INTP
by Nico Grey
Part 4
Over the weekend, Josiah connected with Ian twice to go running — or perhaps Ian connected with him. Josiah wasn't entirely certain how it was arranged, but Ian was waiting for him both Friday after school and on Saturday when Josiah jogged past Ian's home. He didn't push the pace, but was pleased to find that Ian was able to keep up with him at the steady six-and-a-half-minute-per-mile pace he preferred for long conditioning runs.
It was a pace that Josiah's cross country teammates sometimes struggled with on long training runs, and that planted a seed in his mind. He thought that the next time Mr. Fisher hinted at him about joining the soccer team, it could be useful information to help deflect the conversation.
It caught Josiah completely by surprise when Jodi greeted him with a soft smile and quiet "hello" when he arrived in his homeroom Monday morning. He was so surprised that he greeted her and smiled back without even thinking about it. He only realized after he had made his way to his desk in the back of the room that he felt good about the exchange. He had re-evaluated his feelings for Jodi after she had treated Ian so cruelly in their lunchroom encounter two weeks earlier. Now he was re-thinking that re-evaluation. Whatever she had done to Ian, he still thought that she looked awfully nice.
Josiah was thinking about how well Ian had kept up with him on their runs as Mr. Fisher motioned for him to wait at the end of English class. He was almost disappointed that soccer didn't even come up during their brief exchange.
"I heard that you and Ian really did get together this weekend. Something was said about running and a maniac pace," Mr. Fisher informed him.
Josiah nodded, smiled, and waited patiently for an opportunity.
"Thank you, Josiah." It appeared to Josiah that there was genuine emotion in the teacher's eyes. "I probably shouldn't say this, but I think Ian is a great kid. I'm glad you're taking the time to get to know him. I know it means a lot to him." The corners of his eyes and his mouth turned up as he patted Josiah on the shoulder, then turned his attention back to the work waiting for him on his desk.
Josiah left for his next class. He was confused. He had been sure that Mr. Fisher would slip at least some mention of soccer into the conversation.
When Josiah emerged from the lunch line, it surprised him that Ian wasn't already waiting at their usual table. He set his tray down, took a seat, and glanced around the room. He couldn't see Ian's dark red hair anywhere.
For a moment, an unpleasant thought crossed his mind. But he quickly located Daniel, Russ and friends at their table. They didn't appear to be paying any attention to Josiah and the table where he was seated.
"Isn't Ian in school today?" he asked when Jake sat down next to him.
"Oh, yeah. He'll be along," Jake assured him. "Mr. Gilchrist just wanted to talk to him after our English class."
"He isn't in any trouble, is he?" It didn't seem likely, but Josiah was worried.
"No. Not at all," Jake completely dismissed the idea. "Mr. Gilchrist coaches the JV baseball team. I think he's trying to talk Ian into playing for him this year."
Josiah felt some annoyance at the possibility. "Ian's planning to run track."
"I know," Jake turned and grinned at Josiah. "But Mr. Gilchrist knows that Ian was a pretty good second baseman in Little League. And he loves baseball even more than he likes teaching."
Josiah thought that maybe there was a bit too much of that sort of thing going around the school's teaching staff, but he decided not to mention it.
"I guess Mr. Gilchrist is okay. I didn't have him for freshman English last year, but he is my homeroom teacher."
Jake grinned again. "We know. Ian figured out which desk is yours. I'm surprised he hasn't decorated it for you yet."
Josiah worried for a moment about how Ian might decorate his desk. That concern was interrupted when Ian set a lunch tray down across from him and sat down.
Jake cut in before Ian could say anything. "Did you break Mr. Gilchrist's heart again?" he smirked.
"He'll get over it," Ian snickered. "Besides, he already has someone."
"To play second base?" Jake wondered.
"Covers all four bases, from what I hear," Ian sniggered.
That didn't make a lot of sense to Josiah. But his concern about Ian had been relieved. And for once, the meal on his lunch tray actually didn't look that bad.
Josiah and Ian were in high spirits when they arrived together for their Psychology class. Josiah thought that it had been a pretty good day for a Monday. During their study hall they had made plans to go for another run in the evening.
Josiah was even starting to think about the possibility of running back and forth to school together once the weather improved. Ian lived about four miles from the school and Josiah's house was another two miles farther south. Eight and twelve miles of running might be ambitious every day, but it could work three days a week; or maybe they could just run to or from school. He was looking forward to the possibilities of training with a regular partner.
Josiah was surprised to find that about half of their Psychology classmates had arrived before them; including Daniel and Russ. He felt some suspicion when he noticed that they were all studiously looking away as he and Ian entered the room and headed toward their seats.
