Remember, Remember

(Yes, really! :3 And, yay!)

Jessie blinked before looking over at him. Smiling a bit, she nodded in acknowledgement before pulling out her books and putting them in her bag. Running a hand through her hair, she closed her locker and turned to look at him.

"Ready to go, then?" she asked, tilting her head to the side slightly.

Silently, she hoped that the pictures would help his memory, if even only a little. She didn't say this out loud, though, afraid that he would feel guilty again. It wasn't something that she wanted, as she doubted that he could actually control him forgetting her.

Bobby reached into his pocket and felt the folded piece of paper on his hand. If only the memories came to his mind as easy as drawings did. He managed to draw something from his head with no trouble at all and it's been years since he's ever done that. But here comes Jessie, his best friend, and he was struggling all day to remember her. And he was overthinking yet again.

"Yeah, I'm ready," he answered, but then some questions came up. "So, do you want a ride or do you have your own car? 'Cause, I can give you one…"

There was also the question of whose house they would drive to and the situation that could unfold. He could see his parents greeting Jessie happily and say how happy Bobby must be to have her back while Bobby stumbled on what to say. Hopefully, his parents wouldn't be home and he could look for the video on his own.

Jessie blinked before shrugging slightly.

"I can walk to whichever house we decide to head to," she said simply. She preferred walking, as it let her relieve pent up energy and stress - and she definitely needed it at this point.

"Which house should we go to?" She bit down on her lower lip. If they decided on his house, she'd have to make sure that he hadn't moved away. Even if he did, she still knew this place like the back of her hand, so she was sure she'd be able to find it.

Of course, if they chose her house, she'd have to tell him where it was and silently hoped that he knew his way around well enough to find it.

Bobby shook his head. "C'mon, you don't have to walk. I'll drive you to my house, it's no problem at all."

He had decided that they would go to his house first because he thought seeing the videos first would be better help for his memory. He also remembered that his mom was going to run errands in the afternoon and his dad worked until six. They'd be able to avoid an awkward moment at least until things got better for him and Jessie.

Before she could give him an answer, he spoke again. "I'm not taking no for an answer."

He didn't want to make her walk all the way to his house alone, even if she already knew her way around here. Walking to his place would take about forty minutes.

"Let's go."

With a smirk, he held out a hand. He didn't even know why, but he thought that if he did, it'd be harder for her to say no.

Jessie blinked before looking down at his hand. Mentally, she debated on whether or not to accept the offer. Finally, she simply sighed and placed her hand in his, though she silently hoped the simple contact wouldn't make any rumors arise.

"Fine, fine. Let's go," she said quietly before making her way out of the school, adjusting her backpack on her shoulders.

She bit down on her lower lip, feeling rather awkward still.

When she and Bobby were younger, they'd always hold hands. Back then, it didn't mean anything at all. They were older now, though, and it meant different things to everybody. She didn't even know why they were holding hands and that just made her feel all the more awkward.

Bobby was surprised that she actually put her hand in his, but here he was holding it. Even more surprising, he didn't even feel awkward about it when he should. He also realized that he didn't really need to hold her hand as they walked out the doors of the school.

When he turned to her, he noticed that her feelings about this were the complete opposite. So he let go. "Sorry. Too awkward for you?"

He chuckled. "I understand. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, but I thought that'd give a higher chance of you saying yes."

She was quiet compared to him, but it was probably because she still had a lot on her mind. That didn't stop him from trying to lighten things up a bit.

Jessie gave a small shrug as she let her hand fall back to her side. She glanced around a bit once they were out of the school, seeing how crowded it was outside.

"Kind of," she muttered quietly before running her fingers through her hair, pushing her hair out of her face. "Only because I haven't held hands with anybody since I left here. It just feels foreign."

Not to mention that she wasn't holding hands with her best friend. She had been holding hand with her best friend who forgot her.

She offered a small smile before looking up at the sky, then at him.

