sakura
I didn’t know what the hell I had agreed to, but for some reason, I was now walking through aisles in Walmart and dropping things in my cart that I didn’t need while Gunther—yes, Gunther from Literature—stood next to me.
Turning into the chip aisle, I pushed my cart to the Doritos, stared up at them, and nervously chewed on the inside of my cheek. I wished that I had just kept my window rolled up in the parking lot and decided to just go home.
But it was too late. I had been too nervous.
And now, a guy that I had barely said a few words to was grabbing chips from the top shelf.
“I, uh, wanted to ask you something,” he said, setting the chips into the cart.
Fuck! Please don’t ask me to go out with you. Please don’t ask me to go out with you.
After tightening my hands around the cart, I walked to the end of the aisle with my gaze trained on the food in front of me. If anyone saw me out with Gunther at night alone, my life would be ruined. Rumors would spread like wildfire through Redwood.
How will Mr. Avery react once he hears them? The thought made me warm between my legs, my heart pounding. I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. No, no! I can’t think shit like that! He had a gun!
“Are you okay?” Gunther asked.
I stopped in my tracks and pushed some hair off my flushed cheeks. “Yeah, sorry. Um, sure, you can ask me whatever.”
He paused and flipped some longer hair off his forehead. “You okay? Really?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”
“ ’Cause …” He shrugged half-heartedly at me. “You seem nervous in Literature.”
Double fuck.
Eyes widening, I looked away. “I’m totally fine. You don’t have to worry.”
“Is Mr. Avery—”
“Mr. Avery is great! My favorite teacher!” Fuck, I am so nervous. “Don’t worry, really.”
I didn’t know what to tell him. I didn’t want him to ask me anything else because I feared that I’d either blush harder than I was now or I’d completely blurt out everything that had happened during that detention.
Anxiously, I glanced around Walmart and spotted Akio, a nice senior from Redwood.
“You sure because—”
“Akio!” I shouted, waving like a maniac even though I had barely spoken to him. I pushed my cart in his direction and glanced over my shoulder at Gunther. “Sorry. Akio is my cousin. I’ll, um, see you in class tomorrow.”
Once I left Gunther alone in the chip aisle, I speed-walked to Akio, who stared at me quizzically.
He stood in front of the freezer of boxed pizzas with a bunch of sweets in his basket. “We’re not cousins.”
“Shh!” I whisper-yelled at him, peering over my shoulder to watch Gunther leave. Once he disappeared from my view, I turned back toward Akio. “Sorry, didn’t mean to push that on you. I just didn’t want to continue talking to him.”
“It’s fine.”
“Long night?” I asked, glancing into his cart again at all the sweets.
“Uh …” He scratched the back of his head. “Sorta. Long story actually.”
While I didn’t know Akio that well, he worked as an intern under Mom at the pharmacy. I didn’t want him to ask me any questions about her because I didn’t even want to start to answer them. It wasn’t my fault that Mom was an addict.
“Well, um … have fun with that,” I said.
After he flashed me a nervous smile and scratched the back of his head—like seriously the same way any guilty main male character in all the anime that I watched did—I steered my cart toward the checkout lines.
I felt bad, walking through the store and putting everything back where I had found it, so I guessed that meant I would be buying all this food and junk that I didn’t need and probably would never use.
Just as I turned the corner to the checkout, I spotted the same man from earlier at Mr. Avery’s house waiting near the exit. I swallowed hard and froze, knowing that he hadn’t seen me through Mr. Avery’s tinted windows, but fearful that he had.
Quickly, I turned back around and walked to Akio, who still stood in the frozen pizza section. “Actually, I know that this is a stupid request, but could I shop with you until you’re ready to check out? I, um … don’t feel comfortable walking outside alone.”
Akio paused for a long moment, glanced down the end of the aisle just as the man passed by us—like he had spotted me and followed—and then nodded. “Sure, I don’t mind. I’m almost done anyway.”
My stomach twisted in knots. I couldn’t wait to get out of here and go home.
Between the IUD, going home with Mr. Avery, finding his gun, and walking around Walmart with Gunther, today had been the craziest day of my life. And I only expected tomorrow would be even crazier.