My heart beat faster.
“Good?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah. Like... are you OK?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Yeah. I’m always OK.”
Brian narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “You don’t have to do that, Karla.”
“Do what?”
“Lie.”
I went to push out a fake smile, but it fell short.
Brian could always see me a little better than others.
“It’s fine. That’s just my life now. I’m OK even when I’m... not.”
He lowered his head and stared at his sneakers. “That’s not fair.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “But life’s like that.”
He parted his mouth as if he was going to say somethingelse, but Mr.Hawkins, the librarian, started to walk in our direction. “Hey, you two, get to class! Hurry up!” Mr.Hawkins shouted. I knew him pretty well, seeing as how I preferred to be surrounded by books instead of humans.
The second Mr.Hawkins noticed me, he cleared his throat and stood straighter. “Well, you don’t have to hurry, per se, but well, just get to class, all right?”
I was sure the “don’t hurry” statement was made because I could not, in fact, rush. Even when I wanted to dash away into hiding from embarrassment like right then and there.
Brian shrugged and gave me a goofy grin that I loved. “See ya later, Karla. Bye, Mr.Hawkins.”
Brian hurried away—in a sprint, the lucky jerk—and I stood still for a moment, trying to come to terms with the fact that I still had to make it to my locker and back up those dang stairs to head back to class. By the time I got there, biology would probably be over, and I’d have to head back down the stairs to get to my next class.
School was so freaking exhausting.
Mr.Hawkins came closer and smiled kindly at me. “Brian wasn’t bothering you, was he?” he asked, fearful that whenever someone talked to me, they were bullying me. It wasn’t a far-fetched belief.
But not Brian.
He’d never bully me.
If anything, he was the closest thing I still had to an old friend. Sometimes Missy would look my way, and I thought I’d see a flicker of my old friend, but that look would vanish the moment Colton showed up.
“No, Mr.Hawkins. He was helping me because I dropped my books.”
Mr.Hawkins stared at me as if he didn’t believe me, butthen he waved me off. “OK, get to where you were getting to.” He pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled against it. “Here’s a late slip so you don’t get in trouble for being behind. Take your time, Karla.”
I took the slip from his hand and thanked him.
The average person would’ve taken one minute to get to their locker, shoot up the stairs, and slip into biology class.
It took me seven minutes.
Halfway through, I wanted to cry.
***
“Good afternoon! How was your day?” Ellie asked me when she picked me up from school. I grumbled and slid into the back seat. That was enough of an answer, and the only one she’d get.
