17 Meatball Bomber #3
“Come on, guys,” Spencer said, managing to guide us toward the car despite my sister’s grumbling.
He hugged me, trying to support me, while I kept thinking to myself how stupid I had been all those months.
In the car, the atmosphere was tense, with Shannon complaining and telling Spencer to turn around so she could give them both a piece of her mind.
Finally Spencer shouted, “Shannon, will you shut up, please! You’re acting hysterical. ”
In the back, I stopped trying to struggle against the tears, and when my brother and sister heard me sobbing, they turned back toward me.
Shannon, sensitive as ever, said, “Don’t cry over those two dumbasses,” but I couldn’t stop myself.
My family couldn’t help me just then. I knew who could, though.
I pulled out my phone and called Naya. She picked up right away.
“Hello, stranger!” she said. Then I heard her tell everyone it was me. “Sorry, Ross,” she continued, “she wants to talk to me right now. She’ll call you when she wants to talk to you. Now don’t be a pain. How are things, Jenna?”
“Bad. And I really need to talk to you. Do you have time?”
I didn’t want to worry Ross. I knew he was perfectly capable of driving here to make sure everything was OK.
And I didn’t need that craziness. I heard Naya go back to telling everyone, especially Ross, to leave her alone, that it was private, and finally I heard a door shut and she told me, “OK, I’m in Will’s room.
Spit it all out before Ross comes in and takes my phone. ”
“I thought you couldn’t get service in Will’s room.”
“There’s one little corner. I figured it out recently. But who cares about that? Tell me what happened now.”
“Naya, you remember Nelle and Monty, right? Well, I just saw the two of them together at a café.”
There was a moment of silence as she digested what she’d just heard. “Unbelievable,” she said. “He’s obviously a dickhead, and you’re better off without him. As for her, she can burn in hell.”
I think she wanted to say more, but Ross burst in. I heard them arguing, and then he wrenched the phone from her hand.
“What’s up?” I heard him say.
“Ross, I called Naya. I want to talk to Naya right now. This isn’t anything I need you to worry about.”
“Sorry, Jen. You’ve got me on the line now. And I am worried. So get to explaining. I’m not going to give Naya her phone back otherwise.”
As Shannon looked back at me coyly—I can’t believe she was enjoying listening to me talk to him when she knew how upset I was at what had just happened—I told him, “I just saw Monty.”
“Did he do something to you?” Ross immediately fired back.
“No! He didn’t even see me. He was with Nelle. They were together.”
“Well,” he said, “at least you know the truth now.”
“I know, but…” I couldn’t help it; I started crying again.
“I thought… I don’t know. I guess I still believed she was my friend.
Or I tried to convince myself she was… Maybe I was hoping everything could go back to being the way it had been before.
I tried so hard to forgive them when this happened the first time… And now…”
“Jen, don’t cry, please.”
“I can’t help it. I feel so dumb.”
“If you don’t stop crying, I’m getting in my car and driving there right now.”
“Would you really do that?”
“Of course I would. I can’t just sit here with my arms crossed knowing you’re hurting inside.”
I sat there thinking, trying to get some sense of what I was feeling, while Shannon kept staring back at me and I ignored her.
I had managed to stop crying, but I still felt I could start again at any time.
Ross kept asking me if I was OK. I didn’t know the answer, but finally I said, “I’ve got two bodyguards, so nobody’s going to hurt me, but they’re listening to my every word, so this isn’t the best time to talk.
Stop worrying. I’m fine! I really do want to talk to Naya, though, and she probably wants to kill you since you took away her phone.
Let’s see if I can keep her from doing something drastic. ”
He laughed. “Yeah, that’s probably not a bad idea. She’s got murder in her eyes.”
“Isn’t that so sweet?” Naya said cheerfully when she picked up.
“The way he worries about you, he really is a true gentleman.” Then she shifted gears and started ranting against Monty and Nelle before giving me a quick update on her life.
By then, we had arrived home and it was time to let her go.
I was grateful that no one brought up what had happened.
My mother was overjoyed to have us all eating together as a family.
When we were done, we watched my dad’s favorite show—about fishing—he was literally the only person who liked it—and when he nodded off, we changed the channel.
