chapter eight: the ghosts of jackson square

The walk to the ferry port was kind of long, even more so under the hot summer sunlight and we walked about ten feet behind Greg the whole way, goofing around. Zac stopped with the jumping around and the huge steps and just walked normally at my side, with my arm around his, but he kept looking at the buildings and reading their names with weird accents. I couldn't stop laughing and I could tell he was really excited about getting out of the hotel to be away from everyone.

Once we were at the port, Greg yelled at us to hurry up as he paid his fare. Mumbling incoherent obscenities about Greg, Zac paid for his fare when it was his turn. He pointed at me and said something to the person handing over our tickets, but I wasn't paying attention. I was looking at the river and the city on the other side. I couldn't wait to get there and see what it was like.

When it was my turn to pay, I stepped up and started pulling my wallet out of my back pocket, and the ticket lady stopped me and pointed at Zac, saying he took care of mine. When I looked at him, he smiled and waved me over.

"C'mon, slow poke. I got your ticket."

Grinning, I stepped after him as he walked backwards onto the ferry. "You paid for mine? That was so sweet of you."

"Well, I'm a sweet guy," he replied, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

"Are you going to let me pay you back?"

"Nope. That would totally ruin the sweetness."

I rolled my eyes. "Then I'm getting us lunch."

"We'll see. Come on," he said quickly, and grabbed my hand. He tugged twice until I started walking with him, and then we kind of jogged through the inside of the ferry, around the cars that were parked inside.

"Zac, you're going to make someone think we snuck inside the ferry!" I cried, tugging him back. He stopped suddenly and turned back to face me just as I tripped over my own foot as I tried to stop and fell forward, right into his arms.

I half expected him to yell at me for crashing into him for a third time, but instead he laughed his ass off at me. He laughed and laughed, holding on to me the whole time and I was lucky that he did because I was laughing just as hard, and I probably would have hit the floor if he hadn't been holding me up.

"Sorry," I cried through my laughter. "I really didn't know I was this much of a klutz."

"No, it was my fault this time," he said, helping me stand up straight. "I should have slowed down."

Giggling, I looked up at him and suddenly felt a little nervous under his stare. He just looked at me with a little smile on his face and when it made my heart do this little fluttering thing I bit my lip. I cleared my throat and looked away from him, at the small trailer that was hooked up to the back of a pickup truck. But my gaze only stayed there for a few seconds because when his fingers started moving a little I realized they were still on my hips.

I turned to him and he pulled them back, but it felt to me like he took a long time to do it because I felt my skin still tingling where he'd touched me. Shivering a little, I pulled my shirt down, stretching it out. Zac was just staring at me the whole time, looking quite amused at it all, and I felt like an idiot. I was noticing all of these stupid little things and it was annoying. It was nothing. I shook it off. I was just excited about seeing the city.

He took my hand and tugged again, but after I took my first step to follow him I stopped when I heard what sounded like a loud snort and then a shuffle. I looked back at the trailer beside us and stared.

"Wait," I said to Zac, and he stopped. As he turned back I let go of his hand and walked toward the trailer and... I jumped back, startled, to see a small black eye looking back at me. "Holy crap!"

"What?" He joined my side and looked at it. As my eyes focused, I realized that it was a huge horse inside the trailer. "Aww, it's a horsey!"

I snorted at his word. "Oh, that's weird. I thought it was a horse."

Zac stuck his tongue out at me and stepped closer to the trailer. He reached his hand in through the narrow window that we were staring into to pet the horse and I yelped, jumping forward to pull him back. "What?"

"Don't do that! It might bite you," I hissed, pulling his arm back.

"Oh, geez. The horse is not going to bite me, Regan," he shook my hands off and chuckled as he reached out to the horse again. He slowly ran his hand down the horse's head, between her eyes down to her nose. He did this a few times as the horse slowly blinked her eyes at us. I let out a smooth breath and looked in the trailer, closely to see that the horse was really big, probably full-grown, and completely dark brown. She was so beautiful, and probably even more so in the sunlight. I felt so bad for her, being caged up like that, and I wanted to let her out.

After Zac did that and clucked his tongue at her a few times, he told me to pet her.

"Nuh-uh," I said, crossing my arms. "She might bite me."

