by Dayo Benson
We walked round to the parking lot. “It’ll take you about half an hour to walk.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you’re giving me a ride then.”
I unlocked my car, and we both got in. “I didn’t know you were a church boy.”
“It’s Tanya. I have to go because she’s given me lots of notice about this one.”
“What time does it start?”
“Six.”
“Why are you going now, then?”
“I’m helping to set up. I need to redeem myself since she witnessed me punching the lights out of those dudes the other day.”
“Good works without a relationship with Christ won’t earn you a place in heaven, buddy.”
Jace gave me a surprised look. “I didn’t know you’re a secret preacher.”
I chuckled. “That’s what my aunt said to me one time. She goes to Tanya’s church too.”
We soon arrived at the church, and I pulled to a stop outside the huge ‘Bridge Community Church’ sign. It didn’t look open.
Jace looked at his watch. “I better text Tanya. She said it’d be open by two.”
I switched off my engine.
“Why do you always blank me in economics?” Jace asked while his fingers flew over the touch screen keypad of his phone.
“I blank you?”
“Are you denying it?”
“You’re the one who blanks me.”
Jace finished texting. “Lexi, you always blank me. You only ever talk to me if I talk to you first.” His phone beeped announcing a response from Tanya. “How fast does this girl text!” he muttered. “The back entrance will be open.”
“Good.”
“Anyway, back to what I was saying. If we’re supposed to have any kind of relationship, we’ll both have to work at it. I can only do so much without your cooperation.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about us.”
I dropped my head onto the steering wheel and laughed.
“Are you finding this funny? I’m trying to save our friendship here.”
“Do we have a friendship?”
“Well, I thought we did.”
I sat up and tucked a few stray curls back from my face. “You’re funny.”
“So have you just been leading me on, then?”
“I don’t think that applies in friendship.”
“It does. One minute you’re all friendly, and you make me think you want to be my friend. Next thing, you act like you don’t even know me.”
“You know that’s not true,” I said. “Actually, I’m supposed to be mad at you. I forgot.”
“Why? What have I done?”
“Well, Michelle needed to get home today, and guess what she said to me?”
“What?”
I tried to mimic Michelle’s voice, “Are you gonna gimme a ride, or do you only offer those services to Jace?”
“So why are you mad at me?”
“Because you’re telling everyone about it.”
“I’m just spreading the word about your hospitality. What’s wrong with that?”
“People might start thinking things, though.”
“Things like what?”
I rolled my eyes. He knew what. “Anyway, how can you say this friendship is one sided when I give you rides all the time. I don’t even make you contribute toward my gas.”
“Fair point. I’ll start contributing.”
“No, I’m just saying.”
Jace put his phone in his pocket. “I better get in there. Thanks for the ride.”
“No worries.”
He got out and shut the door. I watched him walk up to the church and go around the back. I started driving home and realized I didn’t want to go home. The thought of sitting in an empty house really didn’t appeal. I drove to the mall instead.
I wandered around the mall for about an hour looking at clothes and trying on a couple of shoes. Then, I went to the food court. Monica called me as I started on my double cheeseburger. “How are you holding up?” I asked.
“I’m okay. Sorry to burden you with my issues.”
“What are friends for? Speaking of issues, guess who was drunk and crying in the bathroom today.”
“Michelle?”
“How did you know?”
“It’s not the first time.”
“Really? Then she needs help, like medical attention.”
“I know how she feels. I get low like that sometimes too, but I don’t come to school drunk.”
“How’s your mom?” I asked.
“She’s doing okay. She’s back home. I don’t know where my dad is. Anyway, your fashion show is tomorrow. I can’t wait.”
“Are you still coming?”
“Sure, I wouldn’t miss it for anything. Where are you?”
“At the mall.”
“What? With who?”
“Myself.”
“Why?”
I slurped some Pepsi with my straw. “Didn’t want to go home yet.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“Because it wasn’t planned. I was just driving home, and I decided not to go home.”
“You’re weird, going to the mall by yourself.”
“Thanks.”
“Well, I dumped Liam.”
I was shocked. “When?”
“Just now. I felt horrible.”
“What did he say?”
“He just asked if I’m with anyone else, and I said no—which is true, because I’m not.”
Sure. “Does Hayden know?”
“No. I don’t want to date Hayden anymore.”
“Then why did you dump Liam?”
“Because I’m just sick of it all. I need some space.”
Chapter 13
I was backstage in hair and makeup. My makeup alone took the better part of three hours to do! The makeup artist barely finished in time for me to throw on my first outfit and take my position with the other models. The music started as I staggered over in my heels and found my place in the line, while a hair stylist followed me, tugging at my hair and spraying it. My hair was in a good mood today. It cooperated with the stylist and hung down in large waves.
“Why do they always give me shoes that are too small?” I groaned to no one in particular. My feet were already feeling strangled.
“Do you want to swap?” a beautiful Chinese girl whispered. “Mine are too big. I had to stuff them with tissue.”
