Scene 2 #2
“Hey.” I wave to Dorothy. Len gives me a smirk, like I’ve just singled him out for a personal greeting.
“He is such a disease,” Charlie whispers to me. Then she looks up and announces, “I’m shocked they didn’t expel you.”
“Who, me?” Len uncrosses his arms. They fall to his sides, revealing a purple T-shirt with a yellow lightning bolt down the front. Another thing about Len: He always wears long sleeves, even in the summer. It’s bizarre.
He tilts his head, and a brown curl swings down onto his forehead. He’s got this mess of curly hair that makes him look part mad scientist, part high school dropout. I think the only redeeming feature he’s got is his eyes. They’re big and blue and round, like gemstones stuck right in there.
“Why would they expel me?”
“Because you are a disease,” she says. “You’re, like, infecting this place.”
Len’s eyes flit from Charlie to me. “What do you think, Rosaline?”
It’s not like Len and I speak regularly or anything, but he’s got this habit of calling me by my full name. It’s so patronizing. He can’t even address someone without being annoying. Definitely his seven.
“I don’t really have an opinion,” I say. “Because I don’t really care.”
Charlie and Len look at me, impressed.
“Helloooo?” Olivia is waving a hand over her head, trying to get our attention about something.
She’s talking to Lauren, who is on the student activities committee with us—or SAC, as we call it.
We had AP English together last year, and she lives a few doors down from Rob and me.
I volunteered us to take her to school last year, but Charlie said it was out of our way.
Which is ridiculous, of course, but not very surprising.
“You can see my bra,” Olivia squeals, holding out her bottle of sparkling water to us as evidence. It’s currently spraying all over her tank top, and Lauren steps to the side, presumably in search of drier ground.
“Not a bad way to kick things off,” Len says.
“You’re nauseating.” Charlie grabs my elbow and drags me over to Olivia. “He makes me feel dirty,” Charlie says. Olivia raises her eyebrows, and Charlie clarifies, “Not in a good way. Like I just showered in fish oil.”
“You’re going to make me lose my bagel,” I announce, even though I still haven’t consumed a thing.
“Watch that,” Charlie says, reaching over to cap Olivia’s water. “So what’s the deal with you two, anyway?”
“Who?” Olivia fans out her tank top.
“My brother?”
Olivia stops, drops her shirt, and takes a huge gulp of sparkling water. “Three months,” she squeaks out while swallowing. It surprises me. I figured they were getting close this summer, but this means they were together at the end of school. Before Rob even left.
“Three months?” Charlie’s face is turning red. You can tell because she gets these little splotchy marks where she isn’t wearing a lot of foundation.
“Yeah, but it was the summer,” Olivia bleats. “You know, we weren’t really around.”
“What are you talking about, ‘we weren’t around’? We were at the beach together, like, daily,” Charlie says.
Olivia scrunches up her lip. “I like him,” she says.
“At least we know they’re not sleeping together,” I offer.
Olivia swats me on the shoulder, but it’s playful, and even Charlie has to smile.
Olivia is saving herself for marriage or until she can legally drink or something.
Her mom got kind of religious after she married Olivia’s stepdad.
They all go to church on Sundays. We’ve never talked about why, exactly, she’s waiting, but my guess is she has a better handle on all of it than I do.
The moral part, anyway. So far as I know, she’s only just made out.
I would bet money that’s all she has done with Ben, too.
Olivia starts adjusting her tank top in the glass window.
I slump into a seat and open my sparkling water.
I haven’t even touched my bagel yet. Every time I try, my stomach launches a counterattack.
Turns out, I’m completely terrified about seeing Rob.
It’s totally messing with my morning. My hands are tingling and my fingers feel numb.
It reminds me of the way I used to feel when I was in The Nutcracker as a kid. Complete and total stage fright.
I see Len leave the PL and Lauren following out behind. He says something over his shoulder, and Lauren laughs. Probably making fun of us.
“Shall we?” Charlie comes over, chewing a piece of blueberry bagel, so I know she and Olivia have made up.
“Mhm.” I stuff my bagel into my book bag and stand.
“Let’s roll,” Olivia says behind us, which makes Charlie immediately snap to attention. She tosses her red hair over her shoulder and slides her book bag on.
“Do you think we should try to get Len to join SAC?” Olivia asks. Charlie shoots her a look like, Don’t even think about it, and turns on her heel, the two of us following behind.
“I’m kidding,” Olivia says. She mouths Jesus to me and rolls her eyes, miming her best Charlie impression in a way that only people who have been friends as long as we have can.
We walk out of the PL, across the breezeway, and down to assembly.
The only thing I can think is that the second we walk through the doors, Rob will be there.
And then, how completely and totally unprepared I am to see him.