Then She Smiled

Chapter 1

“

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet” – Plato

         


Grasping the pink and teal sheets that were clinging to my bed, screams came from my raspy throat. My body dripping wet with perspiration. Another nightmare. I took a quick glance at my new cell phone that I had bought for my senior year of high school. I had everything I needed, the friends, the looks, the grades, even the money. Basically anything you could think of, except the parents. Sure, they paid the bills and put a roof over my head so that I would have somewhere to stay at night, but Matt and Barb, my so called parents, were never home. When they were, though, it was Hell on Earth. All they ever did was give me a hard time about being responsible and getting good grades in school, but what they didn’t take the time to appreciate the fact that I was already doing those things. After long, unnecessary, lectures they would become overly intoxicated from wine because it was “classier” than drinking something cheaper to feed their revolting habits. Which left me with, not only a disgusting mess to clean up, but also parents, that were too drunk to make it to their own bedroom, on the living room floor.
         According to my phone it was 3am; everything in my nightmare was becoming more and more realistic. Barb always told me, “If you tell your dream to someone you won’t have that dream again, but be sure to tell it after breakfast or it will come true.” This actually did work for both dreams and nightmares, as strange as it seems, but I couldn’t have possibly told anyone about that reoccurring nightmare. After I finally calmed down I stared at the off white ceiling in my room, thinking of why I was having such horrible dreams, I slowly drifted back to sleep.
         It was finally Monday; I was home alone all weekend, with no car to drive because Matt took my keys with him while he went with Barb to Paris, France on a “business trip”. You’d think after 17 years of doing the right things, like never getting below an A on anything, studying my butt off to get a good GPA for college, and saving myself for marriage, they would trust me enough to leave me the keys for one week while they’re gone. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case; in their eyes I was nothing but an accident due to their “classy” drink selections and careless actions.
         Matt was a star football player, he had a chance to go to a division one college with a full scholarship, but he was still your typical jock; Great with the girls, even better in the athletics department, but academics were the last thing on his mind, until grades were given out to parents. That’s when Matt and Barb became study partners. Barb played the violin, sang in the school choir, was an all A student, and she even did charity work on weekends when she wasn’t studying. Calling her a saint would have been understatement.
They had known each other since pre-k, they had even been best friends at one point, but when Matt became a jock he had to have the attitude to go with it. That is until his grades started slipping enough to need a tutor. Barb, being the lovable nerd that she was, kindly offered to help him with his school work. It didn’t take very long before Barb became more than just Matt’s tutor. Of course, he wouldn’t have told anyone if it weren’t for the accident…me.
         “Sadie”, I heard a familiar voice yell from across the gym, “Why didn’t you come over like you said you would? I missed you!” It was Kimmy, my best friend since seventh grade.
         “My parents went on another business trip, and they took my keys with them.” I said as I rolled my eyes.
         “Vacation for two,” She guessed, going along with my mood, “Did you do something wrong or was it just a random act of thoughtfulness?” Kimmy was great at being sarcastic, but at times I didn’t know if she was being serious or comical.
         “As always,” She probably knew more than she should about my life at home, “Just being their loving selves.” She and Elizabeth, my best friend since grade school, were the only two people I could ever share my life with without being judged or told I was in the wrong.
         “Well at least you didn’t have to tuck them into bed this weekend. I don’t understand how they even make it away from home without you.” She laughed, but her tone of voice implied that sarcasm was the farthest thing from her mind.
         “True, but on a better note, I was talking to Elizabeth the other night and guess what I talked her into doing.” I was so excited that I couldn’t wait for her to answer me. “Okay, I’ll tell you. I was talking about our graduation trip that got cancelled when I came up with the brilliant idea to throw a huge party instead. Of course it would be during the school year because I know everyone already made plans to go to the beach during Senior Week, but her big college boy toy, Reed, said that he could hook us up with everything! Including a DJ and all of his friends, essentially leading to a ton of hot guys!”
         “Finally one of her boyfriends proved to be useful!” Kimmy laughed as she turned down the volume on her iPod. “Do you mind if I tell Tucker?”
         “I don’t see why not. Everyone will know soon anyway.” As everyone knows, news travels fast in high school, whether you want it to or not. Especially when you went to a school as small as ours was.
         “That sounds like so much fun, I’m so excited! Aren’t you?” She smiled her beautiful smile like she always did after getting off her braces. If you looked really close you could see where they had been in middle school.
