Jagged Edge

"So Donny," Zoe started as she pushed herself on the swing, "What's your real name?"

"Don't tell me it's Donald," Abbie snorted as she burst out laughing.

"No, it's not Donald. It's Donnovan," Donny replied. We all went silent.

"Any you go by Donny? Why not something like...Van?" Veronica laughed.

"I like my name," Donny said defensively.

"I like it, too, I was just saying," Veronica blushed slightly.

"Aww!" Zoe and I cooed at the same time, then shouted, "Mindlink!"

"Mindlink?" Aydin spoke for the first time since I met him. His accent rang out clearly in his voice and stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Well, since we're best friends, our minds are really close together and we say and do a lot of the same things," Zoe explained.

"Oh," Aydin said, "You sound like you say that a lot."

"We don't mind. People probably would understand us better if we told them," I shrugged. Aydin nodded. Veronica suddenly jumped off her swing and flew through the air. She collapsed as she hit the ground and rolled onto her back.

"Ow," she whined, but laughed. Donny jumped off and helped Veronica up. Zoe jumped off and followed after them. Abby and Aydin soon began following in their wake, too. Jag was sitting in the swing next to me. He entwined his fingers with mine and leaned over to kiss my cheek. I moved my head and let my lips meet his. Jag pulled back and gently pulled me up. We walked to the playscape and ducked into the shady area. We leaned up against the wall and our lips connected again. But that's as far as we got before Jag pulled back and grinned at me.

"Ah, Roxie. I'm so glad you're okay," Jag smiled. He kissed my cheek again and I felt them getting warm.

"I'm glad, too," I mumbled, not quite able to completely form words yet.

"Roxie, that whole experience made me realize something. I have to tell you something, and I don't know if you feel the same way yet, or ever will. So I don't want you to say anything yet," Jag murmured," I think I'm falling in love with you."

My eyes welled up with tears and my heart ached a little bit, but in a good way. I was glad that he told me not to say anything because I was speechless. I was pretty sure that I loved him, too. I just didn't have the balls to say it like he did.

So I did the only thing that I could do. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled myself as close to him as humanly possible. But, oh, it still wasn't close enough. Jag chuckled and stroked my hair.

"I think I forgot to tell you, at least since you've been awake. Eva is coming up to visit tomorrow. She's moving into a house around here, but her parents didn't want her around to unpack right away," Jag said. My heart froze and my breathing caught as soon as I heard the word 'Eva.'

"Who...who's Eva?" I whispered.

"Eva's my cousin. She's a little unstable, so we have to be very careful not to upset her."

"What do you mean by 'unstable?'"

"I mean she was in a mental hospital about a month ago. After she tried to kill herself, her parents found out that she was bi and cutting. They didn't know how to deal with it, so they sent her away."

"Oh..."

"You look like you're deep in thought or something," Jag murmured, brushing my hair from my face and smiling down at me when he met my eyes.

"It's just that a girl named Eva...she was in my dream, too," I whispered so quietly that I couldn't hear myself, but my ears were ringing, so it was probably louder than I thought.

"Well, I got to visit you, and I talked a little bit about her," Jag explained, "I think I told you how we all thought she was okay until she tried to shoot herself. She missed because she was shaking so bad she dropped the gun, but she still got shot in the stomach."

"Then that explains that." I felt relieved. Thank God I hadn't been predicting the future. I relaxed into Jag's arms again.

"So...what else did you dream about?" Jag asked curiously.

"I dunno...just everyday life, I guess. I beat up a whore at my school," I smiled. For some reason, I felt triumphant, even if it was just a dream.

"That's cool," Jag said. He pulled me closer to him and buried his face in my neck. Suddenly, he started kissing my neck and it took a lot of effort to keep from giggling.

"Oh, wow. Okay," someone said awkwardly. Jag's head snapped up and I looked sheepishly at that person. It was Abbie, shielding her eyes with a hand.

"We're decent now," Jag smirked. I couldn't help but smile, too. Abbie peeked through her fingers suspiciously, then lowered her hand after finding that we were acceptable.

"Okay, well. We all wanna go get some ice cream, are you coming? Or do you just wanna sit there and...finish?" Abby made a wide, awkward hand motion, gesturing to where we were sitting.

