The Best Year - 31. Chapter 31

That night I ended up tossing and turning, it wasn’t an annoying restlessness that I felt though. It was something I could live with, but it did annoy me when Mom and Dad started getting ready for church bright and early the next morning. The clouds had broken overnight completely so the mid-morning sun bounced off the snow, it made my room brighter than I liked. Groaning, I pulled the pillow over my head.

The rest of the day was pretty wasted as well, the snow and cold kept everyone in and Cindy kept Luke too busy doing churchy stuff that I didn’t even get a text from him until well after dark. It was a warning that Cindy was due to start her substitute teaching tomorrow morning and that they finished dropping off the canned goods Henry had gathered up off to all the food banks. I had the thought of looking through the back of our pantry to see what canned food we had, something to give me a reason to drop by unannounced and look for Luke at his house. The only thing I could find other than green beans though was a can of tuna that looked like it was there before my parents moved in over eighteen years ago. Grimacing I shoved the can back inside and closed the door.

“What are you doing?” Mom asked as she entered the kitchen. “You’ve been buzzing around the house all day.”

“Nothing,” I answered, taking another long glance at her. The thought of her carrying a baby was still a shock to me, I kept looking at her for any signs of change. She was still too early to really show, but she had filled out in the middle of her abdomen a little. Something that could be hidden by bulky clothes, which I hadn’t noticed her starting to wear until now, despite being inside and in the warmth of the house.

“Are you hungry?” She asked, eyeing the pantry door that I had just shut. It was probably more like a slam, but I just shrugged and stepped around her.

“Not really,” I answered, sighing. “I’ll go check if I have homework to do.”

“Jackson,” Mom said, shaking her head. “You would tell me if you were on any drugs, right?”

“No,” I answered, smirking. “I’m just bored and there’s nothing to do.”

“I know, I’m kind of getting sick of this place right now too,” she answered and I only realized just how cooped up she has kept herself lately. No late nights, no weekends. I noticed that when I actually paid attention to them, both my parents had unpredictable schedules.

Mom left me alone until supper and to my surprise it was off my restricted menu. Fried chicken and not from a cardboard bucket like our usual Sunday suppers. I could smell and hear her cooking in the kitchen. The intoxicating smell is what finally made me get up from staring at my television as I mindlessly played video games wondering how people did this for hours on end.

When she saw me looking over the table with the mashed potatoes that weren’t burnt and a bowl of green beans that I had rummaged through earlier she winked at me.

“What’s all this?” I asked as I watched her tuck some stray hairs behind her ear.

“I’m starving,” she said smiling, “and if you promise not to tell your coach, I won’t either.”

“Alright,” I said smiling as she sat down across from me at the table. The sun had already set with the early evenings winter always brought. Dad wasn’t home, but he wasn’t due home until sometime after midnight. It was a lot of food for just two people and I could almost see her mind working over questions as she sat down and started serving herself as I waited.

“Cindy is starting tomorrow,” she said, finally breaking the silence as she scooted the mashed potatoes closer to me.

“Yeah Luke told me,” I answered as I stabbed a breaded, fried chicken breast and put it on my plate. “I don’t think Cindy will do too much to Luke in front of everybody.”

“Probably the opposite,” she said, offering me a small smile. “So don’t give her a reason to do it.”

“I won’t,” I groaned as I scooped some potatoes and green beans onto my plate. Mom poured us both some ice water from a pitcher and we ate in silence for a little while with only small glances between us.

“Maybe mention something like that to Luke as well,” she muttered as she took a bite of food.

“I will,” I sighed glancing up at her to see a small smirk playing on her lips. The feeling that the last couple of months of me being a bad influence on Luke both amused and bothered me. The guy probably needed to let loose some, but I still wondered how much of it was me or just him getting tired of being sheltered and cooped up by Cindy.

“When is the big District meet?” She asked after patting her lips with a napkin. Mom was always a proper eater, it annoyed the hell out of me when I was younger with the small bites that she meticulously cut up before gently forking into her mouth.

“Two weeks,” I mumbled around a mouthful of potatoes. “We get our finalized schedules tomorrow after school.”

