Mystery Girl's Back

"The husband?" Mr. White Hair said, pulling his eyebrow in a scowl.

"Yes, Mrs. Adeline. Are you her husband?"

"Well, Adeline is my wife. So, I guess that makes me her husband. I'm Walter," he brought out his hand for a handshake, but Ali had other interests.

"Is that hair dye or a wig?" Ali asked if he was talking about Walter's hair. It was odd to see someone with white hair.

"No man," Walter joked, "have you ever seen a guy with white hair?"

"I'm not asking if I've seen one, am I?" Ali said, frowning. "Unless you have a disease, vitiligo maybe. I can't say you're 'albino' because, you know, you're not."

"I don't have a disease, Alian," Walter said with a laugh.

"What's up with your hair then?" Ali went on, "It's not icy blonde or gray, it almost looks like platinum blonde, but..."

"Alian," Walter interrupted, "Let's forget about my hair color, ok?"

"I thought you didn't trust many people," Ali said, changing the subject immediately.

"I'm sure you misunderstood that a bit. Adeline must have said it that way, but it's not entirely true. Besides that, I was watching you and your dad, and I think I know why you lashed out. That was quite the verbal attack."

"So, you're a creep and you don't trust anyone," Ali said thoughtfully, leaning against the door. Ignoring what he was saying

"Well, my daughter calls me that, so I guess I am." Walter shrugged.

"Wanna play board games with us? We have beers."

"I don't drink beer and I don't want to be around my father right now," Ali replied. He was about to close the door and then stopped. "You're also bad at jokes," he complained. "Remind me never to listen to any of them again."

He closed the door.

On Monday, Ali was ready for school without the mystery girl, Lyca. He survived three days without her in school; it was enough to prepare him for a week without her.

He hadn't seen Jeremiah yet. He guessed that Jeremiah was avoiding him because he felt bad for what he said. He knew because Jeremiah was sometimes predictable.

He closed his locker hoping to see Jeremiah walking toward him, but instead he saw her. He saw Lyca.

He was almost sure it was her because she was at the far end of the hallway and there were a lot of people in the way, so he could only catch a glimpse of her jet-black hair.

He was about to go to her when Jeremiah appeared right in front of him.

"Dude!" "Where the hell did you come from?" Ali exclaimed, moving back an inch.

"Hey, my dude," Jeremiah greeted. "Sorry for jumping at you like that. I'm also sorry for what I said on Friday," he apologized. "I've had a bad weekend thinking about what I said and I know I'm on the wrong side."

"You had a bad weekend because of me?" Ali asked, thoughtfully.

Jeremiah bent his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, Man! I wronged you."

"Jeremiah, it's OK, you didn't have to have a bad weekend because of me. I don't even matter."

"You matter to me, man," Jeremiah said, clapping a hand hard on Ali's shoulder, causing most of the books he was holding to fall to the ground with a soft thud. "I'm sorry bro," Jeremiah said sincerely. "I won't tell anyone that you like Lyca, not even Lyca. Bro code!" he added.

"Ok, man, water under the bridge, I guess," Ali said. Somewhere deep down, he missed Jeremiah and wanted to know what spending the weekend with him would feel like. The very first person he could call a friend. "And next time you're having a bad weekend, call me so we can have bad weekends together," Ali said.

Jeremiah looked like he was about to cry before he pulled Ali in for a tight hug.

In the event, Ali saw her again, Lyca, and this time he was sure she was the one because she had her side turned.

He pulled away from the hug and rushed toward her.

"Lyca!" he called as he went to her, silently praying that she would turn around.

His silent prayers were answered because she spun around.

"Warden?" she said when Ali stopped in front of her.

"Hi," he said, under his breath.

Then his expression turned to shock. A shock that she remembered his name

She didn't call his first name, but it still counted. It counted in a whole new way.

"You remember my name," he uttered.

Lyca gave a small laugh. "How could I forget a creep's name? You're standing way too close to me too."

Ali flushed. He was so eager to talk to her that he hadn't realized how close he was.

She smelled like candy mixed with a weird combination of sweet flowers. Ali had never been this close to her.

He was too close.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize how close I was," he apologized, taking a huge step back.

Lyca smiled.

"So, Ali started, you went out of town."

"Yes, I did, and I'm back," she replied, "sorry I didn't say anything to you."

Ali was a bit surprised that she was apologizing for not telling him she was leaving town It's fine, it's not like we know each other so well that Ali could have slapped himself for giving such an awful response.

There was an awkward silence before Lyca spoke.

"Um... My uncle was dying," Lyca muttered. She looked like she was forcing herself to say what she said.

"What?" Ali said. He wasn't sure he heard her properly.

"My uncle was dying," Lyca repeated. "That's why I left town. He wanted to see his family before he died."

"Oh," Ali said awkwardly. He hadn't expected Lyca to tell him something like that. He thought she just went out of town to have fun or something.

He wasn't sure how to act, so he got her hand in his and squeezed her wrist reassuringly. He did something he had no idea he could do. "It's OK," he said, "everything will be OK."

He expected Lyca to slap his hand out of hers, but she didn't. She just stared at it for a while before saying, "Thanks."

Ali slowly let go of her hand and decided it was best if he talked about something else. He didn't want to make her relive such moments.

"Your hair grew longer," he said nervously.

She smiled and flipped it so that Ali noticed a part of it that was a different color. A white color just like Walter's.

Caught in the moment, he reached out and touched it. It felt real and unreal at the same time.

"What the hell are you doing, Warden?" Lyca snapped angrily, slapping his hand away.

What the fuck is going on? Ali thought, his mouth dropping open.

"Do you just go around touching everyone's hair?" she asked, her nose flaring.

"W-Why are you freaking out like that?" Ali stuttered. Everyone around them was now turning their heads to them. "I'm sorry!"

"Don't you ever touch my hair again!" She barked and stormed off.

"Dude, what was that with you and Lyca?" Jeremiah asked when they sat down at the lab. Jeremiah had watched when she freaked, but Ali couldn't give him an answer because, like him, he didn't know what happened. He couldn't understand how touching a part of one's hair could result in something like that.

He almost thought she was being nice to him.

So much for wanting to cheer her up.

After school, Ali told Jeremiah to go ahead to the club meeting and not wait for him. He wanted to arrange a few things before he went, he said, but he just didn't want to see Lyca or herself.

It was funny how he went to school for three days hoping to see her and spent his weekend hoping he would see the mystery girl he heard about in his head. Now that he had, now that the mystery girl was back, all he wanted to do now was avoid her because she flared up in his face for touching her hair.

Thinking about it made him want to just walk into that room, walk up to her and ask her what he did.

Walking into the room was what he did, but walking up to her was what he didn't do because he saw her talking to Charlie and the conversation wasn't silent.

"How are your grandparents now?" Charlie asked with a concerned look.

"They're better, Charlie, thanks so much for your concern," Lyca thanked.

"Yes, the flu is very bad for old people. It was wise of you to visit them."

Ali could feel the anger and disgust welling up on his face. Lyca had lied to him and she stood there and watched him comfort her and still had the guts to flare up at him too.

He was so upset now he couldn't hold himself. "Liar! You told me your uncle was dying!" He yelled.