Michael/Jamie: Vol1 Chap16
Summary: The banter is back! Yay! I write horrible angst, I know. Thankfully this time there isn't any! Michael is still weird, though. Also, Jennifer is athletic, Jamie is back to her usual self and is threatened with getting shoved out of a moving vehicle (how sweet, Michael). (And please, someone told me how Bella reminded her of Jamie. PLEASE REASSURE ME THAT ISN'T SO. I mean, Jamie's response to stalking is pretty much correct!)
Excerpt: Life, I thought sourly as I pedaled, was really unfair.
(Sorry for such a lame excerpt, but there was nothing I could easily take out of context!
CHAPTER 16: Jamie
Life, I thought sourly as I pedaled, was really unfair. I was going to be late to school again, despite waking up earlier than usual, despite meaning to get there fifteen minutes before the bell. I was going to be late, and it was all thanks to Aaron. He had left home early to meet up with Tonie for breakfast. Since he didn’t have a car - only a ridiculous motorcycle that his girlfriend never even wanted to look at - he had taken mine.
Of course, he had failed to mention any of this to me and I only heard about it from my confused mother after she heard me shouting about my car vanishing from the garage.
I turned a corner and ground my teeth together. My legs were starting to hurt because my bike hadn’t been oiled in months. I was contemplating ditching it and running the rest of the way when I heard a familiar voice call my name.
I braked and looked up. I was right in front of a vaguely familiar house on Wellington Drive, and I frowned, looking for the source of the voice.
“Over here.”
I turned my face toward the garage. “Oh. It’s you.”
Mike Harding raised an eyebrow, tossing his books through the open rear window of his shiny, undoubtedly expensive, silver car. “Yeah, just me. Sorry for being such a disappointment. What are you doing?”
I sighed. “I’m going to school. Oh, wait. No, I had to stop to talk to you so now I’m going to be late for school.”
He rolled his eyes. “I can give you a ride.”
I opened my mouth then shut it again. “Huh?”
“You’re going to school, I’m going to school. We can go together. It’ll be fun.”
I frowned at his mocking tone but walked my bike over, looking around their lawn as I went. It had been dark the one time I had driven Mike over, and I had only been able to discern the general shape of where he was supposedly living with his aunt. The house was quite big - not a manor-like monster like most of the houses on our block, but it would certainly be very roomy for just two people. It looked really pleasant, too, with a façade that was mostly dark, reddish hardwood and glass.
Mike smiled at me, picked up a slice of toast resting on a table napkin from off the top of his car, and bit into it. “You can leave your bike in the garage,” he mumbled around the toast, sliding into the driver’s seat.
“But-”
“You and Aaron can pick it up on your way home later,” he said. “We can’t take it in this car.”
I shrugged and slowly pushed my bike into their garage. There was another car in there - a sensible sedan painted an incredibly cheerful shade of yellow. I went back, got in the front passenger seat, and strapped in. I turned to Mike expectantly, only to find him in the middle of scribbling on a piece of paper. It looked like a Spanish essay.
“We’ve got plenty of time,” he assured me, before I could say anything. He put his toast down on the dashboard and picked up the thermos that had been wedged between his seat and the emergency brake.
“Why are you eating your breakfast in the car?”
“What’s with the bike?”
“Aaron stole my car.”
“I see. Why not take the bus?”
“Buses make me ill,” I grumbled. “All those stops and starts. I get motion sickness. Do I have to repeat my question?”
He sighed. At the same instant, a nearby door fell shut, and we both looked up. A tall, slender young woman was on the top step of Mike’s house, having just left through the front door. She was wearing a smart, long-sleeved blue dress, with white cuffs and collar, her straight hair pulled back in a neat ponytail.
She stood frozen, staring at us.
“Shit, she’s leaving early today,” Mike groaned, suddenly slamming the driver’s side door shut and starting the engine.
“What?” I asked, confused. “Who’s that?”
