Chapter 16
16
Katy/Katherine
M y feet hesitated outside the cafeteria doors. The noise of the student body talking, catching up on summer exploits and morning classes seeped out through the small crack between the double doors. On one hand, I wanted to go inside, sit with my friends, and do what I said—enjoy my senior year—but there was a call within me to head back to the daycare and cuddle with Liam. In there, there was peace. Things were simple. And the smiles Liam gave when he told his stories to me, melted my heart.
It's why I’d been late to my first class. Once I calmed Liam down and got him excited to play with the new playmobile, I’d been hesitant to leave. Missy, along with another worker named Susan, had returned to the infant room before three girls arrived with their infants. Most daycares no longer had infant rooms for babies under a year since most people were able to take the full maternity/paternity leave that covered off the first year of a baby’s life. But ours, since it was geared to primarily help young parents to continue with their education, cared for babies of all ages. It meant that at three and a half months old, Liam wasn’t the youngest baby there.
While Susan helped the other infants and their moms to settle in, Missy tried to force me to leave, telling me that I would be marked absent if I stayed at the daycare after first bell since I wasn’t a parent. I’d rolled my eyes at that because I knew that Peter had already cleared my help with Principal Kotiuk and it was marked on all my classes that I would have daycare privileges. Once he’d finished his talk with Ms. Knight, he’d also told me that he’d tell my first period teacher that I’d be a little late so I could remain with Liam. It wasn’t until I’d put him down for his morning nap and made sure that Susan knew where all his things were, that I’d left.
And since none of my close friends were in my morning classes, I’d been able to avoid them like I’d been doing for most of the summer.
After everything that happened at the party that they’d talked me into going to and then left me on my own, drunk as a skunk, I hadn’t been all that happy with the girls. Between studying for exams, writing them, and then work, I’d managed to limit my interactions with Sasha, Deena, Kailee, and even Daisy which meant I was still a little butthurt about their actions. And now that the whole school probably knew about Liam, I was sure that that would be all they’d want to talk about.
Well, that and Ethan.
That is if they hadn’t already thrown themselves at him this morning.
“Crap,” I muttered as I forced myself to step towards the door. Even though Ethan was Danny’s cousin, I wasn’t sure if he knew too many people at the school since Danny had graduated last year. After which, he’d headed off to university almost immediately to work a summer job he’d found, so he could be there for football training. And earlier in the summer, before Ethan had travelled back to Winnipeg to spend some time with his soccer team, he’d extracted a promise from me to eat lunch with him on the first day of school.
I wasn’t one to break my promises, no matter how much I wanted to.
I pushed open the doors and nearly fell over from the sound wave that hit me. I couldn’t stop the slight grin from climbing onto my face. With all this noise, I could play deaf when Sasha, Deena, and others tried to corner me about Peter, Liam, Jarrod, and Jason. Because, yeah, they’d let everyone know that they weren’t just a couple, but rather a throuple. With a baby.
An arm landed across my shoulders, scaring me. “You weren’t trying to ditch me on my first day, were you?”
I stared up at Ethan’s grinning face and tried to act all innocent. “Who me? Why would I do that?” I tapped my chin with my pointer finger. “Although, I did receive a better offer from the cutest and sweetest guy. When he smiles at me and tells me stories, I just melt.”
His gaze narrowed but then he laughed. “Yeah, I’d probably want to eat with Liam, too.” He glanced into the cafeteria and shuddered. “His world is a lot less dangerous than this one.”
“Agreed.” My softly spoken word echoed. Only then did I realize that the noise in the cafeteria was nearly non-existent as everyone stared at us. Absolutely craptastic. Just what I wanted on the first day of classes.
“Well, since everyone’s watching, you’re not going to publicly humiliate me by walking away and leaving me alone, are you?” Ethan batted his eye lashes and gave me that stupid puppy dog look that he’d successfully used on me before… a few times. And despite telling myself that I would no longer give in to it, I caved.
“Fine. Let’s go in and get this over with. But don’t blame me if you’re mobbed by all the girls wanting to date you. For that, you’re on your own.”
“What?” He pouted and I wasn’t sure what was worse, the puppy dog look or the pout with his thick lips. “You wouldn’t save me from their evil clutches? Keep me safe from all their nefarious ways?”
I couldn’t help it. Laughter spilled from my lips as he led me inside the room. While Mason had been funny and a long-term friend who I missed, Ethan was different. Sure, he was still considered hot and would have all the girls falling over themselves to date him, his demeanour didn’t scream player like Mason’s had. Ethan was quieter, studious, and seemed to prefer being on the sidelines instead of the centre. In that way, his personality was a better match to mine than the one Mason had grown into.
“Katy! Over here,” shouted Sasha as stood and waved her arms like I didn’t remember or know which table we sat at. We might be seniors this year, but certain tables weren’t allocated by grade, instead they were assigned to various sports teams. And although I could have sat at the table for the cheerleaders, I refused to. Spending hours with them during practice had been enough.
An arm slipped through mine as a body, clouded in perfume pressed up against mine. “Yes, come join us, Katy, and bring your delicious new friend with you. How is it that for the second year in a row, you manage to walk in with the hottest guy in the school already wrapped around you? Save some for us mere mortals, won’t you?”