"Plus, with my luck, rumors are bound to start if anybody actually took notice of it."

Bobby tried not to frown when she said. He wasn't frowning about the rumors part, but what she had said before that.

"I haven't held hands with anybody since I left here."

He was about to open his mouth to say something about it, but began walking toward his car. "You shouldn't care about the rumors. If you do, you're giving people what they want. They like reactions."

It was true. Bobby didn't care for rumors and since he was so social and involved, he had been a target before. Once he showed that they didn't get to him, people didn't bother to talk about him.

"But I see where you're coming from," he said as they reached his car.

Jessie shrugged slightly before she made her way over to the passenger side of the car. She wasn't sure how to respond to his, words, but decided to make an effort at it.

"Considering I just got back, I'd rather not deal with rumors already," she said simply before she climbed into the car and buckled up.

Sighing softly, she leaned back to relax in the seat, letting her kind wander - which, by now, seemed to be impossible to evade.

What if the videos and pictures didn't bring Bobby's memory back? Sure, there would be proof that the two of them were close, but what good would that be if he didn't remember any of it?

Bobby put his backpack in the back seat and got inside. He started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. When they reached a stoplight, he spoke up to break the silence.

"So, uh, how were the rest of your classes?" he asked. "Besides first period, I mean."

He was trying all he could to get her to talk. All day she had been speaking to him in short sentences and there were long pauses in between. At the moment, he felt like he was annoying her.

The stoplight was taking too long. It was like everything was going so slow that day.

Jessie blinked, tearing away from her thoughts before looking over at him. She arched an eyebrow, slightly amused with his attempt at conversation.

Well, at least it wasn't something along the lines of 'Nice weather we're having.'

"They all sucked," she said before sighing and looking out of the window. "The teachers sound as monotonous as robots and they don't know how to make things even somewhat interesting."

At least, at the school she went to in Jersey, they always had some weird way to make things interesting and fun. She didn't make any friends there, though, so she didn't miss it.

"What about yours?" She turned her attention to him, arching an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Eh, they were alright," he answered, driving again once the light turned green. "I fell asleep in one of them and did some sketches in my notebook to pass the time."

Obviously, nothing exciting happened at the school. Jessie coming to it was the closest thing to anything happening. It was nice that they were at least talking about something other than him forgetting her.

He even mentioned his drawing. Did she know that he liked to draw? Could she possibly have some sketches from him? In terms of keepsakes and memories, she was more organized than him.

"And you're right," he laughed. "The teachers are pretty much robots. You know, in my honest opinion, I even think robots have more feelings than them."

Jessie arched an eyebrow to his words before laughing at the mention of robots having more feelings than the teachers. It almost seemed believable, if robots were programmed with emotions.

"Let's hope you've gotten better at drawing," she teased quietly before tilting her head back to look up at the ceiling of the car. Of course, Bobby had always been a good artist, in her opinion, even when they had been younger, so it was obvious she was only teasing him.

Running a hand through her hair, she closed her eyes, allowing herself to relax. "Zombies would have more emotions and feelings than teachers." Of course, the only things zombies ever wanted was human flesh. But at least they wanted something.

She was surprised at how relaxed she felt at this point. It was simply easy to feel relaxed in Bobby's presence, she supposed; it always had been. Of course, the fact that they weren't talking about their past anymore helped a bit.

"What did you draw, anyways?"

"What did I draw?" he repeated, gripping the steering wheel tightly.

This is why he shouldn't have mentioned his drawing. He didn't see this coming, though he should've known she was obviously going to ask what he drew.

Another moment of Bobby being stupid.

"I-I didn't draw anything special," he stuttered. "Just, you know, city skylines and monsters. I draw people, too, but not today. Unless you count my teacher who I drew as one of the monsters."

Oh, and I also did a drawing of you.

