Sunshine (4 page)

Chapter 4
I Can Be Nice, Watch Me
“You go stabbing yourself in the neck.”-Interpol

“As we were discussing yesterday,” Mrs. Gillece begins. “The Puritans were so afraid of the wilderness that they built a wall around the entire town.”
We’re reading
The Crucible
. It’s okay. I’m interested in the class discussion that goes on, but I don’t normally talk. Then there’s a knock at the door and Mrs. Gillece tells us to start reading without her as she adjusts her glasses and goes to see who it is.
I start reading; I’m getting into the story.
A few seconds later, my attention is drawn to the seat in front of me that was empty just five minutes ago. I don’t have time to recognize who it is.
“Myles!” Trei says enthusiastically.
Nuh. Uh.
“Hey,” he says to Trei.
I stare at the script on the page, but it doesn’t form words anymore.
“So you have English now?” Boo observes.
“Yeah,” my new pain in the ass, Myles answers.
He either doesn’t notice me, or doesn’t want to talk to me, but it’s still super-hard trying to ignore him with Boo and Trei talking to him.
When they finally stop, I’m happy to get back into the story yet again. I get to read for about three minutes before Mrs. Gillece taps on my desk. “Sophie, Mr. Lott has missed some assignments, do you think you can catch him up?” she asks.
Myles. Lott must be his last name. Crap. Why did she pick the one
not
talking to him?
“Uh,” I need an excuse, but I can’t think of one. “Okay.”
It just kind of pops out of my mouth before I have a chance to stop it. I could have said no. I could have made something up on the spot. I’m usually good at that.
“Thank you, Sophie.” Mrs. Gillece smiles and adjusts her glasses.
Myles turns around and gives me a slight smile, his eyes stare down at my desk as I take out my notes.
Mrs. Gillece taps me on the shoulder. “I meant sometime outside of class.” Gillece says.
Oh, c’mon.
“Uh, okay,” I try to not get pissed off.
I’m not more than a paragraph back into the story when I notice a certain someone has turned around in their seat, trying to get my attention. “Uhm, Sophie?” he asks.
“Can I help you?”
“I was just wondering when we’re going to meet up,” Myles says, “just so I know.”
I sigh. “I don’t know.”
Then Boo, who has been the quietest I’ve ever seen him, shoves his big nose into the conversation. “How about this weekend? Sophie’s got nothing to do, do you Sophie?”
From behind me, he kicks the back of my chair.
Oh he’s dead.
“Sure,” I say through my teeth. Then I turn to face Boo with every intention of returning a kick back.
“Are you sure?” Myles asks.
I sigh again. Trying not to notice how blue his eyes are. What if this Myles guy is like, a goodie good, and tells on me for not helping him or something? “Yeah, it’s cool.” I stretch a smile over my lips. White letters read “Joy Division” on his black T-shirt. I try not to notice that either.
I spend the rest of my periods that I have to share with this kid avoiding him. I skip lunch and sit in the piano lab, which isn’t too unusual. When I’m supposed to go to study hall for gym medical, I ask the librarian if I can run errands for her.
At the end of the day, Boo, Trei, and I sit in my car, trying to get out of the joy we call the Lucky High School Parking Lot. We’re stuck in an endless line of cars and slowly passing by who else but Myles, leaning against my tree. He’s a good few feet away, and he’s not looking at us, but I feel safe knowing that he can’t see inside my tinted windows.
“Way to be a
bitch
in English!” Myles standing there must trigger this outburst from Boo.
“Boo!” Trei scolds from the backseat.
“What? She was so mean!”
“How?” I ask.
“‘Can I help you?’” Boo mimics.
“Trei, did you think I was being mean?”
“Well, you could have been nicer,” she admits.
“I
was
nice,” I defend. “I’m helping him with catching up, aren’t I?”
They both stare at me.
“Yeah, Sophie, real nice. Mrs. G almost had to beg you to help him. Jesus Sophie, he was just trying to make friends, which you
could
use a few more of.” Boo slams his hand against my head rest.
I hate to admit it. I
really
hate to admit it. But Boo’s right. I suddenly feel bad for Myles. I mean, he just moved here. He doesn’t know anyone, and he wants to make friends—with me of all people—and I’m not making it any easier for him.
He just wants to get caught up with his work, and I'm going to have to be…not mean to him if Boo and Trei are going to be his friend. Otherwise, I’ll have to deal with crap like this every day.
Plus, normal girls make friends with normal guys all the time.
I pull over where Myles standing. The traffic isn’t going anywhere, and it’s almost impossible to get out of the parking lot anyway.
