We tread quietly down the stairs and through the living room. When we get out front I notice my dad’s car is already gone. Again I wonder how he knew exactly what I was up to.
The question rattles me. Especially considering what I have planned for the third weekend in April.
10
Ember
I get it.
I can see why all this is happening.
Jealousy.
Open hostility.
Curiosity and its best friend,awareness.
People are aware of me now. The periphery. That’s where I was B.N.
Before Noah.
But A.N.?
I’m in the middle of it all, an unwilling and reluctant participant.
Kelsey hates me. She’s made it clear, and her group of fake friends have supported her en masse. It’s been two weeks since Tana saw Noah and me together and blabbed.
Every day since, Noah and I have arrived at school together. We knew there was no way Tana would keep her mouth shut, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to let Noah drive me instead of riding my bike every day. The whispers started the minute I climbed out of Black Beauty, and they haven’t stopped.
That was the first day Kelsey began staring at me through slitted eyes in English, her version of shooting electrical bolts at me, but today she’s stepped up her game.
I glance down at the sheet of torn paper she dropped on my desk when she passed me on her way to her own seat.
SLUT!
I roll my eyes and crumple it into a ball, then flick it off my desk.
Common. Kelsey’s response is common. Everything about her is common. None of this surprises me.
After school, Kelsey and her top three best friends of the day corner me at my locker.
“What makes you think you can date Noah?” Kelsey stands at the locker beside mine, her hand on her hip. Her head bobbles with the attitude in her voice.
“Do you actually want an answer to that?” I ask without looking at her. I put my books in the locker and slam it, turning to face her.
“Yes, that’s why I asked it.” She’s snarling. It’s not a good look.
“Because it’s a free country. Because we were both single. Because I wanted to.”
“You’re not the right girl for him.”
“Neither were you. That’s probably why you cheated on him.”
Fear creeps into her eyes. She wants her indiscretion to stay a secret, and that’s fine by me. I have no desire to watch her skeletons run around.
I move, leaning close enough that I can see where her mascara is clumped. “Kelsey, you don’t have to be upset by me and Noah,” I say in a quiet voice. “Maybe you think you’re supposed to be, and so you are, but you don’thaveto be.”
“What are you talking about?” Her tone is snippy, but she looks confused.
