Jay mumbled more to himself than me, “You have no idea.”
I blew a raspberry. “I do. The notches on your bedpost are at about a bajillion and mine ... well, are none.” I shrugged.
He held my backpack to his stomach as he bent over to laugh.
The genuine happiness that belted from him was infectious and made me forget how nervous I’d felt getting ready for school that day and how anxious I’d been to see him after a week, how terrible I felt the whole week without him.
He sighed and patted me on the back as we walked on, approaching the front doors of the school. “There’s my girl.”
I looked at him quizzically.
“Don’t act like you haven’t been jittery and nervous this whole morning.”
I sighed, more relaxed when I admitted, “Well, it's supposed to be a rotten day for us sophomores.”
He nodded and when we reached the school entrance, he stepped in front of me, ready to open the door. He hesitated, then turned to me as he cleared his throat. “When you’re ready to talk about why I didn’t see or hear from you all last week, I’m ready to listen.”
I saw the hurt in his eyes. I could see him warring with himself over bringing it up and guilt washed over me. It was the first time he brought up that I hadn’t returned his calls for a week or that I ignored him when he came to my house and threw stones at my window. He deserved for me to be as good of a friend to him as he was to me. “I’m so sorry, Jay.”
He looked at my hands which were wringing themselves out. This was unspoken territory for us. I’d ignored him in the past when my father had lost his temper but never for this long.
He’d never called me out on it. We would simply pick up where we’d left off.
He pulled me to his chest for a hug and mumbled, “Missed you, Sass Pot.”
When he pulled back, his megawatt smile was back in place, and the concern behind his eyes had disappeared. One day, I owed him an explanation, but relief washed over me knowing that he wouldn’t push me anymore.
The first bell rang as I made it to my locker and Jay set my bag down. “You gonna make it the rest of the way?”
I rolled my eyes. “Thank you for walking me, Jay.”
“A thank you from Brey.” He held a hand to his heart. “Day’s officially made now.”
“Go to class, you idiot.”
“See you at lunch.” He spun to walk down the hall and within two steps, five people surrounded him. Shaking my head at how popular one person could be, I didn’t think much about opening my locker.
When I swung it open and heard the hiss though, I jumped and looked toward the sound. Coiled in the corner sat a green snake. I stared at it as it stared at me, neither of us ready to make the first move. Its tongue darted out, and I jerked back. The snake probably took my movement as a threat and launched itself at me.
I screamed, flying back and trying to catch myself as I stumbled over my backpack. I wasn’t sure if the snake was poisonous, but I acted fast as I fell to the ground and scrambled across the floor, trying to put distance between us.
When I glanced back at my locker, the thing was slithering toward a corner of the hall.
Away from me.
Thankfully.
I sucked in a relieved breath and closed my eyes as my panic subsided.
That’s when my embarrassment set in as I heard the first laugh bubble up around me. I knew when I opened my eyes, they would all be staring. A hallway full of my classmates would be ready to get the best of their Sophomore Kill Day prank.
One chuckle I heard distinctly though. It was low, melodic like a siren’s song, beautiful enough to lure someone in, but dangerous enough to ruin them as well.
When I searched out that laugh, I found him. Jax stood in the middle of his friends and slapped one of them on the back. “How’d you get Ms. Gering’s snake in there? You went above and beyond, man. Above and beyond.”
They high fived, and I saw red.
I shot up, snake and embarrassment completely forgotten, and stomped toward them.