When my mouth sagged open in shock, Bellamy grinned. He stood and straightened the lapels of his suit jacket. Though he looked perfectly at home in the suit, the length of his hair and the slight smudge under his chin – something I noticed only now that he was towering over me – told me he wasn't as business oriented as his surface appearance made himseem.
"How didyou–"
"Ms. Hampton," he interrupted, reverting back to my last name. "I hope I've intrigued you." He braced a wide palm on the table and leaned over me. His breath ruffled my hair. "I suggest when you get tired of saving kittens, you give us acall."
"W-what?" I trembled as my heart raced. Not for a second did I think he hadn'tnoticed.
"That number will reach someone on my team at all hours." He stood straight and strode to the door. "I look forward to hearing fromyou."
When the door closed behind him, I half expected someone to pop out from under the table and yell, "Surprise!"Was this a joke?I held my breath. Minutes passed and another bell rang over the school’s loudspeakers, letting me know that I'd missed a full period of class. I stood and made my way into the office hallway. Mrs. Donovan smiled at me again as Ipassed.
"How'd it go,Dear?"
I blinked at her. "Uh, fine," Isaid.
"Well, then, you best be getting to your nextclass."
I nodded once, before stuffing the black business card into my back pocket. For the rest of the day, that card burned a hole through both my jeans and my mind. I contemplated calling and also just throwing the damn thing away. To be honest, it all felt like a very elaborately played prank. But how had he known about Cleo? Did he know the guys from the diner? Was I beingstalked?
That particular thought came to me as I climbed into my regular bus and found a seat to crash in on the ride home. My head turned, watching. Students filtered onto the bus en masse just before we rolled out of the school's bus lot. No one appeared to pay me much attention. Several students, that usually sat in the back with me, joked and laughed, getting quieter as more people exited at their designated stops. Erika waved from a window seat in the middle. I waved back and watched as she edged out of her seat and slunk back towards me. I raised my legs and let her scoot past to sit next to thewindow.
"Ugh," she groaned. "I'm so tired." She leaned against the glass and closed her eyes. I nudged her to keep her awake and she grunted, slapping a hand out at me with her ten and counting bracelets dangling on herarm.
"Go away," shemumbled.
"Can't," I teased. "There's nowhere else for me to sit." Her eyes opened just asmidge.
"I should kick you to curb, you know. Then I'd have more time to spend with my newboyfriend."
"You got aboyfriend?"
"Mmmhmm." Her eyes sparkled with mischief and I pursed mylips.
"I have a favor to ask." I needed to ask now before I chickened out and decided not togo.
"I'm not going to hide your illegitimate child. No one would believe it was mine anyway." True, we looked too different for anyone to mistake us even for sisters. While I had dozens of freckles across the bridge of my nose and across my cheeks and particularly dark eyes, her skin was smooth and unblemished and her eyes were a brilliantblue.
"You're in luck, I'm not pregnant," I replied. "It has to do with graduation. Are youwalking?"
She groaned and sat up. "Why are we even friends?" she complained. "You never let me sleep. Yea, I'm walking at graduation. Areyou?"
"Maybe," I hinted. "If you could give me aride."
Her eyes widened. "I thought you were saving up money to buy your neighbors old clunker." I winced, thinking of why that was no longer an option. I hadn’t told Erika that Mom had found my cash stash or where and how she had spentit.
"She decided to keep it," I lied. "Can you give me aride?"
"I guess," she replied. "My dad and I can pick you up. Is your momcoming?"
"I don't know yet. Probably not, though. If she did, would it be aproblem?"
"No problem," she said. "But we'd all have to squeeze into the truck. My parents sold their sedan because they figured my dad could just drop my mom off at work and they would invest the money or something likethat."
"Is she going to be at graduation?" Erika's mom was an airplane flight attendant. She spent several days – sometimes up to two weeks – flying across the country before she got downtime. According to Erika, the pay was good and she got benefits as well as free flights. It was Erika's dream job and she was going straight to the academy after highschool.
"No, she's got to work and because she took off for my eighteenth birthday, they aren't letting her get out of this one. She feels bad, but I don't mind. We'll plan better for when I get out of the travel academy or college. I’ve applied to both, but haven’t decidedyet."
"Oh?" I nodded my head as she began talking about her summer plans and all the places she would see if she got a job as a travel attendant. When we pulled up to her stop, she hugged me tight before squeezing out into theaisle.