Under My Skin - 16. Part II, chapter 6

- VI -

A week later, my face looked somewhat decent, and I was relieved that I didn’t look like Frankenstein’s monster when I went back to school. When Sam saw me that night, a week ago, he laughed so hard that he had tears in his eyes.

“Very impressive,” he breathed finally and I shot him a dirty look.

“I am glad you like it,” I said evenly. “Hopefully, it’ll go away soon enough so I don’t scare customers away... Nobody wants to buy a cell phone from a guy who looks like he robs gas stations for a living...”

Sam started laughing again.

“Jake,” he said finally. “Please tell me that Landon looks even worse...”

I grinned.

“I broke his nose,” I nodded and Sam high-fived me.

I smiled when I remembered that and parked my car. I took a deep breath when I was getting out and thought that I would not see red the minute I spotted Landon. I knew that he also got suspended for a week – Christy told me. I grinned and thought that sometimes Hailey’s bullheadedness was quite refreshing. I mean, technically, Landon should’ve been off the hook, since I was the one who started the fight. But I guess the fact that Christy walked in on him while he was screwing Danetta, played in my favor, and Hailey suspended him as well. Female solidarity is a great thing sometimes.

I was impressed with myself when I managed to keep my temper under control when I saw Landon. He glared at me briefly, and then we were ignoring each other until the end of the day, which was more than fine with me. It was weird how much I changed since September. I mean, back then, I would never let myself to feel this way, to hate someone so much, that I wouldn’t mind killing them. But I guess back in September, I would never even think that I would end up making love to a guy and relish every minute of it. I shrugged. Shit happens, I thought. As long as Landon didn’t come anywhere near Christy, I’d leave him alone, even though it would feel exquisite to break his neck. I hemmed quietly under my breath, thinking that it was almost unreal how quickly I was able to go from loving him madly to hating him so much that my blood almost boiled every time I saw his face.

Everything was somewhat fine until the second week of May. Landon and I would go to greatest lengths to ignore each other; Christy was doing much better; and Sam and I were seriously considering going to Massachusetts this summer and getting married. The very thought scared the hell out of me at first, but then I realized that I couldn’t stop thinking about it and about how much I wanted to do it.

When I told Christy about it, her eyes immediately got that dreamy far-away look that used to make me snort before. Now I was almost positive that I looked the same way the minute I started talking – or thinking for that matter – about Sam and the whole marriage thing. She was dragging me to the mall every chance she got to look at dresses and whatnot. “I will be your best man, right?” she asked for probably fiftieth time, and I started laughing. “Summers,” she said dangerously. “I’d better be your best man or else!” I hugged her and said that yes, she would most definitely be my best man if I ever decided to go through with this idea. “Are you going to tell your parents?” Christy asked, and I cringed. Probably not. My father would kill me on the spot, and he’d think that he was doing a right thing and was saving my soul. Christy sighed when I told her that, but agreed with me.

“Hey,” she cheered up almost immediately. “My dad can give you away!”

I almost groaned.

“Jesus,” I muttered. “Bailey, just shut up about the whole thing... It doesn’t even work like that...! Plus,” I added. “How come you automatically assume that I am the freaking bride?!”

She looked at me like I just told her Mojave Desert was covered in ice.

“Summers,” she sighed. “I know you better than anyone else, okay? And I can almost see you....”

“La-la-la-la!!!!” I almost screamed. “For the love of everything that is still sacred, do not finish that sentence!!”

She laughed so hard that I suspected she peed her pants again. I was so extremely relieved to see her back to normal that sometimes, I felt like crying. After the rape, she looked frighteningly indifferent and calm. Her eyes were so empty that she looked like a zombie in one of those Resident Evil movies. Now she looked alive again and she would laugh a lot. Not as much as she used to, but a hell of a lot more than she did back in April.

I decided to be smarter this time, and I would not let myself think that this was my redemption or that everything would be great from now on. I knew that the minute I let myself to relax, I’d be hit in the face by something nasty. So I decided to go with the flow and not to think anything. It worked great. Until the night when God decided He was bored.