It wasn't very creative. Two cue balls and a photograph of a naked mole rat were waiting on Ian's desk. Ian paled instantly and it pained Josiah to see the shock and hurt on his friend's face. It enraged him when he heard the snickers erupt across the rest of the classroom. Without thinking, he reached out and swept the offending items from Ian's desk. The cue balls bounced and clattered loudly across the tile floor.
"What's going on in here?" Ms. Porter demanded from the doorway.
Josiah turned guiltily. He realized too late that there might have been more practical ways to manage the situation.
"It looks like somebody lost their balls," Daniel observed innocently.
Ms. Porter rolled her eyes. "Go to the office, Daniel. Now!"
Daniel threw his hands up in the air. "What did I do?"
"Go see Mr. Harding, Daniel," Ms. Porter reiterated in a bored tone. She pointed to the door to reinforce her order. "I'm sure he'll be quite interested to hear your version of events."
Josiah thought that Daniel wanted to say more. Instead he snarled incoherently, snatched the books off his desk, and shot a venomous glare toward Ian and Josiah as he stalked out of the room.
Without further comment, Ms. Porter sat at her desk.
Uncertain about what he should do, Josiah tracked down the cue balls and brought them to the front of the room.
"I'm sorry," he told Ms. Porter.
She acknowledged the apology with a slight incline of her head, then eyed the class sternly until order was restored.
Josiah returned to his seat feeling both angry and embarrassed. He wasn't used to earning a teacher's disapproval. He was upset that Daniel and his friends were still antagonizing Ian. And he was annoyed with himself for reacting so badly and without thinking.
It didn't improve his attitude any when he noticed Russ glowering at him and Ian every time Josiah happened to glance in his direction. It was even more upsetting to him that Ian spent most of the class staring silently down at his desk.
Josiah realized that he shouldn't have been surprised when he interrupted his run at Ian's home that evening and his friend wasn't ready to join him. Ian was waiting outside the house, but explained that he wasn't feeling well. Josiah noticed Ian's mother watching them through a window with a sad expression on her face. He tried to accept the change in plans gracefully and promised Ian that he'd see him in school the following day. Ian nodded but wouldn't meet his eye as Josiah resumed his run.
Josiah had a hard time containing his excitement when Jodi was waiting for him in homeroom the next morning. He got the full benefit of her smile and a warm greeting. He didn't understand the sudden increased attention, but he certainly didn't mind. Maybe she was just happy that he was standing up for her cousin… that she had crapped all over in the lunchroom just a few days ago.
It was confusing. Josiah decided that she probably regretted what she had done. It had looked like she was getting a lot of peer pressure before she insulted Ian. He decided that he could believe she had a change of heart. He had liked her for a while. And as they say, blood is thicker than water, he thought. That made sense.
Josiah was feeling quite good about himself when he finished chatting with Jodi and strolled to his desk with a grin that he was having difficulty controlling. As he ignored the morning announcements droning in the background, Josiah thought that Amy Hampton was more beautiful than even the popular girls in his class. But even Amy couldn't hold a candle to Jodi. It was subtle, but there was just something particularly vibrant about her. It might have been her hair.
Mr. Fisher had been in a subdued mood during Josiah's English Composition class, so he wasn't too surprised when Ian never appeared for lunch. Jake confirmed that he wasn't in school. Josiah hadn't realized that Ian and Jake were particularly close friends, but Jake looked disappointed and even worried about Ian's absence.
Josiah took a few moments to really appraise the sandy-haired boy. Jake had been part of his lunchtime conversations for a couple of weeks, but he had never really given much thought to who he was or why he was Ian's friend.
"You and Ian are pretty close, huh?"
"Not really," Jake said. "I mean, we've been in school together since kindergarten, but we really only got friendly this year."
"So you two didn't play sports together in Middle School?" Josiah asked.
"We played before, but we were on opposite teams," Jake grinned. "In Little League, I played shortstop for the Elks team. Ian played second base for the Lions. So that made us enemies." He smiled broadly after that remark.
"What about the soccer team in Middle School?" Josiah asked.
"I don't play much soccer," Jake said. "It doesn't really interest me. I thought about going out for cross country this fall," he glanced hopefully at Josiah, "but I didn't know if I'd be any good at it."
Josiah filed the information away for future reference.
"Do you live in East Grange?" he inquired.
"Oh, yeah. All my life." It was hard for Josiah to tell whether or not Jake was proud of that fact. "My mom was a Crandall, so her family has been around here forever. My dad's family moved here while he was in middle school. I guess the Warrenss are gonna be here forever now, too."
"Is that a good thing?" Josiah wondered.
