My Best Friend's Brother (12 page)

He laughed. “I have until the late bell rings. I just… I needed to see you. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m just going to class.” I bit my lip. We were
awkward
, like pretending nothing happened when something did. That’s how I felt, anyway. He just looked really,
really
happy to see me, and that’s definitely a good thing! “I was going to call you last night, but I figured you were asleep.”

He cleared his throat. “No, you should’ve. I couldn’t sleep.” He moved aside and nodded at a dark-haired guy wearing a black leather jacket—
definitely
Italian—a jock from the look of him. “Hey Gino, how’s it going? See you in art tomorrow!”

Gino waved, looked me over and kept walking.

So Luke couldn’t sleep either, huh? My lips formed a smile I couldn’t prevent.

Luke flashed me those pearly white teeth. “What?”

I shook my head. “Nothing,” I said cheerfully.

He looked flushed. “Tired,” he breathed.

“Me, too,” I said, blushing. I moved my hair out of my face.

Our eyes locked. He looked at me, adoringly. His eyes said it all. And at that, I was getting giddy.

My cell phone vibrated. I reached into my pocket quickly and unfolded it. “Hi, Lilly.”

Luke bit his thumbnail, planted a kiss on my cheek and nuzzled my free ear. “Meet me by your locker at three,” he whispered, “I love you.” He winked and looked me over with those god-like eyes. I waved and he walked away, as every girl in the hall swooned.

I nearly swooned myself.

“Hello?!” Lilly screamed into the phone.

I snapped out of it and headed for class. “I’m here.”

“What happened?” Lilly demanded. “My mom fell asleep last night, and I just got your message.”

I groaned. “I can’t tell you
now
! I’m in
school!
”

“Well, give me a hint and I’ll call you later.”

“Okay…” I said, looking about warily. “I lost something last night.”

She was silent for a bit. “Uh, okay… like…? Your keys? Driving privileges? Your
mind
?” She giggled.

I walked into home economics and sunk into my seat. “None of the above. And I’m in class now, so I’d love to say it, but I can’t.”

“What else could you possibly
lose
?”

I giggled. “I’ll call you later. Or you can call me.”

“No, now it’s
killing
me!” Brief silence. “Wait, wait, wait! Did you lose…
? You know!
” Her mom was in the room—guaranteed!

I giggled again.

“Oh my God! And you have to
go
?! Oh my God! You
so
have to tell me! Cut class and tell me! What happened!”

I think the whole class heard her freak out in the phone. I looked around awkwardly. “Can’t, I’m already
sitting
here,” I noted.

“Okay, look, I’m gonna take my mom up on the offer to come home early. You need to
tell me tell me
tell me!
Oh my God!
”

My eyes widened. I could not
believe
my luck! Things were
really
looking up! “You can come back early?” I practically squealed.

“I’m gonna ask and call you back, okay? Mom’s bored as hell down here anyway, she hates my chain-smoking aunt.”

“Okay.” I hung up and looked around self-consciously.

Behind me, Jenna was doing her make-up. Our eyes met. She blotted her lips and gave me a hint of a smile. I turned back around and waited for Ms. Sanderson to arrive.

We waited for about twenty minutes. The guys in back started throwing spit balls across the room. To pass the time, I thought about Luke and last night. When I began blushing uncontrollably, I thought about Luke and this morning. About the seductive look in his eyes. About how obvious it was he adored me. About how happy I made him, and how incredibly happy he made
me
.

And about how I
couldn’t wait
until three.

I inhaled my sweater, because it smelled like him. It was driving me crazy, and I loved it.

But people were staring. So I stopped.

Soon bored, I thought maybe
I
should carry around ten pounds of makeup, so I could have something to do at times like this.

Mr. Bias and I have an appointment at two.
Maybe he could help me figure out what got into me last night, because Luke didn’t exactly initiate it.

A woman walked in holding a platter of cheese and crackers. She was tall and slender—I swear, like a praying mantis. At about six-foot-five, she was the tallest woman I’d ever seen. Even the guys were stunned as she practically bent over to fit through the frame of the door. Her face was expressionless.

She moved a desk forward and placed the platter on it. “My name is Maria Long, and I am your new home economics teacher. Today we will be discussing the principles of food design. How creative can
you
get with cheese and crackers?”

