Page 19 of Full Circle

“So you’re staying now for detention?” I asked Maggie in order to change the subject. I could still feel Wesley’s gaze boring into the back of my head.

She nodded glumly. “I’ll meet you over at the diner afterwards.”

The three of us had started walking over to The Comfy Cushion after school and taking over one of the bigger corner booths to work on homework while Marla supplied us with snacks. Wesley took his studies very seriously now, and after we had explained our philosophy on future freedom to Maggie, she did, too. Which was just as well because with how often Wes received in school suspensions for fighting in the boys’ locker room, he was liable to be expelled. No matter what kind of influence my family had over him, Wesley’s rage never dissipated and only worsened as we got older.

Wesley reached down and grabbed the handle to my backpack, tossing it over his shoulder like he did every day. “We’ll see you in a bit then,” he agreed.

Maggie turned and had only taken a few steps when she suddenly spun around and added, “Oh! I almost forgot! Hillary was talking about you in the bathroom earlier!” She winked at him and continued down the hall to detention.

Her words sent a slither of dread down to my stomach. It was common knowledge that Hillary Stanbrooke, the most popular girl in school, was obsessed with Wesley, yet he always tried to change the subject or ignore people’s remarks. He claimed that he wasn’t going to date until he was a little older, but I was pretty certain he only said that to make me feel better since Daddy said no daughter of his was allowed to date until high school. Given how crazy hormones had turned some of my classmates, his ultimatum never bothered me.

None of it meant that Wesley didn’t like Hillary, though. We had never even talked about our kiss under the fireworks the summer before last, just continued with our friendship as we always had, so I had no idea if it meant anything to him at all. He had become so engrained in my family that Nana and Daddy even permitted him to stay the night in the guest room a few times—conveniently located directly across the hall from Daddy’s open bedroom door. We were inseparable like all best friends were inseparable. So the possibility of ever being something more was only a vague dream in the deep recesses of my heart. That didn’t mean I wanted to see him with a girl as vapid and cruel as Hillary Stanbrooke, though. She made a rattlesnake look like a labrador puppy.

We walked in companionable silence up Main Street towards the restaurant. It was already hot, despite the early spring season, and within minutes I was piling my hair on top of my head to wrap a hair tie around it just to get the sweaty mess off my neck.

River’s Run Primary School, as it was called, housed grades K-8. There was one other primary school on the other side of the county, roughly a 35 minute drive away, but Smithson County High School was smacked directly in the middle and we would have to take a bus starting our freshman year. I was filled with dread at the prospect of a new school with more kids, but also at the possibility that Wesley might not be allowed to return with me.

His father had only come down to visit once in the nearly two years Wesley lived here, with inconsistent phone calls here or there, but Mr. Madden communicated heavily with Wesley by email. Wesley was the only person I knew who had a satellite cell phone with reception that worked even in the deepest part of the Georgia woods. Mr. Madden had insisted on it and continually warned Wes that the phone had a GPS tracking device that could pinpoint the exact room he stood in at any given moment.

I thought it was rather odd for Mr. Madden to track Wesley’s whereabouts so closely when he couldn’t even bother to call, but Wes shrugged it off. The past several emails had contained pointed advice about Wesley “living up to” the Madden family name and that now was the time for him to start taking his future seriously. He had even emailed a brochure for some fancy college preparatory academy that he stated had a reputation for producing the “leaders of the 21st century.” Wesley had punched a hole through the wall of the cafeteria in his rage, thereby earning another in school suspension. Daddy, Marla, and his great-aunt Shirley continued to smooth things over and prevent him from getting expelled, but it was only a matter of time before their pleas and promises ran dry.

From the corner of my eye, I caught Wes staring at me and glanced over with a smirk. “Can I help you?”

“I really like the way your hair curls when it’s wet,” he replied instantly.

I scrunched my nose in disgust at the compliment. My hair was only curling because I was getting sweaty, which was not something I wanted him to notice. “Don’t be gross!” I shoved him playfully.

He laughed and came right back to my side, standing closer this time, so that our hands were almost touching. It would have been the easiest thing in the world to lace his fingers through mine as we had done so many times. Yet it felt different now in a way that made my heart skip a beat, and I chickened out at the last second.

“It’s not like you can help it, Celeste,” he said. “I know it’s the Georgia heat. I’m just saying, you wear it well.”

I groaned. That compliment was just as awkward as the first!

Wesley’s face dropped for a split second as embarrassment flooded his features, but in a flash, he returned to his megawatt smile. “Geez, next time I’ll just ignore you.”

That didn’t make me feel any better, however. I didn’t want him to ignore me; I wanted him to think I was beautiful. Letting him fall a half step ahead, I followed him into The Comfy Cushion.

Marla was already setting a tall pitcher full of ice water and three glasses down on the table when we walked in. “Now, don’t let this sunshine stop you from acing those finals!” she chirped.

Wesley and I slid into opposite sides of the booth before she asked, “And where is Maggie? She better not be out with some boy!”

He grinned at me as he replied, “She got in trouble over one, so she’s stuck in detention.”

Marla sighed like the indiscretion offended her personally. “Lord, that girl’s gonna wind up pregnant before she gets her driver’s license.”

I rolled my eyes at her theatrics, but for once, Wesley frowned. “We would never let her get into that kind of trouble, Miss Marla,” he said firmly.

His answer must have somewhat appeased her because Marla dropped the subject. “I’ll bring over a veggie platter in a bit.”

“Only if it’s got Celeste’s chipotle ranch, please!” Wesley called after her retreating form. Marla merely held up a hand in acknowledgement.

The condiment had become Wesley’s favorite, but for some reason, hearing him say it now made my skin flush again. That was the first time I felt butterflies over a boy. I never had the courage to ask if Wesley felt them, too.

I shook my head against the memory flooding my thoughts. Is this what all crushes did to people? No wonder the kids in my class turned into morons when they discovered the opposite sex. “Let’s focus on our geometry, please,” I said curtly.

Before long, Maggie slid into the booth next to me, swearing that Mrs. Gallatin was secretly a witch who flew around on her broom at night. She made a dramatic show of slumping against me with a heavy sigh.

“Maggie, it’s just detention,” I reminded her. “Which you earned from being late.”

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