Cracker Jack

"Maybe we should see a movie tomorrow," Jack mused as we headed inside after finishing our cigarettes. The hallways were bustling as people rushed to their first afternoon classes. Jack and I stopped walking, knowing that we had to go our separate ways in a matter of seconds.

"You mean like on a date?" I clarified.

He shrugged, looking a bit awkward at my choice of words. "I guess so. We've been together for quite awhile, and all we ever do is hang out in my bedroom. Isn't it time that we actually went out in public?"

"Yeah, sure," I smiled. "It could be fun, right? But it will have to be the late show. I have to have coffee with Sofi tomorrow."

"Good luck with that. I'll see you after class, Hayley."

I raised a hand in a half-wave and turned away. I hated my classes without Jack, but I would rather suffer for a few hours than get kicked out of school. At least this way I had a slim chance of avoiding living on the streets.

The idea of going on an actual date with Jack seemed almost absurd. We were only fifteen; neither of us could drive yet. That meant that Evelyn was probably going to chauffeur us around in her minivan. If had actually had a social standing, I would have been worried about it. But as it was, I thought that it was kind of cute that Jack had asked me.

I made it through the next couple of days of school, then found myself unsure what to do. Jack and I had walked home from school together every day. The cafe where I was scheduled to meet Sofi was in the opposite direction from the school as my house was.

I stood awkwardly on the sidewalk, smiling at Jack. "See you soon. If I don't show up by five, form a search party."

"It won't be that bad," he chuckled to himself. "But you have to promise that you will tell me every detail."

"Trust me, I won't be able to keep it a secret for more than a few seconds."

Jack smirked at me. "See you in a couple of hours, Hayley."

I smiled at him and nodded before turning and walking away. I felt awkward heading into the cafe alone, but I soon saw Sofi waving me over to a table near the back. I sat down across from her.

"Hey, Sofi, how are you?"

"I'm great. How are you?"

We ordered our coffees and went through all of our small talk pretty quickly. Once we had talked about Jack, Angel, and the weather, we really had nothing left. In order to get rid of the strained silence that was pressing against my ears, I began to ask Sofi about herself. This seemed to be a good idea.

By the time we were finished our beverages, I was pretty sure that I had heard her entire life story.

I also found that I really liked Sofi. If she had been in high school with me, we might have been good friends. If she didn't choose to ignore me like everyone else, that is. She got overexcited a lot, but that was really my only issue with her. And I found out that she really cared about Angel. It seemed to everyone else that they were only together out of habit, but that didn't seem to be the case. I couldn't really blame her; Angel was a good person.

"We should do this more often," Sofi said. "I think you and I need to stick together. I mean, when Angel is in town we will spend a lot of time around each other. It would be nice if we had something to talk about besides the boys. We shouldn't need to depend on them. We should be able to have our own conversations even when they're around."

I nodded. "Absolutely. I had a nice time today, Sofi. I would like to make a regular thing out of this. I think you're my only real friend besides Jack," I admitted.

She looked puzzled. She tucked her dark hair behind her ears. "What do you mean?"

"I was a loner before Jack came here," I told her. "I used to have friends, but we had a falling out. So the reason that Jack and I got to be so close so fast is because we really only have each other while we're at school. Don't get me wrong, I love being close with Jack. But I can't really talk to him about everything. So it's kind of nice having you around."

Sofi smiled widely. "You're like the little sister I always wanted, Hayley. Only you're a bit more angry than I imagined a sister would be. But you can talk to me about anything."

"Thank you, Sofi. That means a lot."

With that, she began rambling on about how she wanted Angel to meet her parents, and I remembered just how mismatched the two of us were. The idea of formally introducing Jack to my parents was completely laughable. But I didn't have it in me to be critical of Sofi right then.

We finished another round of coffee, then I had to excuse myself from the conversation.

"This was great, Sofi, but I have plans with Jack tonight. I should get going."

She nodded. "Of course. I bet you two have some homework to do or something."

"Actually, we're going out tonight. We're seeing a movie."

Sofi's eyes lit up with her smile. "That's so cute! Is Evelyn driving you?"

"Well," I shrugged, "we aren't driving ourselves. I've learned that bad things happen when Jack and I decide to go joyriding."

