Where the Staircase Ends(49)

“Sunny already knows.” Jenny said, shifting her notebook from one hand to the other. “And I’m sorry, but it’s not my job to run recon on this.” She gave me a stern look, her finger jabbing in my direction when she spoke. “If you didn’t want people to find out, you shouldn’t have done it. I have to get to class. I’ll talk to you later.”

She turned quickly on her heel, leaving me standing there with my mouth open. What did she mean, I shouldn’t have done it? And how would Sunny already know? Did someone else call to tell her? Was that the reason she ditched school?

I picked up my cell phone and frantically dialed Sunny’s number, which went straight to voicemail.

“Sunny, it’s me. You have to call me back. It’s an emergency. Call me as soon as you get this. Please.” Then I added one more “Please,” so she’d get the urgency of the situation. Sunny had a bad habit of only calling people back when she felt up to it. You had to be very clear about the necessity of a situation to get her to call you back on your terms.

I leaned against a row of lockers and let out a long, exasperated breath. Sunny would be devastated when she found out. She was the girl who spread the rumors, not the girl the rumors were about. At least not the bad rumors, like this one. But then again Sunny was a survivor. She would know how to fix it. She always seemed to find a way out of her messes.

After school I made my way toward the water tower as usual, thinking I might be able to reverse some of the damage Tracey had already done by tackling it head-on. I was halfway there when I saw Justin jogging toward me, his dark hair flopping and his blue eyes gleaming in the afternoon sun. He gave me a big smile and waved at me to wait for him.

“Hey Taylor,” he called, “Wait up.”

I stopped walking, holding my hand in front of my eyes to block the glare of the sun so I could take in the long expanse of his body. His jeans were loose and his shirt was snug in all the right places. Warmth crept into my cheeks at the memory of Saturday night, when my head had rested against the perfect curve of his chest.

He slowed down and gave me an awkward wave when he reached me. It was cute, and made me wonder if I made him as nervous as he made me.

“Mark and some people are going down to The Fields to play a game of ball,” he said. “You wanna come? Maybe cheer me on?”

He cocked his head to the side in this hopeful way, and my stomach bloomed with the same nervous/excited feeling I had when we were on the roof together. I didn’t really like baseball, but at that moment I would have followed Justin off a cliff if it meant I could spend a few extra seconds with him. If he needed me to be a baseball fan, then I was going to be the biggest baseball fan Justin Cobb had ever seen.

“Sure, sounds fun.” I said, falling in step with him as we walked toward Mark’s quickly filling Jeep Wrangler. It felt so natural, like that was what we did. Justin and Taylor. Taylor and Justin. My Justin.

The Jeep was jammed full, so I had to sit on Justin’s lap. His arms circled my waist to hold me in place, and he nuzzled his face against my neck, the scruff of his five o’clock shadow tickling my skin. Even though I was mashed against the back passenger side door and could barely breathe, I thought it was the most comfortable seat in the car.

I watched the school disappear in the window’s reflection, shrinking back behind me until I couldn’t make the shape of the buildings out anymore. Maybe if I’d gone to the water tower like usual, I would have found out what was really going on and stopped it. Maybe none of this would have happened. But that was the beauty of hindsight, right? Or maybe it was just the way the universe worked; when something new and wonderful entered your life, you had to give up something of equal or greater value in return.




*




Sunny never called me back despite the additional voicemails and text messages, and on Tuesday when I arrived at school the front steps were oddly deserted.

“That’s weird,” I said to Justin, who had once again shown up at my house to walk me to school. He shrugged indifferently and pulled me through the front doors. “I’ll meet you in first period,” I added as we walked through the halls with our fingers interlaced. “I’m going to swing by Sunny’s locker to see if I can catch her.”

The hallways were congested with the usual morning mash of students. I shoved through the main hallway on my way to Sunny’s locker, even more self-conscious than I was the day before of the long, lingering looks people were giving me. Everyone gaped, eyes trailing behind me and mouths moving quickly as I passed. It was like I was in the middle of one of those naked dreams where I forgot my clothes and had to walk through the hallways with nothing but my skin to cover me. I waved at a few people from the water-tower crew and a surge of panic swelled inside my chest when they turned their backs to me, furious whispers passing between them as I walked by. What was going on?

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Brandon Blakes stepped in front of me, his hair neatly combed against his head and his books stacked tidily in hands. He was sixteen-going-on-forty in his starched shirt and sweater vest, like he was on his way to a business meeting rather than chemistry class. I really couldn’t blame people for all the names they called him when he dressed like that. Not to mention he was a total brown-nosing, grade-whoring douche.

“I need to talk to you,” he said, his voice wavering as he shifted the stack of books from one arm to the other.