He scoffed at me. "The horse is not going to bite you, dude. Here," he pulled me to stand in front of him and with one arm around me he used his other to take my hand and guide it through the window toward the horse's head. I was a little scared at first and my hand trembled a little under Zac's, but when my fingers flattened gently against the horse's soft head, I wasn't so scared anymore.

"Wow, she's so soft."

"I take it you've never been around a horse before," Zac said as he slowly pulled his hand away. He casually ran his fingertips down my arm before letting it drop to his side. I licked my lips as a shiver ran through my arm and down my back. Maybe it was just me again, but it seemed like he was taking up every opportunity to touch me. And even though it was kind of weird, it wasn't. I didn't really mind.

"Nope," I said quietly. "Only seen them from car windows."

"There're a few around my area. Back home... I took my sisters horseback-riding last month before we left."

"You miss home?" I pulled my hand back, looking at him. His smile wasn't as happy as it was before.

"Eh... kind of," he said as we started walking again. "I miss my friends."

"You have a lot of them?"

"Not really. Well, sort of. But I only have two really close ones. Brian and Alice. They're siblings, too."

"That's like me. I've got this whole big group but there's only two I constantly hang out with. They're not siblings, though. I actually think they're going to hook up this summer while I'm away from home."

"Where are you from, again?"

"Philadelphia. And you... are from Tulsa?"

"Yes'm," he said, imitating a southern accent and doing a much better job at it than my brother did earlier that day. "That I am. Born 'n' raised."

"Really?"

"Well no," he said in his normal voice, and laughed. "I was born in Virginia."

Suddenly the floor shook, and we were jerked back a bit. I looked forward, out onto the back deck and saw the river moving toward us. The ferry was finally starting to cross the Mississippi.

I was probably going to squeal from the excitement, but my phone rang. I picked it up as we started walking again, dreading the possibility that it was Leon, but I was happy again when I saw that it was just a text message from Billy.

'@ work right now. Kill me kill me kill me kill me kill me'

Giggling, I pressed the reply button and wrote 'i'm on a ferry right now.' I sent it just as Zac and I stepped out into the sunlight. The breeze rushed over me and nearly blew my hat off, so I pulled it back down more.

Zac and I walked to the railing in the very back, and he leaned over to look down at the dark water. "How's it feel to be riding the Mississippi right now?"

"Dirty," I said with a grin, playing off his words.

He laughed and sat on the railing, back to the water. I got a reply from Billy just then.

'sexy. Take pictures.'

"What's that?" Zac asked leaning forward, trying to see the screen on my cell.

"I got a text message from my friend Billy."

"Boyfriend?" he asked casually, still trying to see.

Glancing at him, I smirked. He looked very curious. "If he was I would have said so. But anyway, ew. Gross. He's practically my brother."

"But he's not your brother."

"No. He's my best friend."

"For how long, now?"

"Umm... six years now. Almost seven."

"Wow, that's a long time. I've never had a relationship last that long. Everyone slips away from me really fast because I'm always busy."

I made a sympathetic face at him, wrinkling my nose. "That really sucks."

"I'm not complaining. Or at least, I don't mean to be. I like being busy. I hate being bored. I just can't sit still sometimes."

"Sounds like my brother," I stated as I looked down at my phone, writing out my reply to Billy.

"You only have one of those, right?"

I shrugged, looking at him again. Some of his hair was loose from behind his ears, and it was wildly flying all over the place, almost dancing in front of his eyes. He didn't seem to care, or even notice. "I've just got Roman, but for all I know I could have like ten other brothers and sisters out there somewhere. I never met my Dad. He ran off when I was like five months old."

"How nice of him..."

"For sure," I nodded, scoffing as I returned to the text message. I sent Billy my reply of 'don't worry, I will. I miss you!' He wrote back a minute later saying 'ditto dude. boss is wigging. Gotta go. Peace out.'

I put my phone away and looked up at Zac. He was leaning back far, and it scared the hell out of me so I jumped forward and pulled him back, off the railing. "Don't do that, you're scaring me!"

"Damn, woman, you're strong," Zac said, laughing as he stumbled toward me. "It's fun, though. Try it."

I shook my head. "No way."

"Aww, what are you, scared?"

Taking this as a challenge, I glared at him and stepped up on the railing, but I was facing the water.

