by Emily Camp
The mattress bounced as he flopped beside me, his mouth gaped open. “What that heck, Kacey?” He ran his hand over his hair and he let out a sigh.
“Too fast.” I sat up tugging my shirt over my stomach and scanning the dark room for my Converse.
He held his hands out like I was crazy. “We’ve been talking for weeks.”
“This is our first date.” I fumbled with my phone to find give me light.
He scooted to the edge of the bed, “What about Nolan?”
I knew that would come back to haunt me. Even though I tried to play it off at school that I didn’t care if everyone thought I had sex with Nolan in the back seat of his rusty Ford.
“Nolan is a liar.” Thankfully, my shoes were by the bed.
“You never denied it before,” he shoved his feet into his Adidas.
“So you only brought me here to …” I tied my shoelaces.
“I’m not trying to have sex with you, but I’d at least like something.” He held his hands out. “I’m sober and I had a good game last night.”
“Because you’re a football star I’m supposed to let you get to second base?” I started toward the door.
“No, I’m sorry.” He sighed and ran his hand over his hair. “I thought you wanted to, that’s all and I’m just … I’m a little frustrated.”
“Goodbye Dylan.” I turned to open the door.
“Wait, wait, wait,” he said, rushing in front of me. “I’m sorry. Okay?” his hands were up in surrender. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
I didn’t remove my hand from the door.
“Will you stay? I promise, I won’t try anything else.”
I relaxed my shoulders. “I just want to go home.”
He stood right in front of me, towering over me. Twenty minutes ago, I felt butterflies being this close to him, but now, there was nothing.
“We’re okay though, right?” He put his hand on my arms just under my shoulders.
“Yeah.” I gathered my hair to one side of my head, bringing it over my right shoulder. I’d spent so much time on it tonight, trying to get it just right. Addi had helped. “I just … I want to go.”
“Right.” He opened the door. Even though nothing happened, I didn’t miss the high fives and thumbs up from his friends when we walked downstairs. He just let them believe that we messed around. Of course, I wasn’t going to make a scene in front of everyone to set them straight. I was just glad when we were out of there.
***
Dylan kissed me when he dropped me off, but I didn’t feel it. I also didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so I smiled.
When I walked into my house, Star Wars blasted from our television. Gavin and mom were curled up on the couch together with a bowl of popcorn between them. My mom looked up, “You’re home early.”
I shrugged, “Yeah.”
“He’s cute and nice, has you home way before curfew. He’s definitely a keeper.”
“Maybe.” I flopped down beside her.
She draped an arm around me.
“Shhh,” Gavin said from the other side of her.
“Like you haven’t seen this a million times already.” I grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl and tossed it at him.
“Stop,” he whined.
“I just vacuumed.” My mom tried to catch as much popcorn in her palm as she could before they hit Gavin, the sofa, and the floor.
“Sorry mom.” I said, before picking a kernel up and tossing at Gavin.
“Kacey,” my mom chided.
“Sorry,” I said again, as Gavin stuck his tongue out at me.
At least the night wasn’t a total waste. Hanging out here with my mom and Gavin wasn’t a bad way to end it. Even if I just learned my new really cute boyfriend only asked me out because he heard a rumor about me.
Chapter Eight
I sat in ES half asleep as Jack rattled on and on about something in my biology book. I had my hand behind my ear and my elbow resting on the table. We mentioned nothing about my brother’s game and how I basically snubbed him. It wasn’t like he said much to me either.
“I’m dumb, okay, I get it.” I said when he asked me a question. One I’ll admit, I didn’t hear, “You don’t have to keep on looking at me like that.”
“Looking at you like what?” He wrinkled his brow.
“Like I’m stupid.”
“I don’t look at you like that.” He pushed his glasses up.
“My head hurts today.” I said making a dramatic show of putting my hand to my temple.
“Do you need to go to the nurse’s office?” His voice was sober.
“Why are you always so serious?” I didn’t know why he was being especially irritating today, maybe it was the fact that I’d been avoiding Dylan.
“Why wouldn’t I be serious?”
“I don’t know.” So many things were running through my mind and I couldn’t focus on any one of them, especially not geometry.
“What else should I be?”
“I think you’re right, I should see the nurse.” Because I didn’t feel like dealing with Jack Landry today.
“Okay.” He stood up when I did and lifted my backpack as I reached for it.
“What are you doing?” I held my hand out for my bag.
“I’ll walk you.” He tossed my backpack over his shoulder. Pink polk-a-dots on him almost made me smile. He walked to Miss Deeter and explained what was going on, she excused us, and then we were walking down the hall. It felt weird without the backpack weight on my back.
I glanced at Jack who looked straight ahead. He was a nice guy despite how grumpy he seemed.
“Thank you.” Even if I was faking being sick to get out of ES today.
“It’s nothing.” He hiked my backpack straps up.
A sinking feeling hit my stomach when I thought of how I treated him this weekend. “Look, at my brother’s game … I didn’t …”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s just that my mom doesn’t know I’m in educational support and … I didn’t want to explain who you were.”
