How to Save a Life(21)

“You were under for four minutes last night. What’s your goal?”

“Four minutes is pretty good. Pete Colat held his breath for nineteen minutes. David Blaine held it seventeen on live television. If they can do it that long, I figure I can probably reach seven or eight minutes. Maybe more.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s part of my craziness.”

“I don’t think you’re crazy.”

He smiled a little. “That’s a first.”

I smiled back and another silence fell. This one felt like it was going to stick around and get awkward. It was telling me to quit while I was ahead.

“I’d better get back,” I said, and gathered my bag and phone. “You sure you don’t want me to time you before I go?”

“Nah,” Evan said, not quite looking at me. He cleared his throat. “But maybe…tomorrow night?”

A fluttery feeling rippled through my stomach, almost making me drop my phone. He wants to see me again. “Sure,” I said, shrugging, all casual-like. “I can do that.”

A full smile broke out over Evan’s face and it was the most beautiful damn thing I’d seen in a long time. It was genuine. Unguarded. The flutter in my stomach spread to my chest.

“Cool,” he said. “I’ll see you then?”

“Yeah,” I said, rising. The strap of my bag hooked on the chair arm as I was trying to shoulder it. It yanked off my arm and smacked on the cement. Fuck. “Cool. See you.” I snatched up my bag and walked out of the pool area without looking back.

And I felt it.

Evan’s eyes following me

A warm chill skimmed over my skin. Shivers of heat danced up my bare arms and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

What in the ever-loving hell…?

I don’t know what prompted me to turn around. Maybe wanting more of that feeling. Maybe because I had something I needed to say. Or something he needed to hear. And if I didn’t say it, I’d feel even worse about being a bitch to him the night before.

I took a few steps back toward the pool. “It sucks that Shane burned your note. It was a f*cking shitty thing to do.”

“Yeah,” Evan said, craning forward without moving a muscle.

It’s too personal. Don’t do it. You’ll make it worse.

I silenced the thought and swallowed hard.

“But the words your mom wrote… They’re real. You’ll always know she wrote them and she had a reason for putting in those two pleases. Shane can’t erase them. He can’t erase the intention. Your mom wanted you to be taken care of. You’ll always have that.”

Evan didn’t move or say a word. In the dimness, I could hardly see his face. But I knew I’d done the right thing even before I heard him say gruffly, “Thank you.”

“Yeah, sure. No problem.”

“Goodnight, Jo.”

“Goodnight.” I smiled under my hair and turned to go. “Evan.”





The following morning began with rumors. Jared couldn’t do the dirty work firsthand, lest he give away to his girlfriend what he and I had been doing for the week. He outsourced the job to his buddy Matt King.

Matt had no compunction in telling anyone who would listen the things I did to him behind the bleachers. Jared gave him a few truthful details to make the story believable and the tiny school ate it up. By lunchtime, it was everywhere.

Worse, someone spilled the beans I’d given two different reasons for my scar. Now everyone was calling me Joker. I heard it whispered as I walked down the halls and one kid jumped in my face to demand, “Why so serious?”

Marnie and Adam didn’t quite know what to make of me when I sat down with my lunch tray at the Mo Vay Goo table.

“Is it true?” Marnie asked straight away. “You and Matt King?”

Adam shivered. “Ugh. He’s such a beefcake. You couldn’t pick someone with a little more personality?”

“I wouldn’t touch Matt King with a ten-foot pole,” I said.

“Really?” Marnie regarded me intently. “Given the specific details I heard, you were quite intimate with his pole.”

I rolled my eyes. “Hilarious. I didn’t touch him.”

“Then why the rumors? Every time I turn around, someone else is regaling your exploits behind the bleachers.”

“They’re *s. You need another explanation?”

“Okay, they’re *s. But why you?”

The million-dollar question. Why me? Why had I done this to myself? Or more to the point, why did I suddenly care? In the past, I took the slutty reputation and wore it with a twisted kind of pride. My terms, my call. The Pretty Woman code. I say who, I say when, I say how much. But this time around it was too much. I wished I’d never touched Jared Piltcher and not just because the whole school heard about it.

Because Evan is going to hear about it.

I looked up to see Marnie and Adam waiting for an answer.

“I’m new. I’ve got no reputation beyond what they decide to make for me. Easy pickings. The scar is just icing on their cake.”

Marnie nodded. “Makes sense. Matt is going around saying he felt sorry for you.” She wagged her fingers over her cheek. “You know what I mean.”