“Have you looked at the college recruitment packages?” Mom asked and I shrugged my shoulders. I hadn’t taken the time to really look through any of them, focusing on my swimming. My first scholarship had fallen through and I hated to admit that I was afraid I would look at a school and fall in love and have it pulled out from under me at the last minute again. I knew there was a deadline for me to sign with a school to get the athletic scholarship and that it was approaching. Just like everything else was approaching. District, Regionals, and if I was good enough this year, State finals. Then Prom right after and graduation, then the last summer of freedom that I would have with the friends I grew up with since kindergarten.

“Not really,” I answered when the shrug didn’t work to brush off her expectant glances between bites of food. More food that I saw her eat in days and I wondered if she was turning a corner with her nausea. Now that I knew it was from a growing baby I looked down at my own nearly empty plate, my stomach feeling the full weight of my cheating and I knew I would pay for it later.

“You still want to pursue that, right?” She asked as she placed her napkin down beside her plate and scooted it gently away from her.

“Yeah, I do,” I answered, “why do you ask?”

“No reason,” she answered, “you’ve just changed so much over the past few months that I wondered if it was something you still wanted.”

“I do,” I repeated nodding my head.

“Where is Luke going?” She asked and that was the one question I didn’t want her to ask, because I had chosen to shove it out of the way when it tried to invade my thoughts. After last night’s revelations I didn’t want to think about it. I would already be limited to where I could go and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do academically, but I still had two years to decide a major.

“He hasn’t said,” I answered, swallowing hard against my last bite of chicken that seemed to want to fight me all the way down.

“I’m sure it will all work out,” Mom said and when I glanced at her, she reached across the table and patted me on the hand. I must have lost my damn poker face over the last couple of months too.

“I’ll do the dishes,” I announced, offering her a smile when she made to stand after she stopped patting my hand.

“Are you sure?” She asked, still studying me.

“Yeah,” I answered as I stood. I quickly placed my glass on my plate with my fork and walked around the table to the kitchen sink. I placed them inside the sink then turned on the hot water. I was only going to rinse everything and put them in the dishwasher. Dishes were only something I did when I was grounded and forced to do, but I wanted to be left alone now that I was back to thinking about Luke and love. It brought a smile to my face and a whole lot more worrying in my head. I didn’t expect to fall in love at all, not really, and definitely not while I was in high school. I didn’t see it being a dude either, but I didn’t really want to focus too much on that fact, it was just something that happened and I was okay that it did. I didn’t know if that made me gay, bisexual or whatever. Putting a label on things just seemed to stress people out and I needed a lot less stress in the coming months if I wanted to make it through them.

After I finished the dishes and put all the leftovers away I went up stairs and took a longer than necessary shower that left my skin pink and wrinkly. I took a few minutes to make sure I was all caught up on homework. Not finding any hidden missed work I sighed and crawled back into bed only feeling like I had just left it a couple of hours ago. I forced my eyes closed, not daring to look at the nightstand clock to see just how early it still was, but I only ended up tossing and turning until sometime later in the night before falling asleep.

The next morning, snow hadn’t closed school. It rarely did it for an extended period of time regardless of how much snow we got. Groaning, I sat up in the bed then felt a wave of excitement rush over me. Today would be the first day I would be able to see Luke and talk to him face to face. He wasn’t supposed to have a phone, so we weren’t even texting much. I was actually surprised he had been able to hide that from her as long as he has. I also wondered if Henry knew anything about it. It wouldn’t surprise me if he did, he always seemed to be the sensible one of the two. Still though, I wouldn’t bet on him winning if Cindy was ever to find out.

Today was going to be a busy one after school. With two weeks left until the District Invitational, Tony scheduled more practices to keep our conditioning strong. With being kicked out and having to hand my key over, I missed some open pool nights. Charlie hadn’t questioned me on why I stopped coming, but seeing me clean the locker rooms probably gave him the answers he needed. I had just gotten it back, but with the snow and all the new stuff in my life I hadn’t taken advantage. There was a worry in the back of my mind that I had slipped enough that it would hurt me in the coming weeks. I had requested more swims from Tony than what I had and he and I had worked on the conditioning for them, but I didn’t know what my final schedule was and wouldn’t until I arrived this evening.

Heading out I saw that Mom was already dressed and ready for work. She gave me a smile as she held a bottle of water instead of her normal coffee and we both headed out the door. Dad’s car was parked in his usual spot, I hadn’t heard him come home last night so I probably fell asleep at least before midnight when his late shift ended.