"Ahh, I see. You're doin' it Rose Dawson style. Feel like you're in Titanic, yet?"

I grinned and jumped down, standing close to him when I turned around. He burst into laughter after I said, "Yes. I'll never let go, Zac. I'll never let go."

I counted twenty-three jelly bracelets between both of my wrists. Though it might have been twenty-four. I forgot and became unsure of the number once I glanced at them after I finished counting. Twenty-something multi-colored jellies along with three beaded bracelets. One had small, glass aquamarine beads all around it, and it was my favorite one. Janie gave it to me after we'd been friends for a whole week. I had a charm bracelet too, but there was only one charm on it, and the charm didn't even belong there. It was supposed to go on my shoelaces, but I when I bent my foot too far once the metal hoop broke against my shoe. It wasn't anything special. It was just a star.

I twirled it between my fingers, back and forth, as I checked out my right shoulder for the millionth time. Zac was standing to my right, and I caught him staring at me when I did it. Slightly startled, I gave him a weird look but he spoke before I could ask why he was staring at me.

"Something wrong?" he asked, leaning back to view my shoulders from behind.

"No... why?"

"'Cause you keep checking yourself out."

I scoffed at the way he worded it. "Yeah, I do that for myself to keep my self-esteem up, actually. You know, since no guy ever does."

Zac snorted, shaking his head. "I find that extremely hard to believe."

I looked at him sharply, and though I felt shy I didn't look away. His tone was very flirtatious. Not knowing what to say, I blurted, "I freckle."

He seemed confused. "You what?"

"Freckle. In the sun. Like, you probably tan when you're out here for a while. I don't. I just burn and I freckle. Then I freckle some more and then I start to peel and that just leaves me with even more freckles. It's just this big freckle thing. It's annoying."

"Ah, so you're on freckle watch?" Zac asked, grinning at me.

I smiled. "Something like that. I should have brought a blouse or worn something with sleeves, though," I said with a sigh as I messed with the collar of my sleeveless red shirt. It was a new one Billy picked out while we were in Philly shopping for new clothes for me to take on my trip. It had a vintage looking Miller beer logo across the front in white. I looked up and glanced behind me at the river's width, squinting at the sunlight as it shone so brightly like a threat to blind me. "I should have brought sunglasses, too. Or my hat. I always forget my hat when I need it."

"I can't wait to see what you look like all broken out into freckles," Zac said, looking around. I glared at him, and when I didn't reply he looked at me. He started laughing when he saw the look on my face.

"You won't. If it happens I'll lock myself away and never show my face again," I said dramatically, closing my eyes as I tousled my hair in the wind.

"I'll find my way in," he replied confidently. When I opened my eyes and glanced at him, he stuck his tongue out at me. I returned the gesture as I fingered my bracelets again, looking down at them.

Silence fell over us as the ferry reached the port. I never even noticed the halt because I was counting my bracelets again, but Zac subtly demanded my attention when he reached out for my hand and fumbled over my wrist. Startled I had this fast, dizzying scare as his fingertips touched my wrist right over my bracelets because for a second I thought he was trying to move them out of the way to see the marks they were purposefully hiding on my skin, but when I tried to pull away his grip on my hand was firm. I felt a little lightheaded as the wind came to a stop and the air was still, and my heart skipped when he intertwined his fingers with mine. Slowly I lifted my eyes to his, and he was staring at me expectantly.

The corners of his mouth twitched in a little smile and he leaned in. My eyes went wide and I thought he was going to do something else, but he stopped half way between the space that separated us and said, "Get ready to run for it."

I started breathing again when he stepped forward, pulling me with him away from the railing. "Run? We're running soon? What for? I'm in flip-flops."

Zac never answered me. He just pulled me along as he walked, mixing into the small crowd of people making their way off the ferry before the cars parked inside. I thought of Greg and looked around, but I didn't see him anywhere.

"Zac, what about Greg?"

As if on cue, Greg's voice was heard not a second after I spoke. "Zac! Regan!"

"Shit. C'mon," Zac said to me, tugging harder until I was running with him around the crowd. His grip on my hand was still tight as we reached the land and ran up the block, but I was struggling to keep up in the shoes I was wearing. My flip-flops kept feeling like they were slipping off my feet, but before either of them did my hand slipped out of Zac's as we were crossing a busy road.

