that had accumulated during the night.
Cleaning off my car and driving in it would take some time, so I recommended she do the same. After brushing off all the snow from my truck and heating it up, I arrived at school with time to spare and walked into zero-hour ten minutes before the bell rang. Opening my accounting book, I began looking through the next chapter, thinking it might be a good idea to study the material before the teacher discussed it, and when I was deep into it someone sat down next to me. Looking up, I caught sight of Nate’s sly smile.
“Hey, how were the SATs?”
“Long.” I shut the book and leaned back in my seat, placing my hands casually behind my head and stretching my back out against the chair. “I thought you were going to take them?”
“Already did. Last spring. I got a twelve-fifty.”
I looked at him to see if he was bullshitting me, but it was obvious he was being completely serious.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked, not believing he didn’t share that news with me sooner.
“Sorry, I just forgot. I got the results over the summer and didn’t really see you much since you were spending every waking hour with your boy.”
I felt a pang of guilt for not spending more time with my good friend. He had been there for me more than anyone lately. He was with me when I’d been in the hospital, even though we’d been fighting at the time. Not to mention he was still keeping my secret although he pointedly told me I had to tell Jensen sooner rather than later. I imagined that a lot of other people in the same situation would have bailed, but not Nate. Before I could think too much about it, I reminded myself that Jensen wouldn’t have been thrilled about me spending any amount of time with Nate.
“Anyway, it’s not like I’ll be going away to college or anything,” Nate added. His eyebrows came together a bit and I figured he was thinking about having to start life in the real world now that he and Aria were going to be parents. I could tell he was a little bitter, but before I could give any kind of comment the bell rang and our teacher told us to settle down.
The hour dragged by and finally the bell rang to signal the end of class. Quickly gathering my books and materials, I headed for the door and was a bit surprised when Nate hastily rushed past me and left the room before I did. Aria wasn’t hanging around outside the classroom door like she normally did, but looking to the stairs to the left of the class, I could see her slowly coming down the stairs. For being five months along she still wasn’t really showing and part of me felt like her slow walk was a ruse to get Nate to pay attention to her.
Nate zig-zagged through the crowd and caught up to Aria, taking her books from her before they went up the stairs. She didn’t look happy at all and I could have guessed that it had something to do with making that long climb up the stairs that she had just come down. Students who couldn’t get around easily on the stairs were given a key to the elevators, and I wondered if Aria would get one when she was too big to move around much. Watching the two of them, I felt a surge of sympathy and a wave of sadness. At one time Aria was a good friend, and after all that had happened I wasn’t quite sure if I would ever call her my friend again. I should have been one to carry her books, help her up the stairs, get her through the nine months like any friend would, but no, there I was, walking behind her at a slower pace so she wouldn’t see me and possibly call me out again like she did that day at my house.
I walked slowly and felt relief when I saw her go into a bathroom at the top of the next floor. Taking the stairs two at a time, I dashed past the bathroom door and Nate, who was standing nearby looking down at his waffle stompers, and made my way down the hall to my locker. When I got closer I saw Krissa there and she was in the process of shutting the door.
“Not yet!” I said, reaching for the locker door. Krissa grabbed it before it slammed on my fingers.
“Just in time,” she called out before I quickly tossed my accounting book inside and grabbed my notebook for my next class with Alicia. “I should stay over more often,” she said. “That was a lot of fun.”
“Yeah, we should, but on a weekend. We can stay up later and gossip,” I said while at the same time looking around for Alicia. It was odd that she wasn’t waiting for me.
“If you’re looking for Alicia, she had a DECA meeting this morning. I saw her when I came in.”
I was about to comment when Krissa lunged up on her toes and began waving her arms above her head. “Hey, Aria! Hey, Nate!”
I rolled my eyes in the confines of our locker so only my books would see my annoyance. Oh, no. Now what do I do?
Aria and Nate arrived at the locker before I could make a discreet get-away, and all I could think of to do was give them a quick nod. Aria let out a “hi” but I was sure it was directed at Krissa and not me, and in order to save myself I put out a “see you guys” and took off down the hall without looking at any of them. Current Events class awaited me.
Slipping into a seat, I watched for Alicia to get there and remembered that Jensen hadn’t called to tell me he’d made it back safely like I’d asked him to. Before I had a chance to pick apart and analyze that, Alicia slid into her seat just as the bell rang. She smiled at me and our teacher got right to business reading the bulletin for the day. The entire class period, we were more than busy and didn’t get a chance to talk until the bell rang and we walked together to our lockers. Now that we had a new seventy-five minute class schedule, breaks in-between were now fifteen minutes, enough time do to more than just get from one class to another. At the time she heard about the change in times from the school bulletin, Alicia had thrown a fit and I wondered what she thought of it now. To me it seemed a plus. Walking down the hall and dodging other people, I asked how her parents were holding up.
“The same,” Alicia shrugged, “although Em called last night after you left. Evidently Madison knows, and she and Emery are at a bit of a crossroad about this whole kid thing. Em is taking a DNA test to confirm it’s really his kid, but obviously it is since Jensen wasn’t a hundred percent match.”
“I guess I’d also take the test just to be sure and have it down on paper. If this does wind up in court, anyone who could possibly be the father has to be tested.” Sometimes I liked watching the talk shows on TV that dealt with cheating and paternity and knew the value of scientific tests. Alicia agreed, and I said Jensen was pretty pissed at Emery. “Do you think he’ll talk to him anytime soon?”
“I don’t know. Em said he tried calling Jensen but couldn’t get ahold of him. He said something about going to take a trip to see him, but Mom told Emery to give Jensen space. I’m not sure what he’ll do.”
“That would be smart. Jensen is ... he’s just not himself.”
By then we had arrived at my locker and Alicia looked at me as if willing me to share more, but there wasn’t anything I could add. For some time now I’d been trying to figure out what the hell was going on and how I was going to handle it, no matter what anyone else did. Some days felt as if there were so many circumstances and no clear-cut answers. I spun the dial on the lock and quickly opened it.
“Well,” Alicia started before she took off to her own locker, “let’s hope he breaks out of it. I don’t like it when he’s not his usual self.” Alicia then skipped off to her locker, leaving me with that thought and thinking about the last time he wasn’t exactly himself. It was not a welcome reminder of my sophomore year.
