Existing (27 page)

“GET OUT!”

She bursts out laughing again, causing spit to come flying out of her mouth and all over my face.

“Eww,” I say, wiping my face. “That’s disgusting.”

She giggles even more as she slips from her seat.

“Okay class, now the bubbling blob of gas and giggles has left the room, we can begin.”

Charlotte howls from outside the door and none of us can stop ourselves from laughing.

“Everyone has detention!”

The
whole class groans.

“I mean it. You can’t all come into my class
room and just laugh at me like I’m one of your teenage friends.”

“It wasn’t us
, Miss Tweet. It was Charlotte,” someone grumbles at the side of me. “Why should we get detention when she’s the one making us laugh?”

I watch
the teacher’s face turn an even darker shade of purple and lower myself down in my seat, praying that I don’t get a giggle fit.

“It’s not Miss Tweet. It’s Miss Tweed.”

Charlotte’s howls and laughter come floating through the door again. I snort, which causes Miss Tweed’s head to snap around in disgust. “Okay. Who just snorted?”

I dart my eyes around the class
, pretending it wasn’t me. Someone clears their throat behind me.

“It was Rose.”

I feel my mouth drop open and turn to glare at Cabe.

“Rose,” Miss Tweed says sternly.

I turn around and blink my most innocent face at her. “Yes, Miss?”

“Get out.”

“What?” I shriek. “What for?”

“For being
a pig!”

“For being
a pig?” I repeat, feeling confused.

She clicks her tongue
and shakes her head. “You know what I meant. I meant get out for snorting like a pig.”

I stand up and
zig-zag my way through the desks toward the door.

“This is not biology
, Rose. This is Algebra. It’s numbers. It’s serious.”

I can feel another round of laughter bubbling away in my stomach
, so I head out of the door as quick as I can. I clamp my hand over my mouth when I see Charlotte sitting on the floor, looking exhausted. She lifts her head when she sees me and tries not to smile.

“Did she just tell you to get out because you were being
a pig?”

I bite my lip and nod. I’m desperately trying to c
ontrol my laugh as I ask her, “Did she just call you a bubbling blob of gas and giggles?”

Charlotte throws her head back and laughs like I’ve never seen anyone laugh before. I’m laughing so hard that tears start to stream down
my face until my knees give out on me, and I eventually find myself on the floor next to Charlotte.

I think it’s about twenty minutes later when our laughter finally subsides and Charlotte taps me on my shoulder.

“Hmm?”

“This is not biology
, Rose. This is Algebra. It’s numbers. It’s serious.”

I clamp both hands over my mouth and
bury my face into my hoodie. I can’t stop the laughter so I get up and run as far away from the classroom as I can.

Both Cora and
Hannah are crying tears of laughter after Charlotte and I finish telling them our story. It sucks that both of us have a two-hour detention on Monday morning, but that was the most I’ve laughed in a long time so it was totally worth it.

“I wish I’d have been there.” Cora sticks her b
ottom lip out and pouts.

“It was
hil-ar-ious,” says Charlotte, chuckling again.

Hannah
leans forward and twirls her straw in her drink. “Are you both going to the party tonight?”

“Yeah.”
Charlotte claps her hands together. “Rose has a –“

I jab my finger into her ribs to stop her from saying what I think she was going to say.

“Ow, a dress!” she says, holding her side. “Rose has a dress.”

Cora and
Hannah blink at us.

I smile at them before glaring at Charlotte
, who shakes her head at me and winks. She was so going to slip up then and tell them my secret.

“We
’d better go anyway,” says Cora.

I watch Cora and
Hannah stand up. “Where are you going?” I ask.

“U
gh, gym class.” Cora waves at me and then taps Charlotte on the head.

“See
ya,” I call.

As soon as they’re out of earshot
, I turn on Charlotte.

“I’m so sorry. I totally forgot it was a secret. I swear I haven’t told anyone else.”

I huff. “I guess I forgive you.”

She lowers herself in her s
eat and fumbles with the silverware on her empty plate. “Cabe alert! Cabe alert!”

I l
ift my head and wipe the yogurt from off my face as Cabe leans onto our table opposite us with his hands spread flat out on it. Charlotte and I stare at him.

“So, am I picking you girls up tonight?”
he asks.

Charlotte glances quickly around us. “Sure, if you like.”

His stare lingers longer on me before he turns his gaze toward Charlotte. “I have a friend that you might like, Charlotte.”

I watch her face light up before she grins at Cabe.
“Oh yeah? Who?”

“William.”

Her eyes widen. “William from the soccer team?”

He nods.
“That’s right.”

“William
,” she repeats, looking shocked, “as in Willy William?”

I cough and
only just manage to keep my yogurt from splattering all over the table.

“That’s the one,” smiles Cabe.

“Sure I would.” Charlotte shakes her head. “I mean, of course I wouldn’t mind him, but I thought he was dating Joanne.”

“Not a
ny more. They split up a few weeks ago.”

“Who dumped who?”
she asks, looking excited.

Cabe frowns.
“I’m not sure. Does it matter?”

“Guess not,” shrugs Charlotte.

Cabe grins. “Cool. We’ll pick you both up at eight.”

We both nod like love-sick puppies.

“Oh my God,” laughs Charlotte. “Do you know who William the Willy is?”

