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"Waste my time? Seems like you should look in the mirror, don't you think?" Jared sneered, his bland features turning suddenly nasty. "Look, I know Miranda and her family. We aren't the kind of people who take no for an answer. We don't have to."
I whirled around. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Jared avoided my glare. "Nothing. It means nothing."
"It didn't sound like nothing."
He pressed his thin lips together, causing a crinkle between his brows. "Look. I'm just saying...I'm sorry. Really, I am. It won't happen again, I promise."
I crossed my arms and balanced my weight to one side. "You mean that?"
Jared held his hands out from his body in a gesture of mock surrender. "Completely," he said. "Can we just be friends?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Can you do that? No more funny business? Because otherwise I have to take the train to Andover, and I really don't want to do that."
Jared crossed his heart and held up his hand in a salute. "Scout's honor. I just care about you. That's not a bad thing, is it?"
I placed my hand on my hip and pursed my lips. Then I rolled my eyes.
"I can't believe I'm friends with a boy scout," I said, "Come on. You can eat another sandwich in my apartment. Then we should probably study for the rest of the afternoon."
~
Which is what we did. There were no more mentions of Brandon, although I didn't miss Jared's veiled glances whenever I checked my text messages.
Around six, Jared and Eric ducked out to pick up some pizza for dinner while I picked up the refuse from our study session. My phone rang in the bedroom, and I shuffled in to pick it up.
"Hi, Bubbe. Everything okay?" I said as I tucked the phone under my ear and went back out to continue cleaning up our scratch paper and leftover snacks.
I tensed myself for her response. Ever since receiving her frantic phone call in March telling me Dad was in the hospital after being severely beaten, there was a part of me that prepared for the worst.
"Everything is fine, bubbela," she said. "Can't I call my granddaughter to check in?"
I smiled as I tossed the scrap paper in our recycling bin. "Of course, you can. What's new?"
I listened at the kitchen table as she started rattling about the everyday minutia of her and my dad's life in Brooklyn. She talked for about twenty minutes, and was just finishing up when Eric and Jared returned with dinner.
"And you, Skylar?" Bubbe asked. "Are you...feeling better?"
I glanced behind me at Jared and Eric, who were taking seats back on the couch and setting out the pizza. Bubbe and I hadn't had a direct conversation about the fact that I had been pregnant and had also chosen to end the pregnancy. I hadn't admitted it outright, and she hadn't come out and said she knew, but there had been some signs that she was in on the secret.
"Yes," I said. "I'm fine now. Everything is...back to normal. I'm feeling much better, thanks."
"Good, good. Just wanted to make sure." Bubbe paused. "There is one thing, though..."
"Bubbe, I can't really talk very long," I said as I stood up and stretched. I was hungry, and the pizza smelled really good. "Is it urgent?"
"I was just thinking about Katie."
My dander flew up, and I sat right back down. The screech of the chair leg caused both Eric and Jared to jump in their seats.
"Everything okay?" Jared mouthed at me.
I nodded and flapped at hand at him to be quiet.
"What's going on?" I asked Bubbe.
"Nothing, nothing. I mean, not nothing, but nothing."
