Slow Dance in Purgatory(42)

“Yes, he’s crazy about her – obsessed with her, even… and she loves him too. But it’s an impossible situation.”

Maggie knew Johnny wasn’t talking about Jane and Mr. Rochester anymore. Her eyes filled with tears, and she blinked rapidly, trying to hold them back. A few escaped and spilled out, sliding down her cheeks to freedom.

Johnny lifted his fingers and tried to capture them, but the tears slipped past, undeterred. It was as if the water slid right through his seeking fingertips.

“Why can’t I have a happy ending, just once?” Maggie’s voice caught on a sob, and the entire class looked at her like she had lost her mind.

“Miss O’Bannon? Are you okay?” Mrs. Olsen’s kind face radiated concern, and Maggie realized that she was crying in front of an audience – and not only crying, but seemingly talking to herself. She scrambled to wipe the tears from her cheeks and diffuse the embarrassing situation.

“Th-this b-book is just really s-sad,” Maggie gulped, mortified. Johnny had gone as still as Michelangelo’s David.

“It surely is, dear,” Mrs. Olsen agreed, rising from her desk to bring Maggie a tissue. “Carry on, class. Good literature should make us weep.”

Somebody coughed loudly, infusing the cough with the word “freak.” Muffled laughter rose from around the room. Dara Manning, the dance team captain, tried to copy the cough, only she inserted the word ‘loser’ instead. The smothered laughter and mocking comments continued throughout the remainder of the class. Maggie just slid her hand into Johnny’s, hoping he wouldn’t start sending things crashing around the room. He stiffened as if struck every time someone chimed in with a rude barb, but he didn’t retaliate. He continued reading to her until the end of class and, when it was over, slipped away, whispering the same words he always gave her – that he would be nearby.

If people were looking at her strangely and wondering why she was acting a little off, Maggie hardly noticed and never cared. Even her strained relationship with Shad was not enough to pop the bubble she floated in, day after day. Shad hadn’t talked to her for several days after their argument, but he had eventually thawed and resumed his endearing, if slightly obnoxious, ways. He was definitely more suspicious though, and watched her more possessively than he ever had before.

Johnny stayed away after school if she was working alongside Shad or Gus, making it possible for her to concentrate on her work and her friends. But she missed him desperately when he did, and sought more and more opportunities to work alone so he would join her. Shad complained that she was never around and when she was, she was constantly daydreaming and never listened. One afternoon, he even made snide comments in front of Gus about sneaking off to see her boyfriend.

“Who’s this boyfriend, Miss Margaret?” Gus was taken-aback. “Did I miss some big news?” he teased her good-naturedly.

Maggie tossed a withering look in Shad’s direction. He stuck his tongue out at her and folded his arms insolently.

“No boyfriend, Gus. Shad’s just being really stupid.” Maggie enunciated the word ‘stupid’ and turned away from Shad. His antics were getting old.

“Oh, yeah? What about Johnny, Maggie? I thought he was your guy. Or hasn’t he asked you to go steady yet? Hasn’t he given you his class ring? That’s the way they used to do it in the ‘50s, right, Gramps?”

Maggie gasped in outrage and reeled back in shock. Shad’s chin quivered as if he realized he had crossed a line. Gus looked back and forth between them, confusion wrinkling his brow.

“What’s going on with you two? You’ve been at each other for weeks now. And what’s this talk of Johnny, Miss Margaret? He ain’t been up to his old tricks again, has he? He been givin’ you trouble?”

Gus’s frank belief in Johnny’s existence was gratifying, but useless. Maggie would never confide in him, not about this. He might fire her, or worse, tell Irene. No one wanted a crazy foster kid. She might lose her home…again. She might lose Johnny. Fear clogged her throat and sealed her lips. Years of guarding her emotions and trusting no one could not be undone in months.

“Johnny hasn’t been giving me trouble, Gus,” Maggie sighed and turned away. “Shad is just messing with you and trying to irritate me, right Shad?” Maggie glared hard at Shad, and he just walked away without a word.

Maggie gathered her supplies and trudged angrily to the cafeteria. Shad had better not be there. Hopefully Gus would assign him to scrub the boys’ bathroom floor…with his vicious tongue! What was his problem?!

Maggie filled her bucket with soapy water and was just about to heave it down from the oversized sink when Johnny stepped around her and lifted it easily to the floor.

“Just in time! My hero!” Maggie batted her eyes and grinned up at him.

Johnny smirked back, but his eyes were shadowed and his smile fleeting.

Maggie followed after him as he wheeled the heavy mop bucket to the cafeteria. Without comment, he helped her move the tables and chairs to the far edges of the room. He took the mop from her hands and began sliding it back and forth across the dirty tiles in a steady swath. Maggie had seen him clean the floor with a thought when they had gotten carried away in conversation, and Maggie had hours of work still to complete. He obviously wanted to do it the old-fashioned way tonight. She didn’t mind. She always felt a little guilty when he made it too easy for her.