Rodent by Lisa J. Lawrence

Author:Lisa J. Lawrence
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV039040, JUV013000, JUV039230
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2016-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

Celeste tugs on the sides of her jeans and looks past my head. “Can we talk for a second?” she says. She must think I’m a total idiot. I’d rather not volunteer for an ambush today, thanks. Reading my face, she adds, “Just you and me.”

She follows my eyes to the center of the cafeteria, where I see Ainsley sitting with her crowd. Pole Dancer is leaning against the table behind her. They don’t seem to notice us.

“We’ll just stand right outside the door.” She points to the main cafeteria doors.

“Okay.” I follow her as she moves through the bodies. I have no idea what this is about. Out of the corner of my eye, I already see splashes of color across the scroll and the quiver of scribbling feathers.

Once we’re outside the cafeteria, she pulls me away from the door and off to the side. We stand there, looking at each other. A thousand cutting comments rush to the tip of my tongue, but I’m too curious to say anything at all.

“I asked to talk to you”—she takes a deep breath and sighs—“to say sorry about…what’s happened between…you and my friends.” It’s like the words have to climb out of her mouth by themselves. She doesn’t talk that way in English class—she must really be bad at apologies.

“That’s okay. Water under the bridge, right?” That’s it? It seems like a good time for a clean start. I’m tired of worrying about those three. I turn to head back inside and she grabs my arm, pulling me back.

“Um, what I mean is”—she looks up at the ceiling—“we treated you badly. How…how do you feel about that?”

This is getting weird now. I look around for a spy camera from the Dr. Phil show. “Well, to be honest,” I say, “I didn’t think you were a big part of it.” Relief on her face for an instant. “And I did punch your friend in the face.” She chews on her lip and nods, her hoop earrings swaying.

“Yeah, I guess you did,” she says, and we both break into a tight laugh. “You know, sometimes these things just snowball…” She goes on and on. My mind drifts back through the doors, where my friends are waiting and people are writing on a scroll I helped create. I don’t want to miss it all. “…and people react irrationally. After all, Ainsley did say you apologized, right?”

While she talks, her eyes glance toward the cafeteria door, then back to my face. I’m starting to feel edgy, like someone might burst through those doors any second and drag me away. “…especially that one time at your locker. That wasn’t necessary. Three against one isn’t even a fair fight…” Now I’m just getting bored.

I’m finally about to interrupt her when she stops herself mid-sentence and says, “I’m glad we talked. See you in English.”

Hands down, the strangest conversation of my life. “Okay” is all I manage. She’s at my shoulder as I reach the cafeteria door. I swing it open and hold it for her.

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