Sofi laughed. "You're funny, Hayley. Have fun tonight. I'll call you soon to try and set up another coffee date, okay?"

"Great. Talk to you later."

I left the cafe and set off in the direction of my house. The winter sky was rapidly darkening; I hadn't realized just how long I had been chatting with Sofi. The snow was slowly beginning to thaw, and with each new night the streets grew increasingly more icy. I took my time navigating my way down the slippery sidewalks.

"This is Detroit," I muttered darkly to myself. "Hasn't anyone ever heard of sidewalk salt?"

I rounded the last corner and saw the familiar line of houses. Most of the windows were dark; it seemed that hardly anyone was home. I felt my face contort with a wide smile when I saw Jack sit down on the front steps of the Mercer house. He hadn't noticed me yet, but I was still quite far away from him.

A light breeze lifted his hair, and it carried away the trail of smoke from his cigarette. The tip glowed ominously every time he took a drag.

I could hear urgent footsteps on the sidewalk behind me. Someone was in a hurry. I moved to the side, giving the other person a wide berth. I was in no hurry. It didn't bother me to let others pass me by. As long as Jack wasn't the one that was passing me by.

"Hey Jack!" I called out, getting his attention.

Jack looked over at me and smiled. As the footsteps behind me grew every louder, Jack's smile faded. I watched as his eyes widened and his mouth fell open. His smoldering cigarette slipped between his fingers and bounced lightly against the concrete step before tumbling into the snowbank.

Jack leapt to his feet. "Hayley!" He yelled out. I could hear the frantic tone, but I couldn't process it. I was happy right then. It made no sense for Jack to be worked up. He stretched out an arm toward me, and I cocked my head to one side in confusion.

Suddenly, there was a gloved hand on my throat. "Rat me out to the cops, will you Dayna?" A masculine voice growled ferociously. "I told you that I'd kill you for it."

Then there was an intense, stabbing pain radiating from my lower back. I gasped in shock and felt my body go limp. As I fell to the bitter, cold cement I managed to raise my head and look up. A figure was racing away down the sidewalk, but the person was covered in clothing from head to toe. I couldn't see anything about them. The only thing that I could think was that I was definitely not Dayna. Jack had just called out to me a moment before; hadn't my attacker heard him? Or had he just not cared?

I felt my breath grow shallow and multiply in frequency. In my confusion, the thin layer of ice over the sidewalk was like an anchor. I rested my cheek against it and felt my happiness leaching out into the cold. Vaguely, I registered the fact that Jack was yelling.

"Mom! Get help! Call an ambulance!"

"What happened?" Evelyn's panicked voice rang out.

"It's Hayley! She's been stabbed!"

Stabbed. So that was what had happened. I decided that I no longer liked knives in that moment. Or, more specifically, I didn't like people wielding them and shoving them under my skin. I was in so much pain that I had to close my eyes and grit my teeth in order to prevent myself from crying.

Jack slid down onto the sidewalk like a baseball player stealing home base. He touched my cheek comfortingly. "Hayley? Can you hear me?"

I nodded in mute response.

"An ambulance will be here soon. I couldn't," he took a heavy breath. "Fuck, I didn't get a good look at the guy. I'm so sorry. Just keep breathing, okay? You've got to stay with me."

I nodded again and grunted. I hoped that the noise would express everything that I was feeling. Apparently, it did.

"Jesus," Jack whispered. "I couldn't stop it. I saw it coming, but I couldn't get to you. I know it's got to hurt. Mom," he greeted Evelyn. I could hear her approach, but I didn't look up to see her. "There's so much blood," his voice cracked.

"Oh," Evelyn's voice was breathy. "The ambulance is coming. Hang on, dear. You'll be alright. Just lie still, we don't need you bringing any more harm to yourself."

I groaned and winced at the same time. It was odd, being sprawled out on that sidewalk. For the first time in years, I wanted my mother to hold me close and tell me that everything would be okay. But that wasn't going to happen. I did the only other thing that made sense to me right then. I reached up and pulled Jack's hand from my cheek. I held on like he was the only thing keeping me from spilling every drop of my blood onto the snow.

He leaned down and brought his lips to my forehead. And I let myself cry.