Dismantling Evan (35 page)

She never said anything to Brody I guess, because he never talked to me about Ernie and Justin.

Today we are going on a field trip; The Bob Bullock Museum. I have only been once but I remember all the exhibits. If I were to close my eyes right now I can picture the museum’s rooftop gone and, hovering above it, the layout of all the exhibits from the last time I visited. I guarantee that I will be in charge of the map for my group. It is the logical decision for sure.

Got to go.

Bye.

-G.F

THE NEXT TWO WEEKS IS an assault on the teenage senses in the wild kingdom of high school. The only sane moments are when I’m back at home in the work shed with Brody and sometimes Gavin, which isn’t often enough. Whatever idiot decided it was a great idea to have a senior field trip to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum before Thanksgiving break, then a pep rally before Christmas needs to be fired.

Lia, Gavin, and Asher are standing in the parking lot, waiting to load the buses to the museum. I stand next to Brody, hand in hand. We were able to keep the “us” thing private for a little while, until Nikki spied Brody kissing me before I got out of the car at school one morning.

She flipped out; a happy flip out. She popped out of Asher’s car and pulled Brody and me into a giant bear hug swinging us back at forth. Gavin dodged her crazy grasping arms, thank God.

Gavin was the first to find out about us being a couple. After Brody and I left the shed and went into our houses, I guess Brody told Gavin. The next day at school, whenever Brody and I were near each other, Gavin’s face would turn beet-red and he would smile from ear to ear. After the Nikki thing though, news trickled across campus quickly and everyone knew by mid-week... including Spencer and Celine.

“So, are we ready to get this mandatory, stupid ass adventure under way people?” Nikki says sarcastically as she leans against Asher’s car.

“I better head to my locker. Ya’ll have fun while I’m stuck here in class,” Lia says. She pushes up the sleeve of her jacket to check her watch and I notice a fresh cut on her forearm.

Seeing it herself, she quickly pushes her sleeve back down and looks around at us to check if anyone else had seen. We lock eyes for a moment and I move away from Brody, as he talks to Gavin, and slip next to Lia.

“Hey,” I say casually.

She knows what I’m coming to her about though. “It wasn’t me. I scratched it on shelf in the garage.”

I can’t decipher if she is lying or telling the truth, but I try nonetheless. “Have you told your parents?”

She huffs. “I gotta go.”

Nikki comes up to me and calls to her, “See you after school Lia.”

She just waves and keeps walking.

“What’s up with her?” Nikki asks.

“She has a fresh cut on her arm. I called her out on it,” I say, still following Lia with my eyes.

Nikki rests her arm on my shoulder. “Chad started talking shit again and now some of the junior varsity football players that have class with Lia are making it hard on her.”

I look at her. “Seriously?”

Nikki nods her head. “Shit is getting downright deep around her lately; all the fights on campus. Everyone’s’ tempers are running high. There has been at least one fight a week lately. Now seniors, like Chad, are calling out their little piss ant parasites to do their dirty work so they won’t get fucking busted.”

Great, that is all I need to hear. Celine and Spencer walk side by side, climbing on the first bus and I wonder if they have their parasites on the prowl.

Just then Mr. Thompson comes around the front of the bus with a bullhorn in one hand and notepad in the other. Nikki abruptly calls out, “Finally! Some authority! Mr. Thompson, are we going to get this show on the road? I have deadlines to keep! A newspaper to run!”

Along with all the other seniors mingling in the parking lot, Mr. Thompson searches for the voice, notices who is balking at him, then waves her off, shaking his head.

She is such a nut. Only she could get away with doing something like that. I love her.

She wraps her arm around my neck tighter and starts pulling me along toward the bus.

Gavin is going with us even though he is a sophomore. Brody made it a point to let the principal know that he wasn’t going to leave campus without Gavin. It seems like Gavin is the first to be attacked when it gets like this and Brody knows it would leave him vulnerable. We all know it.

Gavin sits in the seat in front of us by himself. As students file into the bus, everyone bypasses the seat next to him, which isn’t a bad thing. The way they walk past, looking at him like he is disgusting to them, makes my skin boil. Chad climbs on the bus and makes his way toward us. When he looks up and notices Gavin sitting alone, a glint of disturbing excitement flashes in his eyes and he smiles. When he notices Brody and I sitting right behind Gavin, the creepy and perverse leer on his face vanishes instantaneously. He continues past Gavin, then Brody and me. I keep my eyes ahead, while I can sense Brody bearing down on Chad with his own. I take Brody’s hand in mine and intertwine our fingers, knowing I need to calm him down. His fingers tighten around mine, giving them a light squeeze, letting me know that he isn’t going to react to Chad. The bus door closes and we are on our way.

So the teachers thought it would be fun for us to have a bit of a scavenger hunt at the museum. The chaperones pass around small packets labeled: “Bullock Scavenger Hunt.” Mr. Thompson stands in front of the museum with his obnoxious bullhorn and all the students corralled around him. He calls out, “Form groups of no more than six. Each person will be responsible for recording the information so don’t just fill out one packet for your group. This will be a graded assignment for your history class and it will count for a test grade, so don’t fudge the answers. We will meet back here at noon.”

As he kills the bullhorn, students scurry around forming their groups. Our group is pretty much already set - Ash, Nikki, Gavin, Brody, and me. Once we enter the museum, Brody surprises me and takes my hand in his. Like I said, the past two weeks we have kept the “us” thing pretty quiet. We both exchange a glance. “Everyone knows, right? So, who cares?”

Ash comes up behind both of us and places his arm around our shoulders. “Amen brother. Take your woman by the hand.”

I can’t believe he just said that! Nikki responds swiftly with a slap to his back for the sexist comment.

