Without You: Book 1 of the Changing Hearts Series (11 page)

Lucas had called her parents the other day and asked if he could take Ariana out for a few hours. No one had been more surprised than Ariana when they said yes, as long as she was back before eleven. Perhaps they really had liked Lucas then. And they had taken the whole thing with Wendy pretty well.

Ariana saw headlights coming around the corner, and she went to the window to see if it was Lucas. She recognized his car and saw it pull into the driveway. She smiled, grabbed her purse, and walked to the living room, where her parents and Jimmy were watching TV. She’d offered to drop off Jimmy at the movies, but he had declined. Ryan would be coming over to watch a movie with him instead.
 

“Just don’t get too crazy,” he had said while winking.
 

As she sat down on the couch next to Jimmy, her father just stared. She looked down at her outfit. It wasn’t too bad, was it? Her mom just smiled and pinched her cheek.

“Boyfriends, makeup, and skirts,” her father mumbled while he shook his head. She went over and hugged him, trying not to laugh. She was actually wearing a dress.
 

There was a knock at the door, and Jimmy got up to go open it.
 

“Come in,” she heard him say. She turned around and saw Lucas all dressed up and walking into her living room. He was kind of tall compared to the average Latino male, but he looked plain short next to Jimmy. Ariana tried not to stare at his perfect frame. Dress shirts looked really good on him. The sleeves were folded up, and he also wore dark blue jeans and brown dress shoes.
 

Ariana walked over and gave him a hug. He squeezed back briefly before walking over to her parents and shaking both their hands.

“Como estan?” he asked.

Her mom smiled. It was obvious she liked his manners, and Ariana couldn’t help but think that was awesome.
 

“I’ll bring her back before eleven.” Lucas said in Spanish as he took Ariana’s hand.
 

Her parents nodded. Her dad looked kind of serious, but that was probably more because of the fact that Lucas was a male about to escort his daughter out of the house than anything else.
 

“Have fun,” Jimmy said, not noticing the half glare from their dad. Ariana waved and they walked to the door.

Once they were in his car, Ariana buckled in.

“So where we going?” she asked.

“You hungry?” he asked as he headed to town.

Twenty minutes later, they were in a nice Italian restaurant downtown.

“Have you ever been here before?” Lucas asked as the hostess walked them to their table.
 

She looked around the restaurant. It wasn’t full, but a lot of people were starting to come in. “No, but it looks good,” she said as she saw a waiter with some plates of pasta walk by.

“It’s delicious,” Lucas said as they sat down at a booth. The waitress handed them their menus and left.
 

Lucas looked at her with a smile. His eyes bore into hers.

She looked down and back at his eyes. “What?”

“Nothin’.” But he wouldn’t stop smiling.

She thought about their graduation, just a few months away, and what would happen to them. She tried not to think about it and instead wondered if Lucas was finally gonna kiss her tonight.

###

At half after ten, Lucas and Ariana were walking out of the movie theater.
 

“That movie,” Lucas said, “was hilarious.”

Ariana laughed, remembering the scene with Chuck Norris. “I cannot wait until that one comes out on DVD so we can watch it with Jimmy and Mayra. They’re gonna love it.”

“Maybe we can come and see it again with them sometime,” Lucas said.

“Pay to watch it again?” she said.
 

“Yeah. You’ve never done that?”
 

She shook her head.

“Oh my gosh. It’s the best. Nothing like watching your favorite movies on the big screen. We’ll have to do it in a week or two. It can be a double date, and maybe your parents will let us stay out longer.”
 

“Maybe.” They got to his car, and he opened the car door for her. She got in, and he came around to get in himself.
 

She rested her head back against the seat and closed her eyes for a minute.
 

“You tired?” Lucas asked, rubbing her shoulder.

“Yeah. I guess I just had a tough week.” She turned to him and took his hand in hers.

“When do you have to do ISS?”

“Wednesday.” She sighed. “Just want to get it over with.”