I struggled not to, but I don’t think I was successful at containing my eye roll, if the frosty glare that entered in Kailee’s eyes was anything to go by. Not needing to add another jealous, bitchy girl to my circle now that Krissy and others had graduated, I smiled at Kailee. “Let me introduce you to Ethan. He’s one of Danny’s cousins and is living with his uncle and aunt for the year. Ethan, this wonderful person is Kailee.”
Kailee gave my arm a little squeeze before releasing me. But her little power play wasn’t down because she stepped in front of me, forcing me to stop if I didn’t want to run into her as she held out her hand to Ethan.
Pain shot through my arm as Ethan’s grip tightened briefly before he released me so he could shake Kailee’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Before he even finished his four-word sentence, he’d released her hand and had his wrapped around my shoulder again. I wanted to push him off, worried he had the wrong idea about what type of relationship we had, but his arm and his presence would keep the vultures on good behaviour. And that would be the only way I’d get through this lunch period.
“We missed you this summer. Where were you? What were you doing?” Deena leaned into my side, giving me a partial hug.
“Who cares about that? I want to know all the dirt about Mr. Evans and his baby. Who’s the mom? Why does he have custody? Or is she still in his life? Is he sleeping with her while he’s with the other guys? Are all four of them in a relationship? Ohh, wouldn’t that be hot?—”
“Take a breath, Sasha. Let Katy eat a little and I’m sure she’ll share what she can,” Daisy admonished. I mouthed “thank you” to her before ducking under the table to pull my lunch from my bag. I fumbled with it, hoping they’d move on to a different subject, but luck wasn’t on my side.
“Come on, Katy. Spill the tea.”
I sat up and sighed as I unwrapped my sandwich. To buy myself a little more time, I took a big bite and bit back a moan as the flavour burst over my tongue. Having spent the Labour Day long weekend helping at the annual rodeo festival, I hadn’t had time to cook. Neither had mom since she’d slept, cleaned the house, and did the grocery shopping on top of volunteering in the medical tent at the festival. Thankfully, one of the barbeque food trucks cooked up a slew of extra chickens, ribs, and a pig and offered them at a discounted price to the volunteers. We’d purchased a couple of whole chickens, some ribs—which we’d had last night for supper before mom went to work—and some pulled pork which was on tap for tonight’s supper. I used one of the chickens for sandwich meat for our lunches and this was the result. Good thing I’d grabbed one of their business cards because I wanted to order more from them. It was that good.
Since Ethan was aware of some of the circumstances surrounding Liam’s arrival and knew that none of that needed to be shared, I elbowed him, silently asking him for help to change the subject. After mouthing that’ I’d owe him, he jumped into the conversation, asking them about some of the cliques he’d noticed. All things I’d told him about during the few times we’d gotten together over the summer and in our texts.
As I continued to eat my sandwich, I couldn’t help but smile around each mouthful as the table all forgot about Sasha’s questions. Or so I hoped.
Ethan kept them occupied until there was only ten minutes left before afternoon classes started. I packed up my bag, wanting to rush to the daycare to check on Liam, but Sasha grinned evilly at me before I could stand up.
“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about all my questions. I will find out all the answers, but I’ll take a snapshot now.”
My shoulders slumped as I stared at her, knowing that I needed to give her something. It was the only way to hopefully get her to stop. “Yes, Mr. Evans has a son, a baby. He’s raising him with Jason and Jarrod. Yes, they’re all together. And that’s really all I know.” I pushed back from the table and stood. “I was late this morning and missed Mr. Taylor’s homeroom, so I want to check in with him before his math class.”
The others stood and followed, leaving me no choice but to follow through. At least none of them knew that I’d also been late for my modern history class since none of them were in the AP history class. That part of my lie of omission was safe for now.
“Ahh, Miss Nelson, I have a packet of papers here for you since you missed Home Room.” I started to explain, but he held up his hand. “It’s perfectly fine. I was aware of the reason. Plus, I’ve heard from your other teachers about the type of student you are, so I have no concerns if you have to miss Home Room or even some class time.”
“Thank you, Mr. Taylor.”
“No problem.” And then he transferred his gaze to the group standing in the hall around his door. “Now, those of who are in my Pre-Calculus Math 405 class, welcome. Come in and grab your seat. If you’re not in my class—you should be because everyone should take my classes”—he waited for the expected chuckles which he received—“then you should all be on your way. The bell’s going to ring in a few minutes.”
“See you after school,” Sasha, Deena, and Daisy called out while Kallie wrapped her arm around Ethan’s.
“Let me walk you to your next class,” she purred, making me want to gag. Crap on a cracker, she was going to drive up the debt I owed him so high that I wouldn’t be able to pay. Although to be fair, I had warned him about her and a few others so really, this was all his fault.
He pulled his arm from her hold. “Actually, Kallie, I’m in this class, but thank you for the offer.”
As Ethan brushed past me, he whispered, “You so owe me for lunch.”
I chuckled which brought a grin to Mr. Taylor’s face who’d obviously heard Ethan’s comment. Yeah, yeah, I did. And maybe I’d actually pay the debt, but somehow, I doubted my payment would be much of a hardship. Not if stayed as nice and helpful as he had been. Then spending time with him would be almost considered relaxing after everything I’d gone through in the past couple of years.
And I couldn’t wait.