CHAPTER 38
*PAST*
“Moving on”
Maya
I went to high school the next morning. I tried to cover the bruises with some foundation that I had and a lot of concealer. It looked better. I added some red lipstick to my cheeks to make me look more healthy, too. I went to school with my favorite outfit, my most trusted pair of jeans and the blouse that Mom had bought me for my birthday.
It was soft and warm. It made me feel like I was wearing armor against the rest of my classmates.
Aaron and I went to high school together in his car. Niko brought the rest in another car. Everyone stopped to look at us. All the Willow clan, plus me. I heard some giggles and some senior girls who were too busy ogling Niko to pay attention to my cast. I guessed he was a good distraction.
I’d bet if he followed me the rest of the school day, no one would dare to say a word. Most of them wouldn’t even remember the rumors because they were busy crushing on the oldest of the Willows, but he needed to leave. He got closer to us and we all made some kind of circle.
“Study a bunch, team, and try not to get into problems. If anyone is mean to you, let me know and I will take care of it.”
Aaron rolled his eyes playfully while Cassie groaned next to me.
“You are too old for this, Niko. You will break a hand trying to hit someone. These kids have hard faces, and bones are not the same after an age. You should get going; the bingo is about to start. The young will take care of it. If they grab us, we wouldn’t go to jail or sent to retirement.”
“Brat,”
Niko said under his breath.
Aaron exhaled loudly. “What Niko is trying to say and failing is that we are a team, but we will try to avoid conflict as much as possible. Okay, Miss Vigilante?”
“But—”
Cassie tried to say.
“Aaron is right. No conflicts,”
I started. “Just avoid them. It’s not worth getting involved in. I don’t care.”
It wasn’t technically true. I was scared. I had thought of not coming before, but they didn’t need to know that.
I looked at them and got different types of reactions. Then we all went to class after saying goodbye to Niko. Aaron and I had all our classes together, so we went side by side to our first class. We were about to enter the class, but Mrs. Sonia told me that the principal wanted to see Aaron and me.
We went to the principal’s office and waited until he told us to enter.
We sat on the seats that were in front of him. The principal was in his late fifties, Black, with curvy, short hair and red glasses. His eyes were brown and his smile was usually kind. Today, there was a tension on him that normally wasn’t there.
“Mr. Willow and Miss Amery. I wanted to talk with you because of the rumors of certain events. I wanted to hear your versions of the events.”
“There’s not much to talk about,”
I said nonchalantly. He raised his eyebrows and looked at my cast. “My arm broke and Aaron’s family were kind enough to let me live with them until I got better.”
“I see. Miss Amery, you both are one of our best students. We are very proud of all the accomplishments that you both had during the years studying here. But this is a two-way street. It’s not only about you getting recognition for our school or helping in the school newspaper. You are a student of this center, and we care about our students. We want you to know that we are here to help.”
“Do you mean that, sir?”
Aaron asked next to me. “We want to make sure that the day goes as smoothly as possible. Maya should only worry about school. Have you told the professors to make sure that everything is okay?”
“In some ways, I have. This happened all very fast. We didn’t know anything until last night. And we wanted to make sure that it was true. I saw Miss Amery get into high school with her arm in a cast and—”
“I wanted to call yesterday, but there have been so many things going on that I forgot about it,”
I said honestly.
“Don’t worry. We will make sure that the teachers keep an eye on the students.”
“I don’t want different treatment. I want everyone to forget about it.”
“I’m sorry to say this, but that’s not going to happen. At least, not today. We are going to try to do this as smoothly as possible for you two and give it a little bit of time. This is a small town, Maya. They all think that they know everything about everyone. With time, things will come back as normal as possible. Do you need any help because of your arm?”
“It’s okay. I’m left handed. I can continue as before; it’s just going to take a bit longer.”
He nodded.
“About you, Aaron. I want you to know that we believe that you did nothing to cause harm to anyone. You are an exemplary student and we won’t let people spread rumors or this to hurt your college applications.”
I didn’t realize the rumors about Aaron were that big.
“There’s nothing to worry about. No one will say anything about Aaron. They know he would never do anything like that.”
“Thank you, sir.”
The classes went slower than normal. I was bored while anxious about when things were going to go downhill, and my hand was itchy. I kept looking at Aaron. He was not paying attention to Mrs. Sonia. The movement of his feet and the movement of his fingers were a clear clue for me. Lucy was next to him. After their fallout on his birthday, he didn’t talk with her.
He never told me much about it, just that he saw her only as a friend before, and that he couldn’t be friends with someone that acted like that towards me.
It was clear that she had and still had a crush on him. I wasn’t necessarily jealous; after the days that we had lived it would be idiotic to think that Aaron didn’t care about me.
He waited for me to have his first kiss.
