The Understorey

“Hmm,” she deliberated, “I’ll call her mama in the morning and get the details. As long as it will be as well chaperoned as you claim it will be I don’t have a problem with it. Are you okay with being away from the family on such a holiday?”



“I’ll miss you very much mom,” I got up and kissed her forehead.



That made her more comfortable. She made me promise that, if I went, I’d call her the day of and I crossed my heart that I would.



“Y’all are stupid,” Maddy said with audacity, eyes still focused on her worksheet. “I would never let my boy do something like that.”



All three of us stared at the pre-teen lounging in all her false glory. I left the room so I wouldn’t have to witness the disrespect smacked out of her knowing I would hear it through the walls as it was.



“Maddy check your tone before you find yourself grounded the entire Thanksgiving break,” my dad said.



“Imagine that Mark!” My mom said. “Maddy giving us advice! We’re so lucky to have birthed her and raised her to be more intelligent than us. Wouldn’t you agree Mark?”



“You’re right Shelby. Where would we be without her?”



I couldn’t see it but I’m sure my mom had a look of disgust on her face and I couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of it. I bounded up the stairs to my room and went to sleep happily dreaming of turkeys.



The next morning I was really excited to pick Jules up for school. When I got there, I bounded up the smallish incline to the bottom of the steps of the covered porch just as she was locking the door.



“You didn’t!” She squealed with delight when she turned around and met my eyes.



“What are you talking about?” I said.



“I can feel it in your chest Elliott Gray. You asked and they said yes!”



It was handy, most of the time. I had a feeling I’d never be able to surprise her again though. She dropped her bag on the wood porch with a loud thud and she leaped into my arms from the top step in excitement.



“You’re gonna’ love Mauch Chunk,” she said.



“I’ve been there before Jules. Granted, I was pretty little and don’t remember much, but I have been there.”



“Oh, you’ll remember this trip,” she flirted.



“I bet I will,” I teased.



“We’re going to have to start picking out our road trip music starting today,” she said, gesturing excitedly with her hands. “We only have a week!”



Jules took forever to pick out music. She said there was an art to choosing the correct songs, to provide diverse choices that would suit any mood. I had to admit she was pretty good at it.



“Should we ditch today and stay here?” She asked. “I bet we could get a lot more done if we did.”



“Whoa! We just got stow away privileges and you already want to rock the boat? Any minute now we could capsize and never make our destination.”



“You’re right,” she sagged with a sigh. “Let’s get to school.”



“Aye, aye, cap’n!” I said with a salute.



That day was a B day and I’d only have fourth period Chemistry with her. I didn’t get to see her that morning but at least we got to eat lunch together and I was able to finish the day with her.



The hours ticked by so slowly but I absorbed the little information I didn’t already know in Economics and Algebra and ran to the cafeteria to see my Jules. I saw her sitting at our usual table but didn’t see what I had imagined all morning. She had her arms folded across her stomach as if in pain and a look of panic strewn about her perfect face. I instantly ran to her and pleaded to know what was wrong.



“Jules! What happened?”



The tears were just beginning to flow. I guess they had unconsciously been waiting for me. They knew how much I hated them. They were a sign of pain in Jules and that was unacceptable to me. She tried to speak but couldn’t and instead just handed me, with trembling hands, a folded piece of notebook paper torn from a binder. It was a printed note and read,



Julia, you’ve got something that I want and I’m determined to make it mine. I think you know what I mean. Watch yourself.



My hands tremored and the paper shook furiously in my hands. I crumpled it up but the frustration didn’t subside as I’d hoped. I needed to find Jesse and immediately. I stared out across the cafeteria.



“I’m going to find Jesse,” I said as calmly as I possibly could.



I began to stand but she pulled me back to my chair.



“No, babe, please. Have you considered that it might be from Taylor?” She asked.



I hadn’t thought of that but I guess I could see how it could also make sense. Both people made sense as its author but Jesse was the outright psycho, not to mention the unveiled threats, not that Jules knew about those. Jesse was the only one who could have done it, in my book.



“Damn it!” I said a little too loudly.



Jules stroked my arm to calm me down but it wasn’t helping. I could tell that she was scared because her fingers shook and she was nearly screaming it through our touch.



“You know it’s going to be okay, right?” I asked her.



“No,” she said.



“Why would you think otherwise Jules?”



“Because I know something you don’t,” she offered begrudgingly.



“This better not make me want to kill someone,” I said honestly.



“Never mind then,” she squeaked.



“Just tell me Jules,” I clipped.



“Well, I found it in my messenger bag this morning in class.”