“It’s not as bad as it seems.” She looked at him.
 

“You’ve had ISS?”

“Once.” She rested her head on his shoulder.
 

“What for?” She checked her phone. They had a little time.

“Can’t remember. Maybe talking during a test or something like that.” Lucas stared at the ceiling as he talked.
 

“You did that?” She studied his face, trying to imagine him getting in trouble.

“I think I was laughing at something someone else said, and I got the blame.”

Ariana laughed.
 

“It was freshman year, and everyone hated that teacher. And she hated us.”

“I hardly remember freshman year,” Ariana said.
 

“Yeah, I want to forget it.”

They laughed, and their eyes met. Lucas reached down and brought his lips to hers, hardly brushing her lips at first. But she turned her body and put her arms around his neck, trying to get closer to him in the cramped space.
 

Lucas put his hands on her waist and kissed her harder. A groan escaped from Ariana’s mouth, and she felt a little embarrassed, but Lucas began breathing real heavy, pulling her closer. She realized he had been holding back before. And she was glad he wasn’t now.

He pulled back, but his nose was still almost touching hers. She realized she was out of breath herself. Ariana looked at him, wondering why he had stopped.
 

“Is this okay?” he asked, rubbing her hand.

She nodded, and they were kissing again. His hand went back to her waist, but this time, it slid slowly to her thigh. Her hand automatically covered it. Then she slid her hand all the way up his arm instead, then onto his chest.
 

Meanwhile, Lucas moved to her neck, and she closed her eyes. Not long after that, he pulled back and kissed her softly again on the lips.
 

“I should get you home,” he said, looking at his phone and back at her. “We’re cutting it close.”

“Yeah,” she replied, out of breath, even though she wanted to say no. Lucas had just blown away her expectations of their first kiss.

It was Wednesday, which meant ISS for Ariana. She was not looking forward to it.
 

She finished her breakfast at the school cafeteria. Even the food sucked today. Breakfast was sausage biscuit, and she didn’t trust the sausage at all. She drank her orange juice and ate the biscuit with some grape jelly.
 

Mayra, Jimmy, and Lucas were making conversation, but she wasn’t paying attention.
 

The bell rang. It was time for her day of torture to begin. She automatically got up and headed towards the cafeteria doors, her trash in hand and her backpack slung on her shoulder. She threw the trash away and headed out with a sigh.

“Hey, wait up, beautiful,” Lucas said as he caught up and grabbed her hand. “Let me walk you.”

“I guess,” she said.

“It’s really not that bad. Think of it as a mental vacation from everyone and everything,” he said with a smile.
 

She stared at him. “Really? That’s the best you got?”

He shrugged, and they kept walking.
 

“I told you that she has ISS today too, right? And I cannot get into any more trouble if this is going to stay off of my record.”

“You’ll be fine.” It was obvious Lucas knew who she was talking about.

They were at the designated ISS room. Which she had never even been in. She tried to prepare herself, but it was no use.
 

“I’ll see you later, okay? It’s one day. It’ll be over soon,” Lucas said. He gave her a peck on the lips before leaving for his first period class. She watched him walk away, wishing they could skip school or something to get away today.
 

That made her think of senior skip day next semester. At least that made her smile, thinking of the possibilities with Lucas.
 

She walked into ISS, shutting the door behind her. There were a couple of other people there, students she didn’t really know. There were several long tables, but they were all enclosed by three wooden walls to minimize any kind of social interaction.
 

She recognized the football coach at his desk in a corner. “Sign in. Take a seat,” he said without so much as a glance.
 

Ariana looked to her right and saw a clipboard with today’s date and a list of names. She found hers and printed her name and the time.
 

She looked around as she contemplated where to sit. She found a spot with a half decent view of the only window with the blinds open.
 

She put down her backpack and took a seat. Wendy wasn’t here yet. She wondered what she was supposed to do. She tried to look around without being obvious. Everyone else seemed to be taking a nap.
 