Everything that he did showed that he cared, but I had a bad feeling he was doing too much, being too perfect. I felt like he was going to end up breaking down sooner than later. He didn’t seem to mind the rumors, but I knew him. He was very proud of the reputation that he had. He was a people pleaser, and I couldn’t imagine how much it was hurting him that people could say that he had hit me.
I was also worried about the younger Willows hearing the stupid rumor. They knew what had happened, some more than others. Their parents had also told them that most people didn’t know what happened, so they would probably ask them or make things up.
When the class ended, Lucy got close to us.
“Hi, Maya. I just wanted to tell you that if you need anything, you can let me know. Maybe to give you my notes or anything. Whatever you need. We are all with you.”
I wanted her to shut up. Yes, what she was saying was technically nice, but I didn’t want pity or to bring more attention to myself than necessary.
I faked a smile. “That’s very sweet, Lucy, but Aaron is sharing his notes with me.”
She looked between the two of us and left.
Aaron didn’t say anything, just looked at me with sparkling eyes. He looked around us, and when he saw that there weren’t people near us, he got closer.
“Are you jealous, Amery? You know I only share my notes with you.”
He moved his brows in a ridiculous way, and I wanted to jump him.
“I’m not jealous. I don’t like people to pity me or to talk about that. What about you? How are you?”
He moved his shoulder up and down. “So far, so good.”
“You told me that it was important to communicate.”
He nodded. “If you feel differently or want to talk you would tell me, right?”
He nodded again.
The rest of the day passed without any incident. No one was rude; I saw some pity smiles towards me, but that was it. When I asked on lunch to the rest of the Willows if everything had gone well, they all told me that no one had said a thing. Just a couple of people tried to ask, but they hadn’t said anything. They’d dropped it.
The last ring of the day sounded, and we were going to leave the class when the teacher asked us if we had had any problems that day. We shook our heads, and she told us to tell her if something happened.
Niko came to pick us with his dad. Mr. Willow went to talk with the principal to make sure that everything went fine. He told us that his dad was doing better and that hopefully we could go to visit again next weekend.
The days passed. Aaron and I were too focused on our last two months of high school to do much about it. I continued to tutor some of the Willows and three more kids from high school after putting a paper on the bulletin board about tutoring. I needed all the extra cash that I could, and with one hand still in a cast, it was impossible to go back to serving. I had talked with my boss and she told me that I could change my job to be the one seating the guests and taking care of the bills in a couple of weeks.
I continued to study and tutor, with so little time left that Aaron and I only kissed briefly. Well, some days we were more passionate about it and spent a good time kissing, but always with clothes and minimal petting. I started the job, and my savings were starting to look better. Not as before, but something was something.
I asked Aaron how much I owned him for the gas. He laughed. I tried to ask his parents to pay for food or some bills or something. They looked at me kindly and denied. I still had a dent in my savings, but maybe I could get two or three jobs in the summer before going to college to get as close as possible to the ideal savings that I had in mind.
My grades were doing great. My bruises were nonexistent. I was surrounded by people that cared about me, and I was too busy to think about my parents. Well, I should have been, but the truth was that during the nights, it was the hardest. I tossed and turned, thinking, Why hasn’t she called me? What is happening in her life? Did they pay the bills on time? Does she miss me? Does she feel regret or shame for not wanting me in her life? Does she still think that I was lying? That he was telling the truth?
These questions tormented me on the nights that I was not too spent to be able to fall fast asleep because of exhaustion. So, that was my goal every day.
To do as much as possible, to earn as much money as possible, and my favorite one, to spend as much time messing with Aaron as possible.
Not only the type of messing where we ended the fighting with our mouths, but the type where I pushed his buttons and he pushed mine until we were both about to scream murder. I had so much fun with him and his siblings.
The time changed, too. It was getting hotter, and there were many sunny days. Not a cloud in sight.
It was time to go to the hospital and remove the cast. They did it without any problem. They gave me some exercises and told me to bathe the arm with salt water. I did it, and my job started to be a bit easier. The arm felt weird still, and it looked sickly pale, but it just needed more time.
Things continued like this until our prom got closer and closer. I got my grades and six college letters. Three of them didn’t have the full scholarship, so they were out of the question, but there were three that looked promising. The Willows took Aaron and me to dinner. He was waiting to receive a couple more letters. He was sad that we hadn’t coincided in any college yet. I told him that it was going to be okay. That he would receive more letters and that we would go together to our chosen college. He kept insisting on what would happen if we didn′t. I told him that we would make it work.
He was still sad about it, and me too, but we celebrated with his family, and that night I asked him to go with me somewhere else. I couldn’t drive, but I told him where to go and then we continued the rest walking. The night was precious, and I was so happy that I could grab Aaron’s hand and bask in the luck of it all.