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“Don’t forget it,” he said. He flicked a smile at me. “You’re very difficult to get a hold of otherwise.”
“Don’t know how I lived without it before,” I said, unable to stop my lips from curling up.
“Hey,” he said. “By the way. I wanted to call in my favor.”
“What?”
He grinned. “Don’t tell me you forgot. The day we went swimming, I won a favor.”
I perked up. “I almost forgot. Did you think of something?”
He tapped at his desk, and I imagined he was hitting invisible keys on a piano. “There’s this little concert this weekend. It’s technically after your birthday, but ...”
“Wait,” I said. “You mean you want me to go to your concert? As the favor?”
“It’ll probably be really dull. I’ll have to get you to stand backstage. And after I may ask you to do something weird.”
“Like what?”
His cheeks tinted. “There’s usually a party.”
“Oh,” I said, unsure. The last time I’d attended a party, it didn’t turn out so well.
“That’s really the favor part,” he said. “Maybe if you don’t mind, you’d stick around after?”
“And go with you?”
“No, I mean,” he rubbed a palm across his cheek. “I don’t know. I was kind of hoping you’d hang out away from the party.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I mean, I don’t think you should go to the party, but I wouldn’t mind escaping it to be with you.”
I still didn’t understand, but I remembered Kota and the others saying he had a hard time at his concerts. Maybe his father, at the party after, said mean things. Maybe he wanted me to be there for support, but didn’t want to subject me to his parents. “Okay,” I said.
“You’ll do it?”
“Yes. But you don’t have to ask a favor from me. I’ll do it. I don’t mind. I’ll hide out. Can we do things together after? Do we have to stay long?” If he didn’t like the party, I thought it would be a good thing to go somewhere else after to cheer him up.
He parted his lips to say something, but the bell rang. Mr. Morris grumbled at the front of the class, drawing everyone's attention. I sat back, attempting to appear interested, but I guessed at what he was going to say.
“Open your books,” he said. “Read Chapter Ten. Lips closed. I want the questions at the end of the chapter answered fully and the papers on my desk tomorrow.”
“I love this class,” Victor breathed into the back of my hair.
I had to agree. It wasn’t interesting at all, but it was easy. With everything else we had to do, a predictable class was something we needed. If we weren’t going to learn much, at least we could take a small time out with stress-free work.
I was bent over my desk, writing the answers out to the questions. A folded piece of paper plopped onto my desk. My eyes flicked to the note. I was used to getting these, though mostly in other classes. North usually caught the ones from this classroom before I saw them.
My name was scrawled in a handwriting I didn’t recognize. Not that I expected Victor to write a note to me, but I checked just to be sure. I left the note on my desk, ignoring it. I thought I would wait until they piled up and stuff them into my bag to give to North later.
Two more landed on my desk. I stacked them in the same corner and left them alone. I thought if I ignored them in front of everyone, they’d get the idea I didn’t really want them. Maybe. I wasn’t sure if they even cared or if it was a game.
I was halfway finished with the assignment when I felt a presence hovering. I dismissed it, assuming someone was walking by to get to the pencil sharpener or something similar.
“I thought I said read and do your homework,” Mr. Morris said.
I glanced up, surprised to see him by my desk. His focus was on me. Confused, I tilted my head back. “Pardon?”
He snatched up the notes on the corner of my desk. He fanned them in his hand, showing them to me. “Tell your boyfriends to wait until after class.”
“Oh ... okay,” I said. I bit my lip, instantly ashamed at how I’d responded. It almost seemed rude, but he’d surprised me.
Mr. Morris frowned. He unfolded one of the pages, his eyes scrolling over the words. “John wants to know if you’re busy on Friday.”
The class started giggling. My cheeks heated. I didn’t dare glance back at Victor. “Um ...” I said. Did he expect me to answer?
“She says no, John. You should probably be more specific if you want to ask her out.” He flicked open another note. “Dylan wants to know your bra size.”
Laughter rolled through the classroom.
