Keep it Secret (12 page)

“What? No. Seriously,
Cynthia should fire that tutor of yours. How much does she pay him
anyway— its Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway?” She said after seeing my
confused face.

Whoops.

“Oh, right, I knew that.”
Sweet Jesus, and
I’m
a runner-up for Valedictorian.

“Come on let’s go educate
you. And no more caffeine for you, you're all fidgety and shit.”
She said pulling on my backpack.

“Boo, you
whore
.” I replied. Ava laughed, she
actually laughed.

“You can quote Mean Girls
but not Hemingway?” She said I shrugged because she was right. It’s
a sad, sad world when the next Valedictorian from one of the most
prestigious schools in Colorado can quote a teen comedy but not one
of the father’s of American classic literature

Entering the schools large
corridor I spotted Gabriel right away.

“I’ll meet you at lunch.”
Ava said as Gabriel neared us. “Keep your head up, legs closed,
eyes opened.” She said quickly, looking at Gabriel and then back at
me.

“Um, who said that?” I
wondered what literary genius came up with that one.

“Tupac.” She proclaimed
straight faced. I waited looking at her in disbelief. Her composure
cracked as the corners of her lips tugged into a grin. She did that
on purpose; fooling me into thinking I should know that
quote.

“Don’t you have somewhere to
be?” I asked jokingly annoyed. Ava chuckled giving me a quick kiss
on my forehead.

“See ya later, sweets.” She
said with a smile.

“Ciao
.” I waved good-bye. I saw her smile once again before she
turned her back completely.

“Hey.” Gabriel said. “What
did I miss?”

“Good morning” I replied.
“Nothing, just Ava schooling me in the art of quoting.”

“Who is she
quoting?”

“Oh, you know the greats;
Tupac, Hemingway.”

Gabriel laughed. “In that
order?”

“Depends on who you ask.” I
said glancing up at his tranquil ocean blue eyes. Just with one
look and I was made into mush. The hottest guy in school had chosen
to spend time with me. Despite the fact that his attention did
wonders to my self-esteem it also crushed it. Why had he chosen
me?

“Can I walk you to class?”
He asked interrupting my thoughts. My mouth settled to the side in
a nervous gesture, I somewhat nodded, finding the words to
speak.

“How gentlemanly of you.” I
pointed out as he was taking my books.

“Only when it comes to you.”
Gabriel smiled wide as we walked.

Sigh.

Nearing the open doors to
the cafeteria, Gabriel and Talon were waiting for me right outside
just like he said he would. My brain turned to scrambled eggs by
just looking at him, God forbid he’d expect a coherent conversation
this very moment. The monstrous butterflies didn't help either,
would this feeling ever waver or would I forever feel like
regurgitating in his presence?

That’s a visual; “Hey
Gabriel, how’s it goin—” BLAH! Tossed cookies all over his
shoes.

How
attractive
.

I swallowed slowly pushing
that feeling down. I noticed him noticing me ogling at
him.

Oh, jeez.

Adding insult to injury my
traitorous body decided at this very moment to turn my face into a
lovely shade of beet red

“Hello, Vanessa.” Talon said
first with a teasing smile.

“Back off.” Gabriel replied.
I giggled shyly, my mouth shifted to the left as my nervous
butterflies died down.

“Have you guys seen Ava?” I
was trying to change the conversation into something I was more
comfortable with.

“We didn’t see her go in, I
haven’t seen her since fourth period.” Gabriel replied.

“Maybe she’s already
inside.” Talon said.

Inside the cafeteria, I saw
Ava sitting on a tabletop surrounded by four boys. Even from the
back of their heads I knew exactly who they were. The tallest was
Josh McDaniel, Eagle Academy’s talented Quarterback, Michael Weaver
a swimmer, Dexter Holloway a wrestler and Johnny Gonzales a running
back. When we reached her, the boys said their goodbyes making
flirty comments as they took off. The foursome nodded “what’s up”
to Talon and Gabriel, one even fist-bumped Talon.

“Getting acquainted with the
male population I see.” Talon said jealousy creeping in.

“I tend to make better
friends when penises are involved.” She casually said getting off
the table standing in between Talon and I. Talon’s eyes widen with
shock salivating at the mouth.

“If that’s the case, my penis
would love to become your
best
friend
.” Talon leaned into Ava’s ear. My
eyes enlarge looking between the two of them. I couldn’t believe
what I was hearing.

Ava chuckled like it was
nothing. “Sorry, doll, I don’t fuck high school boys.” She said
dragging her index finger across Talon’s chest as she began to walk
away.

“Where are you going?” I
asked struggling to wrap my head around what just took place in
front of me.

“I have some stuff to do.
I’ll see you after school.” She replied walking away.

“Damn, she’s going to drive
me crazy.” Talon said biting his clenched fist he turned to go
after her.

“Whoa, um I feel like…like I
should apologize or something.” I said to Gabriel shaking my head
in disbelief. This was an Ava I wasn’t used to. Hearing it over the
phone was one thing but actually seeing it in person was something
else entirely.

“What? Is she not normally
like this?” He asked guiding me to sit down. Gabriel’s palm barely
grazed my lower back. His touch wasn’t meant as anything but a
well-mannered gesture but it still sent my skin into a heated fury.
My scalp prickled. I prayed to God my face didn’t match my middle
name. One fleeting brush of his hand and I had already forgotten
what we were talking about.

What was it that he
said?

“Vanessa?”

“I’m sorry what was your
question?” I’m such an idiot. Sitting down, Gabriel repeated
himself smiling wide, fully aware of how he affected me.

“Is she not normally like
that?”

“Oh, no, she’s always had
the mouth of a sailor. But her crudeness, how forward she was just
then, I’ve never seen it in person before.” This was not okay. I
was starting to see why Mother wanted me to stay away from Ava all
these years.

