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I stared right back into his sad gray eyes so he knew how serious I was. “Positive. You know me, guys. I’m not wrong about this.”
They nodded and turned to face the front as the teacher finally decided to start class despite the bell having rung a couple of minutes ago. She always delayed class until she found a good spot in her book to pause.
Chapter Fourteen
I was currently sitting by my tree at lunch, having a staring contest with Justin for reasons unknown to me. While his expression told me nothing, his pretty blues were telling me something else.
While I let myself get lost in the vast ocean, just surfing the waves of his gaze, he was asking me questions.
And I understood them.
Are you okay?they seemed to ask.
Shit no, I wasn’t okay.
I wished I could reply, but my lips remained sealed. So I played dumb and smiled before turning my attention back to my homework, letting him win that round. I had no doubt there’d be more stare-offs in the future.
Toby was going on about the injustice of music analysis because why should he have to write a five-page paper about the meaning of his song. His song was apparently about his aunt. I was curious because I knew he lived with his aunt and Justin, but that was about it. Why was he living with her instead of with his parents? And why was Justin there too? I knew they weren’t related to each other, so how did that dynamic come to be? I was too much of a chicken to ask about something that seemed really personal.
“I can describe the song in one paragraph. One paragraph! Why the fuck do I need to drag out the meaning of my song for five fucking pages? Candy, how are you tackling the essay.”
I looked up at him and tried to get my brain out of the world of the physics homework that was due today. “Um.”
“What is your song about?” he asked.
“My relationship with my mother.”
Looks were exchanged between Paxon and Justin while Toby just kept looking at me, waiting for further explanations. I frowned, not liking their exchange but didn’t say anything about it. My paranoia was just rearing its ugly head again.
“And what is it like?”
“Nosy, aren’t you?” I smiled at him, trying to ignore the way my skin began to prickle at the thought of Lindie.
“Shit, yeah. We know nothing about you,” Toby responded with a huge smile.
I sighed and tapped my pencil against my textbook. “It’s complicated enough to write a song about. You’ll have to wait until Monday to hear about it.”
“Awe, please. At least give me a hint.” Toby pouted his lips and put his hands together as if praying.
I frowned and looked down at my hands. “I guess it’d be a confrontation.”
“That’s going to be an interesting song,” Toby finally said when he realized I wasn’t going to say much else.
“I hope so. Mrs. Odera is the kind of teacher to take points off for not giving the truth. If you keep the song lighthearted, she won’t hesitate to call you out on it and probably make you redo it. She wants the deep stuff.”
Toby nodded. “I know. I did a song about a goldfish my sophomore year because I was too lazy and didn’t want to psychoanalyze myself. That was the most embarrassing day in class I’d ever had.”
Toby straightened, clearing his throat. He took in a deep breath and began singing:
“He swims around and around
Unable to tell me what’s on his mind
Unable to tell me how his day is going
Around and around and around
Swimming like there’s nothing to hold onto