Keeping my eyes on him, I didn't miss a beat and followed. He finally stopped when he reached the other side of the road and I caught up with him as he turned around.

"Are you crazy?" I asked, panting. "Why are we running?"

"Yes, I am," he said, smiling. He was perfectly composed. "I'm trying to lose Greg. Come on."

He started down the sidewalk again, reaching for my hand. I couldn't catch up in time to grab it before he sped up, and I just followed him as he ran, dodging the hordes of people that were crowding our way. I lost sight of him after a few seconds. Scared and worried, I slowed to a jog and kept my eyes peeled looking out for him. The last thing I wanted to do was get lost in a strange town in the south with no sense of direction, all alone.

When I bumped into someone I just felt more scared, but then I caught a glimpse of someone running with golden hair flowing behind him. I sped up my pace, trying to catch up with him. He disappeared again before I could.

I began to slow down again and just as I opened my mouth to yell after him, a startled scream erupted instead when someone reached out of an alley as I passed it and grabbed my arm, pulling me in. I thought I was going to land on the ground or smashed against one of the brick walls, but my landing was safe when another arm wrapped around my shoulders and held me up until I caught my balance.

I pulled away quickly, slapping at the person's arms, but I stopped when I saw it was Zac who was laughing at the scared look that I'm sure was on my face. I should have known that idiot would do something like that to scare me again. He'd probably end up doing it every day. I should have already been used to it.

"You asshole! You scared the shit out of me," I cried. "Why the hell did you do that?"

"Shh, I told you, I'm trying to lose Greg. Come over here," he motioned for me to stand at his side. I obliged, but I couldn't without smacking his arm as I stepped over to him. He yelped and grasped his arm, frowning.

"Seriously, you scared me!" I hissed, giving him a dirty look. "I thought you were some freak who was going to attack me or mug me and then rape me when they found out I had no money or credit cards or jewelry for them to steal."

"Don't be so paranoid."

"Paranoid?! I'm sixteen years old and walking around in a big city I've never been in before with a guy I only met like three days ago, and suddenly he disappears from my sight and then I'm being grabbed and pulled into a scary alley, what the hell else do you expect me to think?"

Zac slowly looked over at me and raised an eyebrow. "Wow. Must be stressful to be a sixteen year old girl, then."

"You have no idea." I hugged myself, glaring at him.

"Aw, I'm sorry," he put his arm back around my shoulders. "I'll protect you from psychos that want to attack you, then. Don't you worry."

I rolled my eyes, trying not to smile. "Promise?"

"Cross my heart," he offered me his pinky. I let my lips curl into a half smile as I linked my pinky with his for a moment. When our hands dropped, he stuck his head out, looking down both ways of the sidewalk. "I think we lost him," he said.

"Greg?"

"Yup," Zac said as he stepped away from the wall.

"Aren't we supposed to stick with him?" I asked, leaning against it.

"That's what my parents said, but I don't care," he shrugged and shook his head and when he continued, he looked distant and a little disturbed, even kind of angry. "I don't like that guy; I don't trust him. I've seen the way he looks at you..."

I looked up at him, my eyebrows raised. "What do you mean?"

"Haven't you seen it?" Zac asked, a look on his face similar to mine. I shook my head. "He sometimes looks at you like... as if he's gone a few days without a meal, and you're the piece of meat. Like, you're the lamb, he's the wolf."

"...Okay, that's a little freaky."

"Yeah, I know. It made me extremely pissed off and uncomfortable. I can't believe you didn't notice it though." Hands in his pockets, Zac kicked a rock away and looked ahead of him, down the long alley. "I've hated him since he was hired, which was a really stupid thing to do since we don't need him anyway, but everyone else thought it was okay. They just don't see the things I always notice." His voice took on a slightly bitter tone.

"Yeah? I think I sort of know how you feel."

He gave me a little smile and just stood there, quiet for a moment. Then he pulled his hands out of his pockets and ran one through his hair. "So! What do you want to do? We have all day."

I smiled. "What's there to do here?"

He looked around. "First we could... take a walk through a pirate alley." He motioned toward the depth of the alley we were in, and I watched for a second as the people passed by at the other end. It was a long alley so they looked tiny.