"We would love to come with you guys," I said. I jumped up, pulling Jag with me. Abbie shook her head and motioned for us to follow her.

"Well, we can all cram into Donny's car or we can all cram into your car. It's up to you," Abbie said to Jag.

"Donny's," Jag said quickly.

"S'what I thought," Abbie smiled, running up to everyone else and telling them that we were ready to go. Jag and I climbed into Donny's car. I crawled into the back, Jag in the passenger seat. Abbie dived in next to me and pulled Aydin down next to her. Donny got in the driver's seat and Zoe and Veronica sat outside, glaring in at us.

"C'mon, Veronica! Hop on in!" I giggled, motioning at the floor of the car. She continued to glare and shook her head.

"If you think there is any way I'm sitting on the floor then you are sorely mistaken!" Veronica yelled as her glare became more menacing. Hell, I thought it was funny, so I started laughing harder.

"There is nothing funny about this! Nothing!" She yelled. Now everyone else in the car was snickering, including Donny.

"Then squish in between me and Abbie," I suggested, motioning to the thin crack of space between our legs.

"I hate you," she muttered."

"Then you should move your slow ass a little faster and get here before everyone takes a spot!" I tried to exclaim seriously, but lost it and burst out laughing. Veronica took a seat between Abbie and I, practically sitting on top of us. Zoe remained standing outside.

"Ahem." she coughed.

"You can lay on top of all of us," Abbie said, motioning to our laps, "We're already uncomfortable."

"Oh, fine," Zoe huffed dramatically as she climbed on top of us. Her feet were down by Aydin, her head by mine. She was basically just sitting on our laps because she was too tall to lay down.

"Why, hello there," I said. Zoe smiled at me and the car lurched forward, then stopped abruptly.

"Shit," Donny muttered. He put the car in reverse and slowly pulled out of the parking spot.

"Learn how to drive, dumbass," Jag snickered. He earned glares from both Veronica and Donny.

"Let's just calm down and get some ice cream. Nobody needs to get hurt," Abbie said, trying to resolve the situation.

"I will not calm down," Veronica muttered, but lost her previous anger. She was busy staring at Donny through the rearview mirror.

"That mirror's not for playing goo-goo eyes with," I said, then a little louder, "We're gonna get in an accident!"

Just as I said that, a car flew our of the intersection right in front of the car. Donny's eyes flashed with terror and he jammed on the brakes. Since none of us were smart enough to put our seatbelts on, we all went crashing forward into the seats in front of us. Zoe softened our fall, but we still ended up in a heap on the floor. I climbed back onto the seat and Zoe next to me. Abbie came next to us and pulled Aydin with her. Veronica glared at all of us, realizing her predicament. She stood up slowly and dramatically, then plunked down on top of all of us.

A car honked behind us and Donny yelled out the window, "Shut the hell up!" The driver of said car flipped off Donny, who returned the favor.

"I do not like this. Not one bit," Veronica hissed. We all started laughing, just enough to make her crack a smile.

"She smiled," Abbie said incredulously. It's not that Veronica never smiles, she just doesn't like being teased. This was a very, very rare occasion.

"Ice cream!" Veronica suddenly yelled. I didn't realize that we'd been stopped at the ice cream shop. Veronica scrambled over top of all of us and almost kicked open the door.

"Jesus, Veronica," Zoe mumbled. We all followed behind Veronica, knowing the rules of the game. The first to order always dispersed, leaving the last person to be the one to pay. Abbie was screwing around in the backseat, so we knew who would be paying. We all ordered quickly, knowing what our favorites were. By the time Abbie had made it to the door, Aydin was ordering and Abbie came up next to him. We didn't hear what she ordered, but we recognized the look on her face when the cashier told her how much the bill was. We all smothered our giggles with our hands or sweatshirt sleeves.

After Abbie had successfully paid, we reappeared by her side to her her ice cream.

"Bitches," Abbie growled with a smile. We all looked at her innocently, something we didn't do unless we were guilty. We got a table and enjoyed our ice cream in silence. As we finished, I noticed the necklace that I was wearing. It was a black cross, and I took it off. I had a fantastic idea.