Me & My Invisible Guy (13 page)

I looked down and twirled the ring around my finger. “I don’t know.”

“It can be overwhelming at first. Don’t give up on it too easily.”

I looked back at him, at his smile, at his soft brown eyes, and I got really, really nervous. If I didn’t fit into his church life, maybe I wouldn’t fit into his life at all. And I desperately wanted to.

He picked up my hand and kissed it, then brushed his other hand across my cheek. “You have no idea how glad I was to hear about your pretend boyfriend.”

“I was expecting you to be mad.”

“No way. It’s a huge relief. I mean, it puts us on a level playing field. I thought maybe, with who you were—knowing so many people, being a cheerleader—I thought I might be getting in over my head. But now I can relax.”

I stiffened. “Because, of course, cheerleaders automatically sleep around.”

“No. That’s not what I meant.”

“But you made the assumption.”

“I guess I did. I was wrong. So wrong. Monstrously wrong. Can you ever forgive me?”

I let a smile slip out. He was so cute! “I suppose.”

“Good. Then I’ll see you tomorrow. Oh, wait.” He took out his cell phone and pointed it at me. “There, now I can see your face when you call me.”

“Nice. You could’ve given me a little warning.”

“Nah, it’s more fun this way. I’ll talk to you later. And I still want to hear that whole story.”

I got another kiss on the cheek; and even though I wanted him to kiss me for real, I was okay with it. Slow was better. Slow would keep me from getting scared and running off.

Tess was pacing my room with her cell phone to her ear when I got inside.

“Yes, I’ll be there. Soon. I’ve got it, Ash. All right. Bye.” Tess snapped the phone closed.

“What?” I asked.

“Ashley’s home, and Mom’s not there, and she’s flipping out on me. I’ve got to go.”

“Will you call me later? Or come by?”

“I’ll try.” She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder.
“Hasta.”

After she left I sat at my computer and fiddled around with the fund-raiser poster while replaying the day in my head.

I should have been giddy with excitement. Instead I felt paralyzed. As if it were all a nice dream that would slip away when I woke up. It was all too good to be true. Wasn’t it?

I dragged myself to school the next morning determined to find Tess. Her phone had gone to voice mail, and I hadn’t heard from her all night. But it was Liam I found first. He was leaning against my locker, his hands in his pockets and a sheepish grin on his face. I felt a sudden rush of excitement. For years I had dreamed of someone waiting by my locker for me. Dating an invisible guy long-distance had made the locker thing kind of impossible.

I slowed my walk just to take in the sight.
An actual guy, waiting for me.
I was in heaven.

“Morning.” He yawned. “I can’t seem to wake up today.”

“Me neither.” I opened my locker, and Liam leaned in over my shoulder. He was so close I could smell him.

“What’cha got in here?”

He glanced around my locker. A mirror on the door, pictures of Tess and me and ones with Yvie and Sophie, other cheerleaders. He picked up my bobblehead hula monkey from the top shelf.

“Now this is different.”

I snatched it from him. “Leave my monkey alone.” I placed it back on the shelf. “Tess gave him to me when we were in third grade and I was going through my monkey phase.”

Liam shook his head. “I wouldn’t even know what that’s like. Having the same friend for years.” He leaned his back up against the next locker, and his face took on a melancholy look.

“You don’t keep in touch with people?”

“I try, but it doesn’t last. Once you move on, it either
becomes a Facebook-level friendship or they forget all about you.”

I closed my locker and moved in front of him. “I would think you’d be pretty hard to forget.”

“You’d think, wouldn’t you?” He laughed. “I just see you and Tess and think how different my life would be if my dad did something else.”

“Speaking of Tess, I need to go find her. I’ll see you at lunch, okay?”

“Sure.” He grabbed my hand and squeezed it, then waved as he walked away. I turned to go in the opposite direction and ran straight into Lexi.

I gave a heavy sigh but refrained from rolling my eyes.

“Do you have a minute?” she asked.

“Not really.”

“I know what you’re doing.”

Apparently it didn’t matter what I said.

“And what is it I’m doing, Lexi?”

“I can’t believe you’d show up at church. Just to go out with some guy. That’s low. Even for someone like you.”

I could have defended myself, but it didn’t matter. I had less than four minutes to find Tess before the bell rang.

