After Mr. Rowe finished explaining whatever the hell he was talking about, he announced for me to stay after once again. I already knew what he wanted to talk about. He was going to try and let me down easy. He needed to tell me that I couldn't go on the trip, though I already knew that was the case. I was contemplating slipping out of the classroom with everyone else when the meeting ended to avoid the conversation.
Despite not wanting to, I waited for everyone else to clear the room before I went up to Mr. Rowe. I was bracing myself for his words.
"I just need a little more information from you so that you’re all good to go," Mr. Rowe said with a smile. "I’m really glad you’re coming, kid."
He was glad I was coming?
"What?" I asked, the confusion clear both in the tone of my voice and on my face.
"The trip," he clarified, his focus on the pen and paper in front of him. He held the pen in his hand, ready to write stuff down.
“Huh?”
"The student council trip, Elias. Once the situation was explained, we were able to make an exception for you. You were only a couple of days past the deadline to pay, so it was fine."
I looked at him, dumbfounded. "I paid for…the club trip?"
Mr. Rowe looked up from his desk, his brows furrowed with concern. "Are you okay?"
I ignored his question. "I can go on the trip?"
Mr. Rowe nodded slowly.
“But…why?”
“I’ll repeat myself again then,” the man mumbled to himself. “The Cortez’s spoke to us and explained that they would be the ones paying your bill. Did they not talk to you about it?”
I had to refrain from letting my jaw drop. Javier’s parents paid for my entire trip. I had not the slightest clue why they would do so. Their son and I weren’t friends, we weren’t even acquaintances, we were enemies. Who pays for someone that their child is constantly butting heads with? Some wouldn’t even do that for their kid’s best friend.
They wouldn't have done that randomly, either. Javier would have had to ask them to do such a thing, but he wouldn't do that. Sure, he had done a few nice things for me over the past month, but paying for my entire trip was something I couldn't imagine.
I couldn’t assume that he got his parents to pay for my trip. If I asked him and he didn't do it, I think I'd die from the embarrassment of believing that he was able to make something like that happen for me.
Mr. Rowe let me leave after that. Once I made it home, I went straight into my room to tell my friends about what I had been told at the club meeting. They were so focused on the fact that I was confirmed to attend that they didn’t hear me say that Mr. and Mrs. Cortez put down money for me to be able to go. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to reiterate it to them because my brother came into the room. His presence was an interruption.
Easton didn’t even spare me a glance before he climbed to the top bunk and laid on top of the duvet. Once one of my siblings entered the room, I knew it was time to hang up the phone. They didn’t want to hear my friends and I’s conversations.
He had been in the front room with my sister and Benji before coming to the bedroom. Benji seemed to be at our house more often than not ever since the party. He was also talking to me more than he normally did, which was a bit odd. He would strike up conversations before, but never as often as he hadbeen the past couple of days. Maybe something happened at the party?
"That Cortez dude paid for your trip?" Easton asked abruptly.
Oh, he must have heard the end of my conversation with my friends. I didn't think he was listening to me, he was normally either too high to do so or simply didn't care enough. I was enjoying us pretending as if the other didn't exist, but he of course had to ruin that with his question.
"I think so," I mumbled as I pulled the blankets up to my chest. I was snuggled tight.
He hummed. "You’re lucky. Me and Em have always wanted to go on a school trip. Hell, we’ve always wanted to go on any trip.”
"Wow,” I said dryly. “Same.”
I heard the bed creak as Easton moved on top of it. He leaned his head over the side of the bed and downward to see me on the bottom bunk. I didn’t dare look up, but I felt his eyes watching me. He was waiting on me to say something else. Unfortunately for Easton, I had nothing else to say.
"Must I spell everything out for you?" Easton grumbled in frustration. When he was met with my dull look, he rolled his eyes. "Ask him to pay for me and Emerson."
"Pay for you two to what?"
"For us to go on the nerd trip, dumbass,” he insulted, a vein poking out of his forehead because of how hard he was glaring.
Him wanting me to ask Javier to pay for them both was bizarre. It was insane that they had paid forme, I couldn't possibly ask him and his parents to do anything like that for Easton and Emerson.
