Prove Me Wrong

by Tessa Marie

  “Blueberry muffin,” he says. “I’m an apple walnut type myself but blueberry’s not bad.”

  “Okay, Mr. Snotty food critic.”

  “Snotty?” he says, arching his eyebrow up, which causes these cute little wrinkles on the bridge of his nose. I’m about to come back with a witty remark when I see Amanda.

  She’s in her corner of the cafeteria, arms crossed over her heaving chest. Her bleached hair is set in curls, one strand from the front pulled back in a bedazzled bobby pin. Normally I don’t pay her any mind, but she’s literally staring me down.

  Luke continues talking as if he doesn’t see her. He has to see her. How can he not see her? I position myself so my back is to Amanda.

  “Why is she staring at me like that?” I ask in a whisper, even though I’m sure she can’t hear me.

  “Who?” he blurts out.

  You think my whispering would tip him off to be inconspicuous. I playfully smack his chest. “Shh! Amanda. She’s like… really staring.”

  “She’s just trying to intimidate you. Don’t let her get to you.”

  “Easier said than done.”

  “Hals.”

  My heart flutters when he calls me by the same nickname my mom and Becky use. He rests his hand on my shoulder, the warmth of his hand seeping through my cotton knit shirt. Very casual compared to Amanda’s low cut beaded tank top and short black cardigan.

  “Just don’t. She’s not worth your time. Trust me.” A genuineness flashes in his blue eyes making me want to trust him.

  However, as much as I like Luke and as honest as he said he will be, I’m still scared to completely trust him. So I nod and smile. It’s time to let my guard down and trust in someone again.

  “Okay, I’ll trust you then.”

  “Good. So I’ll see you in gym?” We are closer to my table than I realized. Luke respecting my wishes doesn’t take another step towards it. Roxy sits, watching as if she’s waiting for him to cross the invisible line they’ve drawn.

  “Definitely,” I say.

  I walk over to the table and slide into my seat. Roxy shakes her head, but doesn’t say anything.

  “I don’t understand what is wrong with wearing jeans,” Paul argues with Dana about what he’s wearing to her grandma’s birthday party.

  “You’ll look like a slob. Do you want my family to think you’re a slob?”

  “I don’t think wearing jeans constitutes me being a slob. Hailey am I right?”

  Why did he have to drag me into this argument? I sit down, minding my own business, purposely not making eye contact, so I wouldn’t get involved and somehow I still get dragged in. Probably because the last time they were arguing I sided with Paul, which Roxy would never do. She sides with Dana even if it’s obvious Dana is wrong. I think Paul feels he’s found an ally in me. Good for him. Not good for me. Dana gives me the eye, urging me to agree with her.

  “Why don’t you check with Dana’s brother and dad and see what they’re wearing? See if they’re dressing up or going casual. Make your decision based on that.”

  “Good idea, Hailey. Thanks.” Paul turns in his seat and faces Dana.

  Dana bites into her apple and rolls her brown eyes away from Paul, looking back at me.

  “So what’s going on with you and Luke Hannon?” she asks.

  I knock my water bottle over and fumble to pick it up. “Nothing,” I sputter.

  “They work together, remember? They were probably talking about work. Right Hailey?” Roxy says like she’s accusing me of lying.

  “Right.”

  “If you say so.” Dana turns in her seat and rests her head on Paul’s shoulder. He leans down and kisses her forehead. You’d seriously never know they were just arguing. I don’t care if Roxy thinks they’re destined to break up, when they’re not fighting they’re cute together.

  “Why is that Amanda girl staring at you?” Roxy finally notices.

  “She and Luke used to date and I guess because he’s talking to me she’s jealous or something. I’m just ignoring her.”

  “Luke dated her?” Roxy asks with surprise.

  “Yeah that’s what he told me. Why?”

  “He usually doesn’t date. Just sleeps around.”

  “How do you know?”

  She flips her brown hair over her shoulder. “I don’t. I mean, not for sure. Whatever.”

