Mick
Quinn slams into the locker and slides onto the floor. He’s supposedly laughing so hard, he can’t stand up. I want to kill him.
I poke my head out from behind the pop machine and look down the hall. He goes “Peekaboo!” then chokes on his own hilariousness. He starts wheezing and hacking like he’s some eighty-year-old bingo player.
I make sure Jade’s gone, then I swear at him and walk over to my locker. I know she saw me.
I shove him out of the way with my foot so I can get my stuff. “You sat on some gum,” I say. He jumps up all indignant, like someone put it there on purpose. I’d laugh, but I’m still too pissed off.
A couple of kids walk by and do it for me. Quinn twists his head over his shoulder and starts picking the gum off his butt.
“You know,” he says, “when you told me you broke up with Jade, I thought, All right. The man’s finally grown a pair. But no such luck. I mean, what is it now—three weeks later? Four? And you’re still playing hide-and-seek?”
I get out my World History books. He can talk all he wants. He doesn’t know what it’s like.
He stretches the gum out into a long gray scuzzy string. It’s gone from someone’s mouth to the hall floor to Quinn’s ass. It grosses me out just looking at it.
He snaps it off. “Either go back to her or get over it,” he says, “because, frankly, this is pathetic.”
“Yeah,” I say. “It is.” I look at him rolling the gum in his hands as if that’s what we’re talking about, then head down the hall without him.
I don’t hear a thing Ms. Hamilton says all class. I’ve got to smarten up. I need a good mark in World History, but my mind’s not there today. I keep thinking about Jade. I know breaking up with her was the right thing to do. It’s not that. We were too far gone to fix. But that doesn’t mean I don’t still care about her.
I hate running into her. She looks like hell. She’s so skinny and sad.
The worst thing, though, is she makes me think of Gavin. I keep picturing his face the last time I saw him. He was sobbing like I’d drowned his dog or something.
But what can I do? I can’t go back with Jade to make her little brother happy. I can’t go back with her so she won’t lose any more weight. I’ve just got to tough it out. We’ll get over it.
The bell rings. Poli-sci is next. The fastest way there is by the east stairs, but that’s the way Jade goes to French. I can handle being in English with her. I mean, it’s not like I have any choice. But I’ve got to avoid her the rest of the time. Quinn can laugh all he wants. I know myself. I’ll cave if I’m not careful.
I take the west stairs. I skip the last two steps, turn the corner and almost run right into Jade.
We both jump back as if we hit an invisible force field. Jade squeals. I drop my binder. Papers go flying. She kneels down to get them at the exact same time I do, and we bonk heads.
We both say, “Sorry,” then kind of laugh. People are stampeding to class. We’re crammed between the wall and a recycling bin. It’s really awkward. We’re trying to pick everything up before it gets trampled. Our hands keep meeting, but our eyes don’t. If you didn’t know we’d just broken up, you’d think we’d just started going out.
Shaun Eckler walks by. He says hey to us, then turns and whispers to Carson Ng.
Jade notices too. She flicks her head their way and rolls her eyes. We both know what they’re thinking.
We get up. She hugs her book against her chest and says, “Gee, what are you doing way over here?” She makes it sound like a joke.
I try to come up with some excuse, but I’ve got nothing. I shake my head like, “Who knows?”
She laughs and says, “Personally, I was trying to avoid you. Lot of good it did me.”
Now I laugh. It’s a relief to get it out in the open. We stand there, shuffling our feet and sort of smiling at each other.
“Well. Nice running into you,” I say.
“Run into. Ha. Ha.” She looks good with a little life in her face again. “You and your old-man puns.”
The hall’s full of people. It’s probably not the best time to say this, but I do anyway. “Think we could be friends again someday?”
She clicks her tongue. “Of course! Friends would be great.”
She reaches out and touches my hand with her finger. She doesn’t look at me. “You know…I’ve had some time to think about this, and it might sound weird, but I’m glad we broke up. Honestly, I don’t have time for a relationship now, especially with GooGoo being so sick and everything.”
“Gavin’s sick?”
“Oh, you know…” She wobbles her head back and forth. “Long story. I’ll tell you later.”
The bell rings.
“How sick?” I say, but Jade’s already backing away from me down the hall.
“Got to go. Sampson deducts points if you’re late.” She waves her fingers at me, but then stops and kind of pouts. “Look at you. Don’t worry, silly! They’re probably just migraines,” she says. “It’s highly unlikely it’s a tumor.”