Jagged Edge

"I'm lost," I said, looking around the mall. Yes, I'd gotten lost in the little mall that I'd grown up around. Again.

"How do you get lost every time?" Zoe laughed.

"It just happens!" I exclaimed. Zoe laughed at me some more and changed our direction. She led us out of the mall, then pulled out her cell phone. She started texting someone as Jag showed us to his car.

"Who are you texting?" I asked as we climbed in the back seat.

"My mom..." Zoe replied.

"And who else?" I prodded. Zoe blushed a little bit.

"Adam," she grinned.

"Ooh, you and Adam!" I sang. She blushed deeper and slapped my arm.

"Shut up!" she tried to sound menacing, but she was still grinning like a madman. Or madwoman, depending on what you prefer.

It was really weird, acting like nothing had happened. If I could remember right, Zoe and Adam did have a little fun at Veronica's house.

"Hey Zoe, aren't you already with Adam?" I asked. She looked up from her new text message.

"Well, we were gonna be, but Adam wanted to get to know me better," Zoe explained.

"But you almost had...sexual relations," I whispered the last two words like we did when we were younger. Zoe started laughing and of course, I started to laugh, too. We even got Jag to join in.

"You're right, but stil..." Zoe wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her favorite purple hoodie.

"Still...?" I prompted her.

"I want him to ask me to be his girlfriend, not the other way around," she said in a rush so fast that I could hardly understand what she was saying.

"He'll ask you, I know it," I told her. She nodded and sighed just as her phone vibrated. She bit her lip to keep from smiling and checked her message. It must've been from Adam because Zoe couldn't hold back her smile, no matter how hard she bit her lip. She quickly started texting him back, the grin not leaving her face. She closed her phone and looked at me, finally noticing that I'd been staring at her.

"What?" she asked me.

"Nothing," I said, smiling and turning my head to look out the window.

"Seriously! What!?" Zoe yelled, pushing my arm.

"Seriously! Nothing!" I yelled back, then started laughing. Again.

"Alright, fine, be that way," she giggled.

"Fine, I will," I started laughing even harder.

"Oh, my God! Do you know what I just noticed?" Zoe exclaimed.

"What did you just notice?" I asked.

"Whenever you laugh really hard, you like...slap your knee," she said. Now that I thought about it, I realized that I did.

"Jag, where are we going?" Zoe asked, looking around the car like that would answer her question.

"We're going to the park. I'm sure that there are probably a few people that we know there," Jag answered. Zoe nodded, as if her opinion really mattered to him. Even if Zoe didn't want to go, Jag would take her.

"Wait!" I exclaimed so suddenly that Zoe jumped. "Lemme go home and change my clothes first." I motioned to the wrinkled clothes that I had been wearing since Warped.

"Okay, sounds good," Jag approved.

"Then I get to check my MySpace," Zoe proposed. Jag nodded again. We were coming up to the house. Jag pulled in and Zoe and I jumped out of the car. We clambered up the stairs, pushing each other into walls to try and win. We both reached the top of the stairs at the same time.

"I win!" Zoe and I yelled in unison, glared at each other, burst out laughing, then ran in different directions. I ran into the bedroom that Jag and I shared, which was slowly turning girlier, and walked to the dresser. Jag cleaned out one of the drawers so that I had somewhere to put my clothes instead of in a bag on the floor. Just another one of his many surprises. I grabbed an A Skylit Drive t-shirt and the pair of skinny jeans that Zoe bought for me and went into the bathroom to change. I managed to do that quite quickly, then ran into the computer room to surprise Zoe. She and Jag were sitting there, pointing at the screen, talking.

"Hello!" I yelled, jumping on both of them. They jumped and Zoe clutched her heart.

"Oh, I gotta show you something," I exclaimed, grabbing at the mouse. I typed in Watchout! There's Ghosts in the search bar and clicked 'enter.' Then I clicked on the link and waited for it to load when suddenly Zoe pressed space bar and the screen jumped down. I sighed dramatically and glared at her. I started to scroll down and the screen jumped again.

"Zoe..." I warned. She hit space bar again. "Zoe!" Zoe hit the space bar rapidly three more times. "ZOE!" Both of us burst out laughing.

"Okay, what did you wanna show me?" She asked.

"Umm...oh, now you made me forget!" I exclaimed, hitting the desk.

"Well then, let's go!" Zoe jumped up and started to run down the stairs.

"Oh no you don't!" I also jumped up and bounded off to the staircase. I heard a thump, then watched Zoe slip. I couldn't stop running. As I approached, she grabbed at my shoulder to steady herself. I slipped then, and tumbled down the stairs. Zoe doubled over laughing and I rolled over onto my back and laughed, too. Jag came out of his bedroom and seen Zoe lying on the stairs and me on the floor. He looked like he didn't know whether to laugh or be worried.

"Are you ready to go?" Jag asked with a smile.

"I guess," I said breathlessly, pushing myself up. Zoe came up and held out her hand. I took it and let her help me up. We laughed our way to the car, Zoe and I climbed in the back and Jag in the front. We sadly attempted to regulate our breathing.

As we pulled up to the park, we could see Donny, Veronica, Abbie and someone else that IO didn't know. As soon as the car was relatively in a parked position, Zoe and I dived out of the back seat. We pushed and shoved each other, trying to be the first to get to the group.

"Abbie! Veronica!" I yelled as Zoe tripped. I don't know why, but I fell on the woodchips, also, and scrambled to get back up. But it was too late, Zoe had already made it there first. Abbie and Veronica were laughing at us. I sulked over and tried to catch my breath.

"Okay, Zoe, Roxie, Jag...this is my new neighbor, Aydin," Donny introduced, motioning to the guy that was standing next to Abbie.

"Hello!" I greeted cheerfully. He smiled shyly and waved. His hair was a white-blonde color and he was really pale. His eyes were a stormy gray-blue and were rimmed with black eyeliner. He was wearing a pair of gray skinny jeans and a gray and white plaid top that was unbuttoned about a third of the way down. I noticed Abbie looking at him through the corner of her eye, and I smiled. Abbie was into Aydin. Zoe nudged me, noticing the same thing.

"Aydin is from Wales," Abbie beamed. Aydin looked down and blushed.

"Well, are we just gonna stand here, or..." Donny trailed off. He motioned at the park and looked at each of us. That was the only go-ahead we needed.