“That’s fine.”
“I didn’t mean to snub you.”
“Never thought you snubbed me.”
I entered the office when he opened the door and held it. The office worker’s faces lit up when he walked in.
“Jack, what can we do for you?”
He pointed toward me, “Kacey needs the nurse.”
It was as if the secretary just noticed me there even though I walked in ahead of him. She finally looked at me. “Oh.”
“I have a headache.” I pointed to my temple, keeping this lie going.
“Okay,” she pointed toward a door on the right, “she’s open, go on in.”
Jack and I started to go through the door at the same time, then stopped awkwardly.
“Go ahead,” he motioned.
I started to protest but decided not to. Was he really going to carry my bag in there for me, too? I stepped inside. The nurse stood by the small counter. Her back turned toward us. It looked like a run-down doctor’s office. It was weird I’d been in this school for a year and some months and never been in here.
“Hello,” she turned with a jerk as if she’d just noticed us. “Is everything okay, Jack?”
How did everyone in this school know him? I didn’t until he was assigned to tutor me.
He sat my backpack on the ground. “Kacey has a headache.” As if I couldn’t speak for myself.
“Hi Kacey.” She then nodded toward Jack. “Thank you.”
He looked at me before turning and leaving.
“He’s such a good kid.” The nurse gushed when he left as if she had a crush on him. “Do you have a medication release on file?”
“I don’t think so.” Since I was the one who’d filled all the paperwork out for my mom, I was pretty sure I didn’t fill that one out just because it was one more thing to do.
“Go ahead and have a seat.” She motioned toward the exam ta
ble/bed. “As a precaution, I have to take your temperature. If you’re fevered, you have to go home. If not, you can just rest in here until you’re feeling better.”
That sounded like a plan to me. Maybe when the bell rang, I’d miraculously be better for my next class.
***
At least that sounded like a good plan. What I hadn’t planned was Mr. Radcliffe spotting me from his office when I emerged from the sick room. And imagine that, he got out of his chair and headed toward me.
“Everything okay?” He asked.
I held back the groan. “Yeah.”
“Like I said before, you can talk to me.”
“I didn’t feel well, but I’m fine now.” I said, just to get away from him.
“How’s the tutoring?” For some reason he insisted on keeping me.
“Good,” I said.
“Jack’s a smart guy.” He said smiling as if he was part of the Jack Landry fan club the rest of this office seemed to be in.
“Yeah,” I said, “really smart.”
“Okay. I’ll check in with you next week if I don’t hear anything before then.”
Great, hopefully I will have brought my grades up by then so I could get back to napping and talking during study hall instead of actually studying. That was, of course, if I could bring myself to do a little bit of homework after school as well. My brain was always so tired then. I needed the break.
***
“Jonesy!” Cody called out when I walked into Spanish. With Mr. Radcliffe stopping me, I’d barely made it on time.
I hung my backpack on the back of the chair and slid into the desk beside him.
“You feeling better?” I forgot he witnessed me leave ES earlier.
“Yes.” I pulled my Spanish book out of my backpack, which oddly smelled like Jack. I hadn’t even realized Jack had a smell until now. The only way to describe it was, clean.
Seńora Sanchez, Maria’s mother, and our Spanish teacher waltzed in. She clapped her hands when the bell rang as if we were kindergartners that needed to settle down. I didn’t like her any more than I liked her daughter.
Cody’s desk was crooked, just slightly tilted and in the middle of the aisle closer to me. He continued to talk. Everyone else quieted and the teacher began to speak, in Spanish.
Cody leaned over his desk and whispered, “I can help you with geometry.”
“Huh?” I’d actually been trying to pay attention, because I didn’t need to be failing another class.
“I saw in Miss Deeter’s binder.”
That felt like an invasion of privacy.
“I’m a geometry tutor.” He said, I wasn’t sure how I felt about Dylan’s friend tutoring me either.
“I’m assigned to Jack.” I tried to listen and comprehend, while carrying on this conversation. I didn’t want to be rude to Cody, but I also didn’t want to miss anything important.
“Doesn’t have to be in educational support.”
“Thanks.” I kept my eyes ahead. I wasn’t in danger of failing, but I wasn’t getting an A or a B either.
Of course, when she was done with her lecture, she paired us.
“You should come over with Dylan tonight.” Cody said, our desks now pushed together. We were supposed to be working on the chapter, not making plans.
“I don’t know.” I whispered as I looked down at my book. After Saturday, I had no desire to be around Dylan. I didn’t know why I didn’t just break up with him. I guess I thought I might get over it. But every time I thought about it, I kept replaying him asking about Nolan over and over in my mind as if he based our entire relationship on a rumor.
“We’re just going to hang out and watch the game.” Cody leaned closer.
Seńora walked around the room with her hands clasped behind her back. Interjecting when someone said something wrong. Cody and I were doing it all wrong because we were talking in English.
“Hablar en Espańol, por favor.” She said as she walked by us though not directly to us even though we knew who she meant.