  I go to ask another question when the bell rings.

  “Catch you later,” Roxy says, walking ahead of me.

  Usually I walk with Roxy to my next class, but now since she took off so quickly maybe I can still catch Luke. I scan the crowds searching for his dark hair. It’s too late. He’s already gone.

  The walk to class is kind of lonely. I feel like I did on the first day. Not knowing anybody, walking with my head down. When I’m with Roxy or Luke I have confidence, but when they’re not around, I quickly lose it.

  A scrawny shoulder smacks into mine. What the…? My feet wobble, but I straighten myself out before losing my footing completely. Bleached curls hurry past me.

  Dumbfounded, I stand looking out towards her as she carelessly glides away from me, flipping her hair behind her shoulders. “Watch where you’re walking, bitch.”

  She’s the one who bumped into me. On purpose! Anger surges through me and it takes everything I have not to call her out on it. I think of Brady and how I want to be a good example. With my son on my mind, I walk forward, not giving Amanda a second thought.

  My last two classes fly by as I imagine tripping Amanda and watching her high heeled shoe slip on the tiled hallway, or pulling her bedazzled clip from her hair. My favorite vision, asking her what her problem is, then punching her before she can respond.

  I shake Amanda from my thoughts. Luke told me to just ignore her and that’s what I plan to continue doing.

  ***

  Coach Hamilton blows her whistle, bringing the game to an end. My team won. Not like I was keeping track. I was too busy staring across the field at Luke in his gym shorts, debating if I should tell him about my little run-in with Amanda.

  By the time he reaches me, my decision is made. I’m not going to mention it. I don’t want to seem like the type that attracts drama, because I’m not. Or at least I don’t want to be.

  “Hey. Good game,” Luke says, an adorable smile pulling at his lips.

  “Yeah, good game,” I pull my hair out of its ponytail holder. “I’ll see you at work?” I still get nervous when I’m around him. Still fear those dreaded moments of silence where everything gets awkward. So I wind up saying random stupid stuff like pointing out the obvious.

  “You will. CJ has off today so he’s going to drop me home so I can grab my stuff and take my car.”

  “I can drive you home.” I can? Where did that come from?

  “You don’t mind?”

  “Not at all. It’s stupid for CJ to drop you off if I’m going that way anyway. We work the same hours today.” That’s it send out the search party because I’ve officially lost my mind.

  “Okay cool. I’ll meet you in the parking lot. Just have to let CJ know.”

  “See you there.” I go into the locker room, grab my clothes, and head to the bathroom to change. Usually I change and head right to my car. Today I’m lingering in front of the only full length mirror in the back of the locker room.

  I fluff my hair up with my hands and apply a generous amount of lip-gloss before giving myself the nod of approval to head out to the parking lot.

  Since the first day I walked through this lot I’ve never seen Amanda. Today she’s sitting on the trunk of her car talking to her friend and watching every step I take.

  I inhale slowly through my nose in order to gain my composure, determined to ignore her as Luke told me to. Out of the corner of my eye I see her slide off her trunk and it looks as if she’s headed toward me. Great. Just great.

  My thoughts bounce around in my head, trying to figure out what I should do. Should I keep walking? Should I list
en to what she has to say? What if she wants to fight me? I’m not going to fight her. I’ll run.

  “Hey.” The tenseness in my neck eases as Luke’s voice fills my ears. “You ready?”

  “Yes.” I exclaim hurrying to my car, not looking back to see if Amanda retreated. Once in the driver’s seat, I glance at my rearview mirror and spot her only feet from her car but she’s still looking at me. Before Luke can notice her I throw the shifter in reverse and pull into the line of vehicles waiting to exit.

  Luke doesn’t need to give me directions since I remember how to get to his house from the last time. It doesn’t dawn on me I haven’t spoken a single word since I got in the car until he finally speaks as we pull up to his house.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Of course I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

  “That’s convincing,” he says with a smile. “What’s up?”

