I had no idea what to make of that. Truthfully, I had no idea what to make of anything about him. He was like nothing I had experienced. The obvious follow up question to what he just said would be, why do those things matter to you? Instead of asking that, I just stared at him, trying to collect my thoughts and slow the fluttering of my heart, and then the bell rang before I had a chance to really find anything out.
“We should get to class.” Finn went to the door and held it open for me.
“Okay,” I nodded and walked over to the door. I stopped when I was right next to him and looked up at him. This close up, his eyes were even more intimidating, and he smelled sweetly of cologne. “But if you every drag me away like that again, I will punch you. Hard.”
“I don’t doubt you will, and I’ll keep that in mind.” A hint of his smile played on the corner of his lips, sending my ridiculous heart into a tailspin.
I lowered my eyes and hurried out the door. I glanced back over my shoulder as I walked away, and he was going in the opposite direction. Taking a deep breath, I rushed to my locker and tried to convince myself that I wasn’t attracted to that clearly disturbed boy. Patrick was waiting anxiously at my 48
locker, but he broke out into a relieved smile when he saw me. Tegan and any sign of our fight were long gone.
“So, everything’s okay?” Patrick ruffled his hair and watched me as I struggled to open my locker. After he second, he offered, “Here. Let me try.
What’s your com?”
“36-21-7,” I told him. “I don’t know if everything’s okay. What happened after I left?”
“Mr. Meade came and got Tegan and took her to the nurses’ office,”
Patrick explained, and he popped open my locker com almost immediately.
“She didn’t give up your name or anything, so you’re good. Where did you go?
What happened with Finn?”
“I don’t know.” I honestly didn’t know how explain what had transpired between us. The best I could come up with is that he had been trying to protect me, and he’d been angry that I’d put myself in danger in the first place. That sounded stupid to say aloud, so I just loaded up my bookbag and shrugged. “He just took me to the art room and told me to grow up.”
“So, he did it just to save you from the fight? So you wouldn’t get expelled?” Patrick asked, and a smirk was growing on his face, one that I didn’t approve of. “He
helped
you, if you will.”
“I guess.” I slung my bag over my shoulder and slammed my locker shut.
“Oh, yeah, he is a
total
creep!” Patrick nodded exaggeratedly. “You really nailed that one on the head. I’m never gonna question you again.”
“Shut up,” I laughed and shook my head. “Don’t you have a class you’re late for or something?”
“Always!” Patrick turned and jogged down the hall, apparently taking my suggestion seriously.
I sat through Algebra, but I was even more fidgety than normal. I had an adrenaline rush from the fight with Tegan and the bizarre rendezvous with Finn. Class went by incredibly slow, especially since I had History next hour 49
with both Tegan and Finn, and I was kind of excited to see what that would bring.
To be honest, History was a little anti-climactic. Tegan was gone, and Mr. Meade hushed the class when people tried to speculate. There were a lot of murmurs and glances in my direction, but I didn’t give away anything. I tried to play completely innocent, like I had no idea what any of them could possibly be thinking.
When I came to class, Finn was already there. Instead of blankly staring at me or ignoring me, as had been previous greetings, he actually gave me a small smile and nodded hello at me. Throughout Mr. Meade’s lecture, when I was wishing I was sleeping, I would occasionally glance over at Finn. He would look back at me and offer me some kind of friendly expression. Something had changed between us, and I for one, liked it.
After school, Patrick rushed out after me to walk me to the parking lot.
There was a comfortable routine growing, and I enjoyed it. Maybe it was good that Finn had stopped me from slaughtering Tegan. I was actually starting to like this school.
“Hey, Wen,” Patrick grinned when he caught up with me. “So, everybody is talking about you and the way you took down Tegan. You’re like Mothra.”
“Mothra?” I wrinkled my nose at him.
“Yeah.
Mothra vs. Godzilla
.” Patrick stopped, thinking. “Or wait. No.
Mothra dies in that. So, you’re like Gozilla, and she’s like Mothra. Except Godzilla still gets killed by Mothra’s babies. Oh, well, never mind. You’re the big man on campus. That’s what I meant.”
“Alright.” I stopped at the beginning of the parking lot so I could talk to him for a minute before departing to get into my brother’s car.
