wanted to ask about the two scars, but figured it
wasn’t very polite. For just a moment, I had forgotten all my
troubles and secrets, and I was just a high school girl talking
with a cute guy.
“ Hello? Earth to Leese,” he
said, waving a hand in front of my eyes.
“ Umm—sorry, I wasn’t paying
attention. What did you say?”
“ What do you do after
school? Do you want to go hang out somewhere? I haven’t seen much
of the town since I got here yesterday, but I’m guessing you have a
McDonalds or some kind of place like that for a quick
bite.”
Reality snagged me back to the problems
in my life. “I—I can’t. I’ve got tons of home work and I have to
babysit my little sister until my—my aunt and uncle get home. But,”
I added. “There are a couple McDonalds close by, up on Fairview and
one down in the historic district on Cervantes.”
“ You’re kidding, right? You
can’t stop to get something before you go home?”
“ No, afraid not. But,” and
it was killing me to say this, “I’m sure Jewels would be thrilled
to show you around town.” Jewels had a half dozen guys wrapped
around her little pinky and I was getting ready to add another one
to her collection.
He honestly looked dejected as he
closed his textbook. “Yeah, but going with Jewels doesn’t help me
get to know you, does it?”
The way he said it gave me a tingle;
this guy is interested in me. I had made some male friends while
here at PHS, but they were easy to keep just as friends. I made it
a point to never give out the signals that would lead a boy to
assume that I was looking for anything else. I was used to the
attention from the cute guys at my old school, but then again they
knew who I was which always left me wondering what it was that they
were really interested in. Here I didn’t have my Porsche or my
designer clothes to scream out to everyone, “Hey, I’m somebody.”
Instead everything about me had been toned down so that no
attention would be drawn to me. Yet this guy didn’t seem to care
that I was wearing Wal-Mart off-the-rack, or the fact that I wasn’t
dripping in jewelry.
I tried a smile, but it was weak.
“Jewels is more interesting, I’m sure.”
“ Definitely not. I spent
first and third period with her and I can tell you she is extremely
shallow—nice, of course, but nothing more than ankle-deep. You on
the other hand, I get the feeling have a whole ocean
available.”
I rolled my eyes, but all the while my
pulse was picking up the pace. “Not me,” I said, trying to sound
convincing. “I’m an ankle-deeper one, too.” And then, thankfully,
the bell rang.
He leaned over and whispered in my ear,
“Liar.”
In that instant I realized he had on
cologne. It was very faint, like he’d put it on yesterday and only
a little remained, but it was awesome. Without a conscious thought,
I closed my eyes and inhaled. What was it? Expensive and very
masculine, but I couldn’t think of the name. When I opened my eyes
he was smiling and still just a little bit too close. I grabbed my
books and made a bee-line for the door.
“ Hey, wait up.” I heard him
call. “Don’t I even get to walk you to your car?”
I didn’t slow down, but it only took
him a moment to catch up with me.
“ Do you always bolt for the
door at the last bell?”
“ You aren’t going to turn
out to be some kind of stalker, are you?” I said with feigned
terseness as I struggled to keep from smiling.
He didn’t answer as we dodged through
the crowded halls and headed outside. He still wasn’t talking as we
came out into the sun-filled mayhem of teenagers going either
toward the bus line or the parking lot. I was starting to think I
had actually hurt his feelings when I snuck a quick glance at his
face. He caught me looking.
“ Maybe,” was all he
said.
I pulled out my key as we got close to
my VW. Even though it wasn’t new, I had to retain just a little bit
of the freedom that I once took for granted.
“