AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I didn’t say come in.”
“Which one is your bed?” I ask.
His eyes widen. I decide to grab the chair at the other desk and pull it toward his. Quietly, I sit beside him and watch as he cuts black duct tape into thin strips. His fingers are long and elegant as he manipulates the tape around the broken frame. He moves like a craftsman.
“Do you do work with your hands?” I ask, bored with the silence.
“I like to carve…with a knife.” He motions to the twin bed on the right-hand side.
There’s a collection of wooden ships above it on a long shelf. I get up and walk over, mesmerized by the intricate detail displayed on each ship painted to look like a miniature of the real things.
“Do you ever put them in bottles?” I ask.
“I keep those at home. These are the ones I made while at Stonehaven.”
He’s quiet again. If there’s going to be a conversation, I’ll have to start it. I sit back down beside him and watch his hands fit the arm of his glasses back onto the frame. I’ve had to do tough things like telling off adults twice my age when they tried to take advantage of my mother. But I haven’t had difficult conversations until this year.
“Pierce is a jerk,” I tell him. “I never had sex with him or touched him.”
“I didn’t think that you had,” Terri replies wanly, “At least not with him.”
I pause, trying to pick my words carefully. “I do have a crush, and he knows it, but it’s not Pierce.”
“Or me either,” he replies. “I wasn’t only upset by what that imbecile said about you but also what he said about me. I didn’t want you to ever hear those things. To know that about me.”
“It’s okay, Terri.” I try to make eye contact, but he refuses to turn his head. “We all have something going on.”
“You won’t date me because guys like Pierce Vanderbilt use me for boxing practice.” Terri sniffs, rubbing the back of his hand quickly over his eye. “He humiliates me because it’s entertaining. He wants to prove his masculinity by tearing mine apart. And that’s the type of guy you girls chase after.”
“I told you, Terri. I didn’t sleep with him.”
Terri faces me, and his eyes are bloodshot and watery. His gaze accuses me of a crime worse than anything Pierce could do to him.
“But you would,” he accuses me. “I can tell he’s your type. A real asshole. Big, mean, and dumb.”
My patience is drying up. “He’s not my type.”
“Then why are you so physical with them?” he asks, “Why do you watch them? Every time Bryce or Wyatt walks into the dining hall, your eyes follow them until they sit down.”
“I don’t do that,” I snap at him. My cheeks flame at the thought of even wanting them. “Bryce is a bully.”
“He’s a challenge, Astrid, and you like a challenge. You probably want to fuck him. You and all the other sluts who throw themselves at those assholes.”
He slams his broken glasses back down on the desk, and they collapse in a flattened heap. “I thought I liked you. I thought you were going to be different. That you wouldn’t get sucked in. But you all do. You want to be treated well, but you chase after the jerks.”
“Like you?” I ask, my face hot. “Because you’re acting like a real nice guy. I don’t give a shit about them shaming you in the shower.” I shake my head. “Sorry, I don’t mean it like that. We all have crap to deal with, and I don’t think badly of you because they ganged up on you. That reflects on them. Not you.”
Terri’s bottom lip quivers, and I hope to God he’s not about to cry. I’ve comforted the biggest grown men you’d never think would ever cry at funerals and births, but not now. Please don’t cry over me. I’m not all that special.
“Why don’t you go leave me alone?” Terri stares at me as if leaving is the last thing he wants me to do.
I sigh and stay put. “I’m not a slut, and if you say that again, I’m gone. I’m sorry. I grew up in a rough neighborhood, and I’m not used to this whole hiding meaning behinds your words bullshit here. I say what’s on my mind and I’ll just say this: I like you, Terri, but we’ll only be friends. If you knew me, and I mean really knew me, you’d think you were crazy for ever looking at me.”
“I doubt it,” he mumbles.
I reach over and pick up his mangled glasses. A leg clatters onto his desk, and he sighs.
“You’re rich,” I turn them over, “Why’d you buy cheap frames?”
“You know that expression ‘a penny saved is a penny earned’?”
I nod.
“Well, my ancestor didn’t say it, but I live it.” Terri reaches into his desk drawer and pulls out a pair of tinted wire frames. He’s better-looking wearing those glasses, but I don’t tell him that. I don’t think I have to. Terri smiles at me as if he heard my thoughts.
“We’re late for lunch,” I tell him, standing up. “Funny, the one period of the day I excel in.”
Terri nods his head. “I’m sorry, Astrid. You mind if we never talk about it again?”
“Only if you keep being my friend.”
