Page 21 of The Forever After Bet

I open my mouth, but Ford beats me.

“It’s a good thing I don’t care what you think.”

Poppy huffs, looking put out, and goes back to doing her schoolwork. I glance at him, and he smiles and winks at me. I smile back.

In chemistry, we watch a stupid movie about atoms and forming bonds. Usually, I find Mr. Kazansky’s movies informative, even if they’re from the nineties, but today’s video is so boring. I try to take notes, but my mind keeps wandering. My note-taking turns into doodles.

I can’t stop thinking about Ford and our interaction this morning. Maybe things don’t have to be so black and white with him. I know we’re not together anymore, but I want to give him something for luck for his basketball games. A kiss is out of the question; but I could do something else.

I glance over at him. He has his head propped up on his arm, and his eyes are closed. His notes forgotten. I look around the room, and half the class has nodded off. The other half look bored out of their minds. Even Mr. Kazansky keeps nodding off.

I glance over at Ford again. He finally got the haircut he needed. It’s still long on the top, but he’s trimmed up the back and the sides. I miss him so much. Seven more months of school, and then we can be together. It doesn’t seem that long in the scheme of things, but at this moment, it feels like an eternity.

Ford opens his eyes, and they lock with mine. I feel caught, but I also don’t look away.

“Hi,” I mouth.

Ford sits up, running his hand through his hair. We’re still staring at each other. Finally, he mouths. “Are you okay?”

I don’t know how to answer that. I twist my mouth up and give him a little shrug. I’ve been worse, but I’ve also been better. He sighs and nods, letting me know he understands.

The movie ends, and Mr. Kazansky flips on the lights. Kids groan and mutter discontent over the sudden light change. “You should expect to see several questions from this movie, on the test next week.” There are more groans and grumbles that filter through the classroom.

Ford quirks a smile and mouths, “Whoops.”

The bell rings, and the spell between us breaks. We gather up our stuff and head for the door. Leah has biology down the hall, so she’s waiting for me when I come out of class. She wraps her arm around mine, pulling me down the hall. “Come on, I’m starving, and I’m craving fries from McDonald’s, so we’ve got to hurry.”

“Okay,” I smile. “I’ll drive so you can eat.”

“Excellent. We’re meeting Aubrey and June at June’s locker.”

In calculus, we’ve started learning about imaginary numbers. I’m having some trouble with them, which frustrates me. Usually, after reading through the concepts and doing several of the problems, I can figure it out, but that’s not working for me this time. After Mr. Nelson finishes his lesson, I go up to his desk and ask him to walk me through a problem step by step. I’m more confused when he’s done. I nod, say thank you, and walk back to my desk.

I glance at Ford, and he’s almost done with the homework assignment. This makes me feel even more frustrated, and I sit down with a humph. A couple of minutes later, I feel a tug on my hair. I lean back, letting Ford play with my curls. I’m done worrying about stupid math for the day.

In Art Design, we’ve finally been cut loose to work on our own projects. My computer keeps freezing up on me, and I’ve had to restart it twice, so I decide to take a break. My teacher, Mrs. Kim, lets us come and go from class as we please. She leaves the hall pass on a hook next to her desk. I grab it and head to the bathroom.

I figured out something to do for Ford to say good luck on tonight’s game. The idea came to me when I saw Aubrey apply lipstick after lunch, and then blot it with a tissue. I pull out a little four by four notebook and tear a piece of paper out. I pull my makeup bag out and rummage around for some lipstick. I find a frosted pink lip gloss. Its not right though. I end up dumping out my bag, looking for something else, until I find a red lipstick. I bought it to wear to Jack, Ty, and Ford’s football signing reception. This will work perfectly.

I apply a nice thick coat on my lips. I kiss my hand first and then kiss the piece of paper. I write: make this moment matter under the kiss and then write: love, Killercheerleader#10. I attach a tiny safety pin to the top of the paper. When I leave the bathroom, I get nervous. I walk to my locker and open it up, pretending to get something out of it. I glance around, but the hallway is empty. My hands shake as I fold up the note. I glance around one more time. Before I can chicken out, I quickly shove the paper in Ford’s locker.

12. No Matter the Cost

“Bree’s been blowing up my phone all day about the Christmas fundraiser meeting after school,” I tell Jack as we get dressed after sports PE. We shot hoops the entire period to save our energy for tonight’s game.

“Hannah said it shouldn’t be very long. She’s just going to go over what’s going to happen on Saturday and remind everyone what time they signed up to help at the booth,” Jack says.

“Did we sign up?” I ask.

“I signed you up with me.” Ty punches my shoulder.

“Oh, thanks,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck. “I’ve been off my game lately. Thanks for having my back.”

“No problem.” Ty smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.

I sit down on the bench next to him. “How are you doing, Ty?”

He shrugs. “I’m glad I had a week before I saw June again because the last two days have sucked.”

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