A Step Forward (Chapter 5)

The next thing that I could remember was seeing my mother and Daphne's faces looking down upon me. The first emotion that hit me was relief; my mother didn't seem angry. And then there was surprise; how had Daphne gotten me here?
"Jona! You're alright!" Daphne looked incredibly relieved. It felt strange to be addressed as Jona by Daphne. I always expected to hear Jacob. But my mother was here, so there was a reason for being called Jona.
"Honey, what happened?" For once, my mother wasn't giving me a lecture or ranting about something to me.
"I...don't really remember." I lied, not really wanting my mother to know. Apparently, Daphne hadn't told her anything about the fight or else she would have been already ranting.
"Noah says that he found you lying on the ground, unconscious." Inwardly, I twitched at hearing Daphne being called Noah. I'm sure she was too.
I suppose the clothes that she wore didn't give too much away, since she wore jeans and a t-shirt, which was gender neutral. Mother might have felt a slight feminine touch to Daphne's apparel, but since it was gender neutral, she must have accepted that Daphne was a boy. It was kind of awkward at the moment, for this was the first time that my parents (now that I noticed my father standing in the corner of the room) had met Daphne. Except, they knew her as Noah and as a boy, not a girl.
"Noah, you should go home now, you've been here for three hours." My father put his arm on Daphne's shoulder and attempted to turn her towards the door.
"I'll stay here, if you don't mind." She was firm yet polite. There was that 'don't mess with me' tone in her voice. My father looked at my mother, who shrugged as an answer.
"We'll leave you two to talk, then." Mother left the room, taking Father with her.
"Oh Jacob, I was so worried." murmured Daphne, leaning forward and embracing me. I felt my face heat up and I was sure my ears were turning a brilliant shade of red. After a moment's hesitation, I hugged her back, my fingers running through her amazing black hair.
I felt her move away from me and so I loosened my arms. She kept her arms around my shoulders as she looked into my eyes.
"I'm so glad you're alright." She smiled and her eyes twinkled merrily. I smiled back and on impulse, I gently kissed her on the forehead.
"Thank you for everything, Daphne." I mumbled, embarrassed at what I had just did. I hadn't really thought about it, I had just followed my instincts. Now I was a little worried that Daphne might think me too forward and turn away from me. I shifted my eyes downward, waiting for her reaction. Taking a chance, I flickered my eyes up to her face and...she was blushing! My lips urled into a smile as her lips gently brushed against my cheek.
"Um...look at the time! It's...uh...getting late! I better...erm...go now!" she stuttered, getting up and stumbling out the door. I gently touched the place where she had kissed me just moments ago. She was so cute when she blushed.
Daphne had been right though, it was 10 at night. I wasn't really tired after having been unconscious for three hours. (Had it really been that long? It sure didn't feel that late, but the sky outside was dark.)
Sighing, I lay back down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. I supposed that it would be good to et some sleep because I still did have school the next day, but it was hard to sleep when I wasn't tired.
As time passed, I heard my parents' footsteps signifying that they had gone to bed. Poking my head out the bedroom door, I peered into Kathy's room, where she was fast asleep. I slipped to my desk and started up the laptop, hoping that it wouldn't wake up my family. It was on mute and I had disabled the start up sounds, but the machine sometimes made funny fan noises so I was still concerned. I got onto gmail as fast as I could. (The laptop was being slow for no apparent reason, causing much annoyance.) Daphne was online.

Jacob: are you there?
Daphne: yes
Jacob: why are you up so late?
Daphne: because i feel like it
...what's it to you?
Jacob: nothing really just curious
Daphne: what was...you know...all about?
Jacob: you mean what happened at my house?
Daphne: *blush* yes
Jacob: i dont really know what possessed me to do it
Daphne: well im glad you did
Jacob: good to know
Daphne: *sighs* when will we meet again?
Jacob: i dont know
...i have a feeling the gang will be there after school for a while so that place is out of the options now
Daphne: you have a point there
...i dont really know where else we could meet
Jacob: theres a small wood behind my school
...we could meet there for your sewing lessons
...for sports it would be a little difficult
Daphne: well there is a huge field near my school but i dont know if you want something more private
Jacob: i dont think the gang will be searching anywhere near your school
...or at least i hope not
Daphne: i think we should try to play safe for now
...lets try and find a safer place sometime
Jacob: fine
Daphne: so after school tomorrow ill see you in the woods behind your school?
Jacob: where in the woods?
Daphne: good question i dont know the answer to it though
Jacob: theres a stone bench before theres woods
...we could meet there and then go in
Daphne: sounds good
...and btw, i took the sewing stuff to my house is that okay?
Jacob: yeah its fine
...i dont really even want the stuff anyways
Daphne: *claps hands* yays!
Jacob: lol someone seems happy
Daphne: someone is more than happy
Jacob: well then im glad
Daphne: my parents are yelling at me to go to bed because its 11
Jacob: then go to bed
Daphne: but i dont want to
Jacob: it would be worse if you were denied computer access
Daphne: i suppose you have a point
...fine ill go to bed
Jacob: good night
...sweet dreams
Daphne: thanks
...you too

She went offline and I logged out. I let the computer shut down and then slid under the covers. Still not sleepy. Though I tried to sleep, I ended up pulling an all-nighter. I wasn't tired in the morning, so I guess it wasn't too bad.