I gave Zac a dumb look. "This is not a pirate alley and I don't know what makes you call it that, but... okay." I pushed myself off the wall and started walking, twirling my camera by its small cord that kept it around my wrist. When I did that I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures yet on our outing, so I took it out of its little case and turned it on.

"Oh, come on, use your imagination," Zac said, and I heard his feet shuffle behind me as he followed. Even though I knew he was behind me, I was completely startled and yelped when he suddenly touched my shoulders and leaned over growling, "Arrgh, matey!"

When my heart settled, I grinned and slapped his arm lightly. "You freaking nerd."

He smiled a very wide smile, almost looking proud as he walked beside me. When he wasn't paying attention I lifted my hands and snapped my first picture, of him with that big smile on his face. He realized what I was doing a second after I did and reached for my camera. "Let me see that thing."

Before I could say yes, he grabbed it from my hand. As he pulled it toward him, the cord stayed stuck around my wrist and I was yanked with it. I tripped over my foot and ended up smacking right into him.

"Oops," he laughed as I stepped back, and he lifted the cord from around my wrist. I watched, and as he did it the cord pulled on my bracelets, lifting half of them a little and I felt breathless and panicked when the thick scar on my wrist was revealed in the opening.

He saw it.

"Hey, what's that?" He asked as he reached for my wrist. This time I managed to pull my arm back before he could touch it. I started walking again, and he did too.

"Nothing," I said quickly. "Just... a imprint from... a-all my bracelets. You know. I like... I never take them off. Well, almost never."

"Oh, okay," he nodded, seeming to believe me. "I thought it was a scar. Looked like a bear just swiped at you with its claw."

"Yeah, they've been described like that before," I said quietly, then quickly added, "the imprints from my bracelets, I mean."

Suddenly Zac aimed the camera at me. Instinctively, I put my hands up to cover my face, and he whined at me. But I heard the camera beep, indicating that he took the picture anyway. When I looked at him he was frowning at me so I stuck my tongue out at him. He started taking pictures of things around us in our historic setting, quietly amused as we continued on through the alley. I just sighed and let him keep my camera, happy that he was distracted from what he'd just seen. I was grateful that he didn't think much into it, but it was such a scary close call, and even worse... I felt horrible for lying to him about it.

It was a lie I always told so easily whenever my cover-up of so many bracelets didn't work. But I stuttered and stammered with him. I felt so bad about it, but I figured that since he forgot about it, there was no point for me to dwell on it either.

When we stepped out of the alley, we automatically came upon a tour group. Guides were being passed out, and Zac stepped up to take one quickly. Standing close beside me, he handed me my camera and opened it up. There was a map of the French Quarter with information about famous streets and sights.

"Dude, we should check out Bourbon Street tonight," he said, pointing to it. It was a few blocks away from the riverfront.

"What's that?" I asked, leaning on his shoulder a little bit to get a better look.

"It's like the party haven. I think the streets close to cars at night and everyone there gets drunk. The girls go wild and flash everybody."

I laughed. "Now I see why you want to go there."

He wiggled his eyebrows at me, but I knew he was just playing. I think. "There're a bunch of places we can go, and best of all we don't have Greg to slow us down. What do you want to do? Where ever you want to go, I'll get you there."

I smiled. "Hmm... I want to see Jackson Square. And Pirate Alley!"

"Your wish is my command."

"I like the sound of that."

"Okay," he looked around, at the street corners around us. "Where are we?" I looked around too, as he glanced at the map. "Decatur Street and... Franklin Avenue. And we want to get here... all we have to do is go that way," he pointed to the left, "and follow this road until we reach the square. Looks like that might take a good half hour or so, but what do I know? But either way, walking so much in this heat... psh."

"Well we don't have a car, and I don't see a taxi anywhere..." I shrugged, stepping back with my hands on my hips.

Zac looked around for a while, craning his neck until finally he stopped and froze, slowly grinning widely. "I do. I'll be right back, don't move."

He seemed to have this annoying habit of doing things before I could say anything, and he continued it by taking off with the map and disappearing into the crowds. It was so busy there on that street that I lost him in seconds, and I couldn't tell where he'd been heading or even what he was looking for. Sighing, I leaned against the wall by the alley to get out of the way of the people walking by, using the case for my camera to fan myself. Didn't work very well.

