I twirl around to find the hallway completely empty except for him. The fluttering in my stomach I normally feel around Greg is faint. My mind is full of too many other things to even worry about Greg.
“Just taking a quick bathroom break,” he explains.
“Cool.” I honestly just don’t even want him—or anyone else—to see me right now.
“Are you, uh, okay?”
Do Ilookokay? I feel like when people ask that, they don’t really want to know the truth, but I get the feeling Greg is asking to really know.
I grimace a little when I say, “I don’t think so.”
“Is it true what everyone’s saying? About you and those letters?”
Who knows what he’s heard about me by now? But at least part of it is true. “Yeah, there’s some truth to it.”
He shrugs and his whole lanky body flops. “Well, I bet you’d give some pretty good advice. My parents are always reading her column since we got here.”
“Thanks,” I whisper.
“I better get back to class.” He bites down on his lip. “Hey, Sweet Pea?”
“Yeah?”
“I know that things have been, like, weird because of your parents and everything. I get it. Stuff has changed a lot for me this year too.” He shrugs again with his whole body.
I think I get what he’s trying to say. “Moving must have been pretty hard,” I say.
He lets out a low chuckle. “Uh, yeah. Starting at a new school kind of stinks. Even if everyone is pretty cool.But it’s not the same. At my old school me and my friends started a club called Paranormal Appreciation Society. How could I ever find anything that cool again?”
“Everybody here likes you,” I tell him. And it’s not just because he’s the new guy. People really like him. But a Paranormal Appreciation Society does sound pretty epic. I would totally join. Guilt begins to settle in the pit of my stomach as I realize I haven’t done much to be Greg’s friend, especially when he could probably use one. He just didn’t seem like he needed any help, honestly.
“And I like it here too,” he says. “It’s just different. A new kind of normal, I guess.”
We both look up as we hear Miss Horton slam the microwave door shut in the other room.
He smiles. “I’ll see you later.”
“See ya!” I call after him as he heads off down the hallway back to class.
I think about what Greg said while I wait a little while longer. This whole time I thought it was Mom and Dad who were stuck trying to keep things the way they were, but maybe I’m not so good at change either.
Finally, Mom rushes into the front office breathlessly. Why couldn’t they have called Dad?
“I got here as soon as I could,” she announces. “I had to move a few clients around.” She presses the back of herhand to my forehead. “Are you feeling okay?” She turns to Miss Horton. “So unlike her to have outbursts at school.”
I push her hand away. “I’m fine.”
Inside Vice Principal Mendes’s office, Mom and I sit down, and Mrs. Young stands behind Vice Principal Mendes, a tall woman with chin-length blunt hair. It’s not that I don’t get into trouble, but I usually don’t get caught, so up until now, I’ve had little reason to tango with VP Mendes.
“It was a very distracting outburst,” Mrs. Young explains, her voice riddled with confusion. “She yelled at another student in the middle of the cafeteria. That’s really out of character for Sweet Pea.”
Why do they have to talk about me like I’m not right stinking here?
Mrs. Young continues. “I just wonder if things at home might be contributing to this kind of behavior.” The way she says it isn’t mean or judgmental. Just like she actually cares.
Mom looks caught off guard. “Well... I—I...” She clears her throat. “Sweet Pea’s father and I have gone to great lengths to keep this divorce as civil as possible.”
Mrs. Young nods.