“It’s pretty cool being you right now,” Patrick offered me a sly smile.
“It’s always pretty cool being me,” I teased.
Finn’s Cadillac was parked a few spaces down from where we were standing, so I wasn’t that surprised when I saw Finn walking towards us. I kind 50
of expected him to just go to his car, erasing any idea I had that things might be changing. Instead, he walked over to us and actually joined in the conversation of his own volition.
“So, it sounds like you’re in the clear,” Finn said to me.
“Thanks to you,” Patrick piped in, correctly assuming that I wouldn’t.
“Everyone really is looking at you now.” Finn gestured to all other students that were filtering out of the school. An awful lot of them were looking my way and whispering. It was a very weird feeling. “How are you coping with your new found celebrity? I know you don’t like it when people stare.”
“Not people, just you,” I corrected him, but I added a smile so I wouldn’t seem so bitchy.
“I see.” Finn smiled crookedly at me, delighting me endlessly.
“Hey, did you know about the dance tomorrow night?” Patrick tried to ask Finn casually, but I could see pre-calculation all over it. “Me and Wendy are going. You totally should to. It’ll be a lot of fun.”
“Maybe I’ll check it out.” Finn was talking to Patrick, but his eyes flitted over to me for a second, gauging my reaction. Naturally, I tried to be completely emotionless about the whole thing. “I should get going. Do you need a ride or anything, Wendy?”
“Uh, no, my brother’s here,” I stumbled. His offer startled me, and I’m pretty sure that’s actually the main reason he asked me. He just liked catching me off guard.
“Alright,” Finn nodded. “I will see you both tomorrow.”
As soon as Finn had gotten into his car and I was certain he couldn’t hear us, I turned to Patrick, looking at him oddly. “So what’s the deal with you inviting him to the dance? Do you swing both ways or something?”
“Maybe. Or maybe I don’t swing any way.” Patrick winked at me and started walking away. “I’ll leave you with that to ponder over.”
“I don’t know what that means!” I called after him as he made his way towards his car.
51
“See you tomorrow, Wendy!” Patrick waved at me and kept on walking.
52
5
Tegan had a fat lip in school the next day, but she didn’t say a word to me. I was starting to think that when she snarled “you’re dead” at me, it may have been an empty threat. School was pretty uneventful, which was kind of nice.
After school, as we were walking out, Finn assured me that he’d be seeing me at the dance, and I was suddenly very excited about it. Patrick reminded me that he’d pick me up at seven, and I gave him my address so that would actually be possible. Then all I had left to do was pick out a dress, do something with my hair, and oh, yeah, tell Matt.
I waited until we got home for the simple reason that Maggie lives there too. I knew she would go bananas with happiness over the dance, so I figured that she could work as a good balance to Matt, who would most likely recommend instating a chastity belt. Once in the door, I kicked off my shoes and tossed aside my bag. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, and Matt started going through the mail that Maggie had left on the kitchen island.
“Hey, is Maggie around?” I asked, twisting the bottle top on and off repeatedly.
“Yeah, she’s upstairs,” Matt replied absently. “Why?”
“Oh. I just… I had something to tell you,” I said unsurely, then took a long drink of my water.
“Yeah?” Matt turned to look back at me, worry tightening his voice.
“What?”
“It’s good news,” I insisted and took a deep breath. Matt turned around completely, leaning his back against the island and crossing his arms over his chest. He was suspicious of anything I considered good news. “There’s this dance tonight at school, and it’s fully chaperoned. And, well, Patrick’s going to pick me up at seven. And Finn is going to meet us there.”
“Patrick?” Matt raised an eyebrow and his voice got harder. “That goofy guy that’s supposed to be ‘just a friend?’” He did angry air quotes, which would’ve made me laugh if I wasn’t feeling defensive.
53
“He is just a friend! We’re going with Finn too! We’re all friends!” I left out the part that while Patrick and I were definitely just friends, I wasn’t so sure about exactly what was going with me and Finn.
“But just Patrick is picking you up? Not Finn?” Matt said gruffly. “You know, even if there is another boy involved, that doesn’t help your case. Going somewhere with
one
handsy, teenage boy is bad enough, let alone throwing another one in the mix.”
