The Apocalypse (9 page)

Decently
. Jake smirked when Isaac's words resounded in his mind. That was right. He had to treat Hannah
decently.
He'd promised.

To make matters worse, Jake also had no idea how he was going to make it through a whole day with Hannah since the car ride alone was irritating him. He supposed that he could just shove Hannah off on her friends, since it certainly made more sense for Hannah to be with them than him. With that thought in mind, Jake's mood improved drastically as he drove into Butler High School's parking lot.

"You've got your schedule, right?" Isaac asked Hannah as Jake parked in his designated spot. "You know where you're going?"

"Yes, I have it, but no, I have no idea where I'm going," Hannah answered flatly. Her next words were almost sarcastic. "But it'll be okay."

Jake turned off his truck's engine, pocketed his keys, and collected the books that he'd taken home. By the time he'd exited the Ranger and moved past the bed of the truck, Hannah was at his side, eyeing him eagerly but anxiously, two emotions that Jake never saw directed at him by Hannah.

Once the three of them had entered the building, Isaac departed to go to his locker, and Jake silently guided Hannah to the hallway that theirs were in. He was vaguely aware of her wide blue eyes absorbing everything with curiosity, but Jake was more concerned with his dread.

It seemed like a lifetime had passed before Jake reached his locker. He looked up to point out Hannah's to her, but her hand was already spinning the dial. Taken aback, Jake stared at her until Hannah glanced up. "You memorized your combination already?"

Hannah's brow furrowed. "No." She seemed surprised when her lock opened. "I don't know. It was automatic."

If she'd been someone else, Jake would have been fascinated and inquisitive, but since it was Hannah, he just shrugged and opened his own locker. A thought floated into his mind saying that Hannah was faking her amnesia, but Jake crushed it for the sheer reason that he knew Hannah couldn't fake her niceness to him.

A girl with nearly black hair appeared between them, fiddling with the middle locker's combination. "Hannah… It's so good to see you." Jake rolled his eyes at her floating, sardonic voice. Reagan Amburgey constantly sounded strung out on drugs. "It's been too roomy at the lockers."

Hannah turned her head and looked at the girl, and Jake could imagine her reaction to Reagan's very thick, very black eyeliner and mascara. "Oh, well that's sweet," Hannah murmured. "Thanks. Reagan?"

Jake did a double take. No hateful comeback? No morning banter between social opposites? More weirdness. Usually Hannah and Reagan fussed daily about one or the other crowding the sparse space between lockers, but now Hannah was being nice, even when Reagan was sarcastic? Sighing, Jake reminded himself that Hannah was now clueless and closed his locker door. He moved to Hannah, grabbing her arm and closing her locker. The last thing he was going to do was stand around listening to Reagan. "Come on. First period starts in about
a
minute and a half."

"But—oh, okay."

Without another word, Jake half-dragged Hannah to first period English, which they shared. Had he not dragged her, Hannah would have had to stop and talk to everyone who tried to hug her and welcome her back, but, fortunately, Jake's strength outdid hers, so pulling her along was no problem. If Jake had to say so, he actually thought Hannah seemed pretty grateful that he'd pulled her away from everyone and steered her into their first period class. Her lack of independence baffled him.

Jake took his regular seat in the back of the room, next to some guys that were on the basketball or baseball teams with him. To his surprise, however, Hannah followed and sat in the desk in front of his.

"Hey, Hannah," one of the guys, Anthony Byrd, greeted with a smile. The other two guys murmured greetings too, and Hannah offered them a shy smile.

Jake glanced at her oddly and cocked his head toward the
corner
by the window. "You usually sit over there," he informed her pointedly. But Hannah just blinked her big blue eyes innocently. "So, you know, you could—"

"Oh my God! It's Hannah!"

"Hannah? Ah! Hannah!"

Rolling his eyes, Jake slumped back in his seat and watched as girls fawned over Hannah and guys waved and asked her how she was doing. Normally, Jake enjoyed first period because he could sit around and catch up with his friends for awhile, but on this particular day, Jake had never been so glad to get out of there.

Of course, Hannah clung to his side when they exited the room, and Jake found himself wishing someone else would take her off his hands. "Shouldn't Tisha be your guide dog?" he asked grumpily as he spun the dial of his locker's combination. "You've got friends, believe it or not."

Confusion shown on Hannah's face like sunshine on a summer day. "Why are you in such a bad mood today?"

Jake sighed deeply. He might as well do what the rest of the world hadn't bothered to do: inform Hannah that she couldn't
stand
him and that he liked her even less. "I'm not in a bad mood. I just don't—"

"Hannah!"

Groaning, Jake looked over his shoulder and saw Tisha and Morgan approaching. Oh. So this was actually good. He could push Hannah off on someone else, and that someone else could waste breath talking to her. But when Jake glanced back to Hannah, he didn't see the happiness he expected. Instead, she seemed to have paled and was definitely mid-cringe.

"Oh God, hide me," Hannah whispered softly, nearly pressing herself into her locker. "Get rid of them."

Before Jake could mock her, Tisha was slinging her arms around Hannah. "I am so, so,
so
sorry about yesterday, Han," Tisha gushed. "I don't know what I was thinking. Are you feeling better?"

In near amusement, Jake watched Hannah gape at Tisha with an expression so readable that even Jake noted without wasting a thought that she felt awkward.

Finally, Hannah nodded faintly and fidgeted with her green sweater. "Yeah."