         “Mmhmm.” I said, unintentionally looking at the ground, remembering last night’s dream. It sent shivers down the small of my back, that probably made me look awkward and uncomfortable. I forced myself to stop thinking of last night and think of something to do to get my mind off of it, so I grabbed my math homework and checked it. Everything was right.
         “You’re such a nerd Sadie. I wish I had the determination that you do.” She said sarcastically, but I could tell that she was serious about my determination. Fortunately, I inherited Barb’s smarts and Matt’s athleticism, so I didn’t have to put much effort into my school work to make good grades, and teachers usually cut me a lot of slack because they either knew my parents or they knew I had been too busy being the captain of the cheerleading team, volleyball team, and the new dance team that I, so stupidly, put together over the summer.
         “Be careful what you wish for Love.” I said giggling, trying to still look interested in my homework. It was pretty obvious that my mind was somewhere else, but I just couldn’t begin to tell her how disturbed I was from the previous nights. I was popular; In other words, I could never ever let anyone know what was going through my head.
         “You know I’d look sexy in glasses, and a school girl outfit.” She joked as her boyfriend was walking up behind her. He yelled boo in her ear; although I knew what was going to happen, Kimmy and I both jumped. Kimmy was an Irish girl, about 5 feet tall, with long red wavy hair that stayed in place no matter what the weather was like outside. She had an arrow glass shaped body that had completely filled out before her sophomore year of high school, gorgeous green eyes, pale skin, regardless of the season, and, thanks to a futuristic miracle called braces, perfectly straight teeth that made her look that much more irresistibly beautiful to every guy she came across.
         “Did I scare you Baby?” Tucker asked, grinning at Kimmy. You could tell by the way he looked into her eyes he was completely head over hills in love. In her case though, every guy wished he could look at her that way.
         “Is that a rhetorical question?” She said looking at me. Rhetorical was a word that our AP English teacher used on a daily basis when she scolded all seven us that stayed in the class for not answering her irrelevant questions that were almost always impossible to answer without saying, “That’s what she said”, first.
         “Yeah, both of you girls are obviously wimps and are intimidated by my manliness.” Just as Kimmy was about to make a smart remark the bell rang, announcing that it was time for first period. There were hugs, kisses, drug deals, and so many other things going on in one hallway. It would have been overwhelming if I wasn’t used to it. It was oddly comforting in a way though, it reminded me of my freshman year, when everything in high school was completely new and I could barely find my way around.
         As I was on my way to my seat I could hear people talking about me. “Look at her outfit.” One girl said that I had never met before. “Yeah, I know, she always wears the cutest clothes.” The girl sitting beside her said. I smiled at them and waited for the teacher to take up the homework she assigned us. I didn’t know a lot of people’s names in my first period, but I did know one person’s name that was in there, the most gorgeous guy ever, Boe Walker.
         Being popular you are required to know what to say, what to laugh at, what to wear, what to do when you’re with a guy, and finally, know how to keep the “game” interesting; Once I got the hang of it, it wasn’t that hard, but it took years before I perfected it.
         “Hey Beautiful.” Boe said, turning around in his seat to face me.
         “Good morning.” I replied, trying not to stare into his stunning brown eyes that gave me a tingling sensation when I caught a glimpse of them. There was just no way that there could have been a more perfect human being on the planet. It was extremely difficult to even classify him as a human; he was more like a glorious angel sent from heaven to torture all the poor souls of every girl who even got within a mile from him.
         Boe was around six feet tall, with big arms that most girls would love to have wrapped around them, an even better body that made models look bad, shaggy brown hair that had the slightest curl to it and came just above his eyes, extremely white teeth that were straight, without the aid of braces, big brown eyes that could make any girl melt, and full luscious lips, which is enough said about his lips for you to understand. “Why didn’t you text me this weekend?” He asked interrupting my train of thought.
         “I was pretty busy, plus the phone works both ways.” I replied looking at my fingernails, as if I was actually interested in the way they looked while the cutest guy in the school, possibly even the world, was talking to me.
         “Yeah, I know.” He said acting sad, making me melt like ice on a hot summer day. “I was going to ask you out on a date, but I thought it would be lame if I asked you out over the phone.”
         “Yeah, that would have been pretty lame.” I agreed, smirking and trying to remember how to breathe at the same time. He smiled back, but waited on me to continue the conversation. “Did you wear that shirt just for me?”I asked, noticing that it made his eyes look, almost hazel.