I pause with my
spoon in mid-air and feel my eyes moving from left to right. “Er, nope.”

She holds both of her hands up about ten inches apart. “The boys from the soccer te
am came up with that nickname for him. They saw him trying to hide it in the showers once.”

“Is that a good thing?”

Charlotte laughs. “Oh Rose, you have so much to learn.”

I ro
ll my eyes but I know it’s true.

“I’ve wanted to date William
for ages,” continues Charlotte, “but he’s been in two long-term relationships. One with Kayla, and then he was with Joanne for about a year and a half.”

“What’s so special about him?” I glance quickly at the smile on her face. “Apart from the obvious
, I mean.”

She glances around the room and our eyes fall on Cabe and his friends
, all of which seem to be about five inches taller than the other boys in our year. She cranes her neck before ducking down. “That’s William. He’s standing across from Cabe, wearing a blue and white polo shirt.”

I glance up and try to be discreet in the hope that Cabe and his friends don’t see us looking at them like this. My eyes fall on Cabe first
, of course, and the easy way a smile breaks out across his flawless face before remembering who I’m supposed to be looking at. I spot a blue and white t-shirt, and find myself surprised when I see a fresh-faced, floppy-haired, blonde boy with piercing green eyes laughing at something Cabe has just said. I trace the line of his jaw with my eyes and see that he has the same size muscles as Cabe. He’s very attractive and reminds me of a younger version of Mr. Parker, with his floppy yellow hair and surfer boy necklace.

“He’s cute,” I whisper, “looks a bit like
Mr. Parker.” And Ashley, I think.

“I know
, right?”

We grin at e
ach other like the teenagers that we are and drain the remains of our drinks.

“I don’t think I’m in
any more of your classes today,” she says, sounding disappointed.

I pull my planner out of my bag. “No, you’re not. I have doubl
e Math and then Biology last.”

“Biology?”

I glance back down at my planner and nod.

“It’s not B
iology, Rose. It’s numbers. It’s serious.”

“Stop,” I giggle. “I’ll meet you by the lockers later?”

“Sure,” she says. “Be careful.”

“How can I not be careful? We’re at school.”

Charlotte wags her finger at me before disappearing. I’m sure she’s on drugs. I get up and pull my bag over my shoulder when Ashley suddenly appears in front of me.

“Hey,” I say.

“Hello,” he grins. “Where have you been hiding?”

I shake my head.
“Nowhere. Why? Were you looking for me?”

He shrugs.
“Maybe.”

I eye him warily. Why does it feel like he’s being weird? “What’s going on”? I ask.

“Can I come over to your place tomorrow night?”

I freeze. There is no way in the world I can have a boy over at my house. Hallie will go b
at-shit crazy. “Um, I’ll be busy.”

He leads the way out of the cafeteria and holds the doors open for me. Just as I’m about to walk through them
, I notice him nodding at someone behind me. When I turn my head around, I see Cabe quickly averting his eyes. He wasn’t quick enough though.

“What are you doing that’s more important than seeing your
bestest gay best friend?” he asks, smiling at me.

“You’re my
only
gay friend,” I tell him.

“Possi
bly,” he says, “although there are a few boys in our year that I’m betting a hundred bucks come out as being gay within the next three years.”

“Who?”
I ask curiously.

“I’d be breaking ever
y code in the gay book if I told you that, Rose. Haven’t you learned anything from me?”

I roll my eyes at him. “I’d like to see this gay book.”

“You can’t,” he says, “it’s magical. It only reveals its words to people that are gay.”

“Oh, really?”
I laugh. “What if you’re not sure?”

“You’re
never not sure.”

“I’m sure there are lots of people out there that are confused about their sexuality,” I tell him.

“Well, if you’re confused then you’re not ready to ready the gay book, so you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

I grin at him as we walk thro
ugh the hallway.

“So,” he says, “I really can’
t come to your house tomorrow night?”

I shake my head. “Sorry.”

“What if I just come and knock on your window when everyone else has gone to bed?”

“No!” I gasp. I whip my head around to face him properly and furiously shake my head. “You can’t, Ash. Please don’t.”

“Woah,” he says, holding his hands up. “Keep your panties on, Rose.”

I stare at him. I’m sure my mouth is hanging open, but I can’t stop it. “Why do you want to come over so bad anyway?”

He shrugs. “I get bored at home. I just feel like hanging out with you. We have a good time together, don’t we?”

“Sure, we do,” I say. “But I’m busy. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck. “That’s a shame.”

“Are you going to the party later?” I ask, hoping to change the
direction of the conversation.

He nods. “I think so. I’ll see you there,” he says as he starts to jog away from me.

I stand in the hallway wondering what’s just happened. Ashley has never asked if he can come to my house. I can’t stop feeling like I’ve just been played somehow.

I hurry
out of the school trying to keep the rain off my hair and follow Charlotte through the puddles until we get to her little Honda Civic. The rusty door squeaks when I pull it open and the inside smells like sweaty sneakers.

“Sorry about the car,” she says
, turning the key in the ignition. “We don’t have much money so this is all I can afford.”

I shrug
, trying not to gag on the smell. “At least you have a car.”

“True,” she sa
ys as she reverses out of the parking lot. “Are you feeling nervous about tonight?”