The woman, hearing the engine start, suddenly started running across the lawn.
“Here, hold these,” Mike muttered, thrusting his paper, thermos and toast at me before stepping on the gas.
But the woman jumped in the middle of the driveway, forcing Mike to brake at once.
“She jumped the bushes,” Mike said, his voice breaking in disbelief. “Did you see her jump the bushes?”
“In that dress, too,” I said admiringly.
She was by Mike’s door in the next instant, rapping on the glass her knuckles.
Mike glanced at me, sighed, and rolled the window down.
“Two days, Mike!” she exclaimed. “You’ve been coming home late and leaving early just to avoid me for two days!”
He winced.
“You know, I get that you’re mad at me, but this is juvenile!”
“I’m not mad at you,” Mike mumbled, his voice barely audible.
“Oh, really? You could have fooled me. Get out of the car. We need to talk.”
“I’m going to be late, Jennifer.”
“I don’t care.”
“Jamie’s going to be late,” Mike said, sounding desperate.
Jennifer bent down and peered in through the window. She blinked at me, her green eyes startled, as if noticing me for the first time. “Who are you?”
“Jennifer, please.”
“Jamie Jenkins,” I said. “I go to school with Mike.”
“Look, we’re going to be late,” Mike said, interrupting Jennifer, who’d been about to reply. “We’ll talk later.”
She looked like she wanted to argue but then shook her head and stepped away from the car. “We’ll talk later,” she echoed. “I want you to come home early, then.”
“Yeah. Early,” Mike repeated, and put his foot down on the pedal again.
I stared at him as we swung out of the driveway and onto the street. “You were kind of rude.”
“Not now, Jenkins,” he said - almost snapped, really.
“Who was that?” I persisted. “I thought you were supposed to be living with your aunt.”
“That was my aunt,” he muttered under his breath.
I craned my neck to look out the window. Jennifer was standing on the sidewalk, her hands on her hips, watching us drive away. “That’s your aunt? How old is she?”
“Twenty-six.”
“Wow. And she gets stuck with a pain in the neck like you. I’m surprised she doesn’t look older.”
“Have you ever been shoved out of a moving vehicle?”
“No.”
“It’s fun. Want to try it?”
I huffed and settled back in my seat. “Fine. Shutting up now.”
* * *
“So I told him that, no, I wasn’t going to the prom with him anymore and that I’d probably never talk to him again. Unless I was going to punch him in the face afterward, of course. And you’re really not listening, are you?”
I glanced up from my bag. “Huh? What? No, I’m listening!”
Katie Tanner rolled her eyes. “What are you looking for in there, anyway?”
“My English book… Oh.” I stopped in the middle of the hall and slapped my palm onto my forehead.
“Oh?”
“It’s in my car. Have you seen Aaron?”
Katie frowned. “Don’t he and Sam have a political science class over in the east wing?”
“He has my car keys.”
“You’ll never make it in time. Just go without a book. Sounds crazy, I know-”
“Don’t mock.”
“Sorry.”
I looked around and suddenly had an idea. “You go on ahead. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Why? Where are you going?”
“To borrow a book!” I called over my shoulder, already halfway back the hall.
“Just- Just hurry, okay?” she shouted back.
I picked up my pace, almost running, and turned the corner. I smiled, catching sight of just the person I wanted to see. “Jonathan!”
Jonathan looked up from his locker and saw me coming, his blue eyes suddenly widening. He shoved his locker shut and caught me as I tripped into him. “Hey, slow down.”
“Sorry.”
Above us, the bell suddenly began to ring.
He straightened, shaking me off. “Sorry. I gotta go. I’ll catch you later!”
“But I-”
He was running off at top speed and I groaned as the crowd carried him away. I started to kick his locker door but thought better of it. I knew his combination, after all.
I put my books and binder on top of the bank of lockers and twirled the combination. It clicked open and I swung the door to the side. My hand was halfway in when I stopped dead.