The bell rang, and Wendy ran in. They made eye contact over the desk cubicles, and Wendy smirked as she took a seat at an adjacent table. Now they could see each other if Wendy turned her head a bit.
 

Ariana rolled her eyes, and positioned herself so the cubicle hid her face. The last thing she needed was any additional trouble.
 

The coach began calling out the roll, making a note of some guy who hadn’t shown up.
 

“I’m noticing we have a couple of new people here today, so I’ll review the rules very quickly,” the coach said, looking directly at Wendy and Ariana. She wondered why he seemed so bitter. She guessed being the ISS teacher probably wasn’t the most enjoyable teaching position.
 

“There is absolutely no talking, under any circumstances. And none of that “what if I’m bleeding to death or on fire” crap. There is to be absolutely no use of devices. In fact, get ready to give them to me.”
 

He held up a clear plastic container.
 

“If you think you’d rather keep your phone in your pocket and pretend you don’t have one, think again. If it even so much as thinks of vibrating, get ready to spend another day in here with me.
 

“Third rule. You are to absolutely always be working. When you come up here to give me your phone, I will give you your packet of work for the day. If it’s not done by seventh period, guess what? You get to spend the next day with me. And on the off chance you do get done early, don’t worry. We’ll come up with something for you to do. At the end of the day, you will bring your packet of work to me. Don’t ask to go to the bathroom or drink water.”
 

He paused for a second to swallow before continuing. “There will be three breaks today and not during class change. You will also walk to the cafeteria with me to get your lunch and walk straight back here to eat. Then you’ll walk back to drop off your tray. Any questions?” He paused to look around for about two seconds. He was still standing next to his desk. “I didn’t think so.”
 

Ariana looked around. There was one kid with his head still down, but it seemed that the coach’s speech had woken everyone else up. She saw a couple of people check their phones one last time. She did the same. Nothing. She sighed.
 

“Silently walk up and drop off your phone. Make sure it is off.”
 

One by one, everyone slowly got up and walked to the coach’s desk where he had placed the plastic container. Ariana was at the end of the line. Wendy was right in front of her with her arms crossed, her phone in one hand. Ariana turned hers off.
 

She watched the coach hand packets to each student in line with hardly a glance.
 

It was finally her turn. There was just one packet left on the desk. The coach handed it to her as he sat back down without even calling out her name. She put her phone in the plastic bin and headed back to her seat. She used both arms to carry the packet back to her desk. It weighed at least three pounds.

###

By lunch, Ariana was sure she was losing it. She was making steady progress with her work. She had even begun eagerly, hoping to finish a bit early and lay her head down at least. But after three hours in, she was starting to get antsy, silently tapping her foot and looking around more and more, mostly behind her since she couldn’t look in front of her without standing up a little and risk being seen by the coach. Meanwhile, the coach would grunt every now and then or shift in his seat. Other than that or the occasional cough, it was completely silent.
 

Except for when the bell rang and classes changed. That was the only way she was able to keep track of time. She pictured Lucas walking to his next class. I should be walking with him, Ariana thought. Her hand in his, a hug before he rushed off. Eating lunch together and talking about things. Instead, she was stuck in ISS. Ariana glanced at Wendy, who had her head in her hands.

“Time for lunch,” the coach announced. “No talking. Grab your food and come straight back.”

They all got up quickly and walked to the cafeteria. Ariana stretched her legs and arms as she walked behind everyone else. They entered the cafeteria. There wasn’t anyone in there. It looked like everyone else had already had lunch. She sighed and got in one of the two lines. Wendy went to the other one.
 

She grabbed a drink from the vending machine before heading back to the ISS room. Ariana held her styrofoam plate in one hand as she got a dollar and some change out of her jean pocket and pushed them into the slots. As she bent down to retrieve her soda, someone bumped into her, hard. Her food went everywhere, and the styrofoam plate was the only thing left in her hands. Her hamburger patty was on the floor, the bun next to it, along with a pool of diced peaches and the syrup.