“Yeah?”



“Well, it was early. No one was around. My messenger bag hadn’t been any place but in my room and your truck since last night and the note definitely wasn’t in there after school because I would have seen it when getting out my books to do my homework after dinner. No one could have had access to it unless............” She stopped.



“Unless,” I said, picking up where she left off, “unless they had been in your house?”



“Yes,” her lower lip trembled.



“And it would have had to have been while you had been sleeping?”



“Yes.”



I shuddered.



“We have to take this to the Principal. Now.”



I grabbed her hand and our stuff and the note and practically dragged her down the hallway. Principal Rudolph’s office had never seemed so far before. Of course, when I was hauled down there after my fight with Jesse it was the shortest walk ever but now it was a million miles away. Go figure.



I burst into secretary Millie’s office and demanded I speak with Principal Rudolph. Jules stood beside me, confident. It was a bit of a ruse. She was frightened and it was something only I could sense. She was a strong girl, stronger than anyone I knew, but this was beyond the both of us. It was too unbelievable to imagine.



“Principal Rudolph is out today kids,” Millie said, her head buried in paperwork.



“Will you tell her that we stopped by?” I asked.



Without waiting for her response, I dragged Jules back to the cafeteria. She didn’t want to eat and I didn’t blame her. We sat at our table and agreed that we should act like the note we had found didn’t bother us in case someone was watching and by someone we meant one of Taylor’s cronies, since Taylor didn’t share this lunch with us and Jesse was gone. I wasn’t taking any chances. I grabbed Jules’ hand, leaned into her neck and breathed into her ear that I loved her.



I blasted a concentrated amount of feeling through her throat and the heat relaxed her at once. The electricity that flowed between us was as powerful as a river’s.



We discovered we could control the dosage, so to speak, but had to be careful because releasing too much made us sleepy as heck. It soothed us both to experience the exchange and was quite addicting.



I craved it at night especially. It was when we were away from each other the longest and I found myself waking earlier and earlier each day just so I could touch her as quickly as possible to mollify the necessity for it.



She audibly sighed in relief and that cleared my head a little. I was too preoccupied with her suffering to start analyzing the note and deciphering its real meaning. I was incredibly shocked at the brazenness of the culprit breaking into her house. I say culprit, I mean Jesse. He’s the only one I know who would do something so monumentally dangerous for his health. A week ago, it would have been beyond anything I thought he could do.



As I held her hand, I studied my fingers desperate for an additional clue.



“I think I’m gonna’ call my Uncle Danny,” I said.



“You think it’s serious enough that we’d have to involve the police?”



“Yeah, I think so, Jules. I mean what’s the harm in it really? My uncle is bored at the station anyway, this will give him something to do.”



After school, Jules and I rode in silence to Danny’s station. I had the note in the back pocket of my jeans and could feel the searing heat of its intentions blistering down the back of my leg. As we rode, I kept Jules’ hand in mine for comfort and when we arrived my Uncle Danny came rushing out of the door. I’m guessing he saw us through the window.



“Hey son!” He called out.



“Hey Danny!” I said, closing the creaky driver’s side door.



I pulled my jacket closer to my body to keep the winter air from chilling me any further than my daunted bones already ached.



“Well Jules, every time I see you, you just get prettier and prettier,” he said before turning to me. “You’re gonna’ have to break ‘em off with a stick Elliott!”



“That’s actually kind of why we’re here Danny,” I said.



His eyes turned serious.



“What’s goin’ on?” He asked, furrowing his brow.



Uncle Danny was no longer there. We were now speaking to officer Danny.



“Well,” I said, pulling the flaming note from my pocket and handing it to him, “Jules found this note in her messenger bag this morning.”



He unfolded the note and read its words, then looked at us in silence.



I continued, “And basically, it’s not something we’d have wanted to involve the police in but we think the person who put it there had broken into Jules’ bedroom to do it.”



“Wait. Wait, now. You said it was in her messenger bag. It could have been any of the kids at school. This could very easily be a joke.”



“Well, unfortunately we’ve run into a few issues with some people at school so we know it’s not a joke. Also, I thought it had to have been put into the pack this morning but Jules said the messenger bag hadn’t been near anyone at all that morning except herself and myself, that it hadn’t been in there last night when she was doing her homework and when she found it this morning she knew the only way it could have gotten there was some time while she was sleeping.”



He sat for awhile and deliberated what his next steps would be.



“Chances are it’s just mean teenager crap but I’ll follow up on it either way. I better call Principal Rudolph at her home and just fill her in. Who are these people giving you trouble Elliott?”