I blinked in confusion, shut the locker for a second, and opened it again.
No, I wasn’t seeing things. There really were red ribbons all over his things. And what strange things! There was a little stuffed bear that I had never seen before, two new books, and a small paper kaleidoscope among others. I suddenly remembered how he had shown me an ancient book, also beribboned, and asked if I had given it to him.
There was an envelope near the door, and while the polite part of me told me that it really wasn’t for me and I shouldn’t be reading his mail, the red ribbon sealing it just screamed for me to open it. I was his girlfriend, after all. No matter how badly our relationship was going.
I was just reaching for it when a voice behind me made me jump.
“You’re going to be late to class.”
I pulled my hand back and spun around. “Mike,” I breathed, my heart in my throat.
Mike Harding stepped forward, trapping me between Jonathan’s locker, Jonathan’s locker door, and himself. “That isn’t your locker,” he told me reproachfully.
I wondered how he knew that. “Yes, it is.”
“No. Yours is outside the Lit classroom.”
“Are you stalking me?”
The question amused him. “And if I say yes?”
“You’re creepy.”
“Not as creepy as whoever’s tying red ribbons all over your boyfriend’s stuff.”
“How do you know...?”
“I don’t think your boyfriend’s likely to do all that himself. I don’t think you’re the type to do that, either. You’re not the sweet girlfriend type”
“Thanks,” I said dryly, shutting the door. My heart wasn’t really into trading insults with Harding, though. The contents of Jonathan’s locker puzzled me too much. And what was in the envelope?
I looked away from him and saw the hall was deserted. I gasped and grabbed my books. Then I groaned. “I need an English book!”
“I think you need to get to class more than you need the book. Unless you want to skip it and hide out in the gym with me.”
I sighed. “I have to go to class.”
Mike laughed softly. “You sound so reluctant. Is the alternative that attractive?”
I shot him a warning look and he smiled.
The last bell rang.
“Here,” he said, handing me an English book with a red ribbon around it.
I stared at it. “Jonathan’s- How-”
He waggled his hand at me. “Fast fingers. Go, go!”
* * *
The red ribbons bothered me all morning and on into lunch. I’d tried bringing it up when I saw Jonathan in the hall, but no matter how I thought I’d go about it, I realized he’d probably end up being offended by my (albeit unintentional) snooping. And if he was offended, he was unlikely to offer answers to my questions.
Still, we had the date tonight... If I was careful...
I bumped into Mike Harding’s table at lunch, nearly spilling my soda onto his lap. “Sorry,” I muttered. “Why are you suddenly everywhere?”
“I’m stalking you, remember?” he said mildly, pushing out a chair for me. “Want to join me?”
I hesitated, glancing around.
“Or would you rather not be seen with me today? Is there a schedule when you’re supposed to be nice or mean to me?”
I plunked my tray down. “I was just looking for the others,” I said lamely.
“Did you remember to put Jonathan’s book back?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Good. If we get the chance, I can instruct you in the finer points of larceny, if you like.”
I raised an eyebrow. “How can a rich guy like you know anything about stealing?”
He snorted, burying his face in a large graphic novel. “You’d be surprised how many idiotic things you can learn in a private school,” he mumbled, and started to read.
“Hey! You invited me to sit here. You can’t read!”
He blinked, sighed, and put his book away. “So what are we going to talk about?”
“I don’t know. You’re the one who asked me to sit with you!”
“Yes, but you’re the one who accepted the invitation.”
I stared at him helplessly.
“Never mind. I’ll pick a topic. We need to finish the mural. Soon. How many hours can you work today?”
I opened my mouth and then something hit me. My date. My very important, relationship-saving date was now more necessary than ever. “Zero,” I muttered at last.
“Zero?”
“IhaveadatewithJon,” I mumbled.
Somehow, he understood that. “A date. Right.” He leaned back, his eyes strangely distant. “Do you want to know what’s in the envelope?”
