I swallowed. My throat felt a bit tight. Our eyes were still locked and the silence between us was becoming more and more uncomfortable by the second. I wanted to break it, to look away, but I couldn't. My eyes were glued to hers. And hers to mine. I shivered, as if a ghost had just walked through me. My eyes started to hurt from not blinking them, but something told me not to blink.
Don't close your eyes, because the second you do, this moment will be over.
This moment???? What moment?
"Hey!" A voice broke the silence and we both swung around as if we'd just received the fright of our lives.
Jarrod. Fucking Jarrod was standing there, and worst of all, he was holding Maria's bag. Why the fuck was he carrying Maria's bag?
"You ready to go now?" Jarrod asked Maria without even looking in my direction. He said it as if there'd been a whole discussion leading up to this moment that I had not been privy to. Plans had been made. Shit had been spoken about, and not with me.
"Where you going?" I turned and asked Maria. I could hear my tone was bordering on accusatory.
"Um...." Her face fell. It clouded over with a strange look and she quickly averted her eyes. "McKenzie was driving... so, Jarrod offered to give me a lift home cos I knew you were..." She trailed off and looked from me, to Jarrod. My eyes followed hers and rested on Jarrod's face.
I hated his face. He had a smug look on it. I had a sudden image of using his head for serving practice. Maria shot me a quick look and turned away.
"Bye." And she was off.
Jarrod shot me a warning look of sorts before slinging Maria's bag over his shoulder and turning away from me.
I just stood there. Staring after them as she walked away. She was walking away. She was walking away with Jarrod. I put my hand on my stomach; it felt like it was knotting again. I wanted to run after her and grab her by the arm and, and....
Just before they disappeared around the corner Maria gave a quick glance over her shoulder at me. For a split second our eyes met again and then she disappeared.
I felt so alone. Like a little part of me had just been taken away.
Maria
I stood dead center in the middle of my room. Jarrod had just asked me to the dance, so had Mike- in a way- and why had Mike looked at me like that at the court? And looked at Jarrod like that?
I was still wearing the headband he'd given me and I ripped it off. A normal person would probably thing it was disguising, a little moist with sweat, but to me... well, cheese balls, it was the nicest thing he'd ever given me.
I closed my eyes and tried to remember all the details....
Mike's eyes had met mine. He'd looked surprised for a few seconds, and then he'd just stared at me. No blinking. What the hell was going through his mind? For me, the stare had put me right back to that night. The night of the kiss. The feelings that that moment had evoked, transported me back in time to the moment that Mike had his arms around me.
I heard a sound at my window and paniced. It was Mike. Fuck! I threw the head band to the other side of the room and straightened my shirt- why the hell had I just done that? But as the body fell through the window and hit my floor in panting pain, I knew it wasn't him.
"Brett?"
"Ooowww." He winced in pain. "And you guys do this all the time! Fuck!"
I bent down to help him up, "What you doing here?"
"I've come to save your ass Maria." He said collapsing onto my bed.
"What you mean?"
He looked around the room. "Is Mike here?"
"No. Why?"
"Because I don't want him to hear what I'm about to say...ever."
"Okay..." I sat down on the bed next to him, tentative.
"I know everything Maria. I know that you kissed him and I know that you are emailing him and most of all, I know you're now making up all this shit about your divorced parents and fake counseling him."
"WHAT?!" I flew off my bed, "You... you, how?"
Brett looked at me and rolled his eyes. "It's pretty obvious Maria. I would have guessed it anyway if I hadn't been right behind you guys and seen it all happening."
"You saw everything."
"Yup! X rated stuff there."
"Shit." I hung my head in absolute embarrassment. Of course he knew, it made perfect sense now. The way he'd been behaving... he knew.
"Plus I know you've been in love with him for like, your whole life."
"That obvious?" I asked wondering who else knew. My dad knew, Mckenzie knew, did everyone at school know too?
"Clearly not to him." Brett said with another roll of his eyes. "But I'm not here to discuss that."
I looked up, confused. What the fuck else was there to discuss?
"I'm here to save you from the biggest mistake you've ever made.... You have to end this email stuff. Now! This lie is going to rip you guys apart. What do you think is going to happen when he finds out it's you and that you've been lying? It's gone too far Maria. I mean, how the hell do you imagine digging yourself out of this?"
"I don't know." I knew he was right. I knew this whole thing had gone to far, but I couldn't take