People exchanged looks. I’ll bet she was just out of college. She sounded like she was talking to chalkboard people, like she rehearsed for an hour before driving there. I wondered if she even
did
drive to work. Can someone that tall even fit in a car?

“What happened to our old—and I mean
old
—teacher?” a guy in the back asked.

Ms. Long sat at the teacher’s desk and looked at us. I think she was as tall as most of us when she was
seated
! “She will not be teaching this class anymore.”

“Why not?” asked Jenna. “Did she quit?”

Ms. Long’s hazel eyes moved around the room, finally resting on her. She cleared her throat. “Your teacher has passed away,” she said bluntly. “And if any of you need to see a guidance counselor to get through this, just let me know and I will get you in touch with one.”

We stared hard. I wondered if I was in some kind of dream, because it was just surreal! This may sound stupid, but I never realized a teacher could die. Kind of like in elementary school, when you think your teachers
live at the school
, and when you see them at the grocery store it’s this big shock!

“Yes,” she said, pointing to a guy in back.

“Can you tell us about yourself? All teachers do that before they start.”

“I just graduated from college with degrees in nutritional science and ceramics. I’m twenty-eight and single. I have a Great Dane. I’ve been riding a unicycle since I was twelve, since cars pollute and exercise is essential for a healthy life. And I enjoy yoga. If you want, we can try that in this class. Yoga is
excellent
meditation and can lengthen your lifespan.”

“Why a unicycle? Why not a bicycle?” Tom asked.

Ms. Long smiled. “A unicycle is all about balance,
control
over the body and the mind. Much like yoga.”

Well, I see why
she’s
single!

She seemed nice enough, though I was still wrapping my mind around my teacher being dead. I guess that appointment with Mr. Bias could come in handy.

~ ~ ~

“Miss Morrison!” said Mr. Bias with his undying smile, motioning to the empty interrogation seat. “How are you doing this afternoon?” He leaned back in his leather office chair.

“I guess I’m okay. I’ve had a really tough week.”

He nodded. “Want to talk about it?”

“No.” I wanted to get to the point of why I was there and leave. The sooner, the better.

“I’ll listen if you talk.” His grin widened. “I’ll listen if you
don’t
talk.” He folded his fingers and waited. “Did you decide on a college?”

“Well, I applied to one about a month ago.” I felt like a broken record.

“Which one is that?”

“The one in British Columbia.”

He looked through my file. “Your SAT scores are good. Are you retaking?”

“No.” I have better things to do on a Saturday morning!

“Well, it sounds like you just need to decide on a college, then! Did you get an acceptance letter?”

“No.”

“What do your parents think?” He raised his eyebrows and stared at me, his smile small but present.

“I don’t know.” I wanted to get off the subject, so I said, “Do you know what happened to Ms. Sanderson?”

His eyebrows came together. “Oh, I’m sorry, she died in her sleep. She was eighty-six. I think that’s pretty old. But she was nice, wasn’t she? Did you need to talk about that?”

“Not really…”

He scratched his peach-fuzz and cleared his throat. “Well then, how about the state university?” He handed me a brochure. “Here’s their viewbook.”

I stuffed it in my book bag.

“You really need to decide, okay? Let’s meet again in one week. Let me know if British Columbia accepts you.”

“Um, okay.”

He frowned. “Unless you have something else to discuss? It’s confidential, you know.”

I wanted to say that he was more confused than I was, and his sessions didn’t help. Unfortunately I’m too polite; I just couldn’t bring myself to. I cleared my throat. “I don’t like all the pressure being put on me about college. My parents expect me to go. I’m not really ready to do it… I don’t think.”

He bobbed his head up and down. I’ll bet he wasn’t hearing a damn thing I said, because his expression was unchanged as he looked
above
my head. He was back a few seconds later. “So you’re saying you don’t want to go?”

“I don’t know. It just seems like there’s so much pressure on me and nobody
but
me.”

“Well, I don’t know about that. For people your age in general, this is a very stressful time. If you don’t go, have you thought of what you will do for a living?”

“I like to write,” I said.

“Well, you can go to college for that. You have to have superior grammar and creativity to write. College will help. Especially a liberal arts degree.”