I walked past her, realizing that she was not going to back off despite Liam’s far-fetched hopes.

“This isn’t over,” Lexi called out, her words getting swallowed in the noise of the hallway.

What could she do to me, anyway?

“Tess! I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” I found her at her locker when I went back to check for a third time.

“I’m so late!” Tess looked frazzled.

“Are you okay? You never answered your phone. I was worried.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’ll tell you at lunch. I’m fine, but now we’re both going to be late.”

The bell rang loudly, and we sprinted away. She was here, and that’s all I needed to know.

I spent the first part of the day avoiding Lexi. I wasn’t scared of her; I just didn’t feel like dealing with her. She shot daggers at me during PE. Even Katie noticed.

“What did you do to her?” she asked.

“We like the same guy.”

Katie laughed, then stopped. “Wait. You’re serious? You two don’t seem like you’d go for the same type of guy. At all.” Katie lined up her arrow and let it fly, hitting the target dead center.

And when I thought about it, it did seem strange. But when I was all occupied with Todd, I never had the chance to see what kind of guy I liked. Now I knew. Did that make me like Lexi? I shuddered.

On the way to lunch I spotted Lexi talking with Liam in the lobby. I slowed, trying to decide whether or not I should approach. Liam and I were sort of together, so I felt as if I could, but I wanted to look secure, even if I didn’t feel that way. He glanced up at me, smiled, said something to Lexi, then walked over and joined me. Problem solved.

“Hey, you.”

“Hey.” I fell into step beside him, and he slung an arm over my shoulder. He was taller than me, so I felt all tucked
in and safe. A rush of warmth went through me.
So this is how it feels.

When we got inside, Tess was standing near the lunch line waiting for me. I was still a little concerned about her and wasn’t sure what to do with Liam. I didn’t want to boot him to another table, especially with Lexi hovering around. But Tess needed me.

Liam noticed. “You okay?” he asked.

“Sure. It’s just that Tess is…”

“Do you want to eat with Tess?” he asked.

I hesitated. “Do you mind? She’s got some stuff going on in her life right now and…”

“I don’t mind. I’ll catch up with you later, okay?”

I wanted to tell him how amazing he was, but all that came out was “Thanks.”

I went over and joined Tess.

“You didn’t have to get rid of him,” Tess said.

“Yes, I did.”

We got our lunch and found a table by a window, far enough away to hear each other but not so far away that we could be overheard.

“So spill it.”

“It’s all fine now. Mom went down to the station to try and bail out Darren, but they’re holding him. She threw a big stink and ended up staying there overnight, so I had to pick her up this morning and get her home.” Tess shook her head. “She’s completely out of control.”

“What will you do?”

Tess pushed the food around on her plate, looking
defeated. “Maintain the status quo. I’m just worried about Ash telling someone. She’s worn out her welcome at her friend’s house, so I need to find another place for her to go, or I guess I just need to stay home with her.”

“Tess.”

“Don’t go there, Mall. I’m not telling anyone.”

“Could foster care be any worse than what’s already going on?”

“Yes.” She fell quiet, eating a few bites of food. Her eyes were red and rimmed with tears, and I felt so completely helpless. But I was also surer than ever that, at this rate, they wouldn’t make it eighteen more months.

“Then I’m staying at your house this coming weekend. We’ll both take care of Ashley.”

Tess smiled sadly and shook her head.

“Tess, I’m not letting you deal with this alone.”

“You have no idea what it’s like, Mallory. Trust me. You don’t want to be there.”

“I do. I can handle it.”

“Let’s just see how the week goes, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Now.” Tess shook her curls and sat up a little straighter. “What’s going on with Liam?”

I filled her in on our short conversations and my run-in with Lexi.

“Man, that girl’s got nerve.”

“Yeah, but Liam doesn’t seem worried about her.”

Tess shrugged. “Don’t let your guard down around her. Oh, and remember that youth pastor guy, Rick? He called me last night.”

“No way.”

“Yeah. I made some random comment about my mom being psycho, and he said he wanted to make sure I was okay.” Tess shrugged again.

“You should tell him about your mom. He doesn’t have to report what you say.”

Tess considered this. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Darby told me about that once. Unless you’re threatening to hurt someone else or yourself, they can keep everything you say confidential.”

Tess seemed to consider this, and it gave me some hope. Maybe he would talk her into getting real help.