Page 45 of The Sun
I closed my locker and turned around, nearly running right into Brandon’s torso. “Shit,” I whispered, clutching my biology book to my chest. “You scared me.”
“Sorry.” He leaned against the red, aluminum wall then ran his fingers through his hair. “Look, did I piss you off the other night or something?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m sure.” I started down the hall toward a group of girls who had their hands cupped in front of their mouths and their eyes locked on me—on us, really.
The skinny brunette in the middle, Valerie, was Brandon’s ex-girlfriend, so I could only imagine the poison spewing from her lips simply because he walked beside me. Their polished lips twisted in self-righteous smirks when we passed.
“I just. I mean, you just left without saying goodbye or anything. I figured you were mad.”
“What? No.” I was still distracted by the muffled whispers from those girls. Or maybe more distracted by the fact that I cared about the muffled whispers. “I, uh, I got sick, and a friend took me home.”
“Oh God. You did? I’m so sorry.” He swept a hand through his hair. “I didn’t think I was gone that long.”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” I stopped outside my next class. “Actually, be glad you didn’t witness it. It was pretty disgusting. TotalExorciststuff.”
He laughed. “Thanks for going with me.”
“Yeah. Thanks for taking me. I had fun.”
He shot me his Mr. Good Guy grin, then kissed me on the forehead. “See you later, Sunny.”
I watched him jog down the hall, not realizing I was smiling until I stepped into the room and Mrs. Blanchard called me out: “Take your seat, lovebird.”
Crap. Maybe Daisy was right.
Maybe I was in a love triangle after all.
10
Sunny
September 1999
Monday turned into Tuesday which faded into Friday. One week rolled into two. Then three. And Elias had successfully ignored me. Poof. Like I didn’t even exist.
I was no longer hurt over the entire situation. No, I had graduated all the way up to being totally and utterly pissed.
“Whoa,” Daisy said before snagging the eyeliner from my hand. “What are you doing?”
I frowned at my reflection in her makeup mirror. “I’m trying to do that cat-eye wing thing you do.”
“Come here. Close your eyes.” Daisy went about drawing delicate strokes over my eyelids, swearing underneath her breath a few times before she told me to look in the mirror. “It’s so weird to see you with real makeup on.”
“I wear real makeup.”
Daisy snorted. “Yeah, right.” Then she patted the top of her metallic, rolling makeup cart. “If you don’t have to basically peel your skin off to remove it, it’s not real makeup.” She smeared some cotton-candy pink lipstick over her lips before grabbing the pair of combat boots she had gotten from the thrift store and lacing them up. “So,” she said. “Has Brandon given you his letterman jacket yet?”
“No.”
“He needs to pony up. I mean, it’s almost been a month. Which, by the way, what are you doing for your one-month anniversary?”
I blinked a few times, confused. Brandon had kissed me twice. Innocent pecks that were extremely awkward. “We aren’t dating, Daisy.”
“Sure you are. It’s like unspoken.” Her face screwed up. “You guys are an item.”