For probably the first time ever, Tisha, Morgan,
and
Jake exchanged
a
glance that expressed a mutual feeling. Jake was the one to voice it. "That's all you have to say? No long, drawn-out discussion? You're done?"

Hannah sent Jake a glance that he couldn't decipher and busied herself with her books. "Mmhmm." Closing her locker, Hannah looked directly at Jake. "Are you ready to show me where my next class is?"

Sighing, Jake nodded and closed his own locker. It was then that he noticed identical shocked expressions on Morgan's and Tisha's faces. "Actually, Ayers, they could show you." He motioned toward the girls. "I bet they're—"

"Isaac appointed you as my bodyguard," Hannah interrupted, her eyes going wide. "Your mom too. I'm holding you to that." Jake watched as she sent a little smile in the direction of her friends. "Besides, I wouldn't want to bother you guys."

Tisha nibbled her lower lip nervously. "It's not bothersome, Han. You're my best friend. Of course I can show you."

"Absolutely," Morgan agreed with a nod of her blonde head. Jake had never seen her look anything but composed, but here she was looking worried and
a
little perplexed. "Really, Hannah."

Although he was undoubtedly more confused than Morgan, Jake just wanted to get to the senior lounge, as it was his free period, so he intervened in Hannah's favor, since she was typically the most stubborn girl he knew. "If you're walking with me, you better come on now. It's a long way."

Hannah nodded. "Okay." Sparing a brief glance at the girls, Hannah smiled slightly and gave them
a
little wave. "I guess I'll see you guys later."

Not waiting for the conversation to continue, Jake practically stomped down the hallway. So much for his idea that he could shove Hannah on her friends. Nope, she was going to be a leech, and Jake would probably never get rid of her—at least until she got her memory back. Man, it would be a sweet day when
that
happened.

"Hey, Jake?"

Halting at the end of his Biology AP class, Jake turned around and looked at Mercedes Jensen, his ex-girlfriend. He offered her a little smile and waited for her to fall into step with him; they both had lunch next, so she could say whatever on the way.

Even with his rumbling stomach, Jake couldn't ignore Mercedes's beauty. She wasn't the most beautiful girl in the school or anything, but she had bouncy, shampoo commercial hair—light brown in color—and wide-set, enormous blue eyes that could entrance anyone. But what really was noticeable about Mercedes was her friendly disposition; even though she and Jake had bitterly broken up, her friendliness hadn't wavered, despite how Jake had initially distanced himself from her.

"So the Winter Formal is coming up," Mercedes began, waving to some friends across the hall as she walked beside Jake. "Ms. King was asking me earlier if everything was all set. I've got the decorating committee covered, so no worries there. But did you find a good band to play?"

Since he was senior class president and Mercedes was vice president, they were expected to help with the planning of social functions. "Mmhmm," Jake nodded. "Chris McCarthy's band will be there, and I'm going to talk to Eric Jefferson to see if they'll do a battle of the bands. That went well at Homecoming."

Mercedes grinned. "Definitely. Hey, you get Eric, and I'll talk to Stacia and Natalia. They can outplay the guys."

"I don't know about that, but they look a lot better in short skirts than the guys would." After Mercedes smacked Jake's upper arm, he returned her grin. "Sounds good though. Everything else is taken care of?"

"As far as I know," Mercedes answered cheerfully.

They approached the cafeteria, and Jake suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be chauffeuring Hannah around. Well, crap. "Then I'll talk to you later." Jake stopped walking and left Mercedes with a smile.

He began to backtrack through the halls to where he was supposed to meet Hannah at their lockers. Grumbling the whole time under his breath, Jake decided that if the best food was gone by the time he got back, he'd strangle Hannah, even though the circumstances weren't her fault, really. He was the one having to backpedal.

Jake was surprised, however, when he saw Hannah staring at Ethan Sharpe. He almost laughed out loud at the expression on Hannah's face: sheer horror. With an arrogant ease, Jake walked up to them and grinned at Ethan.

"Hey, Jake," Ethan smiled, slipping his arm around Hannah's waist. Her eyes widened drastically, but she remained still. "What's up, man?"

Jake's grin widened. "You're freaking her out, you know that?"

"No, no, he's fine," Hannah argued with a strangled laugh. However, she did pull away and take a step closer to Jake, which Ethan's brow furrowed at. Jake sent him a discreet shrug. "So, um, are we going to lunch or what?"

The baffled expression on Ethan's face turned more bemused and then concerned. "You're stuttering, Hannah?"

Apparently refusing to answer, Hannah started walking in the direction that Jake had arrived from, and the guys sped up to meet her step. Even from the corner of his eye, Jake could see Ethan's eyes trained diligently on Hannah's backside. Ethan had once claimed to worship every inch of Hannah Ayers, and by the way he acted, Jake didn't doubt it too much at all.

A sudden thought hit Jake, and he spoke to Hannah more willingly than he had in a long time. "Hey, Ayers?"

Hannah paused and waited for the guys to catch up with her, raising her eyebrows delicately and responding, "Yeah?"

"Have you seen Hudson?"

Ethan scoffed. "That old bastard hasn't showed his face around here much since I about busted all his teeth down his throat."

Appearing surprised by both guys, Hannah shook her head slowly. "No, I haven't talked to Greg." Her blue eyes landed on Ethan, and she seemed to look at him through new eyes. "It's your fault that he hasn't been around?"