  “I have this test in math tomorrow. I was just wondering when I’ll have time to study. Sorry about that.” I hate how effortlessly the lie flows from my lips.

  “It’s okay. As long as I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Of course not,” I say, running my hand through my hair.

  “You wanna come in? My mom’s at work.”

  I give him a look and he holds his hands up.

  “It’s not a line. And if it makes you feel better I’ll keep my hands here the entire time. You might have to open the door for me though.”

  “Deal.” I’m kind of curious to see the inside of the house anyway.

  I go around to his side of the car and he holds his hands up high. I laugh and let him out. His hands stay in the air as we make the way to the house. “Keys?” I ask.

  He smirks and glances down to his pants pockets.

  “You planned this. Didn’t you?”

  He shrugs but can’t quite keep the smile from his lips. I grab his hands and pull them back down. “You may have your hands back. Just don’t make me regret it.”

  He reaches out, taking my hands in his, and my breath catches in my throat. “You have nothing to be worried about with me. Promise.” He gives my palm a little squeeze, then let’s go and unlocks the door.

  The house screams of a woman’s touch. Doilies under the candles on the coffee table, quilts folded and hung on a rack, and sconces on the wall. Pictures of Luke framed and hung on everywhere. Total opposite of what I was expecting. Actually I don’t know what I was expecting, but definitely not this.

  “You have a really nice house.”

  “Thanks, my mom likes to decorate. As you can tell. My room’s this way. I just have to change my shirt.” He turns and I follow. My heart pounds in my chest even though I know nothing’s going to happen. I won’t let it.

  His room is what I was expecting. Manly. Navy blue walls with band posters, clothes on the tan carpet and his blue and green plaid comforter crumpled into a ball at the foot of the bed.

  Luke walks over to his closet and that’s when I notice the framed drawings on his wall above his desk. They’re similar to the drawings in Stan’s office. Curious, I walk over to them. The detail’s unreal. The characters practically jump off the page. Then in the bottom corner I see the initials L.H.

  “Luke, you drew these?”

  He sticks his head out from the closet and peers over. He scratches his dark eyebrow. “It’s kind of a hobby.”

  “They’re really good. I mean really good.”

  “Thanks. There are more in my desk drawer if you want to check them out.”

  Of course I want to. I move over to his desk, plopping down in the unbelievably comfortable leather chair. Pencils, sharpeners, pencil shavings, colored pencils, Sharpies, and paper fill the drawer.

  Beneath the clutter I find the drawings. I carefully pull them out, not wanting to crease the paper or get pencil marks on them. They are rougher than the ones on the wall, but the detail is just as amazing.

  “These are really good, too.” I turn to find him pulling his shirt over his head. “Um.” Wow. His chest is smooth and his abs…I dart my eyes back to the drawings in my hands. “You should put a portfolio together,” I sputter.

  “I’ve thought about it. I’m just going to wash my face and throw a shirt on then I’ll be ready to go.”

  Embarrassed he might’ve caught me drooling over his abs, I go to place the drawings back in the drawer when I spot a picture sticking out from under a box of drawing charcoal. I’ve never been one to snoop, but the group of people in the picture piques my interest.

  Trees line the group of people. I notice Luke instantly. He hasn’t changed much from the time the picture was taken except his hair was longer. Travis is in the picture, along with Bobby, CJ, and a few girls I don’t know. However, the one person that doesn’t belong, the one person that by first glance I couldn’t even imagine being a part of this picture, especially with pink streaks through her hair is sitting beside Luke shyly glancing in CJ’s direction.

  “Is this Roxy?” I ask Luke as he walks back into the room.

  His hand stops midway through his hair and he doesn’t take another step. He focuses on the picture in my hand then shakes his head. “She wasn’t always the picture of perfection.”

  “You guys used to hang out?”

  “You could say that.”

  I knew something was up between them. You can only despise someone that much if the hurt goes deep. “So what happened? I mean, you know she hates you.”

  “Trust me, I know.”

