I knew he was saying he wouldn’t mind because he was a nice person, but I liked to think that maybe he also liked getting some extra time with me.
“Thank you,” I said. “I guess I’ll see you Monday?”
“See you, then,” Charlie said. “And say hi to Matt for me.”
The mention of Matthew’s name was like a punch in the gut. I wondered whether he meant it that way—as a reminder of why we couldn’t do anything more than this.
“Of course,” I said. I jumped out of the car and walked up to my house. I was tempted to look back and see if he was watching me walk away, but I resisted until I was inside, where he wouldn’t be able to see me. And by that point, he was already pulling away.
“Hey,” a voice came from behind me. I spun around quickly, hugging my work bag close to my chest as if that would hide all of my secrets. Matthew was staring back at me with a confused frown on his face. Had he seen me with Charlie? Had he somehow pieced everything together? There was no way he should have, but that didn’t stop me from worrying. “You okay, Mads?”
“Don’t call me Mads,” I said. Matthew didn’t seem to hear me, though, as his eyes landed on my sweater.
“Falcon High?” he asked.
“What?”
He pointed at my chest. “You’re wearing a Falcon High sweater.”
“Oh,” I said. I glanced down at it, even though I was obviously already very aware of what I was wearing. “Yeah.”
“Why?”
I pulled on the strings to tighten the hood, and it scrunched up, leaving only part of my face visible. “I was cold.”
“But you don’t go to Falcon High.”
“Oh, you noticed?” I was hoping a little that if I kept answering sarcastically, he would get annoyed and go off to do something else away from me. I knew that if I told him exactly whose sweater it was, he would blow it up into something it totally wasn’t.
“Where’d you get it?”
“The lost and found?” I suggested, hopefully. I thought he might appreciate the joke about there being a Falcon High sweater in the Bayshore Academy lost and found, but he just ignored me as he circled around me and glanced at the back.
“Is it Charlie’s sweater?” he asked.
“No,” I said instinctively. He shoved me lightly, and I stumbled forward a step.
“It saysSwim Teamon the back, idiot,” he said. “And the arm saysOwen.”
“It could be Penny’s sweater!” I said defensively. Why hadn’t it occurred to me that it would have Charlie’s name on it? “Or even any of the kids, actually. He does have five siblings, you know.”
“But only two of them would lend you a sweater,” Matthew said. He crossed his arms and scowled at me. “And you’rebasically swimming in it, which means it’s definitely Charlie’s. Why did he give it to you?”
“He didn’t give it to me,” I said, even though I hoped that was exactly what he did. I never wanted to take it off. “He let me borrow it. And it was just because his car was freezing.”
I didn’t realize my mistake in mentioning Charlie’s car until it was too late. I should have known that would open up a whole other can of worms. Matthew’s scowl deepened.
“You were in his car?” he asked.
“He gave me a ride home.” That didn’t seem to make him feel any better about the situation, so I quickly added, “You know, because we have the same schedule and we live so close anyway. It makes more sense than getting someone to come pick me up because I can’t take a car, right?”
“Matthew, Madison!” Mom called from the kitchen. “Come in here a sec!”
I wanted nothing more than to embrace the interruption, but Matthew was standing between me and the kitchen, so I couldn’t go until he did.
“Watch out around Charlie,” Matthew said. He spun around and walked off, leaving me to stay after him, bewildered. What did he think I needed to watch out for? Was it just that he didn’t want me to start dating Charlie? Or was there something more there?
“Boys are so weird,” I muttered as I followed him inside.
