She's With Me

by Jessica Cunsolo

“It’s a bad neighborhood,” I lie, mentally slapping myself for such a stupid excuse.

  He looks around at my very suburban block at the two-story houses with beautifully landscaped lawns and expensive cars sitting in the driveways.

  He looks back at me and smirks. “Yeah, you could probably get allergies from all the flowers.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  He holds a white phone out to me and I take it. “You found my phone?”

  “Yeah, when I went back to Noah’s Friday night.”

  “Why didn’t you give this to me earlier? Or at the hospital today?”

  “I have more important things to do. Plus, I wasn’t going back downstairs to my car to get it.”

  “Oh.”

  “I noticed you only had one contact in your phone that wasn’t Charlotte, Annalisa, Chase, Mason, or Noah. And that was your mom.”

  “You went through my phone?” I ask, getting mad. Why didn’t I set up my password?

  “Yes,” he deadpans, not even looking guilty about it. “I thought you moved around a lot, so wouldn’t you have other contacts in there? All the people you’ve met from other schools?”

  “I don’t believe in long-distance relationships,” I lie.

  “I also noticed you don’t have any apps, photos, notes, or music.”

  “It’s a new phone,” I lie again, gritting my teeth. “If you’re done interrogating me, I have dishes to wash.” I try to close the door.

  “Wait,” he says, and I stop. “Friday night, I got mad at you—”

  “I know. It’s okay. I know we were all worried about Noah, and angry about the situation, and you needed someone to blame. The way you reacted wasn’t nice, but I guess we all react in our own different ways.”

  “I shouldn’t have blamed you,” he says, looking slightly awkward and uncomfortable.

  “Is that an apology I hear?” I smile slightly.

  “Don’t get used to it. It won’t happen again.”

  Aiden is walking off the porch and onto the first step when I call his name. He turns back around, looking at me expectantly.

  “Thanks for saving my ass . . . with Dave, I mean,” I say, and hold up the phone that he returned to me. “And for bringing me my phone.”

  I know I said I didn’t need to thank him last night, and that I was handling it just fine, but even I can’t pull off a lie that big. Bring trained in jujitsu helped me escape Dave, but I wasn’t strong enough to take on four giant, hostile boys.

  “I got there in time to see you knock that first guy to the floor,” he says. “I wasn’t going to step in because you handled it just fine, but when I saw the others, I had to get involved,” he admits in a quiet voice.

  “I’m glad you did,” I say.

  He looks like he’s about to continue down the rest of the steps, but says instead, “How did you learn to fight like that?”

  “Basic self-defense classes,” I say, our moment of honesty replaced by my lies again. “Good night, and thanks again.”

  I lean against the closed door and let out a breath when I hear his car rev and drive off.

  Back in the kitchen, I open the contacts app on my phone to text Charlotte to say that I got my phone back, and freeze when I notice the new contact entry. At the top of my contact list, since it’s in alphabetical order, is Aiden’s name and number.

  6

  Monday morning the students are alive and buzzing about Noah’s party.

  I’m sick of hearing about the fight. I’m sure if Noah was here he’d lap up the attention, wearing his signature goofy but charming smile. He’d probably even find a way to convince people that he meant to get a concussion so he could get out of his calculus test.

  Which is today. And I am absolutely unprepared.

  When it comes to calculus, I already need all the help I can get, but this weekend, with all the drama that happened, I didn’t have it in me to study. Now, sitting in my seat before the bell rings, I’m frantically flipping through the pages of my notebook, as if I can absorb all the information by glancing at it quickly. But really, I’m just flipping through pages.

  Three minutes before the bell. Shove as much information into your brain as you can before class starts, Amelia. Never mind that it’s gibberish. Why wasn’t I blessed with a photographic memory? Still, even if I had memorized all this information, I wouldn’t have the slightest clue what to do with it.

  “I’m guessing you’re ready to ace this test.”

  Aiden’s deep voice makes me jump.

  “Clearly,” I say. “Can’t you tell by the frantic page flipping, sweaty palms, doodle examining, super planning, and erratic heartbeat that I’m confident in my ability to pass this test?”

