Dual Identity - Chapter 4

chapter 4 – Wednesday September 2nd 12:31 P.M

Jimmy glanced at his watch as the bell rang. His must be a minute too fast. He shook his head as he realized that Violet had probably messed with it when she was playing with it the other day.

Just as the bell rang, all of the high schoolers scrambled for the door, each in a hurry to get to lunch. Almost hesitantly, as if he might get caught, Jimmy glanced over to where Amy sat, nearer to the back in the only desk that had been available. She patiently waited until most of the jostling had stopped and a lot of the other students were out in the hall, then alerted her dog, who had been sleeping patiently beneath her desk.

Jimmy followed her as she left the classroom, watching as when she stepped out into the hall, everyone parted like the red sea.

“Hey, Jimmy.” Blake came up behind him. He didn’t say anything for a moment, peering at Amy's disappearing form.  “She’s blind, you know.”

Jimmy tossed a side glance at his friend. “I know that. After all, it is kind of hard to miss.”

“Hey, I’m over here starving and you two are looking at-,” Ben paused from his tantrum for a second. “What are you looking at anyway?”

Neither Jimmy nor Blake answered, but they both craned their neck to see as Amy disappeared out of sight.

“Ah,” Ben laid a hand on each ones shoulders. “So that’s what you two were looking at.” He nodded knowingly. “I don’t blame you.”

Both turned to glare at him, but Ben appeared unfazed. “Hey how about I invite her to eat lunch with us?”

Blake gave him a glare that should have set him on fire. “Are you nuts? One lone girl to sit with a bunch of guys?”

Ben waved him off. “I invited Ashley Spencer to sit with us. One more girl certainly shouldn’t be too much more for you to handle.”

“Oh, I wasn’t worried about me.” Blake said innocently. “I was worried that you wouldn’t be able too. After all, how many girls can you corral at once.”

Jimmy smirked, but Ben suddenly turned serious, a rare occasion in itself.

“Guys listen, I’m being serious here. Do you see anyone else inviting her to lunch?”

Blake and Jimmy looked at one another. “He has a point.” Blake said, almost as if it was painful.

Jimmy rolled his eyes. “Fine, go ask her or whatever you do.”

Ben didn’t budge. “You’re coming with me.”

Jimmy sighed. “Why? Are you too chicken to go talk to a blind girl by yourself?”

Ben grinned. “Why, Jimmy I’m surprised at you, scared of a girl.” He tsked dramatically. “Very well, I shall go by myself, but don’t get all wigged out of shape if I botch the job up all terrible like. After all, you can’t keep me in line all of the time, and on my own-,”

“All right, I’m coming, I’m coming.” Jimmy sighed. He didn’t know what in the world Ben was up to, but with him it was better just to not ask questions. Ben flashed a triumphant smile and turned, pushing his way through the masses.

Blake shrugged. “Don’t look at me.” He said. “I don’t know what he’s up too. Why don’t you see about catching up with him and I’ll go snag our regular table.”

Jimmy narrowed his eyes, giving Blake an accusing stare. His friend shoved his glasses up on his nose, peering right back at him.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Blake asked. “Ben could be proposing to her for all we know! Get over there!”

Jimmy jogged to catch up with Ben, coming up behind him just as his friend called out, “Hey, Amy!”

The girl pulled up short, her dog halting in perfect time. Jimmy could tell by the confused look on her face and her tense shoulders that she didn’t know who it was.

“Hey, there, Amy.” Ben half-skidded to a stop in front of her, almost immediantly turning on the smooth voice. “It’s Ben, Ben Harder!”

Amy tilted her head, still not saying anything, and her shoulders stayed ram rod straight as if waiting for Ben to speak his piece and then leave her alone.

Ben apparently seemed a little unsure of himself than he had been back in the classroom, but Jimmy didn’t blame him much. Amy would have been hard to talk too whether she spoke or not.

“So, Amy, me and the guys were planning on having lunch.” Ben kind of paused.

Amy’s face didn’t even so much as twitch, except for one eyebrow. Even Jimmy grinned at his friends awkwardness.

“And, uh, we were going to eat with Ashley Spencer. Do you know her? Real nice girl, and I uh, I think we’d all like it if you would consider joining us.” Ben paused. And waited. And – waited?

Jimmy felt like the air had been sucked whole school, and time seemed to stop, even as students flooded around them.

“So, you’re asking me to eat lunch with all of you?” At last Amy spoke and Ben visibly let out a breath.

“Uh, yeah if you want to.”

“You’re going to have to show me where to go.” Amy paused, “Jasper can follow you.”

Her golden retriever seemed to perk up at his name, as if begging his mistress for a command.

Ben just nodded like an idiot until Jimmy gave him a whack on the arm.