“You don’t have to
apologize. It doesn’t bother me.” Gabriel said making light of the
situation. Maybe I was being a tiny bit judgmental. I’m an
inexperienced seventeen-year-old girl with the sexual appetite of a
comatose nun, what the hell did I know. Maybe this was the norm,
maybe that was the way girls were expected to act in front of boys.
I instantly felt crummy. Mother’s judgmental-ness had a way of
creeping in at times, it wasn't a conscious effort which made me
feel even worse because deep down I was truly feeling this way
about Ava. That was not how I wanted to feel about my favorite
person. Gabriel tapped my shoulder.

“Did I lose you there for a
second?” He smiled, immediately my crummy-ness vanished along with
Mother’s or should I say my judgment. My mind switched from one
emotion to another in a matter of seconds. I think I may be
bipolar, or some sort of equivalent.

For the remainder of lunch
Gabriel and I talked about the most random things while eating our
food.

“So, you're telling me all
the clocks in that movie are set at 4:20?” Gabriel
asked.

“Yeah, the next time you
watch Pulp Fiction pause the screen every time you see a
clock.”

“You mean when I watch it for
the
first
time.”

Waa?
“What? You've never seen Pulp Fiction?” I’m completely
shocked. What guy hasn’t seen Quentin Tarantino’s most popular
film?

“How have you not seen Pulp
Fiction?”

“How have you? It came out
in the 90’s right?” Eh, he had a point. What seventeen-year-old kid
is voluntarily watching movies that came out before they could even
walk? A kid with father’s obsessed with crime films, that’s
who.

“My dad’s a big fan of those
types of movies.” Daddy and I would watch them behind mother’s back
it was my favorite thing to do with him.

Gabriel smiled sweetly. “How
do you know about the clocks?” He asked.

“Oh, I’m filled with random
useless information.” I replied taking a bite of my celery
stick.

“All right, oh wise one let
me hear another.” He was having too much fun with this.

“Okay. Did you know
hummingbirds are the only animals that can fly backwards, or that
Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts? Or that ’60
Minutes’ is the only television show without a theme song?” Don’t
know quotes by Hemingway, but I got my useless facts down
packed!

“Wow, how do you know all this
stuff?” He asked taking a grape from my tray popping it in his
mouth. My eyes zeroed in to his lips as they move in a chewing
motion. The juice from the grape coated his lower lip my body
leaned forward on its own accord. Was I trying to do kiss
him?
Good God I was trying to kiss
him!
My brain had no idea what my body was
up to it had a mind of its own. Thankfully, he hadn’t noticed my
lean because if he had, he would have smiled at me with that
knowing smile of his. Gabriel continued to gnaw at the grape taking
another one to his mouth as he looked down at my tray.
Oh, my damn
. I wanted to
steal everyone’s grapes, give them to Gabriel so I could keep on
watching him chew.

That’s not weird. No, it’s
not weird at all.

During swim class Gabriel
and I exchanged a couple of looks but he was mainly paying
attention to his duties as TA. After, he walked me to my final
class asking for more meaningless information. When school ended
Ava waited for me outside near the student parking lot. She was
holding a handful of uniforms hung on hangers wrapped in plastic
covers.

“Ready to go?” She asked.
Before I could offer my help, I was interrupted.

“Let me help you with
those.” We turned around as Gabriel came towards us.

“No, thanks Romeo, I got
this. I’ll wait for you in the car.” She said facing me walking
away.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think
she’s having a good day.”

“It’s alright, it’s a new
school, new people. I can imagine what she’s going through. I get
it.” I tried my best not to swoon over this guy but it was becoming
harder and harder not to. There had to be a flaw. He can’t be this
perfect.

“Listen, I’d ask you out for
pizza again but I have plans with my mom.”

Awe, how cute was he?
I wanted to squeeze his cheeks.

“Oh. Don’t worry about it,
I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yes, of course, can I have
a hug before you go?” He asked shyly almost like waiting to be
turned down.

“Um, sure.” I replied, he
didn’t waste any time as he wrapped his arms around my waist
picking me up off the ground. His warmth enveloped me into a
Gabriel blanket, making me feel like I never wanted to let go. He
chuckled as I inhaled his scent not realizing I was being so
obvious. Dear God, Kill. Me. Now. As a way to level out our
embarrassment he breathed in
my
scent, nudging his head in between the crook of
my neck. Only, he was not embarrassed he was actually enjoying
being this close to me. His lips whispered a kiss on my neck just
as he lowered me to the ground. My skin instantly tightened in
goose bumps. It was the best hug ever.

“I’ll call you later, okay?”
His voice was a bit hoarse.

“Okay, bye.” I glided to the
car feeling like I was on cloud nine. Inside, it was pretty obvious
what I was feeling through my dorky toothy smile.

“That good, huh?” She
asked.

“And that was just a hug. I
bet he’s a fantastic kisser.” What? What was I saying, I wasn't
ready to kiss him I hardly knew him. Ava mumbled some curse words
and something else I couldn’t make out.

“Pardon?” I
asked.

“I have to go to the
bathroom.”

“Oh, can’t you wait until we
get home or…?”

“I’ll be right back.” She
rushed out the car jogging back into the building taking her
satchel with her. Just as I buckled my seatbelt, my phone rang the
screen flashed MOTHER.

Total buzz kill.

Hello?

Vanessa? What’s this I hear
about you and Gabriel Mason?

How in the hell—?

I don’t know exactly what
you're hearing, Mother.

Don’t get fresh with me
young lady. You know the rules about dating.

Yes, Mother, I
know.

Well, then. Are you dating
Gabriel Mason?