The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things(70)

Shane texts me late. Sorry I couldn’t come over tonight. Done with overtime now. Have tomorrow off.

What time can you be here? I send back. It will be Sunday, which means school starts the next day. I feel like a miser, hoarding this one final day of winter break. The snow is thick on the ground, so it’ll be hard for him to get here—they don’t always plow out where he lives—but he must think I’m worth it.

Ten too early?

Nope. My dominant feeling is yay! Though I’m not sure if that qualifies as an actual emotion. So I’ll call it excitement. The prospect of seeing Shane is more thrilling than Christmas, even though I got a few cute shirts and a new pair of jeans, as well as a gift certificate for an online bookstore. I guess that means he’s better than all presents combined.

And he’s writing me a song.

I’m up by eight and in the shower, which is extreme. Usually I stay in bed, read, or watch something on my laptop. Not today. I waffle over what to wear, going back and forth between a couple of outfits, then I remember what Shane said about taking me with no top on, and that makes me laugh. Then I put on jeans, a camisole, and a white hoodie with silver writing. I leave my hair to dry naturally while I have breakfast, then I put on a little makeup, omitting the lip gloss.

Shane’s fifteen minutes early, but I’m smiling as I throw open the door. He hugs me hard, drops a kiss on my mouth, then we step into the house. My aunt’s still asleep. He’s got his backpack, and I peer at it. Surely we’re not spending the day on homework. I had plenty of that while I was gone.

“I brought your present,” he explains. “Since we weren’t together on Christmas.”

Oh, wow. I’ve never gotten anything from a guy, unless you count the valentine I got in second grade. “Yours is in my room. I’ll be right back.”

He looks surprised, like I’d fail to get him a gift. I bring the wrapped package out and we swap them. “You first.”

Shane seems like he might argue, but in the end, he tears open the paper. It’s two things, actually: my iPod, loaded with songs that I think he’ll like … and a package of printed sheet music, so he doesn’t have to draw his own. “Whoa. This is too much.”

“It isn’t if you like it.” I can listen to music on the radio and online. He doesn’t have either option at the trailer.

He kisses me sweetly, until I forget I’m supposed to open my present, too. “Your turn.”

I feel like a little kid as I pull off the wrapping paper to reveal a little white box. When I removed the top, there’s a delicate silver chain with a finely made musical note for the pendant. I think that’s the eighth note, the one with the single flag, and I totally get this present. It’s as if he’s giving me part of him to keep with me always.

“Do you like it?”

“It’s beautiful,” I whisper. “Put it on me?”

The odds are excellent that I’m never taking this necklace off.





CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

January is usually a blah month, but this year it’s kind of magical. Shane and I have become a couple that people pay attention to. They yell, “Sup, Shage,” when we walk past; we’re a smush name now. Most days this strikes me as a good thing. I’m not sure why, but they’re not calling me Princess anymore, though I’m still writing pink Post-its in purple glitter pen, and I love that Shane’s not embarrassed by this. Sometimes he even points people out to me who could use some cheering up, a long way from the boy who wouldn’t look anyone in the eye at the beginning of the year.

I manage to bring my grade up to a B? in geometry and my aunt is delighted. She cooks Shane and me a special Italian feast to celebrate. If I read her right, she likes him a lot and no longer worries that we’re too attached. But I make sure we spend an equal amount of our time with Ryan and Lila, so they don’t feel left out. It’s cool that we’ve all gotten to be friends, and I’m not the only glue holding our group together.

*

At the end of January, we all eat lunch at Mel’s house because she’s been bothering her mom to have us over. In other words, I have a social life. It’s so weird.

We cruise toward Valentine’s Day, and I’ve almost forgotten that Dylan Smith exists. Until he reminds me. He must think he’s safe—that I probably won’t repeat what I know about his mom—and I catch him hassling Shane. It’s early, before most other students are around. Dylan and his crew have Shane hemmed in outside. Shane looks like he wants to start swinging, but there are too many, and I can see him reminding himself, No more trouble. His fists uncurl.

That’s more than I can take. I overlooked the thing with my bike, but this? No. I quietly go and get Mr. Johannes. “Some guys are bothering Shane outside. Do you mind? It’s really unfair, six on one.”

“No problem. I think I left something in my car anyway.” He winks.

From my vantage, I glimpse how the jocks spring away when Mr. Johannes steps outside, giving Shane the chance to slip into the building. When he sees me, he says, “You sent him?”

“Is that okay?”

“Yeah. Better than a punch in the face. I don’t know what that guy’s damage is.”

I do. But this is a battle between Dylan and me. He might have lost interest in Shane if I hadn’t stood up for Lila. So I intend to enlist her aid in teaching the * a lesson. At our lockers, after Shane heads to his first class, I tell her what went down.