         “Yes ma’am. I was thinking of you the whole time I was trying it on.” Boe flirting with me was nothing new, we had talked multiple times, and we hung out a lot because we both had the same group of friends, but he had never talked about asking me on a date before.          
“It’s pretty cute. It suits you.” I said writing my name on my desk, so he would think that I wasn’t that interested, although I’m almost certain that it was clear to everyone that I really was.
         “Pretty cute?” He said, obviously restating what I had just said. He was astounded, exactly what I was going for.
         I giggled. “Yeah, I mean it’s a good color for you and all, but you should just let your mom pick out your outfits from now on.” Once again I smirked and tried to fight back the excitement that I felt.
         “Well aren’t you a joker today?” He laughed, but instead of the usual comeback he changed the subject. “So, what about that date?” He asked going back into game mode.
         “Hmmm…”I paused. Wishing I could freeze time and think of a clever answer that would make me sound mysterious, the polar opposite of my realistic personality.
I noticed Mrs. Rich started talking about last night’s homework, which would have been a perfect opportunity to pretend to listen to her so that I could have more time to think about my answer, but Boe refused to turn around. “Sadie, Boe, class has started.” Mrs. Rich said angrily. He waited on me to reply, but I just sat there. “Boe!” She said again.
         “I’m not turning around until I get an answer.” He was still looking at me, as if he could make me talk just by gazing into my eyes.
         “Since when are you in charge of this classroom? If you don’t turn around in the next five seconds you will have afternoon detention with me for the next two weeks, I’m sure your football coach will be happy about that.” Mrs. Rich liked me, but she wasn’t the nicest teacher I ever had. She definitely wasn’t too fond of Boe at that moment though.
         “I’m sorry, but until Sadie answers me I’m not turning around.” He raised his eyebrows as if to say “Are you going to answer or make me have detention”.
         “Okay, then you can go up to the office and visit Mr. Allen.”
         “Wait! Okay, my answer’s yes! I’ll go out with you.” Suddenly, the room came to an awkward silence.
         “Pick you up at seven Friday night?” He asked, smiling. It was just like him to make a big scene about asking me out.
         “Okay, fine just please turn around.” I said quietly trying to draw some of the attention away from me. He smiled, turned around, and told Mrs. Rich to continue. Whispers came from every direction. I couldn’t tell what he was doing, but I’m sure he was happy that everyone was talking. Not that I wasn’t. I was just upset that he cheated, and made me answer that way.
         Finally, the bell rang, releasing us from first period. People were already talking about us. Boe walked me to my next class, his hand uneasily found mine. Hand in hand we walked down the hallway, but nothing was said until we reached the door of my second period. “See you at lunch Cutie.” He walked away and started talking to our friend Mike. A few people came up to me, and asked what had happened before I could even reach my seat. That should have been another rhetorical question because of the blatantly obvious answer. “He asked me out”, was all I could manage to say anyway, because of the exhilaration still inside of me.
         Class flew by, “What are you guys going to do?” A girl that I had met last semester asked. I couldn’t think of her name though.
         “I’m not sure. We didn’t really discuss that.” I was used to people talking to me a lot about random things, but nothing like this had ever came up in a conversation, at least not from people that I didn’t talk to on a regular basis.
         She looked at me and smiled an I-wish-I-was-you look, “You realize you are the luckiest girl ever, right?”
I wanted to say yes, and considered it for a second, but instead I said, “I’ll get back to you on that after our date.” Even though I knew she was right, I also knew that if I agreed, it would somehow get back to him, and that would make me seem desperate; which no guy likes.
         Boe and I didn’t get to talk as much as we planned at lunch, and I was the only girl at our table, as always, but it was still pretty amazing knowing that I would be going on a date with him in four more days.
         “Well congrats you two are officially a couple.” I almost spit out my water when Boe’s best friend loudly stated that.
         “Thanks, but we aren’t a couple, we’re just going on a date.”
         “Oh, well everyone is talking about it like you guys are. Sorry Dude.” He looked at Boe apologetically, but Boe didn’t seem to mind that he had made me squirm a little bit.
         “Well I’m not surprised after the way he asked me out.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of my face when he asked me.
         “You guys have like each other forever anyway so what does it matter.” This made both of us feel uncomfortable, but we were thankfully saved by the bell.
