Crumbling Walls (Jack and Emily #1) Read online

  Emily said hello to them and once the boys settled back on the ground, Jack nodded towards the book in her hand, "So, math being a bitch again?”

  “Kind of. Think you could help a girl out?"

  And that’s how they ended up on a different porch on a different street, the same Jack and the same Emily, only this time, surrounded by talk of ninjas and Spider-Man and the occasional friendly arm-wrestling match between the younger boys.

  Jack only joined in when his ample knowledge of the ninja was needed to settle several arguments.

  Emily could only smile, realizing that maybe people weren’t so bad after all.

  ▪▪▪

  Emily was gone before Mrs. Callaghan got home, but from the look on her son’s face, it appeared that everything would be just fine and, grinning, she informed him that she would eventually have to meet this girl, for security purposes and all.

  Chapter 2

  Three weeks later, Emily found Jack sitting on her front porch, biting his nails. Now, normally, this was a disgusting habit to her, but given he was waiting to see just how well she had done on her newly graded final, she only smiled.

  Standing up, “Well, how’d you do?”

  “Geez Jack, do you really think I want to advertise my grade to the entire world?”

  His face fell immediately, “I’m sorry ... I just … I’ve been waiting here for almost an hour and I didn’t … sorry.”

  For the first time he heard her laugh outright as she held up the exam, “But I’ll advertise to you my big, fat B+.”

  He had her in a hug before he realized what he was doing and to his thankful amazement, she didn’t slug him. He then thought about letting go but realized she hadn’t pulled away either, so he held her for a second longer before backing away, “You know we get to celebrate now, don’t you?”

  Just as surprised by her reaction to his hug, she took a step back and prayed he would mistake her blushing cheeks for a simple summer sunburn, “You mean by forgetting everything we just learned in hopes we’ll never need it again?”

  With a chuckle, “Nuh-uh. If I’m gonna keep helping you, I’m gonna need you to remember a few things. As for celebrating, I was thinking some ice cream at the Dairy Queen in town.”

  Her cheeks continued to burn, “You want to keep tutoring me?”

  “Of course. I can’t let all those good skills go to crap. Unless you don’t want me to?”

  “Are you joking? There’s no other way I’ll get through high school at this point. I was just too embarrassed to ask if you’d keep helping me.”

  Walking backwards away from her, “Then it’s settled. I’ll keep you mathematically inclined and you’ll let me take you out for ice cream whenever you’re free.”

  Not wanting him to leave, “Actually, I’m free now. Someone switched days with me.”

  He stopped so suddenly that his momentum made him stumble backwards, “You’re not doing anything tonight?”

  Shaking her head, “Nope. Free as a bird who knows entirely too much about X and Y.”

  Totally torn by what he should do, he finally stepped back, “I’ve gotta get home now, but how ‘bout I come back after dinner around six-thirty? We can walk down there or I can give you a ride on my handy-dandy 12-speed?”

  Looking over his shoulder at the beaten up bicycle, “I think walking’ll be just fine.”

  “Cool.” Turning before continuing to walk, “See you later.”

  “Bye.”

  ▪▪▪

  Jack, out of breath, met her on the porch at 6:40. Apologizing for being late, "With eight people trying to eat at the same time, I’m amazed I got here so early.”

  “What happened?”

  As they started down the sidewalk, “More like what didn’t happen. Sam spilled his glass of juice all over Tucker. Tucker decided to retaliate by flinging a spoonful of mashed potatoes at him. Sam knew it was coming and ducked, which plastered Nate in the side of the face.” By now she was grinning at him so he continued, “Nate shoved Sam’s chair with his foot and broke one of the supports underneath, which caused the chair to collapse. Given my brother has this thing with tucking his napkin in his collar and under his plate to catch anything he drops, when he fell, he took the plate with him and you can just picture that.”

  Fighting back the laugh lodged in her throat, “Your mom must have wanted to kill everybody.”

  “Oh, that was just the beginning. When his chair went down, he knocked into Nate, who jumped over to get out of the way. And being the original napkin tucker, his plate went onto the floor and pretty much right on top of Sam.”

  Now she just let the laugh loose, “Did your parents explode?”

  “No, but Tim, my older brother, nearly did. You could see him getting redder and his eyes rolling around. Sometimes I think he would have been happier as an only child.”

  “What about you? Ever wish you were an only?”

  “No way. It'd be too boring. Anyways, the rest of us just kept on eating because, in all honesty, it's probably one of the less eventful meals we’ve had. Remind me to tell you about Thanksgiving sometime.” With a shake of her head, they continued on in silence for a minute until Jack suddenly remembered, “Hey, got my class schedule today.” Digging it out of his pocket, he handed it to her, “did I get any good teachers?”