“It’s just a dance!” I said. “A school sanctioned function! And I’m just doing what you told me! I’m making friends! They just happen to boys! It’s really not that big of a deal!”
“I’ve never met these boys, and I only just started hearing about them a few days ago.” Matt shook his head. “No, this sounds like a bad idea. I mean, why am I just hearing about this dance now?”
“Because Patrick just asked me today,” I lied. As a rule, I didn’t lie to Matt about anything important. But this wasn’t all that important, and it was mostly a white lie anyway.
“He asked you? That’s not what you said. You said you were going as friends.”
“Yeah, we are. But he asked me. I didn’t just spontaneously decide I was going with him,” I shrugged. Matt was making me question what I thought I knew. We were just friends, weren’t we? I mean, Patrick was pretty obviously trying to set me up with Finn, and it just might work if I stopped fighting him on it so much.
“So how does Finn work into this equation?” Matt didn’t believe anything I was saying, which I didn’t think was very fair considering how little I lied to him.
“Patrick asked him too. And I can’t drive, unlike Finn, so Patrick offered to pick me up.” I crossed my arms and looked at him evenly. “So there.
That’s everything.”
“I still don’t know,” Matt shook his head.
54
“You know what? Let’s ask Maggie and see what she thinks,” I suggested and started walking out of the kitchen to find her. Maggie would think this was the greatest idea ever, and we both knew it.
“Her opinion doesn’t count!” Matt insisted, grudgingly following me.
“We’ll see about that!” I retorted. “Maggie! Mags! Where are you?”
Telling Maggie about the dance may have been the worst idea I’ve ever had, and my life is made up almost entirely of bad ideas. I discovered her upstairs, painting the bathroom a pale yellow. As soon as I told her, she clapped her hands together, tossed her paint brush in the sink, and embraced me so tightly, she probably cracked a rib. Matt started to voice his complaints, but Maggie shut him down. To keep him from getting in her way, she commanded him to finish the bathroom before the paint dried. He complied only because he knew that there was no stopping Maggie anymore, and at least this way he wouldn’t have to witness anything.
Maggie knew better than my mother to try and force me into things I didn’t like. I wasn’t a Barbie, and I made it impossible for treat her to treat me like one. She just sat on the bed and watched me as I rummaged through my closet, offering suggestions and comments on everything. This included an endless stream of questions on both Patrick and Finn, and Matt would grunt or scoff every now and then at my answers, so I knew he was listening.
Once I had decided on a simple blue dress that Maggie insisted looked amazing on me, I let her do my hair. I only agreed to it because honestly, I couldn’t really do it myself. My hair refused to listen to anything I tried to do it, and while it wasn’t exactly obedient for Maggie, she had a few tricks up her sleeve that outwitted it. She left some of it down, so the curls would frame my face, and pulled the rest of it back. When Matt saw me, he looked really pissed off and a little awed, so I knew that I must look pretty awesome.
I stood in front of the door, standing on my tip-toes to look out the half-moon window at the top. It was getting close to seven, and I couldn’t believe how anxious I was feeling. If Finn hadn’t promised he’d see me at the dance, I knew I wouldn’t feel this way at all. I liked Patrick, but he never made 55
my stomach freak out the way Finn did. Just thinking of him made my heart speed up, and I hated the way it felt. And secretly loved it too.
“When is this boy getting here?” Matt grumbled. He stood about a foot behind me, hovering even more than he usually did. Yellow paint stained his hands and hair, but he didn’t seem to notice. He just crossed his arms and glowered at the door, as if he was expecting a burglar to break in at any moment.
“I don’t know. Soon.” I fidgeted with my thumb ring again and adjusted my necklace, making sure it was centered.
“Are you sure he’s even coming?’ Matt asked hopefully.
“Matt, leave her alone,” Maggie commanded. “And back off. Give her some room to breathe.” She was using an amazing amount of restraint by staying back. Perched on the arm of a living room chair, she had on a flannel shirt splattered with paint and a bandana wrapped around her hair to protect it.
I was actually a little surprised that she hadn’t bothered to get changed to meet Patrick, but then again we had kind of run out of time.
“I am backed off,” Matt muttered but took a few steps back in Maggie’s direction.