“Behave,” she said as I opened the drivers’ side door to my Mustang.

“Nah,” I answered, smirking. She shook her head then waved as I slid in and closed the door. I wasted no time starting the car wanting to warm it up.

When I arrived at my usual time of about five minutes before the warning bell dismissed everyone to their lockers I entered the cafeteria and walked through it to the hallway my locker was on. I didn’t expect to see Luke standing at it and my heart felt like it thumped against my ribcage when I saw him standing there. He gave just enough room for my locker neighbors to get to their stuff. I half expected Toby or Derek to ambush me, but they were suspiciously nowhere around and none of the girls were either.

“Hey,” I greeted when I got to my locker, going was completely out of habit and it was also a central meeting place for the friends to gather. I already had my English work for first period in my bag, so I didn’t really need to stop by my locker.

“Hey,” he repeated, offering me a half smile. He had his hands shoved into his pants pockets and now that I was closer I saw the strain on his face when his smile didn’t last.

“What’s up?” I asked leaning against my locker not caring that we only have five minutes to get our shit and get to class before the tardy bell rang.

“Mom made me ride into work with her,” he groaned, shaking his head. “We got here at six thirty so she could look over the lesson plans. I found out that she thinks The Crucible is too sexual for freshmen English and she wants Welker to allow her to pick a new play to read.”

“Ride with me tomorrow,” I offered, smiling.

“I can’t,” he said, frowning. “That’s why I’m here, I snuck away and lied and told her my locker was far away from my first class.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked glancing around when he did.

“I don’t think I can do this with her here,” he answered nodding his head towards me.

“We’re not doing anything here,” I countered crossing my arms. Feeling the tug from my necklace as I trapped it under my arms, I gently pulled it free. Seeing it on me his eyes narrowed then he looked past me.

“Why’d you wear that to school?” He asked, his voice falling to a slight whisper. If I wasn’t so worried about the turn of this conversation I doubted I would have heard him over the noise everyone else was making. The halls were thinning though as more people ducked into their classrooms and I knew that Luke had a class upstairs, far enough away from my locker to actually make him late if he didn’t leave soon.

“No one knows you gave it to me,” I answered, reaching up to run my finger over the carved J surrounded by shiny black puka shells.

“I know that,” he said, turning back to me. “I hate that I like seeing it on you, but we can’t do this.”

“Yeah we can,” I argued looking up to see Cindy glaring at us from the head of the hallways right outside of her Freshman English classroom. She looked to be standing in the doorway to yell at anyone who dared to be tardy, the Freshmen were newly into their second semester of High School, so they were still scared of the tardy bell, they hadn’t learned like me that being tardy was the least of the school’s worries when it comes to disciplinary action. They were more concerned with the length of shorts on girls or if certain tattoos had alternative meanings, and of course what I was up to, but lately I didn’t give them anything to worry about.

“Don’t fight me on this, I’ll see you,” he said pushing himself off my locker. When he turned and saw his mother still standing at the head of the hallway I noticed his shoulders slump, but he didn’t turn back to look at me. I had the feeling that more happened this weekend than he was letting on and I wanted to know.

“Time to get to class, students!” Cindy bellowed as the stragglers just now started moving away from their friend groups towards their first classes. When she clapped her hands together still looking at me I rolled my eyes and pushed myself off the row of lockers and stood and walked the five steps to Senior English with Ms. Chapel just as the bell rang.

I couldn’t really concentrate on class, but since I handed my homework in, the homework that wasn’t even due until Wednesday Ms. Chapel seemed pleased enough to not call on me to read portions of the Shakespere play we started for the Spring semester. Instead I glanced out the window at the sun and by the time the first dismissal bell rang I bet I was the only student that had noticed the snow had receded off the banks next to the highway and had melted completely from the front sign that I could just see in the corner of one of the windows. Blinking I stood and left my book on the desk waiting for the next round of Seniors to enter the room.

