Page 44 of The Sun
I stomped past Mr. Brunner in his tacky, brown suit he wore every damn Monday.
Like a true teenage, lovesick, heartbroken rebel I tossed my books on my desk and threw myself into my chair so hard the legs scraped the floor.
Daisy slid into the desk beside me, eyes wide. “Yeah. Okay. You’re totally fine, Sun. Totes.”
I flipped her the bird, and one of the goody-goodies behind me gasped.
Jenny’s seat in front of me remained empty, and with every second that ticked by, a little more of my heart was torn out. I couldn’t help but imagine Elias kissing her. I hated how that made my insides feel like a ship sinking inch by inch. The rest of the class funneled in. The low buzz of chit-chat filled the small room, and finally, just before the late bell rang, Jenny strutted in like a damn peacock.
My blood pressure spiked like a volcanic eruption, washing heat over my face and chest and down my arms to my fingers which gripped my pen so tight I was surprised it didn’t snap like a twig. Someone had highjacked my body, because, I wasnotthat girl.
I was not the girl who envied Jenny Smith—until Elias gave her my damn smile.
Mr. Brunner closed the door before turning his back to the class. The marker tapped on the whiteboard while he jotted out details on the Louisiana Purchase in his awful chicken scratch.
Jenny made this dramatic exhale—way too loud and long. The kind of sigh that wants to be noticed. Then she flipped her hair behind her back, the brown strands landing right on my desk. I swatted it away then flipped to the first blank page in my notebook, scribbling the subject and date in the top righthand corner.
Her fingers curled around the back of her chair, those stupid bangle bracelets she always wore jingling together. “So. . . ” she said.
Closing my eyes, I forced every ounce of emotion from my face before I glanced up. Jenny was turned sideways in her seat, smiling at me like she and I were the best of friends. I arched my brows with a what-do-you-want fake grin.
“Are you still friends with Elias?” she batted her eyes.
“No.”
“Too bad. He’s cute.” She rolled her lip underneath her bleached teeth and coyly shrugged a shoulder. “Like really cute.”
I let out a laugh that wasn’t really a laugh.
“But, I guess that’s what happens. Isn’t it?”
“What?”
“You know what.” God her smile made me want to scream.
Before I could respond, Daisy had leaned across the aisle, putting her desk on two legs. “She knows what, Jenny?”
Jenny’s eyes slid over me like I was some rabies-infested cat she wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot-pole. “Everyone knows you got caught with him in your bed. It was all the talk during Momma’s Bible study a few years ago. Naughty by the way.” She winked, and my heart ignited into this fiery ball of twisted hate and embarrassment.
“Go fuck yourself, Jenny!” Daisy said.
“Such a dirty mouth for a preacher’s daughter.”
“In case you haven’t heard, preacher’s kids are basically the spawn of the devil.” Daisy cocked a grin.
With a sarcastic smile, I spun my finger in the air giving her the nonverbal turn-the-fuck-around.
Jenny smirked, crossing one leg over the other all prim and proper. “Mmm. And from what I hear, the devil’s spawn should really work on her gag reflex.” With that, she faced the front again, flicking her stupid hair over her stupid shoulder.
Daisy’s nostrils flared. “I swear,” she whisper-shouted, “I’m gonna get ahold of the prayer request roster at Daddy’s church and put something so awful on there about you, Jenny Smith. . .”
“All right class. Let’s settle down now.” Mr. Brunner shuffled to his desk for the attendance sheet.
And for the rest of class, I fumed.
After history,Daisy had theatre, which meant she was on the opposite side of the school. It also meant that I would pass Elias at precisely 1:45 on my way to pre-cal and trig, so I waited for the hallways to thin out until the thuds from the sneakers of people rushing to class echoed down the hall.
I was going to be late, but as long as I didn’t have to see Elias, it did not matter.