We’re in the shade for the most part, but I keep my head inside as I crack the window. “Hey Myles!” I yell toward him.
His head perks up and he looks at me like he’s heard me, but he doesn’t say anything.
“What are you doing tonight?” I continue anyway, adjusting my sunglasses.
He shrugs, still not moving.
“Want to come over Sophie’s house and watch movies?” Boo interrupts by rolling down the passenger side window and stretching his torso over the top of my car.
That gets Myles’ attention. He walks slowly over to my car, keeping his distance when he reaches it. “You guys want to hang out with me?” He only looks at me. I guess he thinks that I’m not in on this. I want to be nice, but I don’t want him to get the wrong idea.
It’s easy for them to get the wrong idea.
“Uhm, yeah,” I say casually.
Then we have an awkward silence moment.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Get in here!” Boo orders.
Trei opens the door for him and he hesitates, like he’s expecting me to floor it as soon as his hand touches the door. I try to make the grin I give him look friendly, even if it feels strange and misplaced on my face. He finally climbs in and sits next to Trei.
When the traffic starts moving, I start to head home.
“So, you like movies, Myles?” Boo asks, turning around in his seat and causing me to become very nervous of whether his ass is actually going to hit my face.
“What kind of stupid question is that, Boo?” Trei scoffs.
“It’s just a question.”
“Why are you so doofy today?”
“What kind of a word is doofy?”
“Oh ‘it’s just a word.’”
“Why are you mocking me?”
“Why do you ask such stupid questions?”
For twins, Boo and Trei argue a lot. I know they’re not seriously fighting, but I decide to end it anyway. Boo’s butt is dangerously close to my eyeball. “Alright stop. Boo, I know you’re in a bad mood because you missed
Project Runway
last night, but c’mon.”
Boo sticks out his tongue at me.
I can hear Trei giggling from the back. “It’s like, his favorite show,” she explains to Myles.
“Oh,” I hear him laugh.
It’s quiet for a few minutes.
“So Myles,” Boo breaks the silence, “you like movies?”
“Don’t start that again,” I warn.
“What are we watching anyway?” Trei asks.
“I have no clue,” I answer.
“Why don’t we ask Myles?” Boo says.
Boo and Trei turn to Myles and I glance at him in my rear-view. He looks nervous all of a sudden; the fate of the free world rests on whether his choice of movie is pleasing to all three of us.
“What kinds of movies do you like, Myles?” Trei asks.
“Anything is fine with me,” he says.
“Anything?” Boo mocks.
“Yeah,” he laughs a little.
“Good, cause we’re watching
The Breakfast Club.
”
Trei and I groan.
“Boo, you know how much I hate that movie,” I say.
“Yeah, it’s getting a bit old,” Trei agrees, throwing her long black hair in a ponytail.
“You guys suck!
The Breakfast Club
is the most awesome movie ever!”
Trei sighs, I roll my eyes.
When arguing about
The Breakfast Club
, Boo always turns into a three year old.
“What’s wrong with that movie?” Myles pipes up.
“What! You’ve never seen it?” Boo says in shock.
“No.” Myles shrugs.
“Well now we have to watch it.”
It’s a rule of Movie Night. If there’s a person who wants to watch a movie that everyone hates, we can usually vote on it. Problems only arise when there’s someone who hasn’t seen the movie. If that happens, we have to watch it anyway. It’s Boo’s rule obviously. That’s how he gets away with
The Breakfast Club
. The only rule I have is that no one talks when Tim Curry is singing in
The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Ever.
“Trust me, if you don’t know what’s wrong with it now, you will after you’ve watched it,” I blurt out.
That’s okay. I’m going to have to talk to him, right?
We stop at Wal-Mart so we can stock up on food. We have this routine down. Each of us has a designated aisle: Boo gets the bags of junk, I get the candy junk, Trei gets the boxed junk, and we split the soda junk between Myles and I. I’m not about to let him pick all diet or something equally as horrifying.
We set a cart in the middle of the aisle and absolutely have to fill it to its maximum capacity. This all has to be done like the building is on fire because the mind works well under pressure, at least that’s how Boo explains it.
Bags are crinkling as they’re thrown into the cart. I glance at Myles, who is hesitating too much, thinking too much about what soda he should shove into the cart.
Here’s a chance to be friendly.
“Just grab stuff,” I say to him across the aisle. At this rate, we’re going to have the cart full of all the right junk, and nothing to wash it down with. Luckily, Myles listens and follows our example by blindly grabbing random cans of soda and placing them into the cart.
“Why are we in such a rush?” he asks me.
“Why do you ask that?”
Boo balances on the back of the cart and pushes it with one foot. “Full cart!” he yells as we follow him to check out.