I looked in my book and read the first word I saw, “Azul.” I said.
“Blue.” He said, “Bulldog, blue.”
I covered the book with my hand, leaned forward. “Now give me one.”
He lifted the corner of his mouth in a smirk.
I rolled my eyes and kicked his tennis shoe. “Be serious. I’m failing most of my classes, I don’t want to fail this one.” I didn’t think it’d harm anything telling him since he already looked at my file in Miss Deeter’s room.
He held his hands up, palms out. “I said I could help you.”
“With geometry.”
“With this too.”
“Then help me now, please.”
The rest of the class, Cody continued to banter with me, until the end of class, but he did it in Spanish.
Chapter Nine
Later that night, I got a text from Cody asking if I wanted to work on our Spanish homework. I hadn’t even touched it, so that was probably a good idea. Then he called me on Facetime.
“Hey.” I said answering. My hair was in a messy pile on top my head and I had on a Bulldogs sweatshirt that hung off one of my shoulders.
“Hola.” He gave me a crooked smile. “Your man just left.”
“Speak Spanish, remember?”
He laughed slowly. Definitely a happier guy than my other tutor. Just then I got a beep, a text from Dylan. A simple what you doing?
I replied back with homework. I wasn’t ready to dump him, but I didn’t want to talk to him either.
“Are you texting while you’re supposed to be doing homework?” Cody winked at me. His lips were plump and his smile big for his face, but it worked for him.
“You’re not going to take my phone away, are you?”
Cody belted out a laugh. “Landry. That was funny.”
“I’m glad you found humor in it. I, on the other hand, found it frustrating.” Especially knowing the rest of ES witnessed it.
“Let’s get back to work.” He said in a creepy, low voice like he was trying to imitate Jack, but he didn’t succeed.
“It’s Dylan,” I said.
“Tell him I said ‘hey sucker.’”
I laughed. “I will not.”
He shrugged and said, “Adjectives.”
“Okay,” I looked down at my paper. Our homework was a crossword. In all honesty, I probably could have done it myself. All the answers were found in the chapter, but Cody made it more interesting. Without him working on it with me, I wouldn’t have had the motivation to do it. We were done within ten minutes, but we ended up talking for an hour.
During that hour, I texted with Dylan, ignoring Cody’s suggested texts. Like asking him what he was wearing or if he wanted to come over when my mom went to sleep. After what happened at the party I’m sure Dylan would know better.
***
I was tired when Dylan picked me up for school the next morning. Even though being around him was the last thing I wanted to do, I wanted to ride the bus less.
As soon as we were out of my driveway he asked, “How was facetime with Cody?” his shoulders stiff and his face clenched as he stared straight ahead.
“Okay. We had Spanish homework.”
I didn’t feel the need to explain myself. He’d been my boyfriend for what, an entire minute? Was I suddenly not allowed to talk to other guys?
“Landry is your tutor for everything else and Cody for Spanish?”
“I’m dumb.” I shrugged a shoulder, shifted in my seat, suddenly wishing I would have ridden the bus.
He made a pssh sound and shook his head. The rest of the drive was awkward silence.
When we got to the school I climbed out of the car without a word, tossed my bag over my shoulders, and waltzed into the building ahead of him. He was distracted by friends anyway.
By lunch he texted me that he thought we should break up. I didn’t even respond. Yeah, I agreed, but a text? Really?
“That’s ju
st rude.” Addi said almost loud enough for Dylan’s table to hear.
Normally, I would ask her to be quieter because I didn’t like the attention, but this time I agreed. He should have just dumped me this morning. No, I should have dumped him, but I would not have done it by text.
“What’s going on with you and Tyler?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” She pushed her food around on her tray. “He’s been hot and cold again.”
“Maybe you should just move on.” I said. No boy was worth that much drama.
“But …” as she distractedly chewed on her lip and glanced down at her phone, I looked toward Dylan’s table where Cody was talking. I could hear his voice but couldn’t understand what he was saying. The table roared with laughter. His eyes met mine. He winked, then continued to tell his tale to his audience.
“Kacey.” Addi nudged me, pulling my attention from Cody.
“What?”
“Did you hear me?”
“I’m sorry.” I shook my head.
“Tyler’s parents are going out of town.”
“I think he better quit playing hot-and-cold with you if he wants that.”
“Would you cover for me?” She scratched her elbow. I noticed that even though she’d been pushing her food around, she hadn’t actually eaten any of it.
“Of course, I’ll cover for you.”
Her smile brightened, “You’re the best.”
Cody and Dylan’s table erupted in laughter. I glanced over to Cody looking at me again.
He smiled.
I smiled.
***
Cody jogged up to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders as I made my way to ES. “Jonesy, I still offer my geometry services.”
“Maybe I’ll take you up on it sometime.”
“How’s your man?”
“Not my man anymore.”
“That’s why you weren’t sitting by us at lunch.”
And my mom thought I was clueless.
I lifted my phone, “Broke up with me by text.”