I jumped and looked around. The envelope. Surely, he didn’t-
“I haven’t seen what’s inside it,” he added hastily.
“Good. Because it really isn’t any of your business,” I said firmly. “That’s between Jonathan and me.”
“I’d say it’s between Jonathan and whoever’s got a crush on him.”
“Now, what makes you say that?”
He shrugged.
“You’re surprisingly nosy.”
“No. I just end up knowing things I don’t really want to know about,” he said dryly.
He was driving me crazy. “What are you talking about?”
“As you said, it isn’t any of my business,” he echoed mockingly, fiddling with his straw. He pointed at my half-eaten apple pie. “Are you going to finish that?”
I sighed and relinquished my pie. “Don’t avoid the subject.”
“I didn’t. I changed it. With pie. The school makes lousy pasta but okay pie.”
I kicked him under the table. Or at least I tried to. My foot met with nothing but air. I glanced down and saw he’d pulled his legs back.
“I was anticipating that,” he said mildly, putting down the empty pie tray and getting to his feet. “I have to go.”
“Are you going to paint? I can help you, if you want.” I asked, suddenly seized with the urge to make up for my would-be absence this afternoon.
“I’m going to the library.”
“Why?” I asked without thinking.
He stared at me.
“Okay. I’m sorry. Of course you’re going there to study.”
He gave me one last, amused glance, spared me a wave, and walked off.
I stared after him, wondering what he had been hinting at.
I sighed and stared down at my salad. I suppose I can ask Jonathan tonight...
* * *
...Was what I thought, but he cancelled on me.
I stared at my phone in disbelief, already half-dressed, my hair already done, an hour and a half after school had let out.
I could still hear his voice. A horse was foaling and it was going badly, and his mother needed his help in the emergency. His mother was a veterinarian, so I couldn’t even say “Get a vet, leave them, and come down here!”
I always come in last, I thought sullenly. I came after school, family, and even horses, dear God. Horses.
I sighed and stared at my schoolwork. But after getting myself excited over nothing, I couldn’t just stay home and do my assignments.
I stomped to the closet. I was going to go out, with or without Jonathan Melman. And I was going to have fun. Damn it.
Excerpt: Life, I thought sourly as I pedaled, was really unfair.
(Sorry for such a lame excerpt, but there was nothing I could easily take out of context!
CHAPTER 16: Jamie
Life, I thought sourly as I pedaled, was really unfair. I was going to be late to school again, despite waking up earlier than usual, despite meaning to get there fifteen minutes before the bell. I was going to be late, and it was all thanks to Aaron. He had left home early to meet up with Tonie for breakfast. Since he didn’t have a car - only a ridiculous motorcycle that his girlfriend never even wanted to look at - he had taken mine.
Of course, he had failed to mention any of this to me and I only heard about it from my confused mother after she heard me shouting about my car vanishing from the garage.
I turned a corner and ground my teeth together. My legs were starting to hurt because my bike hadn’t been oiled in months. I was contemplating ditching it and running the rest of the way when I heard a familiar voice call my name.
I braked and looked up. I was right in front of a vaguely familiar house on Wellington Drive, and I frowned, looking for the source of the voice.
“Over here.”
I turned my face toward the garage. “Oh. It’s you.”
Mike Harding raised an eyebrow, tossing his books through the open rear window of his shiny, undoubtedly expensive, silver car. “Yeah, just me. Sorry for being such a disappointment. What are you doing?”
I sighed. “I’m going to school. Oh, wait. No, I had to stop to talk to you so now I’m going to be late for school.”
He rolled his eyes. “I can give you a ride.”
I opened my mouth then shut it again. “Huh?”
“You’re going to school, I’m going to school. We can go together. It’ll be fun.”