I looked around. No one was watching. “Sure.”
Backstage was crazy. Every time I got off the runway I had to fight through the throng of models, makeup artists, and hair stylists to get to my rack and change clothes. There was no time for modesty as I stripped, and the dresser frantically helped me don my next outfit.
After the show, I didn’t bother to wash off my makeup. Fashion TV wanted to say hi, so I grinned at the camera, introduced myself, then I ran off to get changed. I went to say bye to the designer before I left. His clothes rocked, and I wanted to make a good impression so that he’d use me again. I asked if I could pay him something for a bright pink minidress I’d worn as my third outfit, and he told me to just keep it. I knew Monica would love it.
I called her as I left, and I could barely hear what she was saying between all her squeals. I managed to get her to tell me where she was and went to meet her across the road in a coffee shop. It was full of kids from school when I got there.
Monica and Sandy attacked me as soon as I walked in. “Lexi, you were awesome,” Monica gushed, jumping up and down and hugging me.
“Yeah,” Sandy agreed. “You totally rocked!”
“That was the hottest fashion show I’ve seen in a while.” Monica’s squeal had become a screech. “And I’ve been to quite a few.”
“I’m glad you guys liked it,” I said looking around. “What’s everyone else doing here? You’re doing a great job of keeping this a secret, Monica.”
“Sorry, Lexi, word got out.
”
Michelle joined us. “Lexi, I hold my hands up. You were good.”
“Thanks.” I handed Monica the pink dress.
“What’s this?”
“One of the dresses I wore. I thought you might like it.”
Monica almost blew her top. She showed me the back of her hand. She’d written ‘pink dress.’ “I can’t believe it. I was going to ask you about this dress!”
“You see, I can read your mind.”
Monica stuffed the dress into her purse.
Just then, Jace emerged from the mob of kids at the far end of the shop. “Okay, ya’ll, I bought Lexi a latte macchiato, and it’s getting cold.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“I dunno,” Jace admitted. “Monica said you’d like it.”
I let Jace lead me away to a table at the back. I smiled at the crowd of Kingston kids as we went. All eyes were on me, which was a pretty new thing.
“That was a good show,” Jace said leading me to a table.
There was a tall mug of delicious looking gourmet coffee sitting on my side of the table. “Is that my latte macchiato?”
“Yes.”
“Thanks, Jace.” I noticed that he was looking at me. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Tell me.”
“You’re pretty.”
I glowered at him.
“How come you never told me that you’re a model?”
“Well, you know how you were talking about our friendship yesterday? I didn’t want my modeling to influence our friendship.” I sipped my drink. It was divine. Not too hot either.
Jace looked at my lips. “You have foam moustache.”
There were no paper napkins; I wiped my lips with the back of my hand.
“Aren’t models supposed to be crazy, anorexic, cocaine snorters?”
“I’m as clean as they come. Sorry to disappoint you.”
Jace watched me drain the rest of my drink. His eyes turned mischievous. “I liked that red lacy thing you wore.”
“I didn’t like that outfit. It was really uncomfortable, and I thought it was going to burst open.”
Jace let his eyes sweep me over me. “I was hoping you’d keep it on.”
I gave him a bored look. He was in flirt mode, and I wasn’t taking his bait. Come Friday’s economics class, he probably wouldn’t even look in my direction.
“You’ll be glad to know that I asked Tanya to pick me up at seven. I thought I’d give you a break from being my chauffeur.”
I looked at my watch. It was a couple minutes to seven. “I think I’m going to head home myself. Goodnight, Jace. Thanks for the coffee.”
Chapter 14
At lunchtime on Friday, Monica, Michelle, and Sandy filled me in about the open call the previous night. “Did they say when you’ll hear from them?” I asked.
Monica beamed. “They said the last open call for the year is in two weeks, so they’ll write us after that. I guess we should know by that weekend. There weren’t that many people there. I thought there’d be hundreds, but there was only like seven, which I guess is good.”
“I’m sure you guys did great.” The fact that they hadn’t been outright rejected was good.
“Guess what, ladies?” Sandy piped up. “It’s three weeks until Christmas.”
“And it’s my birthday soon,” Michelle added.
“We could be models by then. We might be celebrating your birthday in a five star hotel in Milan after a hard day’s labor working runways all over the city.”
Michelle’s eyes widened. “Wait, if we get signed, I won’t have to do the finals!”
“Yep, you can stuff school.”
These girls were deluded. I didn’t want to burst their bubble, but it really wasn’t that easy or that glam. I’d been to scores of open calls before I’d gotten signed, and even then, you had to work to get bookings. You didn’t just get air-bussed to Milan. You had to impress someone, and that someone was usually determined not be impressed, whether it was a designer or a fashion house. But it did get a little easier to get gigs once you got into the swing of things.
“Anyway, we need to go shopping for your party,” Sandy told Michelle. “Do you know what you’re wearing yet?”
“No.”
“Why don’t we go on Saturday?”