“Excuse me, sir,” Victor said behind me. “You shouldn’t—”
Mr. Morris held up a hand at him. “Sorry, Dylan,” he said to Victor. “You should probably ask a girl what her favorite color is before you ask her about bras. There’s a protocol. Trust me on this.” He opened the last note. “Sam wants to know your phone number.”
I swallowed, flicking a glance at Victor. His eyes blazed. He shook his head a fraction.
“I ... I don’t...” I said softly.
“Speak up,” Mr. Morris said. “Sam is waiting.”
What did he want me to do? Announce it? I glanced around the room at the expectant and giggling faces. “I don’t think I want to give it out,” I said.
“It’ll save us both a lot of trouble.”
The boy sitting across the aisle reached out, picking my cell phone up from on top of my book bag. Mr. Morris turned just as Victor leaned over his chair to try and snag it back. Mr. Morris held up his hand and gave a glower that said not to interfere, that he’d handle it.
Before Mr. Morris could turn back to the kid that had snatched my cell phone, the guy poked at the screen and checked. “It’s 843-555-2311,” he rattled off.
Mr. Morris snatched my phone from the guy. “Stop it. You’re all animals.” He placed my phone back on my desk and gazed around the room, addressing everyone. “Now everyone stop sending around notes. Don’t think I haven’t noticed the internal postal system we’ve had going on here. We’ve got phones now. Use them. Just don’t answer them in class. Stop wasting trees and my class time with this.” He crumpled up the notes, dropped my phone on my desk, and marched toward the front of the class. He tossed the notes away in the trash before he went back to settle into his own chair at his desk.
Was that even my number? I wasn’t sure as I never looked at it. I risked a glance back at Victor. His eyes scorched, daring the class to even try to call my number now. He gripped his pen in his hands until his knuckles were white.
I sank further into my seat, wanting to disappear.
CODE FOR DANGER
By the lunch bell, my phone was vibrating continuously in my hands. Messages were lighting up the phone, but from unknown numbers.
“Let me see it, Princess,” Victor said, walking beside me. He took the phone from my hands, wrapping his lean fingers around the cover. As he held on to it, it continued to vibrate as it received text messages. “What did they do? Text your number to the entire school?”
“Can we block the numbers?”
“I may just get you a new number,” he said. “But I can’t do it right now.” He sighed, his free hand finding mine. His thumb smoothed across the skin on the back of my hand. “I’m sorry. Let me hang on to it. You’ve got classes with us for the rest of the day, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll give you mine after lunch so you’ve got something.”
North wasn’t in the courtyard. Kota and Nathan were gone, too.
“Where’d everyone go?” I asked.
Luke sat next to me on the bench. He tapped his lips in a gesture of silence. Academy.
I sighed. “Are they going to be gone all day? What about after school? And my sister?”
“We’ll tell Marie there’s a change of plans. She can ride the bus home today. You can come along wi
th me,” Victor said, sitting on my other side. “We’ll get your number changed.”
Silas sat on the grass at my feet. “Why? What’s wrong with her number?”
Victor told them what happened.
“Shit,” Gabriel said, pushing a palm into his eye. “We don’t need this right now. We’re down three people. Sang’s phone is fucked. Her birthday is this week. Can anything else happen?”
“Don’t say that or something will happen,” Luke said. “I’m already done today. I’m ready to go home.” He glanced at Silas. “Can you fill in for North today just in case he doesn’t make it back?”
Silas grimaced. “I was kind of hoping to figure out what to do for Sang’s birthday.”
Gabriel groaned. “We don’t have time for the diner.”
“We can’t bail,” Luke said. “A couple of the waitresses and a busser are out tonight. I think they’ve got the flu.”
Gabriel fell on his knees on the grass next to Silas, then collapsed on his back. “Sang, change your birthday. Make it like a week later or something. The tenth. Or the fifteenth. Or fuck it. Make it next month. November’s a nice birthday month. Have a November birthday.”
“Okay,” I said, in a very enthusiastic tone. I wouldn’t mind putting this off for a month, either. What did they expect from me? It was just a birthday. I knew other friends got each other little gifts. They totally didn’t have to do it, but I had a feeling arguing with them about this would lead to futile fights that I wouldn’t win.