I frowned at his mocking tone but walked my bike over, looking around their lawn as I went. It had been dark the one time I had driven Mike over, and I had only been able to discern the general shape of where he was supposedly living with his aunt. The house was quite big - not a manor-like monster like most of the houses on our block, but it would certainly be very roomy for just two people. It looked really pleasant, too, with a façade that was mostly dark, reddish hardwood and glass.
Mike smiled at me, picked up a slice of toast resting on a table napkin from off the top of his car, and bit into it. “You can leave your bike in the garage,” he mumbled around the toast, sliding into the driver’s seat.
“But-”
“You and Aaron can pick it up on your way home later,” he said. “We can’t take it in this car.”
I shrugged and slowly pushed my bike into their garage. There was another car in there - a sensible sedan painted an incredibly cheerful shade of yellow. I went back, got in the front passenger seat, and strapped in. I turned to Mike expectantly, only to find him in the middle of scribbling on a piece of paper. It looked like a Spanish essay.
“We’ve got plenty of time,” he assured me, before I could say anything. He put his toast down on the dashboard and picked up the thermos that had been wedged between his seat and the emergency brake.
“Why are you eating your breakfast in the car?”
“What’s with the bike?”
“Aaron stole my car.”
“I see. Why not take the bus?”
“Buses make me ill,” I grumbled. “All those stops and starts. I get motion sickness. Do I have to repeat my question?”
He sighed. At the same instant, a nearby door fell shut, and we both looked up. A tall, slender young woman was on the top step of Mike’s house, having just left through the front door. She was wearing a smart, long-sleeved blue dress, with white cuffs and collar, her straight hair pulled back in a neat ponytail.
She stood frozen, staring at us.
“Shit, she’s leaving early today,” Mike groaned, suddenly slamming the driver’s side door shut and starting the engine.
“What?” I asked, confused. “Who’s that?”
The woman, hearing the engine start, suddenly started running across the lawn.
“Here, hold these,” Mike muttered, thrusting his paper, thermos and toast at me before stepping on the gas.
But the woman jumped in the middle of the driveway, forcing Mike to brake at once.
“She jumped the bushes,” Mike said, his voice breaking in disbelief. “Did you see her jump the bushes?”
“In that dress, too,” I said admiringly.
She was by Mike’s door in the next instant, rapping on the glass her knuckles.
Mike glanced at me, sighed, and rolled the window down.
“Two days, Mike!” she exclaimed. “You’ve been coming home late and leaving early just to avoid me for two days!”
He winced.
“You know, I get that you’re mad at me, but this is juvenile!”
“I’m not mad at you,” Mike mumbled, his voice barely audible.
“Oh, really? You could have fooled me. Get out of the car. We need to talk.”
“I’m going to be late, Jennifer.”
“I don’t care.”
“Jamie’s going to be late,” Mike said, sounding desperate.
Jennifer bent down and peered in through the window. She blinked at me, her green eyes startled, as if noticing me for the first time. “Who are you?”
“Jennifer, please.”
“Jamie Jenkins,” I said. “I go to school with Mike.”
“Look, we’re going to be late,” Mike said, interrupting Jennifer, who’d been about to reply. “We’ll talk later.”
She looked like she wanted to argue but then shook her head and stepped away from the car. “We’ll talk later,” she echoed. “I want you to come home early, then.”
“Yeah. Early,” Mike repeated, and put his foot down on the pedal again.
I stared at him as we swung out of the driveway and onto the street. “You were kind of rude.”
“Not now, Jenkins,” he said - almost snapped, really.
“Who was that?” I persisted. “I thought you were supposed to be living with your aunt.”
“That was my aunt,” he muttered under his breath.
I craned my neck to look out the window. Jennifer was standing on the sidewalk, her hands on her hips, watching us drive away. “That’s your aunt? How old is she?”
“Twenty-six.”
“Wow. And she gets stuck with a pain in the neck like you. I’m surprised she doesn’t look older.”
“Have you ever been shoved out of a moving vehicle?”
“No.”
“It’s fun. Want to try it?”
