By Monday morning, I had my guard back up. So when I stepped out of English and spotted him talking to a group of jocks instead of waiting alone for me, it seemed that my fears were confirmed. Fears that he’d given up on our tenuous relationship, fears that he hadn’t been genuinely interested from the start. I let my hair hang in front of my face, and walked in the opposite direction to avoid passing him. Even though it was the wrong way to my next class.
Darting down the hal way as quickly as I dared, I heard my name being cal ed out.
“El ie.”
I knew it was Michael’s voice, but I was so embarrassed that he might have caught my glance and my hasty exit that I kept moving.
“El ie.” His voice was getting louder, and I could hear his footsteps approach. But I kept pretending I couldn’t hear him.
Michael reached my side, and reached out for my arm. It tingled where he touched it. “El speth,” he whispered, and his breath sent shivers up my spine. The long, disappointing weekend had done nothing to change his physical effect on me.
I stopped walking and turned to look at him. He seemed upset.
“I know you saw me. Why did you walk away?”
“You seemed”—I reached for an explanation—“busy. I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“You should know that I’m not interested in them. I’m interested in you.”
“Real y?”
“Real y.”
Our eyes locked for a brief second, when I realized that Piper and Missy were walking nearby. And watching our every move.
Michael must have realized it too, because he broke my gaze and changed the subject.
“Sorry I didn’t get a chance to cal you this weekend. Did you have a good one?” he asked as we started walking down the hal again.
“Yeah, I guess so.” I desperately wanted to ask what kept him from cal ing, but I didn’t want him to think I’d fixated on his parting words from Friday.
“How’d you like the movie on Saturday?”
“You were at the Odeon?” I was shocked. No self-respecting Til inghast upper-class guy would be caught dead at the Odeon, which only showed foreign movies and independent films. From what I remember, the theater was almost empty.
At the mere mention of the Odeon, Piper and Missy giggled and walked away. In that split second, they clearly decided that Michael—no matter how cute and how senior—wasn’t worth their attention. He had revealed himself as an indie-movie-watching geek. I was relieved.
Michael answered as if total y unaware of, or even better, uninterested in, the judgment just passed by Missy and crew. “I came in late by myself.
You and your friend looked like you were having so much fun that I didn’t want to interrupt you guys.”
“You were there by yourself?” I blurted out and then my cheeks flushed. Of course I wanted to know if he’d brought a date, but why did I have to be so obvious?
He smiled. “Yeah, I was. That’s probably not very cool, is it? To go to the movies on a Saturday night without any friends?” But he didn’t seem the least embarrassed. In fact, his ability to do whatever he wanted without worrying about the social consequences was one of the things I liked most about him.
If possible, I got even redder. I hadn’t meant to insult him, but at least he didn’t grasp the real reason I’d asked the question. Or at least he had the decency to pretend that he didn’t.
Michael continued, “I’ve lived in enough places that I’ve learned not to care what is cool. I’ve learned to suit myself. And anyway, Til inghast is a smal place. It helps to get out of it for a while, even if it’s just at the movies. If that makes any sense at al .”
“It does.” He made it sound acceptable, rather than strange, to spend a Saturday night at the Odeon. And I real y did get what he said. Having spent so much time in other cultures, I shared his compulsion to escape from the confines of Til inghast into other worlds.
He changed the subject back to the movie, a French film. Before long, we were back on track and engrossed in a discussion over the best French movies. I favored the Three Colors Trilogy, while he advocated for
We arrived at my calculus class door too quickly. For me, anyway. The embarrassing moment of departure arrived once again. But before I could say anything sil y, Michael said, “I wanted to ask you—”
“El ie, there you are!” Ruth bounded over and landed directly between us. “You almost forgot this in my car this morning, and you ran out of English before I could hand this to you.” She stuck out a folder and handed it to me. I took the folder from her, careful not to touch her directly. Since the flashes started, I always took extra care to make sure I didn’t get any from Ruth. Late last school year, I accidental y brushed up against her arm as she was looking at Jamie, a junior guy she often described as “thick,” and I saw that she actual y had some pretty intense feelings for him. I didn’t want any more flashes from Ruth. It would make our friendship real y weird.
I stared down at the folder Ruth had jammed into my hand and realized that it contained my calculus homework. “Oh, wow, thanks, Ruth. I can’t believe I almost left it behind.”
Looking up, I saw that Ruth was gaping at Michael—and speechless. I realized that Ruth had leaped between Michael and me without realizing that we were talking. Why would she think that I’d be talking to him? After al , I’d made a conscious decision not to mention him to her. But based on her reaction, it was clearly a very bad decision. I definitely wished that I had brought up Michael already.
