Fourteen (5 page)

I nearly screamed the next morning when I closed my locker door to find Evan standing behind it, his eyes darting nervously around the hallway while he shifted from one foot to the other. I raised my eyebrows and leaned against my locker as I stared at his profile and waited for him to actually look at me. After a few moments of him not looking in my direction, I obnoxiously cleared my throat and coughed to cover up the laugh when he jumped and almost dropped his books.

“I’m here. I’m talking. Hi. Good morning.”

“Did someone slip something into your cereal this morning?” I asked casually.

“What? No. Why would you think that?”

“Because you’re talking a mile a minute, and you’re not really saying anything. If it bothers you that much, then go.” I traced my tongue over my bottom teeth and stood up straight. “We both know that I’m not worth ruining your reputation.”

“Why do you do that?”

“Do what?” I sighed, absently flipping my hair over my shoulder.

“Put yourself down like that.”

“Like you don’t do it.”

He squared his shoulders and jutted out his chin. “I won’t anymore.”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “Until Brittany or Steve or Grace show up, right? Where the hell has Adam been, anyway? He hasn’t been around to tell me I’m taking up the whole width of the hallway lately.”

His face fell and his shoulders sagged. “He says that to you?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged one shoulder and gripped the end of my long-sleeved shirt.

“He won’t anymore,” he said again.

“Right.” I snorted. “I started on the paper last night. Did a lot of research and found a lot of things that could help.” I looked up at him again. He didn’t really seem very interested in that topic just yet, so I wracked my brain for something else to say. “How was your date?”

“It was fine, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“She’s just . . . a means to an end,” he said, shifting uncomfortably in front of me.

“Ah.”

“Yeah.”

Awkward.

“Ev! Man! What the fuck are you doing over here?”

We both looked behind him to see Steve approaching, one of his eyebrows quirked up in amusement. He reached us and slapped a hand on Evan’s shoulder, rolling his eyes at me before stepping in between us.

“I was just . . . uh, we were . . . ,” Evan stuttered.

I rolled my eyes and sighed heavily, stepping out from behind Steve and clutching my books to my chest.

“We were just talking about our project,” I said evenly.

“Right. Well, listen man . . . the party is going to be awesome!” he exclaimed, excited to the point where his voice rose an octave or two.

I started toward the classroom, mentally berating myself for thinking that he’d meant what he said.

“Anna!”

I stopped dead in the middle of the hallway and slowly turned on my heel to see Evan walking
away
from Steve and
toward
me.

It was as if time stood still. Everyone in the hallway stopped talking, stopped moving to turn and stare at Evan and then at me. I wanted to crawl into that hole I was waiting for and die because this could not truly be happening. He did not just walk away from Steve freaking Forrester to talk to me.

I was still gaping at him as he walked up to me with his head down and his eyes darting around the hallway.

“Are you feeling all right?” I asked.

“Funny.”

“I’m being serious.”

“This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”

“No,” I said. “It was your choice, Evan. I never said that I wanted anything from you.”

“You are infuriating.”

“I’ve never asked you for anything. You wanted another chance.”

“And you seem to want the fucking world on a platter.”

I opened and closed my mouth a few times, trying and failing to make sense of my jumbled thoughts.

“Yes, Evan, I have everything we need for our project. Thank you and I’ll see you in class,” I said loud enough for everyone to hear.

I turned on my heel again and started toward the classroom, pushing through the door and walking over to the empty lab table. I set my books down and rested my cheek on them, staring out the window and placing my arms on the table.

Evan didn’t come in until everyone else had already been seated. He had Brittany wrapped around him, and I did my best to ignore everything as I meticulously opened my textbook to the assigned pages written on the chalkboard. As he sat down, I began reading the drivel on the page and doing my best to look engrossed in the monotonous world of—
hmm Polyatomic ions . . . Don’t remember anything about that.

“You’re not making this very easy, you know,” he said.

“This is who I am, Evan. Take it or leave it.”

“You keep giving me that ultimatum. Do you want me to leave you alone?”

“I don’t want to get hurt anymore.” I looked at him and clenched my jaw. “And that’s all you and your friends have done since middle school. I’m not sorry for making you work for something that I’m scared to give away to anyone.” I sat up a little straighter, placing my hands in my lap. “Take it or leave it.”

He stared at me until Mr. Streeter called us to attention, and I looked away. I had a lot to catch up on since I’d been so out of it yesterday, and I couldn’t be concerned with Evan Drake staring holes into the side of my head.

