Where the Staircase Ends(20)

“Dunno,” I answered with a shrug. “Sunny wants to, so maybe.”

“So you’re not going with Justin?” His hand was on his hip and his face pinched into a judgmental scowl.

“No, of course not. What’s with the interrogation?”

He made another face and shook his head instead of answering.

“I think I’m going, too,” he said after a few seconds of staring off into space with his face scrunched up.

What I wanted to say was “ARRGG!” or “GAH!” or something similar so he’d know how frustrating he was, but instead I forced a smile so he’d think I was happy and couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday night than with him at The Fields.

“I thought you hated going to The Fields?” I asked innocently, inspecting my nails so I wouldn’t look bothered that he was behaving like Emily Dickinson’s interposing fly by butting into my plans with Justin.

“Yeah, well, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t hang out with my girlfriend on a Saturday night?” He said boyfriend and girlfriend with a little more force than I thought was necessary. “See you after class,” he added, leaving me standing there in front of history class with my jaw working overtime.

Sunny sat at her desk watching me with rapt attention, having seen the whole awkward exchange from the classroom. My butt was barely in my seat before I felt my cellphone buzzing. I slipped it stealthily from my bag, and sure enough, it was a text from Sunny.

Sunny: WTF WAS HIS PROBLEM?

I shook my head at her, trying to look too upset to talk about it, but the worst thing you could do to Sunny was not answer her when she wanted to know something. After she threw the twelfth piece of wadded up paper at me, I finally gave in.

Me: He wants to go to fields w us Saturday.

Sunny: ? why? thought he hated the fields?

Me: Dunno. Guess he changed his mind.

Sunny: Liar.

Me: >:-(

Sunny: Spill. BTW, U -> boogie

I rubbed my nose.

Me: He heard Justin say he was going … do i really?

Sunny: !!! No was just F ing w you. U deserve it for holding out.

Sunny: Justin is going to be at the Fields??? HFS need to go shopping.

Sunny: Want to go shopping Saturday?

Me: Can’t. Have to study.

That wasn’t entirely true. My mom would probably tether me to my books for at least a few hours, but I didn’t have anything due the next week. Even she couldn’t force me to do work when there wasn’t any work to do. But I would rather spend the afternoon reading encyclopedias for my mother’s benefit than helping Sunny find and squeeze into some slutty H&M dress she bought for Justin’s visual benefit. No thank you.

Sunny: Ur mom is a slave driver. Pre-party @ my house?

Me: k. Will come over after dinner.

Sunny: Amber and Jenny r coming so you can prob come later if you need. Those bitches r always late.

Me: Good point




*




After school we made our usual trip out to the water tower, nodding at all the familiars and adding to the growing cloud of smoke that hovered over the area like a fog. The water tower was located right off school grounds, far enough from the prying eyes of teachers to make it interesting and close enough to school to make it convenient. We had to crawl through a rip in the chain-link fence surrounding the school parking lot to get to it, which was annoying because only one person could crawl through at a time, and a line started to form shortly after the final bell rang.

We missed the line that day, thank God, because it was totally embarrassing when I had to shimmy through the small space while an impatient line of people watched from behind. There was no way to do it gracefully, and God forbid you should decide to wear a skirt the way I happened to do on that particular day.

“So, what gives?” asked Sunny, leaning into one of the surrounding hedges so she could light her cigarette without interference from the wind. She exhaled through her nose, and the smoke swirling out of her nostrils made her look like an angry bull getting ready to charge. “Why were you and Logan fighting before class?”

I was surprised it took Sunny so long to ask me. I’d waited for the question since leaving class. As a general rule, Sunny didn’t like not knowing things, and when said things involved a guy she was interested in (namely Justin) she really didn’t like not knowing the details.

“We weren’t fighting,” I said, taking the cigarette from her when she passed it to me. I tried to make my eyes big and innocent the way I did when my mom caught me in a lie, but Sunny knew me too well to fall for my act.

She rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her hair, surveying the growing crowd to see if there was anyone worth talking to. I did the same so I wouldn’t have to look at her.

“You were fighting, don’t lie.” She snatched the cigarette back from me and took another drag. “Why did Logan care so much that Justin asked you about The Fields?”

I could tell by the way she blew her smoke in my direction she was only getting warmed up. And I also knew she didn’t give a crap about Logan. What she was really asking me was, “What did Justin do that made Logan so jealous?” Sunny might have acted stupid sometimes, but she was far from it.

“He was just making conversation. God, you sound like Logan.”