“I’m going to have to start driving an automatic,” he mumbled to himself before continuing. “You think you’re unpopular? The first hour I was on this island I heard about the beautiful, perfect,heavenlyHelen Hamilton. You know that’s what the boys call you, right? Heaven Hamilton?” Helen dodged his seeking hand, but he eventually captured hers and held it tighter.
“Stop it, Lucas. This isn’t a joke to me. And what’s up withthis?” she asked, holding up their linked hands.
“I don’t know,” he said with a curious tilt of his head. “But it feels right, doesn’t it? Look, why don’t you tell me what’s really bothering you about being seen with me. Are you afraid of people talking?”
“Yes and no. You don’t understand because you haven’t been here long enough, but those popular people have something against me, and some of them go out of their way to be mean to me. I’ve never fit in with them.”
“And you never will,” he told her seriously. “No matter where you go you are going to be different, Helen. It’s about time you got used to it.”
“I am used to it! I’ve had my whole life to get used to it!” she exclaimed as they drove into the school parking lot.
“Good. Now stop freaking out and listen for a sec. Those guys weren’t staring at us because they hate you. They were staring at us because they couldn’t figure out how the hell I convinced a girl who tried to strangle me the other week to get in my car and go out for coffee.”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that,” Helen said to the ground, getting out of the car. She tossed her bag over her shoulder.
“And I’d like to go back to forgetting about it. If we never talk about trying to kill each other again, it would be fine with me,” Lucas said quietly. He took her hand firmly in his and pulled her up against him so that her shoulder was touching his arm as they walked into school.
Everyone was staring. The halls were lined with blank faces and slack jaws as conversations were momentarily halted and then continued twice as loud when Helen and Lucas passed. Helen tried to pull her hand out of Lucas’s, but he resisted at first. Finally, he let go when he realized that Helen was not just being modest, she was about to panic.
“Lennie?” Claire called out warily. Helen smiled briefly at Lucas and veered in Claire’s direction.
“Where were you all weekend?” Claire asked, eyeing Lucas suspiciously.
“Did you try to call me?” Helen asked, grateful for an excuse to pry herself away from Lucas and hopefully away from all the stares.
“Like, five times. What happened to you?”
“My phone broke,” Helen said apologetically. Then she turned to Lucas. “I have to stop at my locker before homeroom. Thanks for the ride,” she told him bluntly.
“Okay. I’ll see you later then,” he said, accepting his dismissal as gracefully as he could. When he was no more than three steps away, Claire grabbed Helen’s arm and dragged her toward her locker.
“What the holy hand grenade was that?” Claire practically shouted. Helen shushed her as she wrestled with her locker combination.
“We had a long talk,” Helen said quickly. “We don’t hate each other anymore.”
“A talk? Yeah, right. I’m sure tongues were involved but for some reason I don’t think much language was used.” Claire looked angry, but Helen was suddenly angrier.
“Stop it, Claire! I mean it! I had a really rough weekend. I’m sorry I didn’t think to call you last night but my father was pissed at me for leaving him stranded at the airport.”
“Well, tell me about it now then!” Claire replied defensively. “Not like you have to say anything. Everyone can see that you and Lucas are suddenly a couple.”
“I don’t know what we are, but it’s not something I can sum up with an easy label like ‘couple,’ okay?” Stressed, Helen shuffled through her books and realized that she hadn’t done any of her homework.
“Why can’t you just be honest with me? You slept with him,” Claire accused her. Her eyes were hurt. Helen knew she couldn’t shut her out entirely.
“Honestly? I did sleep with him. Twice. But not the way you think,” she said frankly. She turned Claire around and steered them both to Hergie’s. “We’ve never even kissed.”
“Rubbish!” Claire declared, stopping dead in the middle of the hall.
“Ask him yourself. You’ve got classes with him all day,” Helen responded, perfectly serious. The bell rang and they both had to run the last few steps to make it through the door before Hergie closed it.
Helen had a terrible morning. Several teachers considered giving her detention for not doing her homework and every single girl in school was furious with her for getting a ride with Lucas. Helen’s relationships with the girls in her class had always been strained. For years she’d gone out of her way to be nice to them, but she’d finally given up when she noticed that if she kept her head down and her mouth shut she could slide under the radar.
That was all over now that she had been seen coming to school with Lucas. She had crossed some sort of imaginary line, broken the truce that she had entered into by refusing to compete, and they’d declared war on her. All day long, Helen found that if she looked anywhere but at the board or her desk she was shot nasty looks. To top everything else off, Gretchen was whispering vicious rumors about Helen to anyone who would listen, and Claire was still upset.
Helen couldn’t help but smile with relief when she saw Lucas at his locker before lunch. He seemed to be the only person in the entire school who would smile back at her.
“So you like me again, huh?” he said as she made her way toward him.