"Oh, yeah sure, it's uh, it's this way." He motioned with a hand as if he had forgotten which way the cafeteria was in the school he had gone to for three years now.

Amy just gripped her dog's red harness, talking quietly to him as Ben led the way, Jimmy following behind, each hesitant as to what to do or how to act. Ben showed them the way through the lunch line, with Amy in the middle and Jimmy taking up behind them. He watched almost a bit anxiously as Amy went through the line, scooting her tray along as if she didn’t have a car in the world, her dog paced perfectly along with her.

When they got to the end of line, Amy picked up her tray with one hand, balancing it easily as she kept a grip on her dog’s red harness with the other. Jasper led her around the tables, following Ben as he weaved his way through the cafeteria. Just as she was passing Damien Rodriguez’s table, he stuck out his foot like a middle schooler, ready to trip Amy as she passed by.

Jimmy’s eyes widened as he realized it was too late to warn the girl, Damien meeting his eye with a conspiring gleam in his dark eyes.

But then, Jasper, the ever dutiful and faithful guide dog, led Amy right around Damien’s foot and continued leading her down the way after Ben.

As she passed Damien, who had his mouth twisted into a scowl, she said, “I think you might want to keep your legs under the table. After all, you wouldn’t want someone to trip.”

Damien’s face grew dark red in fury, but he didn’t say a word as Amy passed by nonchalantly, the girl probably having no idea what she might have just started.

They made it to the table, where Ben was holding back looking at his brother who was chatting it up with Ashley Spencer. At least, she was chatting, Blake was just sitting there nodding like an idiot. Jimmy wondered if that ran in the family.

Jimmy smirked, suddenly realizing why Ben had drug him along to go talk with Amy. Blake had always complained that Ben was more of a matchmaker than Jimmy’s older sister Kate. Though, right now, Jimmy was probably the only one who noticed Blake’s clear ‘save me’ demeanor, as he cast a look at his brother.

“Where do I sit?” All three boys turned to look at Amy, who stood, almost bored, tray in hand, dog harness in other. Ashley froze, as if she suddenly didn’t know what to do.

“Would you rather me accidently sit in someone’s lap?”

There was another split second of silence and then everyone seemed to offer her his or her chair all at once. Amy suddenly got a confused look on her face, and Jimmy knew she couldn’t make heads or tails out of what was going on. He had read somewhere that you were supposed to offer a blind person your arm, not take theirs, so he offered to carry the tray for her, and led her to an empty spot. He watched as she felt the edge of the table, and reached down to pat the seat, as if trying to get a mental picture before she sat down. Jimmy slid the tray down in front of her and she fingered the edge of each compartment before setting her water bottle down at the top right hand corner.

Jimmy sat down opposite of her, so that all the guys were lined up on one side and Ashley and Amy were sitting together. Everyone kind of poked at their food, glancing up at Amy almost fearfully, as if she might grow another head.

Amy tilted her head, tapping a celery stick against her tray. “Don’t let the conversation stop just because I showed up.” She said. “I still have two perfectly good ears, you know.”

Everyone glanced down at their food for half a second, as if processing what she meant, and then all began to talk at once.

“So, Ashley, how’s your sister doing? Is she still sick?” Blake asked.

Ben said, while poking at his fillet, “Does anyone know if this is real fish?”

Jimmy asked Blake if his family was still planning on going out of town on Saturday, and Ashley made mention about the weather.

Amy just started laughing.

Feeling like a huge fool, Jimmy made some quick introductions. “Uh, Amy, this is Ashley Spencer. Ashley, meet Amy.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” Amy extended a slender hand, but Ashley just stared at it for a moment. A tight smile obviously covering disappointment, Amy retracted her hand, turning back to her food. “So tell me about yourself, Ashley.”

Ashley seemed to study Amy, staring at her openly while the girl took a careful bit of her fish stick. “Well, I have a younger sister in the third grade. My dad is a dentist and my mother works as an accountant, and there’s really not much more to tell.”

“What about you, Jimmy?”

“Well, I have two sisters, one older and one younger.”

Amy contemplated her apple sauce container. “How old are they?”

Jimmy shrugged. “Violet’s six and Kate will be twenty in – February.”

Amy suddenly smiled. “Hey, what day is it?”

“It’s the third, I think.”

“Mine is February nineteenth.” Amy tilted her head. “I’ll be turning seventeen. That's kind of cool!"

Everyone kind of nodded their heads as silence lapped at the edges of the table. Then Amy’s brow furrowed, and she looked up at Jimmy.

“What did you say your last name was? Easton?”

“Yep.” Jimmy popped the rest of his fish stick in his mouth and grimaced. It tasted like sandpaper soaked in grease and covered with crumbs not even fit for the birds.

