I laugh, biting into my sandwich.
“Were they married for long?” she asks, out of nowhere.
“Who?”
“Jordan and that guy.”
I almost choke on my next mouthful. I hadn’t thought about her in almost three minutes.
“I have no idea,” I say, vaguely. “Besides, why do you care so much?”
“I want to know if you have a chance.”
“What?”
“I can tell there’s something between you two.”
“What do you mean?”
“Come on, Kerry. I heard your conversations yesterday. And I can see the way you look at each other.”
“How do we look at each other?” I ask. I really want to know.
“Like you’re about to leap onto each other.”
“You shouldn’t be talking about things that don’t concern you – actually, you shouldn’t be talking about things like that at all.”
“Whatever. I was just trying to help you out.”
“Help me out?” I ask, concerned. This could all be a ploy. “Since when have you cared about my life?”
“I don’t give a fuck about your life.”
“Please, don’t say…”
“Fuck. I know.”
She just did it again.
“You know…” She replaces her sandwich on the plate. “She’s suggested I try to catch up with the year I missed.”
I put my sandwich down, too.
“She mentioned it to me, yeah.”
“I wasn’t expecting it.”
“Me neither.”
“I didn’t think it would even be an option.” She looks at me. “When everyone else rejects you, it makes you feel like you’ve run out of chances. Like you don’t deserve them.”
“Is that how you felt?”
She shrugs. She’s already said too much, and I don’t push it.
“Then she turns up and offers you a place at the school, tells you that you can do it. She gives your dad a job, even though his life is a total car crash.”
I smile.