Leaving English I looked at my locker hoping to see Luke there, what I saw though was Cindy ushering her freshmen out of the room. When the last kid stepped past her, she waved him over with a stern finger and pointed to the floor in front of her. Knowing the glare all too well, since that was the only look Cindy had for anybody that wasn’t Luke. I knew the kid was about to get it. I wondered what he could have done during first period to be standing in front of her now, my guess was he sneezed and didn’t say, ‘God Bless,’ or some shit. To his credit he stood with his arms crossed and his head tilted slightly to one side, it reminded me of me. I knew the kid too, Parker, he was the freshman basketball player and to be honest, the guy that would try to live up to me and become Welker’s next nightmare. I couldn’t hear what she was saying over the voices in the hallway traveling past me. Smirking and feeling sorry for the little shit, I was about to turn and walk to Calculus, at least there I had Heather and Toby to keep me distracted when I saw Luke step off the bottom stair. He saw his mother berating Parker, then despite the crowd of students his eyes found me right before he did a one-eighty and started back up the stairs electing to go the long route to his next class. It would mean him walking up the stairs, down the science wing, and down the back stairway back to the first floor.

“Hey bud,” Connor said from somewhere behind me. Not expecting him, I jumped and whirled to face him. He was standing closer than what I expected as well and he had to dodge my flailing.

“What the fuck, Connor!” I groaned feeling my face flush.

“Sorry,” he said and I saw Olivia standing next to him not looking a bit sorry.

“Jumpy aren’t you?” She said glancing past me. “Has nothing to do with my lovely Aunt Cindy, does it?”

“Shut up,” I groaned, readjusting my bag on my shoulder. “What do you two want?”

“Can you meet us after school?” Connor asked, looking hopeful.

“No, I have swimming,” I answered, attempting to shrug past both of them. Mr. Tuck didn’t like tardiness and I had already stretched my limit with him over the time we spent together.

“It’s for the prank,” Connor countered after an elbow of encouragement from Olivia. Glaring at her, I wondered just how bad it was going to be. I underestimated her already, she had nothing to lose with this prank, as a Sophomore her hands would be clean, all the fingers would be pointed at us for whatever she came up with. What could they do to us really, though. We were leaving, but I could imagine her doing the one thing that would put us across the line.

“Really?” I asked, trying to hide that my interest had peaked ever so slightly. I might have been behaving, but I wasn’t a complete saint.

“It will only take five minutes, tops,” he said smiling. “Promise.”

“Alright fine, where?” I asked just as the tardy bell rang.

“Art room,” he answered quickly as he retreated down the hallway leaving Olivia and me standing.

“So, Cindy has Luke scared shitless I see,” Olivia muttered sidestepping to block me from leaving. So much for Mr. Tuck.

“Don’t you have class?” I said, not really wanting to get into it. Especially since I could still hear Cindy’s voice traveling up the hallways telling the stragglers they were now tardy.

“Yeah,” she answered, shrugging. “I’ve been good, one tardy won’t kill me.”

“It will me,” I said, taking another step to the side.

“Don’t let Luke get into his own head,” she whispered, grabbing my arm. “If you do that his stubborn ass won’t be talked into anything.”

“Alright,” I said and she offered me a small smile.

“It’s how she wins, she scares him into shutting everyone out,” Olivia said before she finally released me and brushed past me knocking into my shoulder. I watched over my shoulder as she made a point to walk right past Cindy on her way not paying her any attention.

After a lecture and a warning about one more tardy, Mr. Tuck started class as I slid into my seat next to Toby and Heather. Like usual Toby was busy copying Heather’s work, scribbling it down before Mr. Tuck announced that he wanted the homework passed forward to be collected. On any other day I would be playfully elbowing him so he’d mess up and have to erase and start again. Glancing up I saw Heather studying me, but I just playfully cocked an eyebrow towards Toby and shook my head as I reached into my bag and pulled out my own Calculus homework ready to turn it in.

“Look at that asshole,” Toby muttered, taking a moment to look up from his scribbling. “Since when does he do homework on time?”

“Since yesterday,” I said smiling. “I was bored shitless.”

“Oh, I figured you’d be with lover b--” Toby started, but I shot my hand out and rammed my fist into his writing hand. I saw the deep line it made across his paper before snickering at the glare he shot me.

“Don’t talk about that, dumbass,” I hissed looking around the room to make sure nobody was too interested in what we were talking about.

“You didn’t have to ruin my homework,” he groaned trying to carefully erase the damage I caused.

“Yeah he did,” Heather said, winking at me. “You have a big mouth.”