  Taking the crumpled piece of paper, “I keep forgetting you’re new around here. Let’s see.”

  ▪▪▪

  By the time they’d ordered their ice cream and carried it to one of the picnic tables, she’d given him a detailed analysis of every teacher’s quirks and qualms, “Most of them are pretty cool. Just watch out for Mr. Tannen. Avoid the first row if possible; he likes to spit when he talks.”

  Trying to keep ahead of his dripping cone and failing miserably, he smeared the chocolate drop across his schedule, “Tannen, spitter … got it.”

  Quietly handing him a napkin to catch the line of chocolate running down his chin, “Do you always get this much ice cream everywhere?”

  With an embarrassed nod of his head, “Sorry, it just gets away from me.”

  “S’okay. I’ll just remember to get more napkins next time.”

  “So … you think maybe you’ll do this again with me?”

  Answering with a smile, she caused him to completely miss his mouth with the next pass of his cone. Giving him another napkin, “Can’t take you anywhere, can I?”

  ▪▪▪

  After the ice cream, “When do you have to be home?”

  She shook her head, “I don’t actually have a curfew.”

  “Really? So you can stay out as long as you want without getting in trouble?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t stay out late anyway. I usually have too much homework to get done after work.”

  “But still, not being ruled by a clock must be pretty cool. Mom likes everyone but me and Tim home by eight in the summer. I need to be home by ten unless I let Mom know in advance and Tim gets until one ‘cause of his job.”

  “Well, she does it because she worries and it’s a nice thing, having a mom worry about you.” Getting up from the table, “But for now, I think I should take you to Grant Park.”

  Letting the subject of curfews drop, “Why?”

  “’Cause they have the best swings.”

  “We’re gonna swing after eating ice cream?”

  “Sure, why not?”

  “Do you mind looking at a puddle of brown puke?”

  Wrinkling her face at him, “Okay, how ‘bout you sit for a few minutes while I go on the best swings ever?”

  ▪▪▪

  They found the park mostly empty, only a few families here and there. The swings were completely open and Emily hopped on, pumping her legs immediately, “Sure you're not up for it?”

  Leaning against one of the poles, he shook his head, “I think I’ll just hang out over here for now.”

  And with that, he watched her swing, legs working back and forth, taking her hig
her and higher until finally she cracked, letting out an uncharacteristic girly giggle. Leaning back, the world tipped upside down and righted itself a moment later, causing another giggle to emerge.

  Jack couldn’t help but laugh himself, “Enjoying?”

  She grinned again and pumped her legs harder, “I’m still trying to wrap the swing around the pole.”

  “You know that isn’t possible, right?”

  “Don’t burst my bubble. Right now, anything is possible.” Shaking his head, he watched for a few more minutes until she began to slow down and eventually stop. Still grinning, her hair a complete windblown mess of red tangles and with eyes shining, “Thank you.”

  “For what? You did all the work.”

  “For celebrating my B+ with me and letting me swing like an eight-year-old for as long as I wanted.”

  Taking a step closer to her, he held onto one of the now stilled chains, “I could watch you do that all night long.”

  She stared up at him a moment, her ecstatic smile wavering for barely a second before coming back full force, “You haven’t even seen me work my magic on the jungle gym yet.”

  Realizing he was once again invading her space, he stepped back and gestured towards it, “Lead the way.”

  ▪▪▪

  They returned to her porch a little after nine o’clock and grabbing the mail from the box, she settled on the porch steps, scooting over so Jack could sit next to her. The first envelope she pulled out was from the school. Handing it to him, “Want to open that?”

  “Sure.” Tearing into it, he pulled out her upcoming schedule and, setting it next to his, began comparing classes under the glow of the porch light. “Well, we’ve got two together, math and English. And from what I can figure, the same lunch.”

  She looked over at the schedule, “That’s the good lunch, too. Some get first lunch and have to eat at ten-thirty.”

  “My old school did that. Eat lunch at ten in the morning and you’re starving again by noon.”

  “I was stuck with ten-thirty last year, so I switched into an art class that ran around noon. Since you can eat in the art room and no one cares, I’d do homework when I was supposed to be at lunch, then eat during class. I told a few people about it and a whole pack of us switched.”

  “I’ll have to keep that in mind.” Leaving the schedules on the step behind him, he turned and leaned back on his elbows, “Although now, I think I have to get home.”

  Not making any move to get up, “Probably. It’s almost ten.”

