Knowing Jude
Chapter 20

"Scoot, some of us want to sit too."

I look at Nicki but keep my mouth shut. Nothing is going to ruin my mood today, as I'm having the time of my week.

The past week has been extremely boring, with no excitement to speak of in my life. It has gone back to its old routine of school and three friends and nosy siblings, two of them who are not talking to each other. I think very soon I might be saying four friends because in the past week Simon has been dragging Isaac with him everywhere. Not complaining or anything, he's pretty cool and there's a lot of space for improvement in my friendship department. Cole has been saying hi every time we cross paths, but I'm not going to put him on my possible friend list...yet. I still haven't been able to gather up enough courage to ask him why Jude hasn't been to school for seven days now, so I think I'm still a little nervous when it comes to him.

Nicki has been busy with her art project, and nowadays Jen spends more time with her cheerleading counterparts, so yeah my week has been sort of dull, and not just because Jude hasn't been around to make me do out-of-my-nature things. Sometimes it gets depressing just thinking about my social life. When that happens I usually grab my current book and immerse myself in the fictional characters and forget about my reality.

But sometimes even that isn't enough.

Which is why I'm so glad for this blessing that the heavens have bestowed in the middle of the school week, namely a swimming gala. Right smack in the middle of the week, on a Wednesday. Swimming is another sport that I enjoy watching, and I'm out and proud in my school House blue shirt ready to cheer on my team. The students' body in my school is subdivided into Houses, where we get to compete in various stuff, and the best part for me is when it comes to sports. I know, I'm not sporty in any sense at all but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy watching. We have an outdoor swimming pool, and the concrete bleachers built into the backs of the two opposing buildings housing the changing rooms are filled with students conspicuously subdivided into blue, yellow, red, and green masses.

I scoot and allow Nicki to sit beside me. She's in Blue house too and has a blue cloth tied to her wrist. Her school standard-issue blue house T-shirt has two large palm prints at the front, one white paint the other black paint, but no teacher ever bothers with it. I'll admit the black one belongs to me.

"Do you know, Jude's sister is in our house, and she recently joined the school swim team and I hear she's great!" she gushes at me.

"She is?" I ask, my eyes scanning the students sitting on the other side. I remember Trey saying she swims.

Nicki nods.

"Do you know, Cole swims too?" She asks.

I nod, that I knew. I look at her, holding back a smile. While I've been exchanging half-assed greetings with Cole, she has gotten freer with him, it's like the crash in the hallway last week was the ultimate bonding moment. "Excited to see him in just his swim trunks, uh?"

"Yes," she answers automatically, then wrinkles her nose. "I mean... I mean..."

I laugh at her speechlessness and she slaps me on the back.

"Excited to see him swim!" she completes her sentence. "And all the others."

"Yeah, right."

She rolls her eyes. "Too bad he's in Red house."

"Don't forget and cheer on him," I warn teasingly.

"You always cheer Jon, and he's in Yellow," she reminds me.

"How can I possibly cheer for a rival House amid this blue sea?" I ask, indicating the blue shirt clad students all around us.

"You always close your eyes as if praying for him," she says.

True.

I shake my head. "Nah, I just can't handle seeing him all naked and wet, with those glorious abs on display."

"Uh, are you girls having some girl talk type of moment, so we can turn right around and leave?"

Eyes wide, I turn to catch sight of Simon, an annoying smirk playing on his lips, content at my embarrassment because he is not alone. Isaac stands right behind him, his grey eyes glinting with amusement. "Nothing you can't take part in," Nicki answers.

Yeah right...

Simon leads the way past us, then settles on the empty space on the other side of me, leaving space so that Isaac sits right beside me. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Nicki throwing a smirk my way, but I ignore her. "Get out of here, Benson!" Someone calls out, and we all turn to replace Luke, Trey's redhead friend, smirking at him. "The reds are over there, see?" He points to the opposing bleachers.

True, Simon is a Red and he's sticking out pretty sourly in the blue crowd.

"I thought you guys might need a little fire to keep you awake," he shouts back.

"Dude, we are going to cool that fire," Luke replies.

"Wanna bet?" Simon challenges.

"Hell yeah," Luke yells.

"Be back shortly," Simon says then rises to make his way up the bleachers.

"Please don't bet with your hair," Nicki calls out. "You always lose and your hair is the only good thing you have going for you."

Simon flashes her his middle finger and she sticks her tongue out at his back. Beside me, Isaac chuckles slightly. I immediately curse Simon for leaving. What do I say now?

