| She was sitting on the porch swing when Adam came out. The back door slammed loudly behind him as he stood awkwardly staring at his best friend. "Hi," was all he said. Jesse turned her head away. She and Adam's fight - only an hour ago - had left his accusing tone and piercing words ringing in her ears. She wasn't ready to talk to Adam yet. Not after what he said. The teenage boy sighed and walked over to sit on the swing. "I'm sorry," he said softly, "I didn't mean what I said-" "Yes, you did," Jesse interrupted in a quiet voice. She blinked rapidly, despising her weakness at almost crying in front of a boy. "You did mean it." The statement was quiet, but it had a ring of finality to it. Adam sighed. "You're right," he said after a moment. Jesse just looked at her hands. "Look, Jess," he said, beginning to get irritated, "it's no big deal-" "Of course it's a big deal!" Jess objected. "You can't just tell someone they're 'odd', that you're only friends with them out of pity, that they have no friends because of their attitude-" "Okay, that was a mistake," Adam hastened to say. Jesse was quiet for a minute, staring out at the apple tree in her grandmother's backyard. This was the first time she'd been outside Grandma's house since, well, since - "My parents died three months ago," Jesse broke the silence abruptly. "I'm sorry if I'm not exactly over that yet. I'm sorry if I don't have a perfect life like you. I'm sorry if I don't look perfect and act perfect and are perfect like you are!" She stood up, angrily brushing away tears that threatened to fall. "Hey, Jess, that's not fair!-" "Not fair? Not fair?" Jesse gave a hysterical laugh. "Adam, how would you be feeling if your parents died?" Adam set his chin, and Jesse realised she had gone too far. "I wouldn't care," he answered. Jesse snorted, too far into this rage to go back and apologise now. For the thousandth time, the faces of her parents flashed before her eyes ... But the images were fading. Was it possible she was actually forgetting them so soon? Jesse struggled to regain her composure. "Jess-" said Adam gently. But Jesse did not want his pity. She walked off into the fog, intent on getting away for a while.
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