Zac let out a sigh of disgust and tossed his video game controller onto his lap. That was the third time he had lost to his cousin James at the same game.
"Oh! The Zac Master has lost his touch!" James shouted victoriously.
"Yeah, whatever." Zac said. "Any other day I could put you to shame."
"What's wrong with today?" James asked.
Zac shrugged and sipped his soda. "I dunno man. Just stressin, I guess."
"katie?" James asked skeptically.
Zac chuckled. "For like, the first time in about 6 months, no, it's not." He said.
"So what's eatin ya?"
"Oh, it's this project. Katie and I have to work with this total freak. This kid is messed up. I just hate it. He's the kind of kid who you just wanna avoid, ya know?"
"yeah." James nodded, shutting off the TV.
"I dunno. He's got the both of us pretty spooked." Zac said.
"He can't be that bad."
"Oh yeah."
"Like what?"
"Well, he stares at you, and katie says that he says like, random weird things sometimes. It's gotten worse just lately I guess."
"That is weird. Who is this kid?"
"His name is Jeramy. That's all I know."
"What's he look like?"
"Kinda tall, weird hair, thick glasses. Weird lookin."
"I know who that is!" James said.
"You do?"
"Yeah, we went to gradeschool together." james said.
"Oh. What do you know about him?"
"He really is weird. When we were little, he would always talk to himself. He never talked to anyone else, just himself. But if I had a homelife like his, I would be messed up to." James said.
"What are you talking about?"
"There's a rumor that his dad beat his mom up a lot, and eventually killed her. They found her dead and said it was a heart attack, but some say she was in fine health. His dad is really mean, I've heard his dad hasn't left the house in years. They live in a house on the edge of town. It's freaky lookin; the windows are all boarded up and it just looks like a heap of junk. It's terrible." James said.
"How could I not know about that?" Zac asked.
"A lot of people won't talk about it." James said.
"Is that it? It's just him and his dad there?"
"No, he has another brother. I think he's a year older than us. He doesn't go to school anymore I don't think." James said. "Come to think of it, he didn't come to school much when we were little either. He's been even more weird."
"Oh."
"Do you wanna see it?"
"See what?"
"The house. It's back from the road; they'll never see us."
"Sure." Zac said.
A few minutes later, the two of them were sitting in James' truck, driving out to the edge of town. They passed fewer and fewer houses. The road turned to gravel, and the houses were farther and farther away from the road, all of them on larger property lots.
"That's it." James said, pointing to a house. He slowed and pulled over a bit off the road. Zac looked out his window and immediately felt very sorry for Jeramy.
The house was back a few hundred yards from the road. An overgrown grassy lane wound back to the house. The wood was stained grey from years of sun, and it was coming off in places. The front lawn was overgrown, and looked like it hadn't been cared for in years. the windows were indeed cracked and boarded up, just like James had said.
"That's terrible."
"Yup." James replied, not taking his eyes off the house.
"I had no idea."
The two boys sat in the truck for a moment, just looking at the nearly inhabitable house. Seconds later, the side door moved.
"Someone's coming." Zac said, squinting. A figure came out of the house. It was a boy. He was tall, and had short, light brown hair. Zac looked at him. He knew that he had seen him before.
"What's his name?"
"I dunno. I think it's his brother. Could be."
"I know I've seen him before."
"Ah. Well, we've gotta get going. Didn't you say you had somewhere to be?"
Zac thought a moment. "Oh shit. Step on it!" He said.
"Why? What? " James asked, pulling away.
"I was supposed to meet Katie at the school! Shit James, hurry!"
"Why?" James asked. "Won't she just wait for you? She prolly won't leave."
"She's there with Jeramy!" Zac said, smacking the dashboard with anticipation as James flew down the gravel road.
"Jeramy? The crazy?"
"Yes!" Zac exclaimed.
"Oh crap." James said. "What time were you supposed to meet?"
"Two." Zac said nervously, glancing at the clock on the dash. It read two fifteen.
"Do you think she'll be okay?"
"I hope so." Zac said. "Shit, I am an idiot!" He said. "She's there all alone too. Crap."
James's truck flew into town. They were almost to the high school. James slowed to a stop for a stop sign, when the truck went dead.
"Shit!" Zac yelled.
"Calm down, I think I can get it started...." James said, trying to restart the sputtering engine.
"Dude, I gotta go."
"You're nuts." James said.
"See ya." With that, Zac jumped out of the truck and sprinted for the high school, which was still five blocks away.
Katie chewed nervously on her nails and checked her watch again. Sure, it was two minutes fast, but it was two o five ans Zac still wasn't there. She got up from the table and began to walk around the room. She looked at the mice in their cages. They ran around and squeaked, oblivious to their watcher.
She felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and was face to face with Jeramy. She screamed loudly, causing him to flinch and jump back.
"Oh, sorry." She said. "Don't sneak up on me like that." She took a deep breath. She had never had to so many butterflies in her stomach.
"Sorry Katie." Jeramy said slowly, not taking his eyes from hers.
Katie felt the butterflies that were in her stomach drop to her feet.