I don't wonder for long because Nicki knows exactly what to say. She leans over, resting her arms on my laps and focusing on Isaac. "So, Isaac, what games do you play?"

"Lacrosse, but we don't have that in this school, so..." he replies and trails off, shrugging.

"Oh, that's unfortunate," Nicki empathises. "But Atlas High does have lacrosse, why didn't you go there instead?"

Atlas High is on the far south side of town, and it goes without saying that there is a rivalry between our school and them.

Isaac scratches on an eyebrow, "Actually that's where I first started playing, but then I moved and I didn't want to go back there."

"Why?" Nicki prompts.

I slap the back of her head. "Is it twenty questions now or what?" Because honestly, sometimes she just doesn't know when to stop talking, or when to filter what she says. And she can be really intrusive. Isaac shrugs. "It's cool, I just kept bad company when I was there, and I want to stay clear of them."

Nicki nods, looking fascinated as if he is a storyteller and she is his devoted audience.

"Is it true what they say about Atlas, that the boys there don't shower?"

I stare at her in shock, and Isaac is undoubtedly frowning beside me.

"That's so middle school, Nicki. That's what Sam and Liam say about Atlas middle school. Please let's steer clear of children's gossip."

Isaac chuckles awkwardly and rubs his temple.

Poor boy, meet the crazy shades of Nicole Cooper.

"Okay, fine," she relents, raising palms in surrender. "How would you rate our school against Atlas High?"

I have no idea where this sudden obsession with Atlas High is coming from, so I switch off their conversation and look down at the pool, impatient for the thrill to start. I look towards the gate that opens into the swimming pool area. My eyes widen immediately when they lock on Jude's familiar blond head, his arm casually placed on his sister's shoulder. Jade is carrying her gym bag, and they stand at one end of the pool, talking. Jude is in a pair of black jeans, a blue shirt beneath an unbuttoned plaid shirt and a pair of vans. I frown because I'm sure he belongs to Red House. I'm also surprised he's here given he hasn't been to school since last Tuesday.

"It's confirmed, I'm envious, Jade has the best brother ever," Nicki's voice suddenly sounds beside me, as she rises from her slouch on my lap. "He's even going to pass as blue to cheer on her!"

I reluctantly draw my eyes from Mr. Blond and Blue Eyed and look at her. "Okay, I'll make sure to let Nathan, Nico, Noah, and Niall know that you think they are epic fails at being brothers."

Her head swerves towards me, and if she had long hair I'm sure it would have slapped me in the face. "What? No, you don't say that to any of those four overprotective egoistical testosterone-driven creatures! They are awesome, they are the best brothers ever, got it?"

I shake my head in amusement.

As you reach the final pages, remember that 000005s.com is your destination for the complete story. Share the joy of reading with others and spread the word. The next chapter is just a visit away!

"You have four brothers?" Isaac asks from beside me.

She nods. "And I'm their one and only sister."

"Who they spoil rotten," I add.

"Yeah, if that means by playing endless pranks on their little defenseless sister, then I agree," Nicki says, wiping fake tears.

"Must have been fun growing up," Isaac says.

She smiles. "Yeah, I'm not going to deny that."

I look downwards again, to see Jude now staring at our side of the bleachers, his eyes wandering as if searching for someone. I look away quickly to avoid getting caught staring. Only for Nicki to nudge me a second later and whisper, "He's staring at you."

At which my eyes foolishly snap up immediately, and I replace myself locking eyes with him. My heart skips a beat which I'm sure is due to nervousness, but why on earth would I still be feeling awkward around him? I know he's super hot and all, but usually, my awkwardness lessens once I've spent some time around someone, and I've spent a lot of time with him. I think he's about to smile, at me, when his gaze shifts towards my right and his expression falls. I look towards Isaac, who has his eyes on Jude too but looks away with an audible sigh. I look back at Jude, whose eyes come back to me, hooded this time round. He's no longer about to smile. He says something to Jade, ruffles her hair, then branches off to go towards the bleachers full of Reds.

Oh well...

Jade comes towards our side, not looking up once until she disappears into the stairs leading down to the girls' changing room.

"What's that about?" Nicki is on my lap again, her eyes trained on Isaac.

"What?" Isaac asks, trying to be evasive.

"That look between you and Jude, you two have some sort of history? A bad history?"

Right now I'm very happy she's being inquisitive because I'm dying to know too.

"Uh, it's nothing," Isaac answers. "Old stuff. Doesn't matter."

Nicki's eyes narrow. "Looks like it does."

Simon comes back then and sits down beside Isaac. "Got along well without me?"