I was looking around the area listening to the voices around me as they blended together to make no meaning, just minding my own business as if I were some kind of professional wallflower when a young couple walked up to me. They were probably like twenty something, holding hands, and both had hats on with New York logos.

"Hey, do you know how to get to Jackson Square?" the girl asked. The guy was staring up at the buildings around us.

I stared at them unblinkingly for a few seconds, and then stood up straight. "You're talking to me, right?"

Looking kind of confused, the girl nodded.

"Um..." I looked around and waved my hand, trying to remember and mimic which way Zac pointed... left. "You just go that way," I said, pointing. "You just follow Decatur Street until you get there. Could be a long walk, though. Not sure."

"Alright. Thank you," she said with a smile before she and her boyfriend left, walking in the direction that I pointed. I was left there smiling like an idiot, feeling proud of myself.

When they were gone, I heard a flute playing somewhere around there, and I stepped up on a stoop to see over the crowd. Across the street at the other corner, there was a tall old guy who had a long beard all in denim clothes that had colorful patches all over them. He was playing Amazing Grace. I got my camera out and took a picture.

"Hey, Regan!" A distinctive voice called. I turned around and my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw Zac standing in a carriage that was being pulled by a scruffy man in a top hat who was steering a large brown horse. My mouth fell open; my jaw almost hit the ground.

When the carriage came to a stop on the side of the road, Zac jumped down and waved his hands, indicating it in a conducting manner. "Your ride awaits."

Giggling, I took a picture of him by the carriage like that before saying, "You're kidding."

"Nah. If I were kidding, I'd be at a comedy club in front of a microphone with a bottle of water in my hand getting booed off the stage because all of my other jokes are equally lame. C'mon, I bribed this guy into taking us wherever we want."

I glanced at the guy, who was smiling to himself as he shook his head. Grinning wildly, I approached the carriage and Zac offered me his hand. I was positive that I was blushing deeply as I took it, and he held on as I stepped up and got into the carriage. The horse shuffled its feet and it moved a little, making me kind of fall into the seat. Zac laughed at me as he got in and sat beside me, lounging like it was the couch in the back of the tour bus.

"Where to?" the driver asked, not looking back.

Zac looked at me. "Jackson Square, right?"

I bit my lip on the inside and nodded. Zac told the driver and he whipped up the reigns. The horse started to move, carrying us through the street. The smile never left my face as I leaned over to admire the horse and everything else that passed us by.

"This is awesome," I said quietly to him.

"Yeah, I know," Zac laughed. "I scored. Ten points for me."

"It's so charming. And everyone else says chivalry has died." I gave him a shy smile as I sunk down a little in the corner of my seat, turning to face him. He was smiling at me.

"I wouldn't really call it chivalry," he said, draping his arm over the back of our seat behind me. "I'd call it laziness because we don't feel like walking."

I giggled. "True. Either way, it feels kind of like a date thing."

"A date thing, huh?"

"Yeah. I mean, not that this is a date. Or feels like a date." I twirled the camera cord between my fingers absently as I looked up at him. "Or is it? Am I getting the wrong idea?"

He looked extremely amused with me. "Do you want it to be a date?"

Silence fell over us, and I stared at him, my eyes wide and unsure as I pursed my lips in a straight line. I didn't know what to say to that, because I really didn't know if I did or didn't, and it really freaked me out. I barely knew him. His question made me very nervous, but it also forced me to figure something out - I was, either way, attracted to him. Very. No wonder I was noticing all of these little things between us before.

Finally, Zac laughed. "Chill, you look like you're about to try and disengage a nuclear warhead. I'm just messing with you."

I scoffed, looking away. "I knew that."

"No you didn't."

"...No, I didn't."

"And if I was serious?"

I licked my lips, quickly glancing at him. "I'd have to say... no, not really."

"Why not?" he asked, and poked my shoulder. I jumped and he laughed at me again. "C'mon, you know I'm charming as hell. What, do you got a boyfriend back home or something?"

"As of about a week and a half ago, no." I looked at him, twirling some of my hair between my fingers now. He thought about that for a few seconds before a look of realization and understanding came over his face, and he nodded. "What about you? Any girlfriends?"