Amy suddenly grew stiff, and she reached for her water bottle, nearly tipping it over. When Ashley and Jimmy both reached to set it upright, they bumped into one another, and further upset the whole table.

“Stop!”

At Amy’s yelp, everyone at the table turned to stare, including a few people from the other tables around them.

“I’m fine, I can get it myself! Just relax, okay?”

Ben opened his mouth, but at his brother’s glare, he closed it again without saying the words which were on everyone’s mind.

Wanting to change the subject, and get the focus away from their table, Jimmy asked, “So, Amy, what about you? Do you have any siblings.”

Amy froze, her sightless brown eyes seeming to pin him right down in his seat, as if she was reproving him for having said the wrong thing. But when she spoke, it was barely a whisper.

“No.”

No one said anything and then Amy forced a smile. “What about you, Ben?”

“The only sibling I’ve got is this sorry excuse for a brother.” Ben punched Blake in the arm.

“So then you’re twins?” Amy grinned for real this time. “How fun!”

“Not really.” Blake groused, glaring at Ben. “By the way this guy acts you would never know he’s 'supposedly' older.”

“Supposedly?” Amy got an impish gleam in her eye as she noted the obvious quotations around the word, and Jimmy almost found himself liking that. “How far apart are you?”

“One minute and thirty-seven seconds.” Ben proclaimed.

“Approximately.”

The brothers sat glaring at one another.

“Well, I think you’re extremely lucky.” Amy said. “I would love to have a twin.” Then the smile faltered, and she flicked her hair behind her shoulders nervously. “Actually, I don’t think so after all.”

Everyone looked at her curiously, but Amy just pushed another smile back into place.

“So, no other siblings, then?”

“Nope, Ben proved too much for Mom to handle.”

“Aww, shut up.” Ben grumbled. “My ears are still ringing from the last time she yelled ‘Blakely Harder get that frog off the dining room table!’”

“It might have been my frog, but you were the one who put it there.” Blake shot back. “Besides, you know good and well that you were grounded too, and that was no oversight of hers.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Ben rolled his eyes.

“Frogs?” Ashley suddenly seemed interested in the conversation – and Blake. “You have frogs! Oh, can I see them sometime?”

Blake turned red. “Yeah, sure, if you want to see them sometime. That is, yeah, I have two.”

Ben snickered, but Blake didn’t seem to notice.

“I wanted a frog, but my Mom can’t stand my salamander as it is.” Ashley leaned across the table as she was talking, resting her chin on her fist. “You should see him, he’s so adorable. He’s red and he’s got these little tiny black specks on him, like he rolled in black dust.”

“Uh-huh.”

Jimmy glanced at Amy, and then did a double take. Her face was a blank palette, a slow wash of panic and confusion dawning on it.

“Amy, are you OK?” He ventured. The others stopped talking and looked over.

“Blakely – Bentley.” Amy muttered. “So your name is Bentley?”

She seemed to be talking to the air as Ben nodded, tapping away at something on his phone. Jimmy elbowed him and he sat up with a start.

“Yep, I mean, cheesy right? Mothers. I don’t know how they come up with this stuff.” He sighed dramatically.

“It is not cheesy!” Amy suddenly erupted. “I think It’s a very nice name!”

Everyone kind of looked at her as she twisted a wisp of hair around her hand, yanking on it feircely beofer reaching down to snatch up Jasper’s harness. The dog had been sitting there the entire time, seemingly unaffected by the sounds and smells in the cafeteria.

“Excuse me, but I have to go.” She stood, her movement jerky as she scrambled out of her seat, grabbing her bag, and muttering something to her dog.

“Amy, wait!” Jimmy called, but she was already weaving in and out of the tables, and was soon out of sight.

“Weird.” Ashley mused. Then shrugged, turning back to Blake.

Jimmy just sat there, thinking something to himself. Something had gotten her spooked and he was pretty sure that it had something to do with Ben's name.

~

Wednesday September 2nd 1:18 P.M.

Amy careened through the halls, for the moment not caring what anyone thought. She had to get out of there and get out of there fast. Trying to retrace her steps, she navigated towards the ladies room, fingering braille readings under the sign to make sure she was headed in the right direction.

She fumbled for the lock in on of the stalls, and then slid down to the floor, hiding her face in Jasper’s neck. She felt the familiar panic of a flashback coming on and she tried to stave it off as best as she could.

Deep, slow, even breathes. That’s it, Amy, breathe.

A tear trickled down her face, and when she didn’t bother to wipe it away, she felt it drip off her chin into Jasper’s coat.

The floor was cold and hard, the stall door a weak barrier to the world and all the pain that had steeped deep into her heart.

Oh, Bentley, what happened that day? I’m not even sure that I even know anymore.