“What babe? I was just giving Brody some encouragement,” Ash pouts as he releases Brody and me and takes Nikki by the waist, pulling her into his arms.

She laughs. “I don’t think they need any help, Ash.”

“No, we don’t,” Brody comments lightly so only I can hear. Keeping our hands off each other is definitely becoming more difficult, but we keep it light when we’re around Gavin. Yeah, he knows we are a couple, but we don’t want to make out in front of him or anything. Well, we wouldn’t make out in front of anyone, probably.

Suddenly, Spencer and Celine walk ahead of us. Celine looks around like she is searching for someone. Spencer says, “Where are they?”

She frowns as she keeps scanning the area. “Let me text them.” Just as she starts typing and looking up periodically, she pans to our group and does a double take at me, then Brody, then our joined hands.

Brody doesn’t notice, because he is listening to Gavin directing us where to start. “We should start at the ‘Texas in the Civil War’ exhibit then swing around right her to then go to the ‘Battleship TEXAS’ exhibit.”

Celine leans into Spencer and covers her mouth as she whispers into his ear. Brody has stopped walking now and so has the rest of our group as Gavin explains why we should see these two exhibits first, but I keep watching Spencer and Celine. Just then, Spencer turns to look at me, then down at Brody’s and my hands. He flashes a sinister smile then pulls out his phone and starts typing something, texting, I guess.

“Hey, you ready?” Brody tugs on my hand and pulls me along gently. Gavin leads Asher and Nikki away from the crowd. I nod and follow.

We get through the entire “Texas in the Civil War” exhibit and answer about half the questions on the packet. “Wow Gav, we have this packet in the bag. Good call on bringing us here first.”

Brody adds, “Yeah, while everyone else went the other direction, we knocked out the biggest part of the questions first. Good job, bro.”

Gavin laughs lightly, “Yeah, I told you I know this museum, Brody. Didn’t I?”

Brody smiles and says, “Yes, you did.”

He looks at me and holds up one finger. “We brought Gavin here only one other time a few years ago. See how he is about remembering things?”

As we turn the corner to head to the battleship, we come up on Celine, Spencer, Chad, and a few of Celine’s friends. One of them scoffs in a less than pleasant tone, “Hey Nikki.”

Collectively our airy and high-spirited mood swiftly shifts to one of burden and oppression, but Nikki’s lack of response tells them exactly how we feel and that seems to feed the beast.

Spencer scratches his nose, smugly then shifts his weight as he mutters under his breath, “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the talk of the senior class.”

Brody and I glance at each other for only a second, wondering what he is talking about.

Celine chimes in, “Can’t say I didn’t warn you, Evan.” She giggles and prances around our group as she winks at Brody. “Bye, Brody.”

I divert my eyes away from their heavy stares, like darts aimed right at me, and catch Nikki just as she gives them the one finger salute. “Nice to see you all too,” waving it back and forth for each of them to get a good look.

Chad comments, “He shouldn’t even be here. He is a freakin’ sophomore.”

Brody tightens his hand on mine. I tighten back and draw his arm closer.

God, I hope Gavin doesn’t hear him. As I look over at him, Gavin looks down at his packet like he is studying it feverishly.

Spencer makes a comment as they walk away from us, “Even if she is nuts, she’s kind of hot.”

Luckily, the largest chunk of the hunt and packet is complete so we don’t have to linger near Spencer, Celine, and the rest of their group. That makes me feel a little better. We finish the last few questions of the hunt and head toward the front of the museum to hang out by the big bronze Texas star.

As we walk toward the front door, two girls look up from their mobile phone, and directly at me and Brody. They pass our group and snicker as one mumbles, “Oh my God...”

“I wonder if he knows,” the other girl mutters just as Brody looks at her. They both stiffen and keep moving.

Nikki looks just as puzzled as I do when she comes up alongside of me and asks, “What was that about?”

Flustered, I shake my head and whisper, “I have no idea.”

My heart races. I’m afraid that I do know what she means, but how can they know anything about that? How can they know anything about my secret unless someone told them?

I think back to the conversation I had with Mom. My sarcastic questioning, asking her if she told her secret, my secret, to Mrs. O’Keefe, Celine’s mom. What if she had?

I realize I am squeezing Brody’s hand tightly and I ease up.

“Everything all right?” he asks, seeing the worry in his eyes.

As he opens the door for me, I nod and say as casually as I can, knowing that I am freaking out inside, “Yeah, everything is fine.”

Celine’s laughter hits me just as I walk through the doorway and I notice her huddled up with the two girls that were ogling their phone. She glances at me sinisterly now.

“What is her deal?” Nikki says as she starts to walk back into the museum.

I reach for her but miss. Asher takes her by the arm, and pulls her back to him. “Hey, hey Nik, let’s go outside babe.”

Nikki’s face is all kinds of red as she stares Celine down, pulling against Asher in the open doorway. Nikki looks at me standing on the outside, then back at Celine before giving into Asher’s pull. The cool air relieves the claustrophobia of being in close proximity to Celine, Spencer, Chad, and the rest of their friends.

Nikki’s vocal about the release of tension. “Aggggghhhh! I’m so fucking tired of this shit!”

Brody asks, “What are you so pissed about, Nik?”

“The looks, the whispers, all of it!” Nikki answers.

Suddenly, Nikki’s phone pings, then Asher’s. They both take out their phones and glance at them, then look up at me.

“Unbelievable,” Asher mumbles as he looks back down at his phone.

“Completely believable actually!” Nikki balks as she holds the phone out to Brody and me for us to see what has her livid now. It is a picture of me, a close up actually. I remember the scene too well. I’m standing in front of Mr. Thompson raging at him, but the person that texted this did a little Photoshop work. My eyes have been replaced with red ones and a ring of foam is around my gaping mouth. Above my head is a statement: Evan is bat-shit crazy!