Without You: Book 1 of the Changing Hearts Series (12 page)

Before she was even done processing that her entire lunch was on the floor, she looked up to see Wendy smirk before walking off with her lunch tray.
 

She got up lightning fast, her drink still in the vending machine, and power walked to Wendy. Wendy turned around, chin held high.
 

“You bi—” she began.
 

“Something going on?” The coach appeared from around the corner. She saw him look behind her at the mess next to the machines before looking back at her. “Clean it up, grab another tray, and get back to class. You,” he said to Wendy. She turned around and looked at him. “What are you waiting for?”

He and Wendy left but not before Wendy glanced back at her with a smirk.
 

Ariana’s fists were shaking, and she was breathing like she had just run a 5K. What had just happened? Why was Wendy making her day a living hell? She stood there, thinking of the things she could do to her, before slowly walking back into the cafeteria for napkins.
 

A few minutes later, she had cleaned up most of the mess and informed the lunch ladies that she had dropped her tray.
 

“I got most of it,” she told one of the lunch ladies as she looked down at her new tray of food. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll clean it in just a sec.”

She walked back to ISS without another word, grabbing her drink on the way.
 

As she walked past Wendy, she forced herself not to put her small tray of peaches down the back of her shirt.

###

Ariana had to think. Surely it was almost time to go home. The seventh period bell must have rung at least thirty minutes ago, maybe forty.
 

She looked at her last worksheet. All of her teachers had sent along several of them, and the coach had obviously put in a nice thick stack of mundane ones as well.
 

She closed her eyes for a few seconds and took a deep breath. Her brain felt like sludge. She couldn’t think anymore. She desperately needed social interaction.
 

Ariana made herself open her eyes and slowly finish these last math problems. She didn’t care if they were right. She just wanted out.
 

She stared at the last row of problems, and her eyes teared up. When is the bell gonna ring? she wondered.
 

Just as she began her last problem, the afternoon announcements came on.
 

She put her pencil down and put the stack of papers back in the manila folder. Then she put her backpack on around her shoulders and folded her left leg to sit on so she could glance at the coach. She eyed the plastic container of cell phones. The announcements were finally finished, and everyone else was moving around, just as anxious to leave. She resolved not to look in Wendy’s direction.
 

“When I call your name, turn in your packets and pick up your device,” the coach said.
 

Thankfully, Ariana was one of the first people called. She power walked up to his desk and handed him her packet with both hands before reaching in for her phone. She turned it on while she returned to her desk. By the time she was seated, everyone else was called up and the bell finally rang.
 

The sound rang loudly through her ears, and she smiled as she got up and left. As soon as she stepped out into the hallway, she checked to see if she had messages, but before she could check, she felt someone grab her from behind and hug her.
 

She turned around. It was Lucas.
 

“Hey,” he said quietly, his eyes gleaming.
 

She closed her eyes and kissed him, not caring who saw. Her arms went around his neck, and he hugged her waist. After a couple of seconds, they parted, and Ariana noticed someone staring at them. It was Wendy. Just as she met her eyes, Wendy turned quickly and began walking away in the opposite direction. Ariana tried to put a word to the look she had seen on her face. She looked like she had just been slapped.

###

“Did you see that?” Ariana asked Lucas, still staring after Wendy.

“What?” Lucas asked.
 

“Wendy,” Ariana said. “The look she gave me. Us.”
 

They began walking towards his locker. “To be honest, I don’t pay attention to her. What happened with her is in the past.”

Ariana wanted to ask what had happened between them but figured it wasn’t the right time to ask. And she didn’t know if she wanted to know anyway. It still bothered her that such a good guy like Lucas had fallen for someone as evil as Wendy.
 

She sighed, and they walked to his locker around the corner and down the hallway.

“It was so boring in there. I seriously thought it would never end,” she said as she watched Lucas grab stuff from his locker.