“You weren’t complaining about my mouth the other night,” he countered, flicking his tongue at her.

Mr. Tuck started class and ordered homework to be passed forward. Toby quickly jotted down another problem before sliding both Heather’s and his work over to Heather. She didn’t even look away from him to hand her paper forward to the girl sitting in front of her.

It was so easy, there were no hushed whispers or fear between them. Watching them was like watching something organic and natural. The way I thought things would be for me, probably with Alison. I hated feeling jealous and on edge. Everyone watching them right now would know they were into one another, Toby was lovestruck as fuck, I could see it in his eyes and in the way he leaned towards her without even realizing he was doing it. They managed to sit as closely as they could with a desk between them and no one would give it a second glance. No one would snarl their nose or start shitty assed rumors. Heather and Toby were normal for this small town, it was expected.

“Dude, why are you glaring at me?” Toby whispered and I slumped down in my seat flipping him off when he snickered. He turned back to Heather as soon as he asked the question wanting to look at her, even with her back turned to him actually listening to Mr. Tuck he wanted to look at her and only her. I had seen it before, I just never wanted it until now. And now Luke didn’t even want to be seen with me in the hallways surrounded by all of our friends. That was too much closeness for him right now and as much as I wanted to understand him, be scared with him, I also wanted to be with him. I wanted to walk down the hall and have people know that when I looked in his direction that I was thinking about him. That I was wanting him and that I was wondering what he was thinking. I wanted them to read it in my eyes like I was reading it in Toby’s. After last night there was no doubt that I was in this thing for as far we could take it, for as long as we could stand hiding in the shadows with only ourselves.

“Fucking hell,” I hissed when the bell rang and I jumped so far off my seat that I dropped my pencil. My notebook was open, but I only managed to put the date for taking notes. Glancing up at the marker board I saw Mr. Tuck already erasing and gearing up for the next set of students. Glancing at Heather and Toby they were already standing and looking at me, expecting me to be ready to follow them out the door so we could talk more before our next class.

“Coming?” Heather asked as I snatched up my pencil and shoved everything into my bag.

“Yeah give me a minute,” I answered sighing. She studied me for a moment before Toby grabbed her hand and led her down the rows of seats and out the door and for the first time in my life I was the last one to leave the damn classroom.

Waiting just outside the door was everyone. We all had lunch next so I followed them down the crowded hallway towards the cafeteria. The couples were already paired off and leaning on one another and for the life of me I wanted to yell at them, but I wasn’t going to sound like Welker. I was going to have to get a grip on this jealousy, especially since I was already well aware that Luke wasn’t here walking beside me like he should be. My eyes darted around expecting to see him, but knowing I wouldn’t. He’d probably eat lunch with Cindy if she had her lunch hour this period. If not, I wouldn’t be surprised if he rejoined the churchers and ignored me completely. He played this so intelligently. He knew I wouldn’t make a scene at school, that’s why he didn’t tell me his fears over the snow day, or before in the field. Instead he made my ass fall in love with him and now he was pulling away and I felt like I couldn’t do anything about it.

“Jackson?” Derek asked as a heavy arm fell over my shoulders. He had pulled me into the Derek and Lily sandwich and I looked up at him and shoved myself out from under him.

“What do you want?” I asked as we made it to the back of the line waiting to get our trays.

“You look like you’re about to kick someone’s ass,” he answered smirking. “I wondered who’s ass I would have to kick as your backup man.”

“I’m alright,” I said hating that I was getting all the attention.

“You don’t look alright,” Lily whispered, offering me her warm smile that would likely work on anyone else in any other frame of mind.

“Connor wants to meet after school to discuss the school prank,” I said leaning against the wall. The stone was cool to the touch and I hadn’t realized how warm I had gotten. I knew I needed to calm down, that I needed to be thinking about how to convince Luke to continue the fight later tonight in our usual spot in the dark woods between our houses.

“What?” Ally asked her eyebrows furrowing together. “What do you mean prank?”

“Apparently he’s been working on one,” I answered feeling like a complete shit for getting the heat off me.

With them discussing that and looking to ambush Connor I smiled and cut in line hoping to warn him before they caught him out somewhere. After getting the slop they served us, I stepped out into the cafeteria and was actually surprised to see Luke sitting with Olivia and Connor at our usual spot. Nearly running, I slid to a stop at my usual seat at the back of the cafeteria. Luke was in his usual seat across from me as I walked around the table and sat down next to where Ally would sit.