He hoped that was believable. Bobby was always more interested in sketching people, but he did like to draw other things. Saying that the teacher was one of his sketches probably made it a little bit more believable, but did she really believe it?

"And if you're wondering," he added. "Even though I'm a guy, I don't draw penises."

Jessie made a face at his last statement, muttering a simple, "I wasn't going to ask, but that's nice to know." She gave a shrug before leaning back in the seat again and looking forward, out the front window.

She believed his words. Of course, she didn't have a reason not to believe anything he said.

"Monsters, huh? You must have upgraded from just drawing people. Though, there was that one time that you drew your neighbor's dog." Giving another shrug, she let out a quiet sigh.

Biting down on her lower lip, she looked around inside the car a bit, surprised that it was mostly clean. She didn't comment on it, though.

"Hey, what can I say?" he shrugged. "Their dog is pretty fun to play with. I always watch him when they go away on vacation. But still, I really prefer to draw people."

They were almost to his house, but they fell silent again.

"It's weird," he said. "Today's the first time I've actually drawn in a few years. I don't know what made me suddenly do it today. I don't even have my sketchbook anymore."

Bobby sighed. "I guess class was just extra boring today."

He finally arrived at his house and pulled up onto the driveway. His mom's car wasn't there, which made him feel more relieved.

"We're here."

Jessie looked towards the house, sighing in relief when she noticed he hadn't moved. Grinning, she stepped out of the car, her backpack still on her back. Stretching her arms out in front of her, she glanced towards him.

"Sketchbook?" she asked with an arched eyebrow, "You mean the one that you were able to customize the cover on? Or a different one?"

The one she was speaking of, she had. He had given it to her as a going away present. For the first few days that she had left, she had spent her free time looking through the sketchbook. She hadn't looked through it since then because it made her miss him more.

"If that's the one, you gave it to me before I left. I even have it in my backpack." She took it almost everywhere with her, despite not looking through it. It somehow just made her feel like she was closer to him, even though they had been so far apart. "If it's a different one, though, you probably hid it in the top of your closet and forgot about it."

They walked up to the door and Bobby looked at her. "Yeah, I was thinking of another one. I think I taped a picture to the front, but I don't know what."

He would check his closet after finding the video. Maybe he did hide it somewhere, but it made him wonder what would make him want to hide it. Once he found it, he would start doing art again. It would help him think better since it seemed to do something for him in class.

But Jessie had another sketchbook of his. Did he have more than one? It must've been special to her for her to keep it in her backpack. There were probably more sketches of her in that book.

He fiddled with his keys. "C-can I see the sketchbook you have?"

Jessie blinked at his request before smiling a bit and nodding. Sliding the backpack off her shoulders, she opened it, easily pulling the sketchbook out and handing it to him.

"Here you go," she mused quietly, shifting from foot to foot every now and then, biting down on her lower lip nervously. What if he didn't even remember the drawings?

Running a hand through her hair, she looked towards him. "We can look for the other sketchbook after we find the videos, if you want."

She gave a slight shrug, figuring that it was up to him. He might want to search for the sketchbook on his own, after all. She didn't say anything about it, though.

Bobby looked down at the sketchbook and smiled at her. He was close to opening it, but then thought they should go inside the house first.

He unlocked the front door and they stepped inside. He walked over to the nearest couch and slowly opened the sketchbook, holding it lightly as if he could easily ruin it. The first sketch he saw was of a boy who looked like him. Though the drawing didn't look as realistic as the one he did earlier, he could still recognize that it was him.

In the drawing, the boy was smiling and seemed to be holding what looked like a flower. Bobby then noticed that he also drew a girl. The boy was giving the flower to the girl and she was smiling back at the boy. She had wavy hair and was holding out her arms, ready to receive the flower.

This was a drawing of him and Jessie. At the sight of this drawing, something happened. Something that had not happened all day. And the drawing triggered it.

It was a memory.

"I…" Bobby began. "I remember this."