“Yeah, it pretty much sucks. I wish I could take you out to distract you from it, but A, I don’t think your parents would love the idea of me taking you out on a school night, and B, I have to work,” he said as he shut his locker. They took each other’s hands and walked out of the school.
 

It sucked that Lucas had to work so much. She had looked forward to talking to him after school to get her mind off things, and really just to hear his voice. But they wouldn’t be able to chat until ten o’clock tonight when he got home, and even then, he would be tired, have to shower, do homework, and get to bed. They mostly texted, especially during the week.
 

She needed something else to do, besides college stuff.
 

She made a mental note to start preparing for this year’s DECA competitions. Either that or find a hobby or do a sport. She thought of Mayra, but she didn’t want to take too much of her time now that she also hung out with Jimmy. She wondered if either of their parents knew about those two. Probably not.

“What are you thinking about?” Lucas asked.
 

“Nothing.” She tried to smile. “Just that I miss you.”

Lucas laughed a little and put his thumb and finger on her chin. “I’m right here, babe.”
 

She hugged him and pressed her face into his neck. Her arms were around his neck, and she didn’t care who saw.
 

They walked up to their cars. They were parked next to each other. Ariana had beat Mayra there. She’d be back for Jimmy later.
 

“I’ll see you later, okay?” Lucas said softly as he kissed her on the cheek.

But she grabbed him around the waist before he could turn around and leave. She put her hands on his face and pulled him towards her. She took his mouth in hers, pulling on his lips and feeling his skin against her nose. Lucas squeezed her until their bodies were meshed together. She heard a car honk, maybe at them, but she didn’t open her eyes or pull back to see. She felt a hot pang in her chest as Lucas groaned inside her mouth.
 

A few seconds later, Lucas stared at her, mouth still open. “What was that?”

I love you.
 

She caught the words before they came out of her mouth. She just stared at his eyes, wondering if he was thinking the same thing.
 

Lucas closed his eyes as he came in for one more kiss, although shorter. “I’ll call you later.”
 

Another kiss before he finally left, and she got into her car. She thought about her birthday coming up, and she realized Lucas was the best thing that had ever happened to her. The best gift. She couldn’t stand to lose him now.

“Hey, just two and a half weeks left until your birthday,” Mayra said as they drove home, interrupting Ariana’s thoughts on last year. “Did you know that?”

They were driving home from school. Jimmy was at practice.

“It snuck up on me this year. I forgot all about it,” Ariana said. She focused on the road and tried not to think about last year’s birthday. It made her want to gag at everything that had happened.

“It’s your eighteenth birthday. How could you forget it?” Mayra teased.

She shrugged.
 

“So are you doing anything?”

“I don’t know. I guess just a family dinner like last year. I don’t know if I feel like doing much.”
 

“We can go to my house again if you want. Rent some movies.” Mayra said while she looked at her phone.

Ariana wanted to pretend she hadn’t heard. It reminded her too much of Carlos.
 

Mayra glanced at her. “Or, hey. Let’s go out. Double date. Dinner and a movie.”

Ariana nodded and smiled at Mayra. “That sounds fun. We can still do the family dinner, just on a different day.”

“Yeah.” They turned into their subdivision. “So I wonder what Lucas is gonna get you for your birthday.” She drew out the first syllable.
 

She sighed. “I actually haven’t told him yet.”

“He doesn’t know your birthday is coming up? Didn’t he ask you when your birthday was?” Mayra asked.

“Don’t get all…” Ariana searched for the right word. “You sound like my mom when I don’t sort the laundry right.”

They laughed.
 

“Still. How does he not know? Don’t make me do something about this.” Mayra was dead serious now.

“I guess it just never came up. I’m gonna tell him.”

“When?” They were in her driveway now. Ariana put the car in park.

“I don’t know. Soon.”

Mayra stared, squinting her eyes a little.
 

“I will.” She put her hands on the steering wheel, trying not to look away.
 