"As of about a year ago, no."

"Dang."

"Dang to your week and a half," he nodded to me, tucking his hair behind his ear. "It must still sting since it's that fresh."

"I think stale is a more accurate description," I said leaning my head on my hand.

Zac shrugged, and I lifted my camera and took a picture of him. He raised an eyebrow and looked at me out of the corner of his eye, barely turning his head. I giggled at how silly he was like that, and sat up straight to take another picture.

Suddenly a ringing sound made him jump in his seat. I laughed at him this time as he fumbled with his cell phone, unhooking it from a belt loop on his jeans. He gave me a playfully dirty look as it began to ring again. He answered it a second later.

"Hello?" he answered quickly. Then he looked over at me again, grinning. "Hey there, Greg! Where'd you go?"

"Ahh!" I leaned in closer, putting my ear up next to his, where the phone was; he turned it so I could hear Greg on the other end.

"Damn it, Zac, where are you guys? You're going to get me in trouble. Your parents said not to go anywhere without me."

"Well I guess that's my fault then. Too bad for you."

"Plus, you have that poor girl, Regan, with you. What if you get lost, what if you lose her? Roman will never forgive you."

My brow furrowed, but then Zac voiced my thoughts. "Um... Greg, you're a freak. We're sixteen years old, don't you think we can take care of ourselves?"

"I'm pissed off. I have the right to be pissed off. I'm going to get in trouble because you're an asshole who decided to rebel against your parents' wishes to stay by me so you don't get lost, or worse, in trouble. I could get fired, Zac!"

"Like we care," I mumbled.

"Quit being so dramatic," Zac said to him. "We're just touring the French Quarter. Don't worry about us. Whatever happens, we'll be there before midnight, so just deal with it and tell my parents you lost us because we ran away, and it was my idea, so don't get Regan in trouble. See you later."

Zac ended the call and hooked the phone back onto his belt loop. Then he looked at me and sighed. "I hate that guy."

"Me too. He creeps me out." I looked through the memory in my camera at pictures I took of Roman while he was on stage, probably from the night before. "Especially ever since you told me that thing."

"I do hope he gets into trouble for this," he said. I looked up and he flashed an evil grin at me. I couldn't help but return it.

"Ghost on the streets today, doorways of Jackson Square. In tinsel and tap shoes, Mardi Gras beads in her hair. And down to the graveyard she wrung out her hands. As if he will meet her, all day she stands."

When the horse and carriage stopped at the corner of Jackson Square I felt so weird to think to myself, 'I'm in Louisiana right now.' It was nothing I ever really imagined myself saying, nothing I ever even thought about. It's weird how things turn out like that. How you end up doing things or being in places that you never even thought to consider. That didn't happen to me very often, but it was so refreshing when it did. I was so happy to be where I was at that moment, that I didn't even mind the heat.

Zac helped me out of the carriage like a gentleman and then we walked together through the gates at the bottom of the square, nearest to the wide waterfront. A few feet away from the gates there was a longhaired man playing guitar and singing a song that was familiar to me. It sounded like the music my mother liked to listen to. It was the first time in my few days of being in new surroundings that I was hit by a little surge of that homesickness I hadn't been worried about getting, at all.

As my open smile came to a bit of a close, though never fading completely, I hugged myself and allowed my eyes to wander the square. There was one thing that definitely stood out in front of me - and that was the green of it. The grass was so green, as were the trees and the plants that lined the pathways. I hadn't seen much of that color on the ride there. I mean, I'd seen it, but not as much. It made me want to see the square during my favorite season, spring. I doubted it was much different, though.

In my pleasant distraction, I never noticed Zac taking my camera out of my pocket until he took a picture of me. I was walking casually, just minding my own business with my arms around myself, and a smile on my face that was bland yet lonely. He walked a few steps ahead of me, looking around like I was, when suddenly he stopped and spun around, and when my eyes went to meet his I got a camera lens instead. He snapped the photograph before I could say anything.

"Haha, I got you!" he cried, doing a little dance. I rolled my eyes. "How do I look at it?"

"You press that," I stood beside him and pointed to the button that had a play signal on it. He pressed it, and my face popped up from the picture he'd taken. My hair was gracefully swept aside and blowing in the soft breeze, while my eyes were thinned by the sunlight and my smile was really small. "Yuck," I said automatically.