         Fourth period drug on, for what seemed like forever. We were supposed to be writing an essay about some play Shakespeare had written, but I had already finished it two days ago. When we were finally dismissed from school people managed to surround themselves around me.
         Boe came out of no where and wrapped his strong arm around my waist; I could tell every girl around me was wishing that they were me at that moment. “Are you going to text me?” He smiled, although he already knew the answer.
         “Nope,” I paused to look up at him, “I might text you back, if you’re lucky though.”
         “I can handle that.” Now that school was over, everyone was texting, talking, kissing, holding hands, listening to music, or shuffling through their things to find their keys. The freshmen, lucky enough to not have to ride the bus, and a few sophomores were stuck outside waiting on someone to come and pick them up, an awful price I had to pay until the beginning of my junior year.
Being a senior was great, except when Matt and Barb decided to bring my keys with them when they left to go on a trip, then it was just very frustrating. “What’s wrong?” Boe asked thoughtfully.
         “My parents have my keys, so I have to ride the bus.” I replied harshly.
         “No you don’t.” He said looking at me confidently while he was twirling his keys on his finger.
         “I don’t?” I asked, confused.
         “No, you’re riding with me today.” He grabbed my hand, it was a little less awkward that time, and led me to the parking lot.
         “I don’t know about that.” I hesitated. “Don’t you have football practice?”
         He stopped walking to face me. “Are you scared?”
         “Scared of what?”
         “Scared of riding with me.”
“Of course not Silly.” I lied. “I just don’t want to cause you to miss practice.
         “Well you aren’t so come on.” The truth was that I was terrified. Not so much of his driving, but just the thought of getting attached to someone was bad enough for me.
         “Watch where you step. It can get a little dangerous in here.” He said as I got in his shiny black Nissan 350Z. He was talking about the drink that was in his floorboard and a really nice pair of sunglasses that cost over one hundred dollars at the mall.
         I stepped into the car, avoiding the things on the mat. “Thanks for doing this.”
         “It’s no problem at all. How long are your parents going to have your keys? And what about all your commitments, aren’t you the captain of everything around here?”
         I tried not to get angry about my parents not trusting me enough to leave the keys. “A week or so, they went to Paris on a business trip. Not everything, just volleyball, dance, and cheerleading, but I’m thinking about dropping volleyball this year. I just played because Elizabeth was on the team, but she’s in college now so it’s just one less thing I have to worry about.”
         “Oh it sucks you couldn’t go, but I’m glad that you didn’t. Do you want me to pick you up in the mornings, and take you home until they get back? And about all the sports, if I were you I would do whatever I was passionate about.”
         “Thanks for the advice. I couldn’t ask you to take me to and from school though. That’s way too much gas.” Even though I did want him to do that, I felt like it was my responsibility to take care of myself like I’ve done my entire life.
         “You didn’t. I asked you.” I couldn’t help but wonder how such a cute guy could be so sweet and caring.
         “Well if you don’t mind, that’d be nice. I’ll pay for gas if you need me to.”
         “Don’t worry about it. It’s all taken care of.” I smiled and looked out of the passenger window. I never, in all of my life, would have imagined this moment would have happened outside of my wildest dreams, my good dreams that is. Suddenly the car stopped. We were already at my house.
         “Well here we are Gorgeous.”
“Thanks again.”
         “No problem, I’ll text you later.”
         “Okay, bye.” I said nervously grabbing my bags.
         He hesitated as if he was going to say something, but changed his mind and said goodbye. As I walked away he opened his car door, “Sadie?”
         I stopped in my garage then turned around, “Yes?”
         “Do you think I could maybe come in?” I was in shock. I couldn’t believe Boe Walker really just asked me if he could come in my house.
         “If you’ll ignore the mess.” I said as I turned around to walk to my front door.
         “I can do that.”As we both walked toward the door I remembered that my parents weren’t there. This was definitely a first. I unlocked the door, stepped in, and looked around to make sure I didn’t forget to put the dirty laundry in the basket.
         “Are you sure it’s okay that I’m in here?”
         “Umm…yeah I guess I’ve never had a guy here without my parents.”
         “Good.” Good? What’s that supposed to mean? I couldn’t help but ask myself.
         “Do you want anything to eat or drink?” I asked obviously trying to change the subject.
         “No, I’m fine for now.” He said laughing. “Wow, you were a cute little kid. I love your blue eyes.”
