Chapter 3

“Are they there yet?” Jubilee asked anxiously. Ev shook his head. “No footsteps.” “Guys, isn’t this an invasion of privacy?” Paige asked. Monet glanced at Paige from her position at the wall. “No more than Jubilee eavesdropping on anyone in this room.” “Hey!” Jubilee shouted. Ev clamped a hand over her mouth. “They’re coming!” he hissed, motioning for silence. The room went quiet, and Monet pressed her ear to the wall.

Angelo walked into the room behind her, wondering if he should’ve cleaned up a little first. The he remembered that Clarice had been here many times before, and probably didn’t mind the mess too much. He stuck his head into the hallway, making sure they weren’t being watched or followed. Then he closed the door behind them. After all, the others weren’t exactly sneaky, but even Monet wasn’t above a little spying.

Angelo sat down on the bed (it was the only clear spot in the room) beside her and picked up a guitar leaning against it. He lazily strummed a few notes to what might have been “Chopsticks.” Clarice watched with some interest. “Would you play something for me?” Angelo chuckled. “Only if I could, chica. For lack of a worse term, I suck.” He plucked the strings a few times to prove it. Clarice giggled. “It’s only here because Jono let me borrow it,” Angelo explained, placing the guitar on the floor. It wobbled uncertainly for a second, and then slid to the floor with a loud thunk.

“Are they making out yet?” Jubilee whispered. Paige elbowed the girl in her ribs. “Be quiet!” Monet shook her head. “The big dummy just dropped his guitar.” Jono’s eyes widened. *That’s my guitar!* “Shhh! He’s saying something!” Monet hissed, waving her hands.

Angelo picked up the guitar and leaned it against the dresser. When he turned back to Clarice, he noticed that she had moved closer to him. A lot closer. “So what did you want to talk about, Blinkie?” he asked, trying to lighten the mood. She smiled shyly for a moment. “Well, I wanted to ask you something.” He nodded, waiting for her to go on. “How would you define our relationship?” He hated it when women asked that. Not that Torres had. But he still hated it.

“Best friends,” he said after a while. She blinked. “Really?” “Why not? I spend more time with you than any other person here,” he pointed out. “Aside from that, you always come to me when you have a problem, so there’s a degree of trust there, too.” She nodded slightly.

“Angelo just said they were best friends,” Monet whispered. “How cute!” “That’s how it starts,” Ev pointed out. “Who’s your best friend, Ev?” Paige asked with a grin. “Not you,” was his reply. She slugged him in the back, and he nearly tripped over Jubilee, who was sitting on the bed next to him. “Creep.” “Quiet! Clarice is talking!” Monet announced.

“There’s something else, too,” Clarice said quietly. “It’s hard for me to say, though.” Angelo put an arm around her. “You know you can tell me anything.” She laid her head on his shoulder. “Really?” “Yeah,” he agreed. Clarice closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. Then she looked at him. “Please don’t hate me,” she whispered. Angelo seemed surprised. “For what, chica?” She was silent for a while. Finally, she found the courage she was looking for.

She slid closer to Angelo, wrapping her arms around him. “I love you,” she said quietly, looking up at him. Angelo only brushed a strand of brown hair away from her face. “I don’t hate you, Clarice,” he told her, staring into her eyes. “You’re very special to me, and I care a lot about you, but I don’t love you the way you love me.”

Clarice pulled away from him at once, turning to leave. She felt his hand on her shoulder. “Wait.” There were tears in her eyes as she looked at him. “Come here.” She stared at him for a few seconds, and then sat down beside him. Clarice felt the warmth of his arms around her, but it didn’t matter. She felt cold on the inside.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly. Clarice slowly shook her head. “Why can’t you love me?” she asked, looking at him. He sighed. “I do love you, chica. More than you’ll ever know. I’m just not in love with you.” A warm tear dropped onto his arm, making Angelo feel even worse. He imagined Clarice wasn’t feeling so good herself.

“All I wanted was you,” she whispered suddenly. He looked at her, wondering what anyone could possibly see in him. “We’ve been over this before. I know you’re grateful to me for saving your life, but you can’t base a healthy relationship on that.” “I didn’t want to base it on that,” Clarice said, shaking her head. “I wanted to base it on that the fact that we loved each other!” She choked back a sob and pulled away from him roughly. Before he could stop her, she disappeared in a flash of violet light. Angelo sighed and leaned back on his bed.

“Whoa.” Ev paused and looked at the others. “You heard it, too?” Monet asked. He nodded. “Somebody should go talk to her.” *You mean other than you?* Jono added. “Well...yeah,” Ev admitted slowly. “I like her, but I don’t know her very well. It should be Paige or Jubilee. They’re her roommates.” They all looked at each other. “Paige should do it,” almost all of them said at once. “Hey!” Jubilee yelled. Jono slapped a hand over her mouth. *Quiet, gel! You want Angelo to figure out we’re in here?*

As if to emphasize Jono’s point, the doorknob rattled. “Hide!” Ev hissed, diving under one of the beds with Monet. The door opened a moment later, and Sean stepped in. His eyes searched the room, and stopped on a pair of black boots sticking out from under the bed. “Jono, is that ye, lad?” Silence.

Then Sean saw part of a yellow raincoat hanging from a dresser drawer. “Jubilee?” “Way to go, J!” someone groaned. Everyone came out of their hiding places. Sean blinked as Jubilee stood up in the drawer, shaking wood splinters out of her hair. “I dinnae even want to know how ye managed to fit in there, lass.” Jubilee shrugged. “Being the smallest one around here has its benefits. Excuse us, teach.” The others piled out of the room behind her. Sean sighed and shook his head as he closed the door.

It took Paige all of ten minutes to find Clarice. She probably would’ve still been looking for her friend, if she hadn’t spotted Leech carrying a box of tissue back to the treehouse he and Artie stayed in.

“Want more tissues, lady?” Leech was asking when Paige stepped into the treehouse. Clarice shook her head, despite the fresh tear stains on her face. Leech put the box on the floor and sat down next to Artie. They both looked up at Paige, smiled, and turned their attention back to Clarice. Paige sat down next to Clarice. “Hi.” Clarice said nothing.

“Look, I know you’re upset about what Angelo said, but--” “Paige, please,” Clarice interrupted. “I think I’ve had enough talking for one night.” Paige considered that. “Okay. Then we’ll just sit here until you’re ready to talk.” Clarice shrugged. “Suit yourself.” “Should we tell friends they are sitting on Artie’s bed?” Leech whispered. A question mark appeared above Artie’s head.