Chapter 11 #3
“I can’t believe you carry a pocketknife,” I muttered, looking at the thing closer.
It was a little dinged up around the edges, but mostly looked in good condition.
I slid the knife into the front pocket of my backpack, and Hudson was right—its presence gave me a bit of peace, even if it was tucked away.
“You must not take Principal Oliphant’s threat seriously, then. ”
“I do.” When he inhaled, he ran his teeth along his bottom lip. My attention caught there momentarily. “You never know when you might need it, is all.”
“Except Milady is right,” Derrick said from the front, eyes glancing in the mirror. “You probably won’t ever need it at school, unless you’re trying to get kicked out.”
Hudson just rolled his eyes.
The drive to Jefferson didn’t take very long, not with the music playing over the speakers to keep us company. Hudson looked up the showtimes on his phone, and I peeked over as he did so.
“I think all these are rated R,” Hudson said. “There’s one PG-13 one, but I don’t technically think it’s horror.”
Derrick’s gaze flicked up to meet mine in the rearview. “How old are you again?”
“Sixteen.”
“Ah, bummer. If it’s any consolation, Hudson can only barely get in at seventeen. But you’ll have to stick with a PG-13 flick.”
I nodded slowly, knowing that it was probably best to work up to anything rated R. “That’s okay.”
Hudson didn’t reply, but kept scrolling down the showtimes of the movies.
Derrick didn’t slow down as much as he should’ve as he pulled into the theater’s parking lot, but otherwise, his driving wasn’t that bad.
Better than I expected. We unloaded from the car quickly, joining the after-school rush into the building.
A lot of the kids were ones I didn’t recognize, most likely from Jefferson High since their high school was right down the road.
We waited in line not speaking, the three of us shuffling forward.
When we got to the ticket counter, Hudson took the lead. “Three tickets for Super Sonic Racoons, please,” he said with the politest voice I’d heard from him before, but I looked up at him in confusion. He didn’t correct himself.
The lady who stood on the other side of the counter glanced between us. She no doubt took in the all-black outfit Hudson wore, Derrick’s shaved head, and wondered why in the world we’d be seeing a kids’ movie.
Derrick, who stood on Hudson’s left, grinned. “Have you seen it yet?” he asked her.
“Uh…no.”
“It’s part of a trilogy,” he carried on in his same excited tone.
“Before, there was Super Sonic Dogs, and then there was Super Sonic Cats, obviously, and now this one. SSC wasn’t as cool as the first—wasn’t as much of a hit at the box office, either—but I heard SSR is really good.
That they really nailed their animation in this one. ”
I caught Hudson’s eye as he lazily looked down at me, spinning a finger around his ear.
The ticket lady seemed thoroughly confused—that, or freaked out—and she took Hudson’s cash without a word, passing over three tickets. Using the allowance money I’d accrued my whole life, I bought us all popcorn and drinks, and then we moved toward the left wing of the building.
We were supposed to go to Theater 8, but when we got to Theater 4, Hudson’s hand curved around my elbow. The touch was light, but I flinched at the suddenness of it, turning to face him.
“What do you say?” he asked.
I didn’t realize what he meant at first, until I looked up at the marquee that read Mirror Man 2. “But…that’s not the movie we bought tickets for.”
He raised his eyebrows expectantly. “Didn’t you say you wanted to live a little?”
Derrick frowned and brought his popcorn closer. “Wait, so we’re not going to see Super Sonic Racoons?”
“It’s up to you, then,” Hudson said as if Derrick didn’t speak, his voice neutral, adding zero pressure. “We can go sit and watch Super Sonic Racoons. We can even go and see about exchanging our tickets for the PG-13 film. Or we could watch Mirror Man 2.”
“I mean, it’s not illegal,” Derrick said, bending his head down and scooping up popcorn with his mouth. “It might just, you know, get us kicked out. Which is fine, since this theater totally serves stale popcorn, anyway.”
In some ways, I wanted to take baby steps. Telling Mom and Dad I was going to Morgan’s when I wasn’t was a baby step. Going to the movies in general was a baby step. But these baby steps weren’t on my rebellion list. Watching a horror movie was. When would I get another chance to check it off?
Live a little. It was a rebellious sort of whisper. The voice that pushed to agree when Hudson asked to go off-campus the first time. The voice that had me getting off the bus Monday. The voice that ultimately had me taking a step forward now, toward Theater 4.
The rebellious whisper was like a voice singing a song, one that I wanted to learn the words to.
Mirror Man 2 was already in its opening credits when we crept into the dark theater, and there were a lot of people already sitting with their popcorn in front of them. We moved up toward the top few rows, with Hudson sitting in the middle.
I tipped my head toward him, making sure not to lean too close. “Do you know what this movie is about?”
“No clue,” he whispered back, eyes darting across the screen. “I haven’t seen the first.”
It turned out that the movie was about a demon that only appeared in mirrors and could reach through them to kill people and take their souls to hell.
The concept itself wasn’t that scary, but the movie really did rely on jump scares to cause an audience reaction.
Even though I’d never watched a scary movie before in my life, it was easy to tell when they were coming, especially when the creepy violin music would get louder and louder.
At some point, I glanced over to see how much popcorn Hudson had eaten, but found him staring intensely at the bucket. I waited for him to turn back to the movie, but he didn’t, almost like he was ignoring it entirely.
My jaw dropped a little as I leaned in, trying to keep the amusement from my voice. “Are you scared?”
Hudson jumped at my sudden voice so close to his ear. “Are you kidding? Of course not.”
“Why aren’t you watching?”
“Why aren’t you watching?” he returned, sounding defensive. He slumped deeper into his seat, trying to appear as comfortable as possible despite his frown. “You shouldn’t be so focused on me.”
Derrick leaned over, too. His whisper was barely audible, but I could read his lips in the dimness. “Hudson hates horror movies.”
Hudson made no attempt at denying it. He stared stonily at the screen like we weren’t even there, but the tightness in how he clutched the popcorn tub hinted at his true feelings.
“The Grim Reaper is afraid of scary movies,” I whispered to myself, knowing he could hear.
And then I leaned in closer once again. “You can use my shoulder to hide behind if you need to.”
When he turned, our faces were suddenly only inches apart, and I was consumed in the blue ice of his eyes, their odd, electrifying color. They were bright even in the darkness of the theater. Some of my amusement sobered up as the rollercoaster feeling returned.
“Very funny,” he whispered back.
A loud bang came from the movie, causing someone in the back of the theater to let out a sharp yell, and the sudden sound made Hudson jolt in his seat. It broke the weird hypnosis that had been there a second ago, splitting my gaze from his.
When crafting my rebellion list, I wasn’t even sure initially why I’d written down watch a horror movie.
It wasn’t like the desire was ever there.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen a trailer for one and thought man, I wish I could watch that.
Maybe it was because there was a forbidden tie to it.
Maybe I wanted to watch it because I knew I wasn’t allowed to.
I could be more independent and my parents would never have to know.
That was the true nature of the rebellion list to begin with—to do what was not allowed.
To find out what I did like. To find myself.
To live a little.
So even as the music began its creepy, violin-filled build, I couldn’t help but smile a little at the screen, heart pounding with the adrenaline of the moment.