         “Good to know.” I said laughing along with him. He was being generous when he said cute because I was pretty far away from cute as a kid.
         “Do we have enough time to watch a movie?”
         “Sure, just go in there and pick one out while I make some popcorn.” I instructed him.
         “Yes ma’am.” He said as he walked away. I put a bag of popcorn in the microwave then went to the restroom to fix my makeup. I was really nervous, and I wasn’t exactly sure what was going to happen. “Is a scary movie okay?” He yelled from the movie closet.
         “Sure, as long as you don’t get too scared.” I yelled back. He laughed sarcastically then came in the kitchen where I was. I got the popcorn out and looked at the movie he had managed to find in the cluttered closet. “Oh no”, I paused to look up at his reaction; “This one looks pretty scary.” I giggled. It was an old movie that I had watched at a sleepover with Elizabeth and Kimmy once. We all slept on the floor of Kimmy’s big brother’s room the rest of the night because we were so terrified.
         As I walked passed him to put the movie in the DVD player, I caught him staring at me. Eventually, he sat on the couch and waited for me to join him. I sat beside him, not knowing what to do next. A few minutes of silence passed by, and we were still in the same places we had been, fidgeting with our clothes.
         “That’s a very pretty ring.” He stated, looking at my left hand.
         “Thanks, it’s my promise ring.”
         “Hmmm…well what’s the promise?”
         “I promised to practice abstinence.”
         “Have you kept your promise so far?”
         “Of course”, I said, stunned that he had asked that, “What kind of girl do you think I am?”
         “I was just asking, I respect you for keeping such a big promise.” Boe put his arm around me, and pulled me closer to his chest. While I was cuddling with him my eyes slowly became heavy.
         I saw flashing lights; they were pink, purple, blue, yellow, just about every neon color you could imagine. It looked so overwhelming. Everyone was dancing and having a great time everywhere I looked. I couldn’t make out any faces in the crowd at all. I looked down and noticed I was wearing a cute dress with black high hills. I was holding someone’s hand, but their face was blurry just like everyone else. The music playing throughout the entire house was so loud that it caused my chest to vibrate.
         The lights suddenly went out. When my eyes adjusted to the darkness I realized I was in a bedroom with a guy standing over me. His hands were pinning my wrists down, and I was trying to say something but was unable to be heard by anyone including myself.
         “Sadie!” I had no idea who was saying my name or where they were. “Sadie, Baby!” They repeated when I didn’t reply. Nothing was able to come out of my mouth. I opened my eyes, and was so happy to see Boe’s big brown eyes looking into mine. After a few minutes I realized that it was just another bad dream.
         “Are you okay Sadie?” Boe asked with a worried look on his face.
         “Mmhmm.” I said, unsure of what else to say.
         “Okay, but if anything is ever wrong you can tell me okay?”
         “Okay, I will but it’s nothing.” Another lie.
         “We both fell asleep during the movie, it’s almost 9 o’clock.” He said sitting up and fixing my hair from where I had slept on it.
         “What?! No way!” I said startled.
         “Is everything okay?” He seemed amused by my reaction.
         “Yes, but aren’t you going to be in trouble?”
         “No, my mom is never at home anymore. She has a new boyfriend and they seem pretty happy together, so she is in Florida most of the time.” It didn’t seem to bother him that his mother was with another guy instead of staying at home to take care of things at their house. At least we had another thing in common as much as it sucked.
         “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize your parents were separated.” I felt sorry for him, but I wasn’t sure what to say to comfort him.
         “They aren’t my dad passed away when I was 15, that’s why we moved to Georgia. My mom couldn’t handle living in the house that my dad died in, and quite frankly I couldn’t either. There were just way too many memories.” His eyes started to tear up then he turned away, looked at my baby picture and smiled. “Would you mind if I stayed a little longer?”
         “I would love for you to stay. I’ll go cook something. Are you in the mood for anything in particular?” I looked at him, hoping that if we stayed on another topic he could forget about whatever memories were in his old house.
         “That won’t be necessary Young Lady. I happen to be an excellent chef.” I looked at him in disbelief. “If you don’t believe me go try it for yourself. I just finished making it right before you started screaming in your sleep.”
         “I have to say, I’m impressed.” He smiled and grabbed my hand, leading me to the kitchen. “It smells great!” I saw my reflection through the window, and immediately tried to fix my hair, but it was useless. It looked like a tornado had gone through my house, but the only thing it hit was me. I was so embarrassed that I started to blush. When Boe saw my face after I looked at my hair he started to laugh so hard that he spit water on the floor.