“Oh, hey. You know what?” Mayra said out of nowhere.

Ariana couldn’t help it. She smiled. “What?”

“My mom said she might get me a car soon. She got a raise, and she’s been saving up. Wouldn’t that be awesome? Then I can finally get a job, and I’m gonna need a car for college anyway.”

“That’s great,” Ariana said. She didn’t mind at all giving Mayra rides, but she knew she’d much rather have her own car. She still remembered the feeling of not having the freedom to do anything or go anywhere on her own.
 

Mayra made to get out of the car, hooking her bag on her shoulder.

“Hey,” she said as a thought popped into her mind. “How’s it going with you and Jimmy? Have you guys decided on anything yet?”

Mayra looked out the window, leaving her arm on the bag handle. “Still just friends.” She was out of the car now, about to shut the door.

“Is that what you want, though?” She didn’t want to pry, but she also wanted to be there for them. The both of them.

“I have no idea. I really like him. It’s not that. I just don’t want to mess anything up.”

“You know I’ll always be your friend. No matter what,” she said. “Him too.”
 

“I know. I just,” she paused. “I don’t want to ever lose him. In any way.”
 

“Well, you’ll never what could happen if you don’t try.”

“That’s what sucks about the whole thing.”
 

“So the friend thing. Whose idea was that?” Ariana said.
 

Mayra sat back down. “Both of us. Mostly mine. He kinda wants to give it a shot. I’m still not a hundred percent sure, though.”

“Are you worried at all what people would say? You guys are almost two years apart.”

“Not really. It’s not that. There are a few couples like that at school, and come on. We’re about to go into real world. Age doesn’t really matter anymore.”

“True. And he’s sixteen now. Since last spring. Almost seventeen,” she said.

“Yep,” Mayra said. “We’ll see, I guess.”

Finally, Mayra went into her house.

###

“So Ariana’s birthday is next week,” Mayra told Lucas. They were in Spanish again. Ariana gawked, looking up from her Spanish verbs worksheet.
 

Lucas looked at her. He didn’t look like he was having fun. “Your birthday is next week?”

Now Mayra looked at her, wincing. “You haven’t told him?”

Now they were both staring at her. She put her pencil down. “Can you guys stop looking at me like that? It’s like I’m being cornered.” She glanced around. Maybe she’d said that a little too loud, especially since everyone was really quiet today. She saw a couple of people stare from the corner of her eye.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Lucas asked, reaching for her hand. But she grabbed her pencil and began working again.
 

“It never came up. I was going to tell you this afternoon. Until Mayra opened her mouth,” she whispered. She stared at Mayra.

“It’s in less than a week,” Mayra said, not whispering. “Of course I’m going to say something.”

Ariana just shook her head. “We need to finish this study guide. The test is tomorrow, remember?”

She heard Mayra sigh and get up. Less than a minute later, she had the bathroom pass and was headed out the door. She heard it click quietly. The other groups were talking lightly as they thumbed through the Spanish textbook looking for the answers. Mrs. R had clearly said that the test would not be a “walk in the park.” Ariana had an A in the class, but she wasn’t about to start slacking off now.
 

Lucas kept writing in silence along her. She snuck a glance at him, and he caught her eye. He didn’t look mad. Just serious.
 

“Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked. It took her a few seconds to gather what he had just said, he had been so quiet.
 

She shrugged. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal?” Now he was looking at her again, disbelieving.

She said what was on her mind before she chickened out. “It just brings back bad memories anyway.” She wrote down an answer for question eighteen, looking back from the book and to her paper.

“Of course it’s a big deal, Ariana. It’s your eighteenth birthday. And I wanted to know about it. I want to spend it with you.” There was a pause. “If that’s what you want.”

She breathed out. “Of course I want to spend it with you. I just don’t want it to be a big deal. Mayra said we could go out on a double date. Dinner and a movie.” She touched his hand. “Do you want to go with me?”