  “So what changed?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  “I like long stories. Besides, you told me no bullshit.”

  He moves his comforter to the head of the bed and sits down in its place, facing me.

  “All through middle school we hung out with the same crowd and in ninth grade we became close. Not dating or anything like that. More like a sister. She was going through some shit at home. Her parents were always on her case. They were ridiculously hard on her. We got drunk for the first time together and smoked our first joint together.”

  He runs his hands over his face and peers up at me; I’m not going to hold the pot thing against him. It would only make me a hypocrite since I have too.

  “Then the summer before high school we were at a party in the woods. I had just bought an eighth bag. After we smoked a joint, we saw people scattering and realized the cops had shown up. I was on probation already so if I got caught I was going into a detention center for troubled teens and Roxy knew it.”

  I look up at him, meeting his blue eyes. I want to ask why he was on probation in the first place but I’m about to find out the story between him and Roxy, which I have been trying to figure out since day one, so I don’t interrupt.

  “I was going to toss it and count my losses, but she took it and shoved it into her pocket then yelled at me to run. We took off, dodging trees, jumping over logs. I didn’t realize how far ahead of her I got until I turned my head and didn’t see her. I started to head back. I couldn’t just leave her. But by the time I got back to her it was too late.”

  I shifted my weight in the chair, leaning forward.

  “A cop caught her. He asked her if she had any drugs, told her it would be better if she didn’t lie. She never had a run-in with the cops before, not like me, so she didn’t have a clue. She handed over the weed and it was enough to put her in handcuffs.”

  “Oh my God.”

  “There was nothing I could do. Only watch her get taken away. She was lucky though, they let her off with probation, but her parents, the assholes that they are, made her go to rehab.”

  “For weed?”

  “Like I said, her parents were really hard on her. No daughter of theirs would be a pothead. It was completely unacceptable. It would taint their image.”

  “Jeez, that must have been tough.”

  “I wouldn’t know. She stopped talking to me. I couldn’t even apologize and explain that I didn’t leave her behind. I went to her house every s
ingle day before she got sent away and her parents told me she didn’t want to see me.”

  “What about when school started up again?”

  His blue eyes dull. The spark I’m so used to is missing. “She had changed so much I didn’t even know who she was anymore. She became everything her parents wanted her to be. I tried talking to her once and she blew me off calling me a dirtbag under her breath. So I left it alone. Let her think what she wants. Honestly, I don’t care.”

  He does though. It’s obvious. He lost his best friend and is stuck being tortured by all the what if’s. I’d be sad too.

  “I’m ready, let’s get out of here.” He disregards the picture into his waste basket and walks out the door.

  The secret’s out. Hailey knows the deal between me and Roxy. I meant what I said when I told Hailey no bullshit. I’d rather the story come from me because God knows Roxy would make me out to be some kind of monster.

  I put it all out there. Even risked her thinking I was some kind of pothead, but the look in her eyes never changed. Besides, I don’t touch the stuff anymore. I gave it up around the same time I gave up cigarettes. Felt like I was losing one too many brain cells.

  So now I just drink, but who doesn’t? Well except for Roxy who doesn’t do a damn thing that she thinks might be frowned upon. Makes me sick to think of how much she’s actually changed. Sometimes I miss her. Not really.

  Sometimes.

  “So how many concerts have you been to?” Hailey asks.

  “I’ve lost count. I have to check with CJ. He has an ongoing list. If I had to guess at the very least thirty something.”

  “Thirty something! That’s unbelievable.” She shrinks into herself a little bit, and glances out the window. “I’ve only been to one.”

  “Seriously? Only one? Wow. Who was it?” For a girl who loves music, I can’t believe she’s only been to one concert. It’s like sacrilegious.

  “A Justin Bieber concert when I was twelve. My mom got me tickets for my birthday.”

  “Well that explains why you’ve never been to another concert. I’d be scarred for life too.”

  “Shut up. Justin Bieber was cool back then.”