  He laughs and sits down behind me, while I return to my frantic page flipping as the bell rings. Somehow, my scattered mind seems to register that this is the first time Aiden initiated a conversation that wasn’t unfriendly (sort of). It’s also the first time he smiled at me (sort of), and the first time I heard him chuckle. I push those thoughts to the back of my mind. School comes first, think about boys later.

  The teacher stands up. “Put away your books; I’m passing out the tests.”

  Shit.

  Fifty minutes, a freshly chewed through pencil and some unshed tears later, I hand in my partially blank test. Aiden’s right behind me, ready to hand in his, which is filled with his confident, bold handwriting, and not a single question skipped over. His answers look similar to the gibberish I was scanning through before the test.

  Thinking about it now, Aiden didn’t even look worried when he walked in. Cool as a cucumber. I swear, if he’s hot and smart, I’m sending a very strongly worded email to whoever distributes this shit.

  I grab my phone from the pile of phones in a basket near the door. Aiden and I walk out at the same time, and I can’t help but glare at him. Stupid Aiden and his stupid smarts and his stupid looks, he’s just soo—

  “Stupid?”

  I startle and look up at Aiden, who’s finished my thoughts for me. The corner of his mouth is tilted up in a smirk as we fall into step beside each other.

  “Did I say that out loud?” My face heats up.

  “Mumbled. But I still caught it.”

  “I’m guessing you got an A?”

  He shrugs in response.

  “Yeah, me too. Amelia Collins? More like Amelia Calculus because I just love it so much.”

  He smirks one more time before walking down a different corridor without so much as a good-bye. Weird. I get to chemistry and sit beside Charlotte, who’s talking to Chase sitting behind her.

  “How was the calculus test? I have it fifth period,” asks Chase.

  “Oh, just peachy. I’m thinking of majoring in calculus in university because I just love it so much.”

  “Whoa, I didn’t order a basket of sarcasm with a side of sass. Did you, Charlie?”

  Charlotte glares at him. “Damn it, Chase. How many times do I have to tell you? Call me Char or Charlotte or don’t call me anything all!”

  “Whoa.” Chase’s eyes widen. “Maybe I did order the sarcasm and sass, with extra snarkiness on top.”

  The three of us walk to the cafeteria together after class, and I run right into Annalisa.

  “Hey!” she says to all of us. “This is perfect. You just made hunting you down so much easier.”

  She grabs my wrist and drags me toward her table, but not before I grab Charlotte. If I’m going down, she’s going down with me. When we get to the table, Annalisa shoves me down in a seat and sits in front of me. Charlotte’s on my right and Chase settles in on hers. Julian’s already there.

  “Hey, why weren’t you in calculus second period?” I ask Julian when I remember that he has calculus class with me and Aiden.

  “Skipped,” he confessed. “Ho
w was it by the wa—”

  “Don’t!” interrupts Chase, causing us all to look at him. “It’s a touchy subject.”

  I scoff and pull out my Nutella sandwich, carefully unwrapping the plastic wrap. I’ve been looking forward to this chocolate hazelnut goodness all day—it was the only thing that kept me from breaking down during calculus. Who doesn’t like Nutella? Do they put drugs in that spread? Because I am seriously hooked on it. While I’m savoring this godlike sandwich, Aiden and Mason arrive at the table. Mason plops down in the seat on my left, and Aiden sits on his left, beside Annalisa.

  “What’s a touchy subject?” Mason inquires.

  Julian starts, “Amelia and calcu—”

  “Don’t!” yells Chase.

  “It’s fine, Chase. Everything is good as long as I have my Nutel—” I gasp and almost choke on air.

  Mason has just reached out his hand, snatched up the other half of my Nutella sandwich, and shoved it in his mouth.

  “You—I—but—Nutella?” I stutter, unable to even comprehend such a heinous act.

  Mason carries on as if he didn’t just steal the one thing bringing me joy, finishing the sandwich half in two bites. “Oh, the calculus test? Yeah, I have that fifth period, totally didn’t study. Wow, Amelia, that was a good sandwich.”

  “But—but—Nutella?”