"I dunno," Jake shrugged. "It's okay. I don't really like big cities. And I do like the people here. At least most of them," he added, with a glance toward the center of the cafeteria.
Josiah thought he might have been looking toward Jodi's table. But Daniel and Russ were sitting nearby and yucking it up with their crowd. Josiah thought he could share the sentiment if that's who Jake was talking about.
Without really being aware of it, Josiah kept Jake involved in conversation for the rest of the lunch period; the two largely ignoring Jake's friends who were also seated at their table. After thirty minutes, Josiah decided that while he really hadn't known Jake before — except that he kind of put himself out once to help ease some of Ian's embarrassment over the peach incident — he was starting to like him.
Josiah thought it somewhat amusing that he was finding it easier to make friends with freshmen than it had ever been for him to make friends with his direct peers. It certainly wouldn't amuse his parents, he decided, but he might have a much richer social life if he was held back a year and found himself part of Ian and Jake's class.
The rest of the afternoon dragged for Josiah. By the time he arrived in his Psychology class, he was starting to realize how much sharing the second half of the day with Ian had changed his attitude about school. Without Ian around, the afternoon was just as dull as the entire school day had been for him during the first half of the year… or for as long as he could remember. He endured it out of a sense of duty and because it was practical to do so. But it usually wasn't any more interesting than a bowl of lukewarm oatmeal.
They hadn't made any plans, but Josiah wondered if Ian might be waiting to join him when he ran past the house that evening. He thought he might have noticed some motion in an upstairs window, so he waved and slowed his pace when he was approaching. When he didn't see any further activity, he continued on, feeling disappointed that he wouldn't have any companionship for his run.
Jodi appeared to actually be waiting for him to arrive when Josiah entered his homeroom the following morning. She smiled and waved before he was fully aware she was there, and she strolled over to chat with him while he was stuffing miscellaneous papers into his desk.
Josiah didn't understand how they had connected so quickly after sharing a homeroom for almost five months with no more than occasional contact with each other. But he found that really didn't matter very much to him. Up close, she didn't just look nice, she smelled nice, too. He didn't recognize the fragrance she was wearing, but he was sure that he wouldn't have any trouble noticing it in the future.
It wasn't easy for Josiah to establish a flow to their conversation. In his mind, he bemoaned his lack of social skills. While Jodi was flitting from one subject to the next with relative ease, he was just trying to keep up with her and to avoid sounding like an idiot.
He almost panicked when the conversation finally hit a lull and Jodi was looking at him expectantly.
"Uh… uh… " Josiah stammered. 'Say something, you idiot', he chastised himself. "So, uh, is Ian Corse your cousin?" He realized too late that it might not have been the best conversational sally. But it was all he had.
Jodi's expectant expression appeared to sour slightly. She nodded reluctantly.
"So, uh, I was wondering if he's okay," Josiah hadn't read her signal well. And it was still all he had. "He missed school yesterday."
Jodi's expression shifted subtly. She seemed more determined. "Look, Josiah. I think you're a nice guy. A really nice guy," she sounded flirtatious. It was almost like a switch had been flipped.
"You might not want to keep hanging around with Ian." She easily interpreted his immediate rejection of the idea. "There are some things you don't know about Ian. He ha… problems." Jodi trailed off and glanced away.
The expression on Josiah's face was easy to read when she glanced back at him. Jodi amplified her warning. "Ian's gay, Josiah."
Josiah was dazed. He shook his head in disbelief. "How do you know that?" he demanded.
"Everybody says he is." She hurried on when he started to shake his head again. "Ian's father was gay," she insisted. "I know that. My family has known that for years. He was the black sheep of our family."
Jodi continued relentlessly while Josiah stared at her in disbelief. The revelations came in rapid and intense staccato. "Ian's father killed himself. Before Ian was even born. Because he was gay. He couldn't live with the shame," she insisted. "The only reason Ian even lives in East Grange is because his mother begged my family to help her.
"Her family wouldn't have anything to do with her after she was pregnant." Jodi continued her expose. One detail after another dropped before Josiah could recover from the previous assertion. "She didn't want to raise Ian. She wanted to keep going to college. So my grandparents took him in out of the goodness of their hearts. My whole family helped. And she got her fancy degree.
"Then she came here. To East Grange. And she demanded that my family give him back to her. She's crazy," Jodi added. "It's no wonder Ian is so messed up."
Josiah was shocked. What Jodi was telling him really didn't seem right. But her delivery was intense. She seemed to believe what she was saying. Her anger at Ian's mother felt righteous.
Josiah really didn't know what to say. It was a relief when Mr. Gilchrist called the room to order so he could take attendance and everyone could hear the morning announcements.
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