I’m relieved as we’re walking up my driveway to see that Mom’s car isn’t there. I hate bringing people to my house. Boo and Trei are used to her by now, but Myles is a potential new friend. Every person I’ve brought over at this stage has met my mom.
Notice how many friends I have.
Myles stands outside my house with the bags in his hands as Boo and Trei rush past him, anxious to put everything down. “Well are you going to come in?” I ask.
He looks up at the huge house. Yeah. It’s kind of embarrassing. People think I’m rich or something. But I’m not. Adam may be, but I work for everything I have and I like it that way. “C’mon,” I say, motioning for him to come in. I close the door behind us.
When we walk into my kitchen to set everything down, I see a note on the fridge:
Went shopping and to a play with Adam, be back tomorrow.
The end.
“So, this is where you live?” Myles asks, probably astonished by how big and empty the house is.
“No, I live mostly in the basement, and sometimes in my room,” I answer.
“The basement?”
“Yeah,” I say it like he’s supposed to know. “The most important thing in my life’s down there.”
Boo and Trei roll their eyes as I refer to my piano. Myles looks confused for a second, but then just shrugs and says, “Okay.”
“Your mom’s not home?” Boo asks.
I flick the note on the fridge. “Not ‘till tomorrow.”
I’m glad she won’t see Myles here. Ever since Jack and I broke up, my mother has been trying to fix me up with anyone that walks through the front door. At first it was anyone who could live up to her standards, which meant she would bring home people she had met God knows where that reminded her of Jack. Right. Because Jack was just the knight in shining armor I needed. Now it doesn’t matter. Be it boy, girl, or gang member.
She even tried to set me up with Boo.
I go to the phone to check the messages.
“You can sit down if you want, Myles,” Trei says as I hit the play button.
Myles sits on a bench at the kitchen table across from Trei. “Do you want anything?” Boo asks as he sits down next to him. “Sophie’s not a very good hostess,” he whispers like I can’t hear.
I shoot him a look that says
shut up or I will rip your arms off
and he does. My look of death never fails.
Message two
the mechanical, answering machine voice says. I completely missed the first one.
“Hi pretty-Sophie-baby!” It’s Stevie’s voice. “Hope you’re feeling better, Jade and I wanted to come and see you tonight, okay? Plus we heard your Nazi of a mother won’t be there.
Jack pot!
See you around seven.”
Beep.
“Stevie and Jade are coming over?” Boo asks.
I nod.
“Who are they?” Myles asks.
“Sophie’s brother and her brother’s boyfriend,” Trei explains.
“Oh, well if you want to hang out with them, maybe I should go,” Myles says suddenly.
Boo and Trei turn to at me. Apparently, I’m supposed to stop Myles from leaving. I sigh under my breath. “No, you can stay. Jade and Stevie are always up to meet new people.”
“Are you sure?” he asks.
Before I can answer, Boo cuts me off. “Of course she is!”
I smile that same uncomfortable way to show Myles that I agree.
“So…” Boo says, “
Are
you feeling better?”
“Yup.”
“Were you sick?” Myles asks.
“Yes.” I pretend I’m re-reading the note on the fridge.
“With what?”
Why does he care?
“Sophie is—” Boo begins. I cut him off.
“Fine now.”
Even Boo knows to shut up right now.
I’m not about to let this kid know about me. If someone at school hasn’t already told him, I’m not going to. I glance at my watch to avoid an awkward silence. “I have to get Leena from the bus.”
“We’ll be here,” Trei says.
“Go ahead.” Boo motions toward the door, “we’ll be here chatting it up.”
Oh God.
Trei gives me a look of sympathy as Boo smiles. I want to shoot my death stare at him again, but Myles is beginning to stare. Instead, I go into the hall to put on my coat and glasses then leave.
Leena’s just getting off of her bus across the street as I reach it. “Sophie!” she squeals. She runs toward me in her purple dress and Mary Janes, her little orange pigtails bouncing up and down.
“Hey!” I take her little pink My Little Pony lunchbox from her as we start to walk toward the house.
“How come Mommy didn’t pick me up?” she asks.
“Because Mommy isn’t coming home tonight,” I answer as we walk inside the house.
I see Leena’s face light up as she kicks off her shoes. “Are we watching movies?” she asks.
“Yes, and Boo and Trei are here too.” I take off my coat and glasses and throw them on a chair in the living room.
We both walk into the kitchen where Boo, Trei, and Myles are still sitting at the table where I left them. Boo is smiling like an evil cat, but Trei and Myles’ faces are calm. Boo’s just trying to make me think that he shared something I didn’t want him to.