  “Use your big girl words, Amelia.” Aiden smirks.

  Oh, so today he’s deciding to be sociable? Of course. He can’t resist commenting on my personal torment.

  Mason holds up his hands. “Whoa, retract the claws, k-bear, I didn’t know your sandwich was sacred. I’ll take you out for ice cream today after school to make up for it. My treat. They have a Nutella flavor!”

  Stupid boys.

  “If they don’t have Nutella flavor, you’re dead.”

  If it was possible for someone to look relieved and worried at the same time, that would be Mason’s facial expression. Grabbing my wallet, I get in line to buy something else to eat since I only got half a sandwich.

  Mason comes with me to keep me company. “Are you sure you don’t want my sandwich?”

  I give him an incredulous look. You couldn’t pay me enough to eat his sorry excuse of a lunch. I mean, really? Ketchup hastily slapped between two pieces of toast? I almost don’t blame him for stealing half of my mouthwatering Nutella sandwich.

  “What? I was in a rush and no one went grocery shopping lately,” he defends his sandwich.

  I order chicken fingers from the hot table and move over to the cash register. Mason offers to pay but I shoo him away.

  We walk back to the table and when I try to sit down in my seat, someone roughly bumps into me from the side, sitting down instead and causing me to stumble. My innocent chicken fingers go sprawling to the floor. The. Hell? I tear my gaze from my lunch on the floor to my now occupied seat. Sitting where I previously was between Mason and Charlotte is a platinum blond-haired, blue-eyed girl from hell.

  Kaitlyn looks at Charlotte sitting beside her and sneers. “Who invited the trash to sit with us?”

  Everyone but Aiden wears a shocked expression. His face is blank, clear of emotion. I look from Kaitlyn, who pulls out her lemon water like it’s just any other day, to my tender chicken fingers on the ground, and back. Charlotte frowns at the trash comment and glances at me. She’s slowly standing when Chase grabs her wrist and forces her to stay put.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” he growls at Kaitlyn.

  “I’m enjoying my lunch period with my friends,” she says, as if it’s the most obvious answer in the world.

  “What the hell? We’re not your—” Mason is cut off when Kaitlyn spots her second-in-command, Makayla, and shouts at her from across the cafeteria. “Over here, Kay!”

  Stupidly, I’m still standing there trying to comprehend what’s going on. Did she actually just steal my seat as I was sitting down, make me drop my chicken fingers, and then not even acknowledge me?

  Makayla arrives at the table and Kaitlyn glances back at Charlotte. “Ugh, you’re still here? I thought you knew that peasants don’t sit with royalty. Move, peasant.”

  Unlike Charlotte, Annalisa lives for confrontation. Aiden is about to open his mouth when Annalisa beats him to it.

  “Okay, I think we’ve had enough of this,” Annalisa snaps. She narrows her eyes at Kaitlyn. “I get that you feel like you have some sort of claim on Aiden since you screwed him that one time—”

  Aiden interrupts her with a growl, but she turns her burning gaze to him. “Oh, now you talk? Shut up, Aiden.” She looks back at Kaitlyn without missing a beat and continues. “As I was saying, you think you belong here. You don’t. Get over it. We don’t need your attitude and quite frankly, I think we’re all sick of hearing your grating voice all the time. Aiden’s made it more than clear that he wants nothing to do with you. So run along to your little cult followers and toc_marker-2stay the hell away from us.”

  “Shut up, Annalisa.” Makayla defends Kaitlyn like a loyal dog.

  Kaitlyn’s calculating eyes narrow at Annalisa across the table from her. “Stay away from you? I don’t want to be anywhere near you. Why are you even here? In fact, why do you even bother coming to school at all? Everyone knows you’ll just end up like your pathetic moth—”

  She’s cut off as Annalisa suddenly pounces across the table, trying to get a hold of Kaitlyn, who shrieks. But Julian catches Annalisa around her waist before she reaches the other girl.

  “Julian! Let me go! I have to kill her!” Annalisa struggles to get free of Julian’s iron grip. “If you love me you’ll let me claw her face off!”