I huffed and settled back in my seat. “Fine. Shutting up now.”
* * *
“So I told him that, no, I wasn’t going to the prom with him anymore and that I’d probably never talk to him again. Unless I was going to punch him in the face afterward, of course. And you’re really not listening, are you?”
I glanced up from my bag. “Huh? What? No, I’m listening!”
Katie Tanner rolled her eyes. “What are you looking for in there, anyway?”
“My English book… Oh.” I stopped in the middle of the hall and slapped my palm onto my forehead.
“Oh?”
“It’s in my car. Have you seen Aaron?”
Katie frowned. “Don’t he and Sam have a political science class over in the east wing?”
“He has my car keys.”
“You’ll never make it in time. Just go without a book. Sounds crazy, I know-”
“Don’t mock.”
“Sorry.”
I looked around and suddenly had an idea. “You go on ahead. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Why? Where are you going?”
“To borrow a book!” I called over my shoulder, already halfway back the hall.
“Just- Just hurry, okay?” she shouted back.
I picked up my pace, almost running, and turned the corner. I smiled, catching sight of just the person I wanted to see. “Jonathan!”
Jonathan looked up from his locker and saw me coming, his blue eyes suddenly widening. He shoved his locker shut and caught me as I tripped into him. “Hey, slow down.”
“Sorry.”
Above us, the bell suddenly began to ring.
He straightened, shaking me off. “Sorry. I gotta go. I’ll catch you later!”
“But I-”
He was running off at top speed and I groaned as the crowd carried him away. I started to kick his locker door but thought better of it. I knew his combination, after all.
I put my books and binder on top of the bank of lockers and twirled the combination. It clicked open and I swung the door to the side. My hand was halfway in when I stopped dead.
I blinked in confusion, shut the locker for a second, and opened it again.
No, I wasn’t seeing things. There really were red ribbons all over his things. And what strange things! There was a little stuffed bear that I had never seen before, two new books, and a small paper kaleidoscope among others. I suddenly remembered how he had shown me an ancient book, also beribboned, and asked if I had given it to him.
There was an envelope near the door, and while the polite part of me told me that it really wasn’t for me and I shouldn’t be reading his mail, the red ribbon sealing it just screamed for me to open it. I was his girlfriend, after all. No matter how badly our relationship was going.
I was just reaching for it when a voice behind me made me jump.
“You’re going to be late to class.”
I pulled my hand back and spun around. “Mike,” I breathed, my heart in my throat.
Mike Harding stepped forward, trapping me between Jonathan’s locker, Jonathan’s locker door, and himself. “That isn’t your locker,” he told me reproachfully.
I wondered how he knew that. “Yes, it is.”
“No. Yours is outside the Lit classroom.”
“Are you stalking me?”
The question amused him. “And if I say yes?”
“You’re creepy.”
“Not as creepy as whoever’s tying red ribbons all over your boyfriend’s stuff.”
“How do you know...?”
“I don’t think your boyfriend’s likely to do all that himself. I don’t think you’re the type to do that, either. You’re not the sweet girlfriend type”
“Thanks,” I said dryly, shutting the door. My heart wasn’t really into trading insults with Harding, though. The contents of Jonathan’s locker puzzled me too much. And what was in the envelope?
I looked away from him and saw the hall was deserted. I gasped and grabbed my books. Then I groaned. “I need an English book!”
“I think you need to get to class more than you need the book. Unless you want to skip it and hide out in the gym with me.”
I sighed. “I have to go to class.”
Mike laughed softly. “You sound so reluctant. Is the alternative that attractive?”
I shot him a warning look and he smiled.
The last bell rang.
“Here,” he said, handing me an English book with a red ribbon around it.
I stared at it. “Jonathan’s- How-”
He waggled his hand at me. “Fast fingers. Go, go!”
