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blondemoment22

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On the morning of my release from probation, Aspen forced a sleepover on Kaelyn, Liza and me. She was frustrated at being the only single person in our immediate group and wanted to destroy the plans the rest of us had to mess around with our man candies.

            “Come on, it’ll be really fun,” she insisted as we wandered the halls before first period on Friday. When none of us answered, she pulled her puppy face. Liza and I exchanged an annoyed glance. It was obvious that we should appease her, and I found that it was what I wanted to do. I just wanted to appease Gavin more at the moment.

            Aspen’s expression turned serious. “You’re seriously debating,” she complained. “I’ll punch you all in the boobs if you don’t say yes.”

            I winced, remembering the last time her bony fingers had jabbed me there. “Yes, Aspen,” I said. “I would love to have a sleepover with you.” I had my priorities.

            She gave a little hmpf and crossed her arms, unsatisfied with my sarcastic enthusiasm. I curled my arms around her shoulders and repeated myself sincerely this time. I felt her smile against my cheek.

            “Good! I’ll just pretend you two said the same thing,” she said, nodding toward Kaelyn and Liza. They laughed, finally giving in. She was impossible to resist; like a cutesy little girl begging you to play tag. “Be at my house right after school,” she commanded. “If you have any movies or whatever, bring them.”

            “I’ll bring the porn,” I offered, grinning.

            Kaelyn and Liza stared at me in mock disgust while Aspen giggled.

            “Actually,” Liza began, “why don’t you let me handle that? I have a way better supply than you.”

            A classic eye-roll came from Kaelyn. “You guys are so gross.”

            The bell rang, rendering me motionless for a moment from the sheer volume of it, and we parted ways down the hall.

            My first class was Honors Biology, another advanced course demanded by my father, although I couldn’t deny that I belonged there. It all made sense to me, more so than chemistry had last year, and my grade hadn’t yet dropped below 95%. I figured it would get more difficult as the semester progressed, but I’d deal with that later.

            I dropped my binder on my desk in the center seat of the center aisle and curled up against the arm rest. I plugged my nose as Prepzilla’s heinous perfume blew in my face. The air settled and stayed where she sat in the back of the room. The rest of the students trickled in and I drummed my fingers on the desk, waiting for Gavin to enter. The late bell rang and Mr. Carlton scribbled something on the board in his illegible handwriting. He turned toward the class and eyed the empty desks.

            “Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells,” his voice boomed. “Can anyone tell me how these types are different?”

            A boy in the corner, Sam, raised his hand. “Their spellings.”

            “Yes, obviously,” Mr. Carlton acknowledged, smirking. “Anyone else?” No one seemed to be paying much attention. “Kayla, how about you?”

            The mousy-haired girl shrugged.

            “What can you tell me about cells?”

            She sighed visibly. “I don’t know. They have nucleuses?”

            Mr. Carlton lifted a finger. “Ah! But not all of them! Which type does not contain a nucleus?” His eyes scanned the faces and stopped on mine. “Jane?”

            “Prokaryotic,” I answered automatically.

            He smiled. “Thank you.” The door opened a crack and Gavin slipped through looking harried. “And thank you, Hilliard, for gracing us with your presence.”

            “It’s my pleasure entirely, sir,” Gavin replied in a heavy British accent. He flicked my forehead as he passed me, winking. I felt blood rush to my cheeks.

            “So, what can you tell me about prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells? What kinds of organisms they make up, for example…?” he trailed off.

            “Um, the first type is, like, bacteria and stuff, right?” Gavin guessed.

            “Correct.”

            “And the second type makes up plants or animals?” he continued.

            “Correct again.” He almost sounded disappointed. You had to give Gavin some credit; he’s a wayward child, but he does his homework.

            I spaced out the rest of the hour, taking notes as was necessary. My mind spun with fantasies of Gavin. In a way, I hated the uneven rhythm of my heart and the feverish way my temperature changed around him. I thought I’d been able to fight that back with years of denial, but I suppose I had fed the flames lately. I deserved this glorious discomfort.

            I lurked beside the doorway at the end of class, and we walked together to his locker. He spun the combination, explaining that he’d overslept a good hour this morning and had forgotten to pick up Tom and Jared whose car was in the shop. Again. Apparently it had blown a head gasket and they had to wait for pay day in order to get it fixed. The twins were super pissed and threatened to kick a hole through the bass drum when Gavin finally showed up.

            “That sucks,” I said, only mildly interested.

            “Thanks for the sympathy.” He slammed his locker and pushed his bangs to the side. “You should come over tonight.”

            “I can’t. Aspen is lonely and I told her I’d spend the night.”

            He raised an eyebrow. “I thought she was dating that loser with the glasses. Why doesn’t she go hang with him?” he asked.

            “He’s a loser,” I confirmed. “She got sick of him cheating and dumped his sorry ass.”

            “Oh.” He lowered his voice. “Well, damn. I was thinking we could smoke a bowl. My parents are going out to Seattle to see my uncle and I don’t feel like having a party.”

            I groaned. “You’re killing me.”

            “You’re killing me,” he laughed. “I want you but I can’t get you alone.”

            “Yeah,” I agreed. “What about Saturday?”

            “I don’t know, PJ,” he teased. “I might be too mad at you for ditching me to let you inside, but you can try to persuade me…” He bit at his lip ring and played with a chunk of my hair.

            “How much persuasion are we talking about?”

            “Let’s decide that when it comes up,” he said, smirking.

            Freaking bell. I twisted away from his arm and launched myself into the sea of students rushing down the hallway. I heard him yell something in my direction but I figured it was derogatory. As I passed him on the other side of his locker I held my middle finger up just long enough for his eyes to narrow at me.

            The rest of the day progressed in its normalcy. To my surprise, I managed to pull off a B+ on that sort of plagiarized essay. To my even greater surprise, Ms. Larken had managed to correct them in under a month. She’d been known to put it off for much longer, sometimes handing out incomplete grades and then redoing them in once she finished correcting finals.

            Gavin left me with the girls at lunch, whispering, “I’m going to pretend to be mad at you” with his tongue in dangerous proximity to my ear. Kaelyn was staring in blank fury at the snack bar, but I wasn’t in any mood to care or apologize. I was very content with the situation and it wasn’t my fault that she couldn’t get over whatever grudge she held to him. Missy and Sarah finally drove him off with their obnoxiously loud fake vomiting. Kaelyn excused herself and ruined the mood.

            The three of us stared after her in confusion.

            “What’s her issue?” I asked, breaking the silence.

            “Gavin,” Sarah answered simply. She poked a french fry around on her tray.

            Missy puckered her lips, deep in thought. “Maybe she’s jealous of you?” she wondered.

            That wasn’t it. She had Caleb, and even though that didn’t have to mean anything, I knew she wasn’t jealous. I shook my head. “She didn’t hate him before, not that I noticed. Not until the end of ninth grade, so…” Nothing. I had no idea what he’d done to upset her so much, or that he had done anything in the first place. Sure, he smoked pot, but who didn’t? It was the latest trend. I would enjoy it sporadically and when my attention span wore out I’d find some other waste of time and brain cells.

            I drifted in and out of sleep during photography with Coldplay playing on my mp3 player, hidden in the sleeve of my hoodie. Someone shook me awake when the last bell rang and I stumbled groggily out into the hall.

            I could not understand the point of electives. Why couldn’t we just leave when our core classes were finished? I had better things to do than sit around pretending to be interested in some artsy fartsy crap. I’d rather learn something practical like, well, a practical thing.

(abrubt again. I'll update sooner or later)