“Okay.” Michelle looked at Monica. “I bet you’ve already got your dress.”
“I haven’t, but I’ll work something out.” Monica gave me a wink that said ‘I’ll just raid your closets.’
***
I woke up late on Saturday morning, had a shower, and then got down to business studying. Schoolwork was taking over my life, but I knew I had to work hard if I was going to get into college. I was finding economics pretty impossible. I opened my books with determination, but before long, my mind started to wander.
As predicted, Jace hadn’t spoken to me in economics yesterday. But I guess he didn’t get a chance to because I’d left as soon as the class was over.
I blinked a couple times as my eyes went blurry and the words of the textbook I was reading melded into fuzz. I decided to text Monica: Am studying bt mind kps wanderin. Wot u up 2?
Her reply was instant: Wanderin to JW? Am home with mom.
I decided to admit it: Hope she’s okay. I’m studying Economics, maybe that’s why I’m thinkn bout him.
Just then my phone vibrated, and Jace’s name flashed at me. I couldn’t believe it. I hoped Monica hadn’t prompted him. I’d kill her if she had. “Hello?”
“Hey, Lexi, what’s happening?” Jace’s voice was super hot on the phone.
“Homework,” I said dully.
“What homework are you doing?”
“Economics.”
“Do you need help?”
“I think so. These handouts are rubbish. They don’t explain anything. And I’ve got this book that I’m reading over and over, but none of it is really helping.”
“I can help you out if you want. What topics are you struggling with?”
“Um...” It was actually most of it. “I guess maybe you can look at my last couple of assignments and tell me what I’m doing wrong? I don’t understand why I’m scoring so low. I actually thought they were good.”
“Okay, when do you want me?”
“Anytime, but pretty soon I guess. I don’t have any free periods on Monday. Maybe we can do it during lunch if you’re okay with that?”
“I have basketball.”
“Okay, do you have any free periods on Tuesday?”
“Yes, I’m free last period, but I might be going to help out at church again.”
“How about Wednesday?” I asked.
“How about tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow’s Sunday.”
“Yeah, so we’ll have plenty of time to work through everything.”
The thought of seeing Jace on the weekend was weird. “Okay. Where?”
“Doesn’t matter to me. I can come to your place, or you can come to mine.”
Alarm bells went off in my head. I wasn’t sure this was a good idea. “Do you remember the way to my house?”
“I think so.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” I asked.
“Of course not. I’ve been worried about you ever since I saw that 36% on your paper. I haven’t been able to sleep at night since then.”
“Whatever.”
“And that was the easiest paper ever.”
“Ooh, just rub some salt in the wound, why don’t you?”
Jace laughed. “Girl, you know I’m just winding you up.”
“So what are you doing today?”
“I’m going to a twenty-first birthday party.”
“Cool.” Everyone had things going on. Why didn’t I get out there and do something too? “Are you sure you don’t mind coming tomorrow?”
“Of course I don’t. Have a list of the things you want me to help with so that we know what we’re doing. And all the assignment
s you want me to look at? Have them ready too.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I actually want to help you, Lexi.”
“That’s sweet.”
“You’re the only person that has ever said I’m sweet.” I could hear the smile in his voice.
“Maybe you don’t show your sweet side enough. All people know about you is how you jump people when they come out of the gym.”
Jace groaned. “Don’t make me feel guilty for something I didn’t even start. I’ve already got Saint Tanya for that.”
“I’m glad someone is keeping you on the straight and narrow.”
“I’m not a bad guy, Lexi,” Jace said. “I generally stay out of trouble.”
“Well, Tanya seems to know how to keep you in check.”
“More like she knows how to keep me on a guilt trip. But yeah, she’s cool. She prays for me.”
“That’s nice.”
“So, are you doing anything tonight?” Jace asked.
“No.”
“No hot date?”
I giggled. “Who would I be having a hot date with?”
“Carl or maybe even Lewis.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Well, do you want to come to this party with me?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I haven’t been invited, and I won’t know anybody there.”
“You’ll know me.”
“No thanks, Jace.”
Jace was quiet for a moment. “I can’t believe you just turned me down like that.”
I laughed at him. “You’ll get over it.”
“Yeah, I guess. They say time’s a healer. Expect me around four tomorrow. Should I bring pizza?”
“No, just bring the brains.”
“Okay, are you ordering pizza?”
“Should I be?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.”
“Something spicy and with meat with extra cheese.”
“Yes, Mr. Washington.”
When we hung up, Monica’s reply to my text was in my message inbox: Yeah you just keep telling yourself that. I thought ur crush was pathetic but he’s even worse. Neither of u can admit it. Ur both twisted!
***
“Did I just hear you ordering pizza?” My mom asked coming out of her room, her jacket folded over her arm. She’d been at my grandmother’s all afternoon. Now, she’d been home only half an hour, but she was off somewhere again. “I’ve made your dinner, Lexi. It’s in the kitchen for when you decide to eat.”