* * *
The red ribbons bothered me all morning and on into lunch. I’d tried bringing it up when I saw Jonathan in the hall, but no matter how I thought I’d go about it, I realized he’d probably end up being offended by my (albeit unintentional) snooping. And if he was offended, he was unlikely to offer answers to my questions.
Still, we had the date tonight... If I was careful...
I bumped into Mike Harding’s table at lunch, nearly spilling my soda onto his lap. “Sorry,” I muttered. “Why are you suddenly everywhere?”
“I’m stalking you, remember?” he said mildly, pushing out a chair for me. “Want to join me?”
I hesitated, glancing around.
“Or would you rather not be seen with me today? Is there a schedule when you’re supposed to be nice or mean to me?”
I plunked my tray down. “I was just looking for the others,” I said lamely.
“Did you remember to put Jonathan’s book back?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Good. If we get the chance, I can instruct you in the finer points of larceny, if you like.”
I raised an eyebrow. “How can a rich guy like you know anything about stealing?”
He snorted, burying his face in a large graphic novel. “You’d be surprised how many idiotic things you can learn in a private school,” he mumbled, and started to read.
“Hey! You invited me to sit here. You can’t read!”
He blinked, sighed, and put his book away. “So what are we going to talk about?”
“I don’t know. You’re the one who asked me to sit with you!”
“Yes, but you’re the one who accepted the invitation.”
I stared at him helplessly.
“Never mind. I’ll pick a topic. We need to finish the mural. Soon. How many hours can you work today?”
I opened my mouth and then something hit me. My date. My very important, relationship-saving date was now more necessary than ever. “Zero,” I muttered at last.
“Zero?”
“IhaveadatewithJon,” I mumbled.
Somehow, he understood that. “A date. Right.” He leaned back, his eyes strangely distant. “Do you want to know what’s in the envelope?”
I jumped and looked around. The envelope. Surely, he didn’t-
“I haven’t seen what’s inside it,” he added hastily.
“Good. Because it really isn’t any of your business,” I said firmly. “That’s between Jonathan and me.”
“I’d say it’s between Jonathan and whoever’s got a crush on him.”
“Now, what makes you say that?”
He shrugged.
“You’re surprisingly nosy.”
“No. I just end up knowing things I don’t really want to know about,” he said dryly.
He was driving me crazy. “What are you talking about?”
“As you said, it isn’t any of my business,” he echoed mockingly, fiddling with his straw. He pointed at my half-eaten apple pie. “Are you going to finish that?”
I sighed and relinquished my pie. “Don’t avoid the subject.”
“I didn’t. I changed it. With pie. The school makes lousy pasta but okay pie.”
I kicked him under the table. Or at least I tried to. My foot met with nothing but air. I glanced down and saw he’d pulled his legs back.
“I was anticipating that,” he said mildly, putting down the empty pie tray and getting to his feet. “I have to go.”
“Are you going to paint? I can help you, if you want.” I asked, suddenly seized with the urge to make up for my would-be absence this afternoon.
“I’m going to the library.”
“Why?” I asked without thinking.
He stared at me.
“Okay. I’m sorry. Of course you’re going there to study.”
He gave me one last, amused glance, spared me a wave, and walked off.
I stared after him, wondering what he had been hinting at.
I sighed and stared down at my salad. I suppose I can ask Jonathan tonight...
* * *
...Was what I thought, but he cancelled on me.
I stared at my phone in disbelief, already half-dressed, my hair already done, an hour and a half after school had let out.
I could still hear his voice. A horse was foaling and it was going badly, and his mother needed his help in the emergency. His mother was a veterinarian, so I couldn’t even say “Get a vet, leave them, and come down here!”
I always come in last, I thought sullenly. I came after school, family, and even horses, dear God. Horses.
I sighed and stared at my schoolwork. But after getting myself excited over nothing, I couldn’t just stay home and do my assignments.
I stomped to the closet. I was going to go out, with or without Jonathan Melman. And I was going to have fun. Damn it.