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“Umm… that psych test was pretty hard the other day, right?” I asked.
Honestly, I started to worry that I had done something wrong. That Jamie pushed me away for a reason. Though, strive as I might, I couldn’t think of anything that I had actually done to get this treatment. He had just randomly stopped hanging out with me one day a couple of weeks prior. With not much more than a wave or two during psych or criminal justice.
“Yeah, the test was pretty bad.” He shrugged his shoulders, letting the camera hang once more. His blue eyes glistened. Up close, even in the low light, I noticed bags beneath them. He sighed before adding, “Uh… sorry, by the way.”
“For?”
“You know. Not being around much lately.”
“Oh, I mean. It’s fine,” I lied. “But… you’re not mad at me or anything, right?”
He shook his head. “Not. At. All. Just… I have a lot of things going on right now.”
“Want to talk about it?” I asked.
“Maybe another time.” He shook his head as he responded. My chest tightened, and waves of panic crawled down my spine. I took a step away. Worried I may have pried too deeply and gotten too close for comfort. Even though we’d been friends for months now, talking about the more private parts of our lives wasn’t something we did. I still hadn’t mentioned my dad. Not to him. Not to anyone else at this school.
Jamie let out a low sigh and pointed to the girl up on the stage who was still reading. “Pretty sad, huh?”
“Oh… honestly… I haven’t been listening.”
Jamie’s focus shifted to the girl. As he spoke, he kept his gaze on her, the shine in his eyes constant. An uneasy feeling gnawed at me inside my gut, watching him as he watched her.
Did he… I mean, was he… interested in her? I frowned at the idea.
“Melissa’s job,” Jamie continued. “She actually told me about it in Latin.”
“She takes Latin, too?” I asked, tone raising in surprise. “I’m in German with her.”
“Oh, really? Well, that’s pretty cool.” A brief, crooked smile crossed his lips. “Uh… her poem though… she worked for this Mom and Pop cake shop over the summer in Southeast. It was a family owned and run place… well, they went under… the guy who owned it lost everything, including his house.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, shit is right.”
I took in Melissa a little more thoroughly. Partially because of the story. But also, and more especially, because of Jamie’s interest in her. Curly ringlets of dark hair fell around the frame of her long face. She wasn’t wearing the Stony Point uniform. Oh, no. She had on a leather jacket which covered the top of her tiny body, and skinny jeans around her twiggy legs. Suddenly, I became aware of my own body. Pudgy in comparison to hers. Rounder. Shorter.
“She’s a sweet person,” Jamie added. “Caring about a business like that.”
“Oh yeah, she seems really sweet,” I said, voice lathered with a faux syrupy niceness. I hoped Jamie didn’t pick up on it.
“Anyway…” his words trailed off.
“Anyway… I guess I’ll let you get back to it.”
I started to move away from him, but he touched his hand to my arm before I got very far.
“Uh, Jemma. You know, I could use some air. Do you want to step outside with me?”
I didn’t even need to think about it before I answered.
“Umm… yeah. Sure.”
* * *
“When you said step outside, this isn’t what I thoughtyouhad in mind.” I cocked my head to the side. A soft smile played on Jamie’s lips, barely visible beneath the dark sky above which cloaked us in secrecy.
My elbows rested against the shingles of the roof.