I looked down when Evan slid a piece of paper underneath my hand, and glanced over at him. He tilted his head before looking back to the front of the room, and I sighed as I unfolded the paper and pulled it into my lap.

I’ll take it and raise you a
secret that I guard with my life.
I have to wear a retainer to bed because
I sucked my thumb until I was thirteen.

My eyes widened, and I looked at him, crumpling the paper in my fist. He slowly looked back at me, the corner of his mouth twitching into a smirk.

“Seriously?” I mouthed, leaning forward.

He nervously licked his lips. I looked to the front of the room again. I kept the paper crumpled in my fist as I ripped out an entire sheet of paper from my notebook.

I won’t tell anyone.

I folded it and slid it over to him, watching from the corner of my eye as he pulled it down into his lap and unfolded it. He grabbed his pen and awkwardly wrote on the note in his lap. He folded it back up and handed it to me underneath the table before looking up at the board and fidgeting with his pen.

You had to use an entire sheet
of paper for that? You’re killing
trees that way, you know.

I rolled my eyes, placed the paper on the table, and grabbed my pen.

I just thought that you’d like to know.
And I didn’t kill the damn tree.
Someone else killed the thing
and made paper out of it.
You’re just as guilty!

I slid it over to him and stuffed it underneath his textbook. Resting my elbow on the table, I leaned my chin into my hand and forced myself to keep the smile off my face. I looked over at him when he slid the paper back over to me, and he openly grinned at me.

I use my notebooks for things
like schoolwork, Anna.
I do not use an entire sheet
of paper for a tiny little declaration.

Huffing, I stared at his handwriting and pursed my lips.

I’m sure you’ve never had letters
written to you, then, right?
Brittany hasn’t tried to
compare you to a flower or anything?
Although, I’m not sure how
that would work seeing as how
she can barely pass gym class.

He laughed aloud as I slowly leaned away from him. Mr. Streeter fell silent, and I internally winced. Oh, this wouldn’t be good.

“Is there something funny about this, Mr. Drake?” Mr. Streeter asked dryly, turning to look at Evan while holding a piece of chalk in his hand.

“Oh, well, you know . . . no?” he said, shrugging and laughing sheepishly. “I just . . . um . . . I was just thinking about something.”

“Uh huh,” the teacher said. “Think about human physiology, please.”

“Right. Of course. Sure.”

Mr. Streeter turned back to his chalkboard, and I relaxed a little and looked over at Evan. He was scribbling furiously, and I briefly wondered if that was a deal breaker. I took the folded paper from him, swallowing hard as I pulled it into my lap and unfolded it.

That was mean.
But completely true.

We ended our note with a confirmation that he was still coming over after practice, and I slipped the paper into the back of my notebook. Smiling to myself, I looked up at the board and listened to the rest of the lecture, feeling pretty good about what the rest of the day might bring.

I was late, getting back from my run and found Evan leaning against his car in the driveway. Looking down at my outfit, I groaned and stopped in front of him. I pulled my ear buds out and grabbed my iPod from my pocket.

“You run,” he said.

“Yes.” I turned off my iPod and wrapped the cord around it.

“I didn’t know that.” He pushed off his car.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Evan,” I said a little breathless as I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my sleeve.

“Like what?” he asked, following me as I walked up to the front door, pulling the key from my pocket and pushing it open wide enough so we could both get through.

“Like I’m a pretty damn good cook,” I said and grabbed a bottle of iced tea from the refrigerator as I set my keys and iPod by the door.

“And?”

And? What more did he want to know? What did it matter to him?

“And I’ve been riding a dirt bike since I was old enough to ride a regular bike.”

“You’re kidding.”

I smirked to myself and took a drink of my tea as I stared at the white door of the refrigerator. The one thing my father and I had always bonded over was dirt bikes and motocross. My mother had absolutely hated the whole idea, and whenever I mentioned wanting to compete, she quickly did her best to lay a guilt trip on me. It always worked.

I hadn’t had the heart to do it since she’d died. It wasn’t the same when my mother wasn’t there to tell me how much she didn’t want me to do it.

“No.”

“Wow.” I heard one of the chairs from the table scrape against the floor. “You were right, Anna. There is a lot I don’t know about you.”

I laughed. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Still have soda?”

I wordlessly opened the refrigerator, grabbed the green can, and walked over to him. I set it on the table in front of him, looked down at my clothes again, and finally realized what I was still wearing. I looked disgusting.