. "I’ve been there."

He smiled, but he didn’t seem surprised. He leaned in a little to her and said something in Japanese. She answered back and even though I was pretending to eat, I watched them. Her voice was softer and she said
hai
a lot. She pointed to her lunch, and he nodded. She handed him a roll and he murmured a thank you. I was hopelessly jealous.

"English,
kudasai
," Noah said.

"Sorry," Ren apologized.

Crystal opened a bag of chips and settled back with her diet soda. "I would love to go to Japan," she said, licking the salt off her lips.

Noriko sighed. "It's beautiful. You would like it."

“Maybe I could be a flight attendant and fly around the world," Crystal speculated.

"I want to go to England again," Noah said. His family had lived there for two years before his dad retired from the Air Force. "Or maybe Italy. Everyone says I look Italian."

"I would want to go to Germany and see their castles," I said.

Noah opened his mouth to say something but stopped. I guess he couldn't think of anything mean to say. Score one for me.

"No way. The Bahamas. Beach, sand and sun," Katie said. "I have to be at the beach. Maybe someday I'll live there."

Ryan pulled his gaze up from his calculator. "I've been to Canada."

None of us could help ourselves and we all started laughing, except for Ren. He must have been too busy eating to catch the joke.

"Technically it IS another country, you know," Ryan said, miffed.

"I know, Ryan, but its...well, it's not exotic or anything," Katie explained, patting his arm.

"Neither is Italy or the Bahamas or Japan. They're just a long plane flight," Ryan insisted, returning to his calculator like a mole going underground.

"Awwww, don't be mad Ryan," Crystal said, rubbing his head. His bowl cut flopped back into place, resisting any improvement.

He suddenly sat up and thrust his calculator out at us.

"Check this out." The screen of his TI-83 was running with the letters and numbers in streams, just like the Matrix. I could barely get my calculator to do regular math.

“Wow. Your math class must be really boring," Crystal said.

Ren, however, seemed impressed. "Nice."

Ryan pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Thanks."

We passed the calculator around and admired it for him.

As I handed the calculator back, all I could think about was how much I desperately wanted to ask Ren where he lived. It was so improbable that he lived in the Victorian.
 

Curiosity won out and I asked anyway.“So where do you live?"

"Down the road from the school," Ren answered, taking a drink from his soda can and looking at me.

"In a blue Victorian?" I asked.

"Yes." He didn’t seem at all surprised at my guess. 

“I think you might live a few houses down from me. I’m at 25 Main Street."

“I’m at 29 Main. So we are close.”

Noah scraped his chair closer, staring at us. "You're kidding. You moved in next to her?"

“Yeah, looks like it.”

Katie's mouth was dropped open. "That's so random!"

Crystal sighed at me. "You are so lucky."

Ren raised an eyebrow, smiling at her, and I was jealous of one of my friends again.

Her mouth quirked in a cynical smile. "Well, you aren't ugly, you know. I'd love to have you next door."

She leaned towards him, all soft curves and yearning and I held my breath. Not very many guys could resist Crystal when she flirted like that. Even Noah had been thrown by her when he first moved here. I couldn’t blame him.

"Thanks,” he laughed and added, “but then you’d have my little sisters next door, too. They’re kind of loud.”

She sat back a little, her pose melting from siren to thoughtful. “You have sisters? How old?”

“Twins. They’re six.”

“How cute!” Crystal said. “I have a little brother in the second grade.”

“Cool.”

No one else seemed to notice how he’d defused Crystal’s usual flirt attack without flirting back or offending her by shutting her down. Maybe he was just socially skilled.

“What does your necklace say?” Katie asked.

He picked it up from his throat, twisting around his slim fingers. “It means ‘tomorrow’.”

Noah was the one who asked, “Why?”

Ren dropped the medallion and shrugged. “Because I didn’t want to wear the one that said ‘stupid’.” Then he laughed, ducking his head and I could tell he was embarrassed. “It’s just…I don’t know. A way to think about my future, I guess.”

“That’s semi-profound,” Katie said, her hazel eyes misty and admiring.

Ryan stared at the medallion and then asked, “Do they really have ninjas in Japan?”

I cringed for him. Noah laughed out right, but Ren kept a straight face as he answered, “It’s not an official career or anything.”

Ryan nodded. “That’s what I’ve heard. Too bad. Ninjas are hardcore.”

“What about Power Rangers?” Noah said, slyly glancing over at Ryan, who had gone back down to his rabbit hole and was poking at his calculator.

Ren shook his head with a small smile and took out his schedule. "Who else has World History next period?"

We discovered that he had one more class with Noah.
 
No one else had any classes with him, to our disappointment.

I could tell Ren was already a part of our group, if he wanted to be. After  lunch we all said good-bye and the girls left together.
 
Away from the guys we talked about Ren.

Crystal sighed. “I wonder what he kisses like.”

“Wow, Crystal,”
I said.

She shrugged. “I’m only
wondering
.”

I sized up my friends, comparing myself. Crystal was pretty and inviting, Katie was sweet and innocent, Noriko already shared something in common with him. I had no idea why I would be attractive to him. In fact, I was already sick of thinking about him.

I was so sick of thinking about him that I missed the homework assignment Mr. Leitner wrote out on the board until the bell rang, and I had to hastily write it on my notebook on my way out the door.

As I walked down the hallway to my next class, I thought about the symbol he wore around his neck. Maybe it didn’t mean that much to him—it could have been a phase he went through and then discarded, leaving only some fashion statement he wore around his neck. I was sure it was significant to him, though.

When school ended I started my walk home. I kept watching for Ren to see if he walked home as well, but he didn’t come. I passed the blue Victorian and forced myself not to stare, disappointed.

CHAPTER THREE
Ren

The screen door creaked as I walked in the door and dropped my backpack on the floor. My mom and the twins came in after me, Mandi racing upstairs to their room and Jenny following. In the kitchen, I opened the fridge. It still looked empty,  not quite stocked up yet, but I found some deli meat and made a sandwich, shoving some chips in there for extra
crunch. I made my way to the living room and sat down, putting my feet on the coffee table.

I thought about the moment when I walked in the class and had seen MacKenziethere. Her eyes were an electric blue,  making it impossible for me to look away. Even twenty
Yurei
crowding in the room couldn't compete. She played with her hair, and I wondered if she did it on purpose to get my attention. At least until she turned around and spoke to me. Something about her hesitancy and the way she looked away told me she didn't play games. There was an honesty about her I instantly liked.