“Where’s the fire?” Olivia asked, she was seated beside Luke and when she caught me looking in his direction she smiled and I hated her for it.

“I squealed about the prank,” I said feeling Connor stiffen beside me.

“Fuck,” he hissed and I blinked thinking I had never heard Connor say that one before, but to be honest I never paid Connor much attention before this either.

“Dumbass,” Olivia added, which earned a sharp elbow jab from Luke. “We were banking on you to sell the idea of the prank like you came up with it.”

“Well what is it?” I asked, trying to meet Luke’s gaze despite him not involving himself in the conversation.

“It’s really something,” Connor answered, glancing in my direction.

“Well that narrowed it down,” I countered, turning to look at him. “If you expect that to work on the girls you got another thing coming.”

“It’s the prank, it’s not like the Prom theme has been announced,” Connor sighed, scooting his tray of food away from himself like he was about to be sick. I scooted slightly away from him and for the first time Luke met my eyes and despite the tension between us he smirked.

“Announced?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Yeah, announced,” he said, giving me a knowing look.

“What do you mean announced?” I asked as I watched Ally, Heather, and Lily stepping around the line of tables in a formidable little figuration. They had already spotted Connor sitting there and I couldn’t help thinking this is what people looked like facing a firing squad.

Prom themes traditionally were shortlisted to five just before the summer break and voted on in February to give the Juniors time to plan the decorations. Announcing a prom theme without a vote was something very unprecedented, prom was everything anyone talked about after Valentines Day. Even I, who could care less about prom themes was momentarily distracted by what Connor said.

“That’s what I mean, announced,” he answered, reaching up to tug at his shirt collar. His face was flushed and I watched his eyes darting between the girls and the table like he was measuring distance.

“We haven’t even voted on the final five themes,” I said wondering if in my stint of behaving I had zoned out of the morning announcements long enough to miss something of this importance. Usually the voting on the final five themes would have been something of a spectacle, people campaigned for that shit, but I hadn’t noticed any posters or slogans.

“There’s only enough money in the budget for one, so,” he commented as the girls sat down across from Connor. That meant they surrounded Luke and completely left their boyfriends out of their usual seats. Instead Toby had to walk around the table and sit beside me and Derek grunted and slid in beside Olivia at the end of the table. To her credit Olivia looked ready to defend Connor at any moment.

“Only enough money in the budget for one what?” Ally asked as she crossed her arms.

“Your Dad didn’t tell you?” Connor asked, his voice breaking like he was going through a second puberty.

“No,” she answered and I knew this tactic. She was trying to make him confess to anything whether or not she already knew.

“Well it will be announced Friday, so I’m not going to tell you,” he said crossing his arms and I had to hand it to Connor at that moment for his stupid bravery. I never would have done it, I would have thrown Welker under the bus, this had his involvement all over it anyway.

“Now you listen to me,” Heather started, “I don’t like waiting for anything.”

“Well you’ll wait for this,” Olivia said sticking out her tongue. “Connor isn’t going to get into trouble for the three of you anyway.”

“So you know?” Ally asked, leaning around Luke to look at Olivia.

“Yes I know,” she answered and I imagined no one could ever be as smug as Olivia was at this moment.

“We’ll worry about whatever it is Friday,” Lily said pursing her lips like she wanted to know what it was, but wasn’t going to argue. “So tell us about the prank if you can’t tell us about Friday’s announcements.”

“Really I only read the email, that’s how I know about Friday,” Connor said shaking his head. “You know my aunt is a secretary, she sends the emails.”

“Just tell them,” Olivia urged, reaching across the table. At first I thought she was going to wait for him to extend his hand. A sweet gesture for her, but she was only interested in stealing a french fry off his plate.

“A school takeover,” he said smiling. “I have most of it planned out and a lot of the things we need are already made.”

“Takeover?” Derek askes sliding forward in his seat.

“Yeah, I don’t want to spoil it, so I’ll let you guys see what we have,” Connor said shifting in his chair. He wasn’t used to this much attention from us, but I also knew he was in every club he could get in that didn’t meet at exactly the same time of day on club days. “Just come by the art room after school.”