"No way," Zac said. "That's a beautiful picture. I want a copy of it if you get these printed out. In fact, get them printed out, so I can have a copy."

He handed me the camera and turned around to keep walking. I slowly resumed my steps, watching him from behind as he stared ahead. I found it a little odd that he'd want a picture of me after only knowing my company for a few days. I found it to be even more odd that I wanted to give it to him, so I could receive one in return of him to keep for myself.

After a few steps, he had his hand in his pocket and he looked back at me. "Look at that. Isn't it cool?" he asked as we came upon the big statue of... Andrew Jackson, as a small podium among the flowers around it told me, in the center of the square.

I could only smile as I looked at it.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Hm, what?" I glanced at him distractedly. He had that look on his face that was so intent on me again, even though some of his hair was in his face. He pushed it out of his eyes this time. "Nothing."

"What's with the super sad look?"

"Nothing!" I gave him a big smile, though I didn't really mean it. "I'm fine."

Zac nodded. For a second he seemed like he believed me, but then he leaned against the gate that circled around the huge statue and stared at me, saying, "Well, you know, there's this thing about me... I guess you could consider it a gift. But it enables me to be perfectly aware of it whenever people are bullshitting me."

Despite the accusation, I couldn't help but laugh a little at the way he worded it. Then I sighed and gave in. "It's nothing. I just suddenly had this weird mood swing... felt a little homesick." When I said this he nodded understandingly. "I just didn't really think that would happen while I was out here."

He laughed out loud but quickly tried to stop himself. "Sorry. Um, that's just kind of funny, because it's basically impossible. The nostalgia for what you leave behind and... the longing to sleep in your own bed are two very bittersweet things you won't be lacking this summer. Happens to me every time," squinting in the sunlight, he rubbed his hands together and looked around. "I kind of trick myself into believing that it won't be like that this time, because I'm more used to it or some crap. Then I end up in a stupid mood all day because I can't go out back and kick a soccer ball around when I want to."

"Why don't you go home, if you miss it so much?" I asked, standing close in front of him. There were a bunch of other people wandering the square, and I felt like that moment was too private for everyone else's ears. I felt sort of protective about it.

He smiled. "'Cause this is everything I want. Plus, I think it'll be kind of... different this time around."

"Why's that?"

"'Cause you're here."

Zac smiled at me and started walking again, leaving me to stand there stunned.

Quickly, I dropped my arms and jogged to catch up with him. When we were standing side by side, I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. I didn't really know what to say.

"What were you thinking about?" he asked, not looking at me.

"My mom," I said quietly, then shook my head. "But it's weird and stupid, because she's usually something I want to get away from... all the time. We don't get along."

"Why not?"

"We're just different, you know?" I exhaled, blowing my hair away as it fell in front of my eyes. "I didn't really expect to feel homesick at all because there's just a lot of bad stuff that I'm leaving behind. I guess I'm just weaker than I thought," I mumbled. "And that's pretty weak."

"Just because you have weaknesses, that doesn't mean you're weak." Zac stepped out of the way of a couple pushing a baby carriage and turned so he was walking backwards in front of me. "At least that's what I think. Just don't worry about it. You'll forget eventually. 'Cause you know, no matter what the circumstances are, there's not enough room in you for bad moods to last forever."

"Oh, I know..." I thought about what he said for a second, and then I smirked. "Though, for some people, they can last all day and be the cause of mean things said to other innocent bystanders," I said pointedly, giving him a look. He caught on and grinned sheepishly.

"Well, you know," he shrugged, and resumed his position walking beside me. "Some people are more retarded than others."

"Yeah, I know."

"Good, 'cause I was talking about you." Zac stuck his tongue out at me.

I gasped and put a hand over my heart. "I'm offended."

"Oops. Just kidding. I take it back."

"Good, because I was going to send my brother to beat you up if you didn't."

"Ha!" He laughed. "Your brother couldn't even beat me with a stick."

"You're probably right. But I could."

"Ahh, I see... hint taken."

"Smart boy."

"Smarter than some people..."

He started to laugh. It was deep and evil until I gave him another dirty look. Then he shut up.