As they made their way around the house, to the backyard, Jade couldn’t stop looking at her hand that had shook Mr. Moon’s hand.
She wasn’t sure if it was because Denver was so dry and that’s what made the shock, or if she was nervous, but she had never felt anything like that before. It was an uneasy feeling, as if she was ready to throw up any second. She felt her soul exiting her body for just a split second.
She felt her breathing speeding up, going faster, as if she was going to lose control any second. She tried to focus on her dad in front of her, but the feeling in her hand was still there. It refused to leave.
When they arrived in the backyard, and walked down a short fly of stairs. Jim unlocked the door and opened to a cozy size living room.
When Jade stepped in, she forgot that it was a basement. There was so much light let in, and the freshly painted white walls seemed to almost shine.
There was a kitchen in the corner, and then two bedrooms down the hall with a bathroom between them. It was actually nice and clean, and all of Jade’s fear of living in a basement faded.
“It’s nice.”
“Yeah, it was a good price for around here. Do you like it?”
“Yeah,” Jade nodded. “It’ll due.”
Jim gave a laugh. “Yeah, says the one not paying the bills.”
They started to walk back to the car to unload their items. After the third trip, she realized how out of shape her body was and how thin the air in her new state could be. She thought she was going to pass out. Her dad told her to just stay in the house and unpack.
Even with it being dead of winter, she was getting hot. She pulled her long black hair into a high ponytail, taking off her jacket and started working again.
She moved boxes into what she thought might be the right room.
If you didn’t know it, she would have never believed they were in a basement. It wasn’t as creepy as she thought.
Jim dropped off some of Jade’s boxes, and she took it to her room. “Which one is mine?”
“Hmm, you choose. It’s the same size I think.”
She didn’t ask twice, and started to walk down the hall. She chose the closer one to the bathroom. The door was open, and she heard footsteps.
She gasped, and hid in the hall, as she saw someone in her room. She didn’t get a good look at the person, and didn’t want to scream for Jim, since the person would hear her too. They could have got to her first.
Jade put the box down, and opened it up. Of course it was her books. She took out the hardest and thickest book she could find, and grabbed it. She tip-toed into the room, sneaking up on the blonde hair person.
Jade raised the book, and smacked him hard on the back of his head. “Ouch!” the boy yelled and turned around. “What the hell?”
“Who are you?” Jade yelled, rising the book to his level again. “Don’t make me hit you with this!”
The boy looked about her age. He was rubbing his head. “Did . . . did you just hit me with a book?”
Jade tried to straighten her shoulders. “Don’t make me ask again, who are you? And what are you doing in my house?”
“I should be asking you the same thing,” the boy crossed his arms. “This is my house.”
Jade lowered the book, but still holding onto it. “What?”
“I’m Noah, and I’m guessing you’re the new renters?”
She started to turn red. “Um . . .”
Jim entered the room. “There you are Jade . . . oh, Noah, right? I meant you last week?”
“Hi there Mr. Cooper.”
“I see you two have met,” Jim said, taking Jade’s shoulder. “This is Mr. Moon’s son.”
“Really?” Jade asked. They had looked nothing alike. Noah had bright blonde hair and dark chocolate eyes, and was built like an athlete.
“Hm, adopted, but yeah, I suppose I am,” Noah laughed nervously. “Sorry, I was just looking for the cat.”
“Cat?” Jade asked, wrinkling her nose.
“Have you seen him?” Noah asked, almost teasing Jade. “He usually hangs out down here. Just letting you know in case you see a random cat. His name is George, he’s friendly.”
The three of them started to hear meow’s from the other room, and getting closer. A ginger cat entered, looking up to everyone, as if he wanted to be part of the conversion. “Found him?” Jim asked Noah.
“There he is,” Noah said picking him up. The cat crawled onto his shoulders, sitting like a bird. Jade started to laugh and gave him a gentle pat on the head.
“He’s cute, but he makes you look like a pirate,” Jade said. The cat rubbed his head on her head, wanting more attention.
“He likes you. I’ll get out of here, unless you need some help. I would be more than happy to,” Noah offered.
“Oh it’s okay, Jade and I have this.”
“Do you guys have a lot of books?” Noah asked.
Jim looked confused as his daughter started to hide the book in her head. “More or less,” Jade mumbled.
Noah raised his hands. “Thank you for the warning then. I’ll be upstairs if you need us. Really, don’t think twice about asking for help, we really don’t mind.”
“Thank you Noah.”
He started to walk out of the room, with George jumping off his shoulders. The cat walked up to Jade, smelled her twice, looked her up and down, and turned around following the blonde hair boy.
“That’s a weird cat,” Jim said.
“That’s a weird boy,” Jade mumbled.
Jim laughed and looked at his daughter and shook his head. “We have more boxes.”
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