Shannon and Owen left, and I lay down with my head in Spencer’s lap while Steve channel-surfed, bored. My phone buzzed. I just took for granted it would be Ross, and my heart sank when it turned out to be Monty. I tried to ignore the message, but my curiosity got the better of me. It read:
I’m outside. Come talk to me.
I hesitated. How did he even know I was home? Had he caught sight of me at the mall and just not reacted?
I didn’t want to see him. But I figured I’d have to at some point.
I told my brothers I’d be right back, grabbed my coat, and walked down the stairs.
There he was, looking a little thinner than before.
We stared at each other and I realized that now, for me, he was like a complete stranger.
And when I remembered how he’d acted before, I realized I didn’t know who he was, that I’d never really known him at all.
“Hey,” he murmured.
“How’d you know I was here.”
“I saw you.”
“When you were with Nelle.”
“It’s not what it looks like, Jenna. I’m not with her. I haven’t been with her for months. Not since you found out about us the first time. But she wouldn’t leave me alone. She kept insisting, so I finally decided to meet with her.”
“Monty, I’m not an idiot, and I don’t care. It’s your life.”
“I’m telling the truth, though. I haven’t been with her. I haven’t been with anyone since you left, except for that one time, and I told you about that. I don’t even like Nelle. I didn’t even like her back then, but she wouldn’t leave me alone, and finally I just gave in.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Because she was your friend, I guess? Like I thought it was better for you to just blame me than take it out on her.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. I had hated Monty so much since he came to my school that it was hard to believe he’d done something nice for me. Spontaneously, I gave him a hug. It felt strange, though. He wasn’t my friend, I wasn’t his girlfriend, so what exactly were we doing?
He brushed my hair out of my face and said, “Come back with me.”
I sighed and tried to pull away from him, but he held me tight around the waist.
“Monty, let me go,” I said.
“Please, Jenna. I love you.”
“No. I can’t.”
“Why not?” he asked. “We were good together.”
“We weren’t.”
“We were! I’ve never felt for anybody the things I feel for you.”
He bent down to try to kiss me, but I turned away and his lips struck my cheek. I could hear him grunt with frustration.
“Why are you doing this to me?” he said.
“Monty, you went on a rampage and destroyed my old dorm room. I’d have never done anything like that to you. Maybe I should have told you I was living with Ross, but that didn’t give you the right to lose your mind and go there threatening me.”
“Jenna, just come back to me,” he said, grabbing my hand just as I’d managed to break away.
“I said no.”
“I promise I won’t hurt you again.”
“I can’t.”
“Why? Is it because of that Ross guy?”
“It is,” I told him, and as I did so, I realized that was it.
I liked Jack Ross. I liked him a lot, and I had liked him ever since I’d met him.
If I’d been hesitant to admit it, it was only because I was scared, because I knew once I did so, it would only feel that much more real. And it was real. So real it scared me.
“So this is how you treat me after all the time we’ve known each other? You go off to school meet some jerk, and now you’re with him?”
“He’s not a jerk. But yeah, I am with him.”
“What’s he got that I don’t have?”
“Monty, we don’t have to do things this way, but since you won’t let it go, it’s very simple: I like him. I like him more than I like you! I like him more than I ever could like you!”
I don’t know what I expected. That he’d accept it?
That he’d just understand, finally, that we weren’t right for each other?
How stupid. Obviously he turned into his same old insane self, pushing me against the handrail on the porch and grabbing the collar of my sweater.
Before I could even think about how to react, I’d slapped him across the face.
He stepped back, and I froze. I’d never slapped anyone in my life.
The kid at the party who was being mean to Naya didn’t count; that was a punch, not a slap.
The most I’d ever done to Monty was push him to try to keep him away from me.
He raised his hand to his cheek. I knew I hadn’t hurt him, but I’d wounded his pride.
My heart was pounding, waiting to see what he would do.
I knew he’d try to pay me back. I’d seen that look before. Adrenaline and terror flooded my veins.
Trying to escape him, I tripped and fell on the stairs.
He grabbed the collar of my sweater again and I could hear the fabric tearing in his grip.
I jerked and tugged, but he was too strong.
I felt the collar tighten around my throat and shouted, “Let me go!” But he was in a rage, and I don’t even think he heard me.