Apocalypse Before Finals, Julie Steimle [black authors fiction txt] 📗

interested in Jeff when they were supposedly just investigating the death of Zormna's great aunt? And why had Zormna become so much more dependent on Jeff in that past year? When she had first met Jeff she couldn't stand being in the same area as him, let alone hear his voice. Back then, they were like cats and dogs. But now...well, now Brian had something to be jealous of. He could see that Zormna regarded Jeff as more than just a friend, even though there were no romantic notions between the two. Lately Zormna and Jeff were practically inseparable. She relied on him. She even seemed to need him... which was weird for such a ferociously independent military girl. Brian knew something big was up, and he wanted the truth.

Unfortunately, he would not have the chance for getting it until lunch hour. With his buddies there to back him up if needed...and Zormna also there as her emotions were more transparent and therefore more readable, Brian intended to push Jeff for full disclosure, as he was unable to take the suspense any longer.

He sat next to Jeff on the bench. "What was that phone call about?"

Jeff looked up from his hoagie and blinked at Brian. "Pardon?"

Zormna was sitting nearby, picking apart a pizza, eating the pepperoni first while pulling off the green peppers and tossing them onto the grass. As usual, Jeff had been looking preoccupied, holding his hoagie in his hands like he was contemplating the sauce in it though his mind seemed a million miles away.

"That phone call in class. Why did Alex call you?" Brian asked again, waiting expectantly.

Jeff shrugged, blowing it off. "I told you. My parents are on vacation and - "

"Don't lie to me." Brian rose from the picnic table. "I know that's a lie. I can tell when you lie. I've learned how."

Lifting his eyebrows, Jeff snuck a peek at Zormna who had stopped disassembling her pizza. Her shoulders pulled in as if preparing to break into a run.

"It was nothing," Jeff finally answered Brian, shaking his head and going back to his hoagie. He took a big bite out of it, preventing further talk.

Brian gaped at his once trusted friend. "Like heck it wasn't. You looked like you were going to barf. What happened? Really? What did you mean when you said to Alex, 'Go. We'll manage'? Manage what? Go where?"

Zormna peered edgily at Brian, listening to Jeff's chosen silence.

"And what does this have to do with Zormna? She was listening in like it was life or death what Alex was saying," Brian snapped. His hands has started to clench and unclench, as he didn't like this degree of secrecy.

"Don't worry about it, Brian," Zormna said for Jeff, whose mouth she knew was purposely full. "It was nothing."

Brian stepped indignantly from them, staring at the pair of them, mouth open. "What are you two hiding? What is going on? Because something weird is going on. Both of you have been acting like...like you're both waiting for the atomic bomb to drop."

Both Zormna and Jeff shared alarmed glances.

"Nothing." Jeff swallowed his mouthful to answer. "We aren't hiding anything."

Sighing heavily, Brian shook his head with so much weight.  "I told you, I can tell when you are lying, Jeff. You have been it doing a lot lately." Averting his eyes to the ground, as if he couldn't take it anymore and was enduring serious disappointment, he muttered, "Funny thing is, I used to think you were a real solid guy - just handed a raw deal. But now I...I know I can't trust you.... Neither of you."

Pulling back, an ashamed expression washed over Zormna's face. She glanced at Jeff again.

Jeff stared back at Brian like an individual struck, yet still not embarrassed or upset. Shaking his head slowly, Jeff finally said, "I can't tell you what's going on, Brian. And that's the truth."

Delivering him a reproving glare, Brian pulled back farther. "I thought I was your friend."

Jeff looked ashamed then. His eyes fell. "You are my friend. Which is why I won't tell you." Jeff looked up with a glance to Zormna as he explained, "There are some things that shouldn't be told."

Jonathan and Mark sat nearby listening, mouths open and eyes so wide with worry that their two friends might come to blows, though Jeff looked more likely to take punches rather than give them. Adam sat thunderstruck.

Not far off, Jennifer alongside Kevin were staring with wide eyes. Jennifer had kept out of Zormna's and Jeff's affairs since Christmas and had no clue what had just happened. She didn't want any more alien weirdness in her life. She liked being a normal American. And since Zormna had said nothing about the phone call in History or Biology when she had the chance, Jennifer knew they had evert intention to keep her out of it. Of course Kevin was entirely in the dark, though he had guesses (although inaccurate) about what was really going on. Both shared looks that maybe they ought to go.

This was also the first time Darren had heard of the phone call. He peered carefully around the tree at the duo, covering his mouth while he wondered what awful thing had happened that these two clearly did not want him involved in... The stiff look on Zormna's face told him enough, though. She looked like a protective soldier on guard.

However, Brian gaped at Jeff wordlessly. And despite what his friends assumed about him, he also had no inclination to fight his valued, talented, yet haunted friend whom he had, in a way, adopted like a brother. Instead Brian shook his head, breathing hard in disbelief. "What are you involved in? Something dangerous is happening, isn't it? Because the FBI came over to my house a few weeks back and I swear they were asking more questions about you than Zormna."