         “You look pretty cute. It suits you.” He said restating what I had said earlier that morning. I just looked up, unable to say anything because I was laughing so hard.
         I was falling for a guy that could have any girl that he wanted. I hated being the same as all those other girls, but at that moment, when I was looking into his eyes, I didn’t care. I also hated being vulnerable. Because he could have any girl that he wanted he didn’t have to think twice about leaving me if he wanted to. I was determined not to be just another girl to him.
         “So are you going to try it or not?” He said after we finally stopped laughing. His voice sounded like music. I looked around my kitchen dreading the mess I was going to see, but it was actually cleaner than before. I was getting used to his perfection, so it didn’t really come as a surprise to me. He pulled out my chair for me, got me a drink from the fridge, and refilled his drink. “You’re cute when you sleep. You move a lot though, and you said my name a few times before you started screaming for your life.” He smiled. I couldn’t tell if he was being serious about me saying his name or not. I sat there like a complete idiot with my mouth wide open.
         “No I didn’t.” I said, laughing.
         “I promise you did.” He replied. I stopped laughing. Those were the inaudible words that I was saying in my dream.
         “Wow. That’s not embarrassing at all.” I said facetiously.
         “I won’t tell anyone. Could I ask you something though?”
         “Go for it.” I said, right before I took another bite.
         “What were you dreaming about”, He paused, “You seemed so terrified when you woke up?”
         “You know”, I halfway smiled, “I don’t remember.” My mouth was full of water. I saw my reflection in the window again which made me laugh so hard that my drink started to come out of my nose. Boe started laughing to, which made me laugh harder, I ran for the sink, but it was too late, water was all over my white shirt. You could see right through it.
         I sat on the floor and instantaneously brought my legs up to my chest not caring how stupid I looked. “Here.”  He was handing me his lettermen jacket that was hanging on one of the chairs in my kitchen.
         “I don’t want to get it wet.” Even though I really did want to wear it more than anything.
         “It’s just a jacket. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable around me. Plus you’re my girlfriend now.”
         “Really, since when?” He knew he wasn’t going to get away with asking me to be his girlfriend like that.
         “Well if you want to be you are.” I reached out to get the jacket from him. It was black with a maroon and silver W on the front of it. “Is that a yes?”
He was smiling from ear to ear. It reminded me of what I learned off of Urban Dictionary a few years ago. As a punishment in Chelsea, London people would be tied down then they would cut the corners of the person’s mouth, afterwards they would kick the person, either in the groin or they would break their leg, depending on the gender, causing their mouth to tear, literally, from ear to ear as they screamed. It later developed the nickname Chelsea Smile because of where it originated from.
“It could be.” Obviously it was, but I thought I might as well make him wait for this answer sense he cheated with the other.
“Well I hope it is.” He said wiping off the floor.
“I’ll answer that question after our date.” I said as I stood up to put on his jacket.
“I guess that’s fair enough. Want to work on some homework together?” He gave me a pleading look that was impossible to say no to.
“Sure, I’ve already finished all of mine during class, but I can help you with yours if you want me to.”
“So the rumors are true, you really are a nerd after all?” He smiled and lightly nudged me with his elbow. “I’ll go get my backpack and you can do whatever you want.” He walked out of the door to his car without saying another word. Although I knew that I would have been able to do anything, I stared out of the living room window to make sure he got to his car and back safely.
         “Thankfully we don’t have math homework for the rest of the week” I said once he sat down beside me, “What homework do you have?”
         “I just have AP English. Why don’t we have homework in math?” He said looking confused.
         “Weren’t you listening? Mrs. Rich is going to have a substitute teacher the rest of the week.” I didn’t understand how he could have missed that information. After she went over the homework she couldn’t stop talking about how she was going to Spain to visit her daughter and son-in-law. She was, visibly, deliberately rubbing it in our faces that she would be laying on a beautiful beach somewhere while we’re stuck in school, being forced to learn something new every day.
         “No, I didn’t catch a word she said after you told everyone in class that you wanted to go on a date with me.” My mouth flew open and I unconsciously hit him.
         “That wasn’t fair at all and you know it! You liked seeing me blush like a little school girl. You’re the one that was thinking about me so much that you couldn’t even concentrate on anything that the teacher said though.” He didn’t say a word because he knew that I was right.