“Wait, so he like, fixed your hair?” questioned Kenzie through a mouthful of salad the next day at lunch. “Sort of,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders.
I had told Kenzie everything, desperate for her opinion on the events of yesterday, and I could almost see the facts sinking into her brain. Kenzie was the closest thing the world had to a boy-translator: she could take a single conversation with a member of the opposite sex and unpack it the way some people could unpack the symbolism in a novel. If anyone could tell me what Alek was thinking, it was Kenzie.
I hadn’t worked up the courage to tell her about the dream I had had of Alek though; I didn’t want to lose my only real friend because she thought that I was crazy. I hadn’t been able to shake the sense of deja-vu I felt around Alek; the sense I had that I knew him, or had known him, or something like that…
“I’m so glad you and Josh aren’t together anymore, though,” Kenzie interrupted. “I can’t believe he actually had the nerve to grab you. I don’t know what you ever saw in him; he’s a total creep!” I nodded fervently, relieved to know I wasn’t the only one who found Josh’s behavior exceptionally disturbing.
“Alek though, he’s kind of a weirdo too,” continued Kenzie thoughtfully, twirling her fork between her fingers absentmindedly. “I don’t know what he’s thinking. He followed you around yesterday like a stalker!” She frowned, concerned.
“My thoughts exactly!” I mumbled through a mouthful of what was supposed to be mac and cheese. “He kind of dragged me out of History too, and wanted to walk me home.”
“Hang on, he dragged you? As in, by-the-hand actual draggage? You didn’t let him walk you home, did you? Oh my gosh, please promise me you didn’t get in a car with him!” Kenzie almost shouted, her eyes wide.
“Shhh, everyone’s going to think we’re even crazier than they already do,” I said, glancing around the crowded lunchroom. “I didn’t give him a ride, or let him walk me home, or anything. Promise.”
“You had me worried that I was talking to a ghost!” Kenzie laughed, relieved.
“Nope, still alive, unfortunately,” I responded, looking gloomily down at my unappetizing meal. “Maybe this will kill me off and rid me of my misery.”
“Hey now,” Kenzie shook her finger at me reprovingly. “At least you have a boy that’s showing some sort of interest in you! Granted, it’s a weird kind of interest, but some people are really into that. Don’t tell me you’re into that kind of thing though; it might put a damper on our friendship.”
“Do you think he likes me, though?” I asked, my voice coming across a little whiney.
“Is that even a question?” Kenzie replied with a smirk, catching my blank look before quickly adding, “Yes, dear, he likes you.”
“Then why is he acting so weird?” I complained, stabbing my food with a little more force than was probably necessary.
“Because he’s a teenage boy,” she said with a shrug. “They’re always weird, and then you add actual emotion into the mix, and it just amplifies the weirdness.”
The Regnum Trilogy 