Evolution, Chapter 5

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Jacob was growing up and had aquired new friends. His family noticed the changes within him. It pitted his father against him with his mother defending him. He never really felt he fit in with his family nor society with the way things were going.

May 7, 2010. A day that changed everything for him. He began to evolve!

venus.jpg
Evolution
Chapter 5

by Torey

Copyright © 2013 Torey
All Rights Reserved.

 


Image Credit:Venus Boticelli


 
 
Chapter 5
 
The evolution of Jade began shortly after Jacob first met Raven.

There were thrown into a "peer group" at school. Raven had been molested by a family friend as a child.

There were outcasts in the small group. Jacob was the nerdy boy. Raven was the punk girl. Neither fit in to the group, or really wanted to open up.

They were also in the same science class.

Even though Jacob had his "geek" friends like Micah, he was a loner in the class. So was Raven.

That was until Raven plopped down beside him and demanded they become lab partners. Slowly Jacob warmed to Raven, and they shared experiences with each other very few of their friends at school could understand.

Paul, Katrina and Spencer couldn't at first understand their fellow punk friend's fascination with the more nerdier friend.

She stood up for Jacob one day when he was being bullied at school. It was on that day, Jacob made the decision to "evolve" into someone totally different.

They were discussing in class evolution, survival of the fittest and natural selection.

"I dunno, can you really call it evolution if you intend to make subtle changes that turn you into a new person?" Raven asked. "But I am intrigued by the idea."

Jacob described his plan with his friend. He would observe traits, attitudes, and tastes of other people. Ideas he found intriguing, he would try.

"I don't intend to become like anyone in particular," he told his friend. "I intend to become me."

Step one, he told her, was that he no longer wanted to "be a victim." And to that end, he wanted to become "tougher," a toughness that he saw in Raven.

"I don't know if I'm really that tough," Raven said.

Each day, he would point out to Raven, and take notes of things he observed in other people. How they walked, the clothes they wore, how they wore their hair. One of the things Raven appreciated was that Jacob didn't always observe the obvious. One day, they talked about the star quarterback. The next was the chunky girl who played the flute.

And it wasn't really limited to people their age. They talked about the security, the 60-year old English teacher who was looking forward to retire.

Raven laughed once when her friend mimicked the 40-year-old math teacher who had the reputation of being a cougar as she ate an apple.

"Oh dear God, you do that really well," Raven observed.

The first real shift was that Jacob began to spend less time with his geeky friends and began to spend more time with Raven and her friends, were skeptical when Jacob began hanging out with them, and began adopting more of a punk persona.

"He'll eventually grow bored of it and return to his geekier self," Spencer once told Raven.

"Oh, I don't know, a darker persona suits him," Raven replied.

Jacob drifted toward screamo music and darker clothes. He took up skateboarding and did quite well.

Eventually, he slid into the group. One thing he found was that things were not necessarily what they seemed with his newer friends.

They weren't rebels. They weren't trouble makers. They seemed to relish more in the outcast personal.

From time-to-time, he gave Raven an update on the evolutionary process, which now included choosing a new name.

Jacob tried several Gaellic and Nordic names, and names from mythology. Nothing really stuck.

That was until one day when he was invited by Raven and Kat to go a college art gallery. Two things Jacob observed that day would shift the evolutionary process into a direction Jacob's friends would not imaging. But for Jacob, nothing had really been off the table.

The first was a necklace worn by Kat. It had a green stone that seemed to match her eyes.

"Wow, that is really beautiful," Jacob said as he held the green stone in his hand. "It's pretty, but not Barbie, perky pretty. Kind of exotic, don't you think?"

"Oh I know," Kat said. "That's one reason why I love jade so much."

It was like a lightbulb turned on.

"What do you guys think of Jade?" Jacob asked.

"I really agree with Kat," Raven said. "And with you, it is really beautiful."

"I don't mean the stone," Jacob asked. "I mean as a name for me."

Raven looked at Kat. They both smiled.

"You are beautiful to us, and exotic, even," Kat said.

"Yeah, and not Barbie pretty," Raven said. "I think it suits you well."

Their friend remained amazingly silent as they walked around and looked at the pieces.

"You think someone can be beautiful, but also tough?" the newly named Jade asked Raven and Kat.

"Absolutely," Raven answered.

They went back to looking at art pieces.

The three stopped to watch a young artist working on a mural at the museum. Jade first observed a jade colored butterfly tattoo on the shoulder of the very light-skinned dark-haired woman painting a copy of Venus Rising from the Sea.

Then Jade stood and looked at Venus, her hair, body.

The three made comments about the painting's beauty.

As they walked out of the museum, Jade asked for opinions about the young woman artist. And then a Girl Troop walked by, and Jade gave obervations about each one.

Raven and Kat gave their opinions and were really impressed by Jade's observations.

They walked over to the park and sat down in the grass. Raven and Kat didn't seem to notice how Jade mimmicked their posture.

Jade then gave an observation about the elderly woman who fed pigeons from her bench. And the young woman jogger who was jogging with her boyfriend.

It was then Raven made an observation of her own.

"Have you noticed Jade here has been asking about observations about women and girls," Raven asked Kat.

"Now that you mention it," Kat said.

"Guilty," Jade said.

Just then, a group of shirtless boys jogged by. Jade knew one of the boys, his named was Lincoln, he was one one of Jade's classes.

He waved at Jade. Jade waved back.

Jade began to laugh.

"What, what" Raven asked.

"This is embarrassing," Jade said. "But he has a nice butt, doesn't he?"

"That's not usually your normal observation," Kat giggled. "But yes, yes he does."

"Agree," Raven said.

As soon as the laughter faded, Jade decided to give another evolution report.

"I am Jade," Jade said. "And I'm ..... a girl."

"You know, that actually makes sense," Raven said. "It really didn't dawn on me that you were exploring the possibility of actually being a girl. But you were observing both boys and girls."

"I was open to becoming female the day I saw Lillith Jenners walk by," Jade said. "She was graceful and beautiful, even though she was short and geeky. Anna Phillips, you know people pick on her because of her weight. But she has this confidence to tell people to shove it. Seeing your necklace, the artist and the mural, it's like Venus spoke to me."

"Wow, and what did she say?" Kat asked.

"Don't you know you're female?" Jade said. "You aren't becoming one. You are one."

"And beautiful one, and exotic," Raven said.

"Pretty, but not Barbie pretty," Kat said.


 
 
To Be Continued...
 

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Comments

Love the pic of Jade! :)

She was lucky that Raven entered her life.

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

Botticelli...

Andrea Lena's picture

...I'm not a Medici, and Jade's not emerging from the sea, but she's doing Botticelli proud with her emergence as a young lady. Always a pleasure to read a story from a dear favorite author; Jade's birth may not be spectacular, but her evolution is proving to be wonderful. Thank you!

(The painting graced the dust cover of my Art History book in college :) )

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena

Huzzah!

Glad to see this continue!
Amy

"I intend to become me"

The heart and truth of what we desire is in those words. So simple and yet as difficult as anything ever done by anyone.

hugs
Grover

Jacob's epiphany!

I am a girl! Well now we know how this all has come about. Nice back ground chapter Torey! Loving Hugs Talia