  Charlotte jumped up when Annalisa did and is now standing beside me. Mason, Chase, and Aiden are also all standing up, wearing matching enraged expressions. Kaitlyn clutches Makayla beside Charlotte and me while Annalisa still struggles to get at her.

  “You’re crazy!” Kaitlyn shouts.

  If there is anyone in the cafeteria who wasn’t already watching us, they most definitely are now. Aiden steps right in front of Kaitlyn, scowling down at her and blocking her view of Anna.

  “Leave. Right now. I don’t want to see your face ever again. I’ve told you countless times before, but I guess I need to say it S-L-O-W-E-R. Me, plus you, equals never going to happen. It was a one-time thing. I don’t make the same mistake twice.”

  How is Kaitlyn still standing there? Actually, she’s moved even closer to him. Aiden’s hostile facial expression and voice full of clear animosity would’ve made anyone else shrivel up into a puddle on the floor. I was honestly a little intimidated, but she’s taking it all in stride.

  “Oh darling, you’re just a little confused.”

  Aiden looks down at the hand that Kaitlyn places on his chest, and his eyes darken.

  “Okaaayyy.” Pushing Kaitlyn’s hand off Aiden, I slide between the two of them. I’m getting nervous from all the attention we’re receiving, and it’s already a miracle a teacher hasn’t booked us yet. I didn’t want to push our luck.

  “Kaitlyn, we’ve all come to an agreement. Collect your shit and leave. Now.” Turning to the rest of the room, I call, “Show’s over people! Get back to your lunch.”

  “She said the show’s over!” Aiden announces, and everyone scrambles back to what they were doing before, conversations starting back up around us.

  Grabbing Kaitlyn’s purse, I throw her fancy reusable water bottle into it, and then shove it into her chest. “Go.”

  She swipes the purse from me like I’ve infected it and holds it to her chest. “Who do you think you are?” she demands.

  “I’m the extremely pissed and hungry girl whose food you threw all over the ground. Now leave so I can peacefully enjoy the rest of my lunch period.”

  Finally, I’m back in my seat. Charlotte slowly sits back down beside me, and Chase does the same, but Mas
on and Aiden remain standing with their arms crossed, looking at Kaitlyn and Makayla. Annalisa and Julian aren’t at the table anymore. He probably took her to calm her down before she ripped Kaitlyn’s trachea from her throat. Something Kaitlyn said really triggered her.

  “You’re picking this whore over me?” Kaitlyn accuses Aiden.

  Before he can respond, she leans down and hisses in my ear, “Aiden’s mine. I told you to stay away from him. This is your last warning.”

  “Do I look like I give a shit?” I nonchalantly take out my phone, pretending to look at some texts.

  The so-called Queen Bee can’t handle being ignored and not getting the last word in. “I’m talking to you!”

  Ignoring her, I message Annalisa to see if she’s okay. Maybe if I keep pretending Kaitlyn’s not there, she’ll go away.

  She snarls. “Stay away from—what are you doing?”

  The snarky reply is on my lips before I can stop myself. “Checking my calendar. Nope. Looks like I won’t be giving a shit tomorrow either.”

  “Kaitlyn, let’s just go. Matt’s waiting for me anyway.” Makayla tries to reason with Kaitlyn.

  Finally, a sensible suggestion.

  “You’ve been warned,” Kaitlyn states as she finally leaves with Makayla.

  I mutter under my breath, and in my state of annoyance, unconsciously reach beside me to Mason’s abandoned unwrapped sandwich and take a bite. I realize what I just did as a foul taste overwhelms my taste buds. I spit it out and glare at the innocent sandwich. Distantly, over the sound of my growling stomach, I can almost hear what’s left of Kaitlyn’s minimal composure shattering.

  7

  Today is quickly turning into one of the worst days of my life. To top everything off, I just got my period. Getting my period isn’t what makes this day suck (although it certainly doesn’t make it better)—it’s that I don’t have any tampons. I usually keep some in my bag for times like these, but yesterday when I was in the washroom, a random girl asked me if I had any so I gave her my last one. It honestly doesn’t matter who the girl is or how you feel about her. If she needs a tampon, you give her a tampon.