Chapter Seven
Iusually sit with Jaz, Darcy and Danika during lunch.
I don’t really interact with the guys in school, other than talking in the halls occasionally.
This year, I have two classes with Collin, but we mostly hang out on the weekends whenever I’m free.
Even though I was intentionally avoiding them while I acclimated Laurel to Hollis High, I was making it a bigger deal than it really was.
“Are you fake dating?” Darcy asks when Collin and Jonathan find us at our table and sit on either side of me.
“I heard you’re dating both of them,” Livvy says out of nowhere. Where did she come from? Livvy has barely said a full sentence to me in over four years, and now she’s sitting at our table.
My eyes widen when I realize the girls are waiting for an answer. I turn to Jonathan and Collin. Jonathan looks unimpressed with the rumors while Collin finds this enthralling.
“Yes!” he declares. “I love this telenovela twist. Can she be having my baby too?”
“Collin!” I scold, swatting his arm. He ducks away with a laugh.
“We can totally start that rumor,” Jaz replies, the wheels of controversy spinning in her eyes.
“Please don’t,” Jonathan requests stoically with a shake of his head.
He’s acting unaffected, but I can’t help but notice his knee is no longer touching mine under the table. And I swear he’s leaning away by, like, two inches more than he was before Livvy sat down.
Collin slings his arm around the back of my chair, wearing a gloating grin.
“Don’t mind him,” Collin interjects. “He lacks imagination.”
“Is this all coming from Laurel?” I ask. I haven’t been buzzworthy for years, and I forgot how defenseless it makes me feel. Like, no matter what I say to deny it, I won’t be heard. No one really cares about the truth when the story is more interesting.
“Maybe,” Danika says, popping a grape into her mouth. “But it doesn’t really matter now. It’s taken on a life of its own. So, expect your every move to be scrutinized for at least the rest of the week. You’ll be too boring to watch beyond that.”
“Hey!” I don’t know why I’m offended. Boring is good. I think. “What did I do to her? Is she blaming me because it’s not Brooklyn?”
“You rejected her in front of guys at a party,” Danika offers with a shrug. “Technically, I did. But she’s too afraid of me to start anything. Sorry, Sadie. You’re soft, and she knows she can get away with it.”
“I’m—” I sputter. But then I shut my mouth and look around the table with sad eyes. They all know I am.
Collin pulls me against him. “But it’s what makes you so adorable.”
“My lack of backbone?” I mutter into his shirt that smells of detergent and his clean-scented cologne.
“Your big heart,” he says, squeezing me until I can’t breathe, and I eek out air.
“You can stop that,” Jonathan tells Collin. “She’s not a stuffed animal.”
Collin rocks me back and forth comically. “But she’s so cuddly.”
I shove my arms between us and break free. My ultra-fine hair is a cloud of static, and my face is bright red—I can feel the flush of heat radiating on my cheeks. I slap at Collin’s arm again, and he laughs. Jonathan just shakes his head at us, used to our banter.
“You two should date,” Darcy says. “You’re so funny together.”
I let out a disgusted grunt. Collin opens his mouth, offended. Jonathan raises his brows like he didn’t hear her correctly.
“Darcy, honey,” Jaz intercepts, taking Darcy’s hand. “That probably should’ve stayed on the inside. Or something you share with just me.”
Darcy realizes her mistake, and her mouth rounds. “Oh. Right. Sorry.”
A guy approaches the table, lingering a little too far outside speaking range. He looks scared to interrupt us. I think he’s a sophomore. Danika notices him.
“What do you want?” Not the friendliest welcome. The boy turns white and clears his throat. But he still doesn’t speak. He steps forward and extends his arm, holding out a piece of paper, like he’s feeding a lion. Jonathan takes it. The guy snaps his hand back. Then he spins and scuttles away.
Jonathan looks at the note.
“What is it?” I ask, recognizing the notice slip from the office.
Jonathan slides his chair back and picks up his tray. “I gotta go.” He looks to me and Collin. “I’ll see you later. Maybe.”
After he walks away, I exchange a look with Collin. He won’t say anything in front of the girls. Jonathan being summoned to the office is never a good thing.
As soon as we’re alone, or as much as that’s possible in the middle of the hallway between classes, I ask Collin, “Do you think he’s okay? Why would they call him down? Did something happen?”
Collin just shoots me a side-eye.
I sigh. “You know as much as I do.”
“Right.”
“But you’ll let me know if you hear anything?” My mind automatically considers the cut on his lip, Officer Pratt’s warning and the Greenfield player with the broken arm.
“Or you can just, you know, text him.” Collin’s sarcasm brings me back to the hallway.
I could do that, I guess. I used to text him before, not that he’d always respond. Why am I hesitating now?
Because now I don’t know the rules. It feels different. Or maybe I just feel different about us. And this is exactly what I didn’t want. Or… I’m freaking out for absolutely no reason. And he has a dentist appointment or his mom needs him to pick up his brother after school.
I text him: you okay?
Jonathan doesn’t reply.
Hellooo? Sadie?”
I look up from staring at my phone. My text still unanswered. Danika and Livvy are waiting for me to answer.
“Oh. Sorry. What did you say?”
I’ve never been inside Livvy’s house. This is the first time I’ve ever been invited over. And I still have no idea what it looks like because I’ve been staring at my phone since we entered.
“What’s going on with you?” Danika asks, handing me a can of watermelon-flavored seltzer water without asking what I’d prefer. Which is probably what they were waiting for me to tell them when I wasn’t paying attention.
I shift on the kitchen stool, biting my lip. “Sorry. I’m just waiting to hear from Jonathan.”
“Why? What happened?” Livvy asks, twisting open a bottle of soda.
“He didn’t return to class after he went to the office,” I tell them. “I’m hoping everything’s okay.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Livvy asks again, not understanding the potential disasters that could’ve happened in a few short hours, especially when it involves Jonathan Reeves.
He’s not accident-prone exactly, but he’s not careful either.
If there’s something to jump off, climb up or punch through, he somehow finds it.
But this is more than that—I just know it.
Danika remains silent. She understands all the reasons I’m worried. I don’t hide anything from her. It’s impossible anyway because I’m pretty sure she can read minds. Mine at least.
“What’s going on between you two anyway?” Livvy demands. “What do you even have in common? Because I don’t get your whole thing. I mean, I know he’s nice to look at. But he’s kinda… unpredictable, don’tcha think?”
I tilt my head, not understanding what she’s asking. Unpredictable? What does that even mean?
“We’re here!” announces from the front door, saving me from getting defensive. It’s not a pretty sight—I flounder and get all red. Words evade me. It’s kinda sad.
Jaz and Darcy burst in, holding up bags of fast food and trays of milkshakes. “Fries and chocolate shakes for everyone!”
My attention returns to my phone. No response.
I text again: what happened?
I know it sounds a little desperate. But I’m feeling a little desperate. All I can picture is him sitting in a jail cell with a bunch of men who want to hurt him. Because he wouldn’t be in juvie this time. He turned seventeen last April.
The girls don’t comment on my vacant attention. I try to smile at the right times. And answer when someone asks me a question. But I must miss too many because they stop trying to engage with me. So, when I make an excuse to leave, they let me.
Danika walks me to the door. “Let me know.”
I nod. She hugs me.
I walk home in the dark with a faint glow from my phone, cupped in my hands.
Jonathan’s not in school the next day.