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Zoe
When Zoe and her grandmother stepped outside, Jason was waiting beside the building.
“Holy moly, slowpoke. You’re going to make us late.”
Zoe looked at her grandmother nervously. She wasn’t sure what to do. She felt bad just ditching her.
Gramma waved at the car. “Go ahead, honey. Have a good day.” She smiled at Jason and waved. “Good morning, Jason.”
He waved back. “Good morning, Esther.”
“Did you stay last night till the vandal was caught?” She was talking really loudly, and Zoe thought about how ridiculous that must have sounded to anyone within earshot.
“I sure did.”
“Well, thank you for your service.”
Zoe got into the front seat, her stomach full of butterflies. Her backpack sat on the floor by her feet. “Hey, how’d you—”
“Alita gave it to me. She acted all disgusted that you’d left it in her car, as if she wasn’t the one who’d tricked you into getting into her car in the first place.” He looked at her. “Sorry about that.”
She buckled up. “Why? You didn’t do anything.”
He shrugged and pulled the car out onto the street. “I know, but I don’t think she would have messed with you if I hadn’t tried to be your friend. Anyway, we broke up.” He said this as if he hadn’t made a major announcement.
“What?” Zoe cried and then mentally kicked herself. If he was trying not to make a big deal of it, she should follow his lead.
“Yeah. Whatever. I probably should have done it a long time ago.” His tone made it clear that he didn’t want to talk about it, and she didn’t know what else to say.
“Well, thank you for getting my backpack.”
“You’re welcome. And I thought about going through it to make sure it’s not full of itching powder or snakes, but I thought that would violate your privacy.” He looked at her. “So you might want to look for itching powder or snakes before you go reaching in there.”
She thought itching powder and snakes seemed a bit subtle for Alita. She’d probably filled her bag full of anthrax. Or she’d planted some crystal meth, and the cops were waiting for her at school. She picked up the bag and gingerly unzipped it.
The silence felt awkward. “So, how tired are you?”
He exhaled so dramatically that his lips vibrated. “I am so tired. I had weightlifting this morning.”
“You didn’t have to come pick me up!”
“No, that’s okay. It’s getting cold. I’d hate for you to have to walk.” He acted like a boy who liked a girl.
But she knew that this boy definitely did not like this girl, and she needed to stop thinking thoughts like that. They were depressing and dangerous.
“You could join us anytime, you know.”
She laughed. “Yeah, right.”
“You might like it. It’s good for mental health.” He looked at her quickly. “Not that you have mental health problems.”
She laughed. She knew he hadn’t meant to imply that, and yet she wasn’t the most mentally stable kid on the block.
“Besides, I am going to convince you to play basketball this year, so you might want to start weightlifting.”
“I’m not playing basketball, Jason.”
“Not even for me?”
“Not even for you.” Although, if he really kept at her, she thought she probably would play for him. She thought she’d probably do anything for him.
He parked in the school lot, and they got out of the car and walked toward the building, side by side. Several people stood outside staring at them. This was unusual behavior, even with her.
“They might think we’re together,” she mumbled.
He laughed. “No, they don’t think that.”
And just like that, all the good mood she’d been building up over the last twenty-four hours of spending time with Jason dissipated so fast it was as if it had never been there. She was back to the lonely darkness.
She should get used to it. This was where she belonged.
