I couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe that I’d waited until the night before to study for this biology exam. It wasn’t totally my fault. I had planned to get started last night. But I’d gotten in from dance practice after seven, and then, just like he’d said, Jax had called around eight, and we talked until the judge had come knocking on my door.
I had been so embarrassed when she’d interrupted us.
“Diamond, are you on the phone?”
Dang! I hadn’t even heard her coming. “Hold on a sec, Jax.” I had tucked my phone underneath my covers and put my biology book on my lap. By the time my mother had crashed into my bedroom, I’d looked like I’d been in full-fledge study mode.
“No, Mother. I’m not on the phone. I’m studying.”
My mother had given me the serious mother-eye, like she’d known I was lying. I’d prayed that she wouldn’t say anything stupid, because Jax had been able to hear everything. “I’ve told you about studying on your bed. You’ll work better at your desk.”
Normally, I would have tried to convince her that I was just fine where I was, but all I’d wanted was for her to get out of my room. So I’d jumped up and sat at my desk.
I’d smiled at my mother, but she hadn’t smiled back. She’d known something hadn’t been right, but thank God, she’d left me alone.
I’d waited a couple of seconds before I’d dashed back to my bed. “Jax, are you still there?” I had whispered into my phone.
“Yeah, girl. What’s up with that?”
“It was just my mother,” I’d said, keeping my voice low.
“Oh, so you can’t have phone calls late?”
I hadn’t wanted him to know that my parents treated me like a baby. “Nah, it’s not that. I can have phone calls any time I want.”
“So, why are you whispering?”
I had looked around my room real quick and eyed my walk-in closet. Inside, I could speak with a normal voice. “It’s just that I have a biology test on Friday,” I’d said after I’d been safely hidden from my mother. “And you know how parents are. My mother wants me to get all As.”
“She’s one of those, huh?”
“Yeah,” I’d said. I had stayed hidden in the closet, talking to Jax until so late last night that all I’d been able to do was crawl into bed and dream about him.
Now, tonight, I didn’t have any choice. I had to crank up the studying. I was glad that on Thursdays I didn’t have dance practice or rehearsals. I could just focus. And I had to, because now it was either do or die.
Just as I opened up my textbook, my Sidekick vibrated. I had turned off Fergie because I never knew when Jax was going to call. I couldn’t chance the judge or even my father hearing my phone ring so late.
I glanced at the screen, tossed my textbook aside, and rushed into my closet.
“Hey, Jax.”
“Hey, you. Whatcha doing?”
“Nothing. A little studying.”
“Oh, I don’t want to take you away from that.”
“No, I want to talk to you.”
“You do, huh?”
“Yeah, I like talking to you.”
“So, how am I doing?”
“What do you mean?”
“Calling you every night.”
It had only been three nights in a row, but I still said, “You’re doing good.”
“Does that mean I’m going to get a little reward soon?”
I knew he was flirting and I flirted right back. “What kind of reward do you want?”
“Oh, I don’t know. A little something. Like maybe a little kiss. You haven’t even kissed your boy yet.”
Did I know that! All I could think about—all day, and all night—was kissing Jax. My wish had been that he would have kissed me already—sometime at school. Especially since we were so close now.
But in school, it really wasn’t much different with Jax. He didn’t point his finger at me anymore. Now he smiled and waved. But he didn’t do a thing to let people know that we were an almost-couple.
I didn’t feel as bad about it as I had last week because now I knew that he really liked me. It was probably just that stupid image thing that guys—especially the athletes—liked to keep. Jax probably didn’t want his boys teasing him, since he was the star and everything.
“So, am I going to get that kiss soon?” he asked.
“Girl, don’t make me get in my car and come over there.”
He stopped me from breathing when he said that. He couldn’t come over here. I hadn’t said a word to my parents.
He must’ve smelled my fear, even over the phone, because he said, “I’m just kiddin’. I know I can’t come over there tonight. You’re studying.”
“Yeah,” I said, taking a deep breath.
“But I’ma hold you to that kiss.”
I wanted to tell him that I couldn’t wait. That if I could figure out a way, I’d meet him somewhere right now.
“I bet you can really kiss, huh, Diamond?”
“I’m all right.” I didn’t want to seem too confident since I’d never kissed a boy before—well, I’d kissed Walter Hines in the third grade and then Harry Wilson in the sixth grade. But I couldn’t call those any kind of real kisses.
“Girl, you’d better stop it. Or I’m gonna have to come over there right now.”
This time, I laughed with him.
“Hey, I got another call coming in. Hit me back in an hour.”
“Okay,” I said. I glanced at the clock as I hung up. It was already ten-thirty-seven. By eleven, my parents would be in their bedroom, and if I called Jax back from my closet, they would never know. I’d have to be careful though, because if they found out that I was on the phone that late, the judge would ground me forever.
But I wasn’t going to let all those dumb as-long-as-you-live-in-my-house rules stop my flow. I’d call him in an hour; I’d just have to be super careful.
I lay on my bed and looked at my biology book. I wanted to study, but I was just too tired. I’d be all right. I was a decent student, and I’d been paying attention in class. It might not be my best grade, but I’d pass. That was for sure.
I closed my eyes, but I wasn’t about to fall asleep. I had to be up in an hour to call Jax back. Just like he wanted me to.