Jeff looked at the ground and then at Zormna. She gazed up at him with clear warning in her deep green eyes. As much as she was fond of his friends and would like to be honest with them, their mess was nobody's business and they didn't need to spread their trouble to these decent uninvolved people. Jeff cleared his throat and said, "Brian. I can't talk about it."

"But - " Brian indignantly protested.

"Come on, Zormna." Jeff hopped out of his seat, motioning her to follow him. "Let's go finish our English assignment."

Zormna stood up right away, nodding briskly. Both of them crossed the lawn back to the school building like one entity.

Kevin took that opportunity to leave, pulling Jennifer away with him. She thought it was wise, wishing with her whole heart to stay away from all that alien chaos.

"Do they know something?" Mark thumbed toward the couple.

Jonathan threw up his hands.

"Jennifer might," Brian muttered. But then he shook his head. "But she didn't seem to know about the phone call."

"What phone call?" Jonathan asked.

"In English class this morning," Brian said. "Alex called in the middle of class like it was an emergency, and Mr. Humphries took away Jeff's phone. Then Alex called Zormna's phone during the break. They looked like death when they were listening. Both of them."

"Don't you think it's weird that Jeff uses a pay-as-you-go phone?" Adam murmured, still staring in the direction Jeff and Zormna had gone. "And so does Zormna. Aren't both of them are like computer freaks? You'd think they'd have the latest tech."

Mark lifted his eyebrows at that thought. All of them knew Jeff loved to take apart computers and reassemble them. He sometimes made little gadgets with computer parts that were fun to play with, and he had once helped Brian with a couple merit badges involving technology - which Brian later told his pals was cool and freaky at the same time. And yet Jeff never owned anything 'smart' such as a smart phone or a smart TV. He said he preferred old tech.

"What was said in the phone call?" Jonathan asked.

"We couldn't hear," Brian said, plopping down onto the bench. "But Jeff let Zormna listen in, so she knows. And I swear Jeff looked like death when he listened to what Alex was saying."

"And he won't say anything about it?" Mark asked.

Adam shrugged, "Something about his dad breaking his ankle on vacation, or something."

Brian vehemently shook his head. "He was lying."

Laughing, Adam raised his eyebrows. "Oh, so like that Florida trip story and their ride with bikers in Arizona..."

Turning his eyes back to Adam, Brian said, "No. Jeff wasn't lying then. Zormna was more than willing to give details about those trips - but she won't say a word about this one."

"And that's proof of him lying?" Mark pulled back in an incredulous stare.

Jonathan slowly nodded. "Yeah, Mark. It is. Zormna hates lying. She gets all stiff and silent whenever Jeff makes stuff up. Like, for example...uh, how they met in Ireland. She agrees with only some of what he says. The rest...well, she just glares when he talks."

"Like about that FBI spy, Sam," Brian murmured. "They were telling the truth about that. And I know the FBI still have agents at our school, though I don't know who they are. Zormna told me about them and had pointed a few out. But those ones are gone. The thing is, those FBI guys came to my house asking more questions about Jeff. I am sure something freaky has happened."

"You mean recently? Because Jeff's been acting really moody since winter break. He was never like that before Christmas. What do you think happened?" Jonathan looked to the others.

"Zormna moved out of the McLenna's house Christmas morning," Adam murmured, thinking. "He's just worried about her safety maybe?"

Shaking his head, Brian said, "No. Well... yeah, but I am talking about recently as in these past two months. The air around them is so tense - like Jeff is about snap. And Zormna's been, you know, looking like she's been crying a lot."

Mark shrugged his shoulders. "Something bad must have happened. But then..." He glanced at his friends. "Then hasn't Jeff always said that things were not good at home? Maybe their dad beat up their mom."

Brian shook his head. "No. If that happened he would have said so. And to be honest, I'm starting to think his dad didn't really beat him up. ...That it was someone else. Have you really looked at his scars? They're like - "

"Hey!" Mark noticed Darren slip from behind the tree to leave. He jumped up, going after him. "Darren! What are you sneaking off for? I bet you know what's going on."

Darren had decided to run for it, but did it a bit too late. Jonathan seized him around his neck and shoulders before he could take a step further.

"Zormna is really tight with you," Jonathan said, his arm contracting around Darren's neck. "Do you mind telling us what's going on with Jeff and Zormna? Why is he acting so weird?"

Whimpering, Darren winced as the wrestler dragged him back into the group with a headlock. "I...I don't know."

Adam smirked at him, standing taller while staring down. "You can't possibly be totally in the dark. You were Zormna's date for Sadie Hawkins. I'm sure she tells you some things."

Brian stepped in closer, listening now with his other friends circling the boy. "Yeah, come to think of it. You've run errands for them. That time when they just took off to Arizona. I bet you knew what they were up to."

Darren swallowed, shrinking back with whimpers. "Oh, no. Please don't. Please don't hurt me."

"We're not going to hurt you." Brian groaned with a roll of his eyes. Getting in closer, he said, "But I want to know what's going on, and I think you do know what's happening."

Swallowing again, Darren felt sweat drip down his neck. "I can't tell you."

Moaning, Brian stepped back in disgust. He made Jonathan let Darren go.

Darren stood up then straightened to his full height. "Well, you wouldn't believe me anyway."

All at once the