Chapter 32
“Right, Peps?” a voice next to me asked.
I snapped back into reality. I was on the school bus, on the way back to school, sitting in the same spot I had been in five days ago.
On the left side of me, Hero was chewing gum—a citrus flavor—while staring out the window.
If the voice hadn’t snapped me back into reality, the scent of the gum would have, eventually.
I glanced to the right side of me. Ayden’s emerald eyes stared back at me. It was his voice that I had heard.
“Huh?” I asked with a blank stare.
“The field trip,” he repeated, raising an eyebrow. “It wasn’t so bad, right?”
Was he trying to convince me, or himself?
Both of us had meltdowns, but I guess we did have one good thing come out of the trip. Hero became my boyfriend, and Ayden had Xavier.
“Yeah, I guess so.” I casted a glance over the back of the seat to Xavier, who was sitting in the aisle seat next to Imani and Violet. Seeing me catch him staring at Ayden, he instantly looked down, shuffling his feet.
Ayden nudged me. “Stop that, you’re making it too obvious.”
I readjusted myself in the seat. “Sorry,” I whispered.
“I’m just scared,” he muttered. “Nobody else can find out.”
“Is Imani going to keep it a secret?” I asked.
“Zay said he had it under control.” He bit his nail. “But hiding it—the glares, the flirting—that’s hard.”
“Yeah.” I swallowed. I somewhat understood—not in that way, of course, but the fear of being judged for who you liked. I understood that. The pity. The disapproval.
He gazed at me. “Hey, I’m sorry about my outburst at the store the other day.”
I nodded. “It’s fine.”
“I’ll sort out the situation with your—” He stopped himself. “Blake.”
“Thank you.” I gave a weak smile.
* * *
As we arrived back at school, Marina was sitting in her purple Toyota, waiting for us. Running to the car, I held Hero’s hand. His firm, warm hands. Using his free hand, he opened the back door for me.
“Oh!” Marina gasped in excitement as we got in the car, seeing us hold hands. “Are you two…?”
I blushed, and Hero blushed even harder. “Mom!”
“Yes, we are,” I answered, placing my head on his shoulder.
“Finally,” she said. “I’ve been waiting on this for years, y’know.”
On the car ride home, we recapped the events of the trip, excluding many, many details. Supposedly, Miss Kennedy had bribed the officers into not informing any family members about the incident, so we definitely had to be careful not to slip up to Marina herself.
All weekend, Hero started getting withdrawals from the book. He knew it was for the best, yet he kept guilt tripping me by saying things like ‘I need a certain spell to sleep.’ I was able to see through the obvious lie. I’m not the same Pepper that I was a year ago.
Not after what Blake did.
“The book is safe,” I reassured him. “I need you to be safe now.”
I trusted Benji with the book. Yes, he was upset at me, but he had a right to be. I led him on.