  And with that said, they sat quietly for another minute before Jack asked, “Do you think I could come over tomorrow again? Maybe we can take a break from math, play some cards or something? Go for a bike ride?”

  Emily felt a small smile curl her lips, “I only know how to play War and I think a bike ride'd be fun. I could take you up to the school? Show you around?”

  “Cool.”

  “Tomorrow then? I have to work at four, so maybe around one?”

  Finally standing, “Definitely tomorrow and definitely one.”

  Grabbing his bike from where he'd parked it against the side of her house, he walked it to the gate, working hard to try to wipe the crazy grin off his face.

  He didn’t succeed.

  Not by a long shot.

  ▪▪▪

  Before their ride the next afternoon, Emily spoke quietly to her obviously third-hand bike, “You are the best bike ever, you know that?”

  Jack tilted his head in her direction, “Are you giving her a pep talk?”

  “I firmly believe that if I don't, she'll fall apart when I'm the farthest from home.”

  With a laugh, “Well, call me if that happens. I'll come find you and fix her up in a flash.”

  “Thanks.” Kind of enjoying the warm feeling in her chest from his comment, “Um, you ready to go?”

  “Lead on.” After their tour of the school grounds and a few other highlights, they were back on her front lawn, Jack teaching her how to play Rummy on the walkway between them. As he waited for her to organize her cards, “I meant to ask you the other day, where do your parents work? Do they work crazy hours or something?”

  “Um, it's only my mom and she's a nurse up in York. Her hours are always changing.”

  “Is York close?”

  “About a half-hour away.”

  Quickly laying her cards down, “Is this right?”

  Immediately distracted by her completely wrong hand, “Nope. Here’s what you need.”

  ▪▪▪

  And so it went for the rest of the week and through the last weekend before school started. They played cards, rode bikes, swung on the swings, and every day, Jack showed up at the restaurant at 8 p.m. to walk her home.

  The first time he showed up, Emily wasn’t quite sure what to do with him. When she had walked out the back door to go home, she was startled to see him leaning on the wall. Staring at him for a moment, she raised an eyebrow at him and walked past, with him immediately taking stride next to her.

  They were part way home before she finally cracked the silence, “You don't have to walk me home.”

  “I know.”

  And that was the extent of their conversation that night, with Jack leaving her at her gate and turning down the street to his own house with only a wave good-bye.

  The next day, they spent the afternoon together and again, without warning, he was there when she finished her shift.

  “You really don’t have to walk me home.”

  “Do you mind that I do?”

  With a shake of her head, “No.”

  And with that said, he quietly wound his fingers with hers and they walked home in silence.

  Chapter 3

  School began the following Tuesday and Jack, with Tim in tow, showed up at her front gate promptly at 7:30 a.m. wearing a smile, “Morning.”

  Tim immediately stuck out his hand, “Hi, I’m Tim and none of what Jack has ever told you about me is true.”

  She liked him immediately and as she shook his hand, “He’s never said anything bad. Promise.”

  Cuffing his younger brother on the back of the head, “Then apparently I need to smack him around a bit more.”

  Jack punched him back lightly, “Shut up.” Turning to Emily, “Ready to go?”

  “Yup.” Pointing over her shoulder towards her backpack, “I've got a blank notebook, two pencils and an intense dislike for math all ready to go.”

  Before Jack could reply back, Tim stopped suddenly and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. Handing it to her, “Do you know anything about these teachers? From what I hear, at least one is a spitter.”

  As Jack prodded his brother to get him moving again, she smiled before looking at the paper, “Yeah, your spitter is 3rd period and you’ve got a fast talker for 6th, but your 5th period’s a multiple choicer and your 1st is a definitioner, so you got lucky there.”

  “A what?”

  “Sorry. 5th period likes multiple choice tests and 1st period usually has a lot of definitions on her exams.”

  “Ahh, okay.”

  “Hey, you’ve got art class with me.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, 4th period with Tassleman. That’s advanced drawing. Jack never mentioned you drew.”

  Tim nodded, “Yeah, I seem to be able to do a few things with a pencil.”

  Jack, during their conversation, felt the incredible need to pull Emily over beside him, laying some caveman-like claim to her, letting Tim know loud and clear to back the hell off.

  Tim caught his look and, taking an opportunity when Emily had to stop to re-tie her shoe, leaned into Jack, keeping his voice to a whisper, “Never fear, brother, she's all yours … unless, of course, you screw up royally, then who knows.” Seeing Jack's glare intensify, he grinned, “Dude, I'm kidding, all right? I promise.”