“Alright,” Lily said, putting her hand up to stop all the objections that were about to erupt. “We’ll see what you have.”

“I hope you like it,” Connor said, “because I kind of spent a lot of money on this already.”

“Really?” I asked nibbling on a pickle from my soggy hamburger.

“Well I borrowed it,” he countered, swallowing.

“Shut up,” Olivia hissed and I turned just in time to see Luke shoot her a surprised look before glancing at me and then back down at his food.

“From who?” I asked and it was like I was talking to a complete stranger.

“From some of the clubs I’m president of,” he answered slumping down in his seat.

“You mean you stole it,” Ally said and even her eyes were threatening to bug out of her head. “How much?”

“I’m paying it back already,” he groaned and I wondered if he wasn’t about to stroke out right in front of me. “I needed to pay some people off and you know these clubs hoard up money all year and do nothing with it.”

“Good god man,” Toby said, holding up his hand, it was right in front of my face and it took Connor a longer than necessary amount of time to realize that Toby was waiting for a high five.

“Well it could still completely suck,” Heather said crossing her arms, “and all that money will be wasted.”

“It doesn’t suck,” Olivia countered smiling.

“You’re a terrible little person,” Derek said glancing down at Olivia. “You’ve corrupted the best of us, just look at him.”

“I know,” she said smiling as she reached over and snatched another fry from his tray. “Isn’t it great?”

The rest of lunch we sat awkwardly. Not in our usual seats, Bailey Ashton looked completely put out, Toby had turned slightly towards me and built up an invisible barrier that seemed to keep him completely out of the conversation. He and none of his friends had interjected during the girls’ interrogation and by the time the dismissal bell was due to ring, most of Connor’s usual complexion had returned and he was no longer sweating. After it had quietened down and the girls started discussing other things, I sat and caught myself staring at the top of Luke’s head. It was all I could see of him since he kept his head down and I bit my bottom lip a few times to keep from demanding his attention and bringing all the heat from earlier back to me.

The rest of the day was more of the same. The one class Luke and I shared he ignored me, even to the point that Derek and Toby caught on. To their credit they didn’t say anything. When they did ask Luke about things, it only made it worse that he brightened up a bit and answered them, before returning back to his note taking as Mr. Paige droned on. I was never more pissed about some old treaty during some old assed war that I probably already learned about before. Ally was a bundle of nerves in Spanish, asking me about the prank, what Friday’s announcements could be about, and how to ask Welker without outing Connor. By the end of Spanish I doubted I had eased her nerves, but it was a welcome distraction and she was too wrapped up to really pay much attention to me and my own moods.

When the last bell rang, Ally nearly launched out of her chair. Noticing that people noticed she smiled and looked over at me expectantly. I took my time putting away my books to annoy her before I stood.

“You’ll tell me if it’s lame,” I said smiling at her. “I need to get to swimming practice, we’re getting our finalized schedule for the District and stuff today.”

“Okay,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “Is that a new necklace, you don’t really wear jewelry.”

“Yeah,” I said, suddenly feeling the weight of it around my neck.

“It looks thoughtful,” she said, reaching up to rub her finger across the chiseled letter J nestled between my pecs. “Your Mom get that for you?”

“No,” I answered and she let her hand drop back to her side.

“Yes she did,” Ally countered with a wink and the realization of what she was implying finally hit me. It would need to be the story I told people if they asked. A simple necklace, it never would have raised any suspicion if it were around her neck given to her by me.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I said sighing the back of my eyes stinging with the frustration I felt all day.

“I’ll let you know if it’s lame,” she said offering me a smile before I nodded and led her out of the classroom.

I kept my composure as I walked down the deserted hallway out the back entrance to the student parking lot. My Mustang was one of the last lingering cars there and I only noticed that the other ones belonged to my friends having their secret meeting in the Art room. Seeing my car I picked up my pace feeling the stinging at the back of my eyes getting worse. When I finally made it to my car I pressed the unlock button and opened the drivers’ side door. Getting in I slung my bag to the passenger seat and slammed my door. Reaching up I gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white. I felt the tears I fought back finally spill over my eyelids and down my cheeks and I wondered why I was the only one fighting. If I was, then we already lost and if I was alone now in this fight, then what was the point in trying.