I nodded. “I might think about that.”

“How are midterms coming?”

“They’re all next week.”

“Planning to ace them all?” He raised his eyebrows and widened his smile. He reminded me of a car salesman.

No, I’m planning to fail them all!
What kind of question
was
that? “Yeah,” I said politely.

“How’s the boyfriend?”

I grew confused. “Which one?”

He shrugged. “How many do you have?” he asked cheerfully.

“Just one,” I confirmed. “I just wasn’t sure if you meant my current or my ex.”

Mr. Bias nodded. “How’s he treating you?” He made a little hand gesture. “The
current
one.”

“He’s great!” I said, my spirits lifting. “I’m moving in with him once we graduate.” Then I added, “Please don’t tell my parents.”

His smile widened slightly. “What do your parents think about him?”

“My dad hates him…” I muttered.

“Good, good. How about your mom?”

“I think she likes him, actually. But my mom isn’t as strict as my dad.”
Who knew? My mom is
normal.

“Do you use protection?” he pried. He held his hands up when I frowned. “Confidential!”

I laughed.
What’s with this ballsy question?

He waited for an answer, his smile small but put. I just didn’t want to talk about that. With
him.

Complete. Silence.

“Well,” he lectured cheerfully. “I’m sure you know you should. Babies are pricey! And so are STDs!”

“He doesn’t have any of those.”

His eyes widened. He leaned forward and neatly folded his hands on his desk. “How do you know, Miss Morrison?”

This man is
weird.

“I just do,” I said coyly. I didn’t get why he had to lecture me—I didn’t say we
didn’t
. I didn’t say anything.

“Do you love him?” Mr. Bias asked.

I nodded.

“Does he love you?”

A smile crossed my lips. “Yeah! I can tell.”

Mr. Bias looked above my head dreamily. “Good, good. That’s what matters.”

You know, I always wondered why I can’t interrogate
him
. Ask him what he and his wife use. Ask him what he’s doing next year, or in twenty years, and how he feels about that.

He’s like a hound, he gets paid to sniff out gossip. Confidential my butt, he probably talks about it at the water cooler.

When he snapped out of his little vacation, he rolled back in his chair, clasped his hands behind his head, and put his feet on the desk again. “Well, Miss Morrison, why don’t you see me at this time next week? And give college some thought, okay?”

“Okay.”

~ ~ ~

At three o’clock I waited for Luke by my locker. I’d had a good writing class, and Tweezer was in school again. “I coach wrestling,” he reminded us, “you shouldn’t have expected a sub for too long.” Everyone laughed, though I didn’t think that was very funny.

Lilly called during creative writing. She left a voice mail saying she’d be back tomorrow afternoon, and that I should meet her at her house. She said it’s a surprise and she expects me to keep it hush-hush. It seems she forgot who she’s talking to.

I didn’t see him coming. His arms cradled my neck, and he kissed my cheek. “Guess what. I’m a free man,” he breathed in my ear, making my spine tingle. I turned around. He put his arms out and let them fall to his sides. “Wanna grab lunch?”

“Did you miss lunch today?”

“You know that cafeteria-barf doesn’t turn me on.” He grinned. “I’ll bet you know what does, though.”

I felt myself blush. “A Big Mac?”

He laughed.

We headed out to his Jeep, where he unplugged it and wrapped the extension cord around the winch. In Alaska we plug our cars in to keep them from freezing, and happy when it’s time for them to start.

He cranked the engine and we waited in silence for a while. Then we drove to McDonald’s and ordered the usual.

Luke parked once we had our food. Moments later, his cell phone rang a little Mozart tune. His eyes alternated from me to the screen and back again. He mumbled something under his breath and hit the talk. “Hey.” His voice was shaky.

He listened for a minute, holding the phone close to his ear. He glanced over at me. I ate my fries and pretended I wasn’t listening.

“Are you
serious
? Why would I be happy about that?” He fell silent for a while, listening with a grimace. “Okay, I’ll see you then,” he finally mumbled. He listened some more and cleared his throat. “Yeah, fine. I can’t talk now. We’ll talk more when I see you.” Our eyes met. “Bye.” He hung up and threw the phone on the dashboard. He bit his lip, looking thoughtful.