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“Of course I did,” he said, leaning in to give me a kiss. “It’s Valentine’s Day.”
A smile twitched its way to my lips, and I reached for his hand. It was the first time since he’d found out about Chloe’s lie that I felt even remotely close to him. But just when my fingers were about to brush his under the table, Chloe and Will were passing by.
“Nice lunch, Chloe,” he said, his back to her. “I thought you were eating for two, not ten.”
The guys at the far end of the table cackled. Faith and A
“Jake …,” Sha
Will put the tray down on the end of the next table and turned toward Jake. “Do you have a problem, man?”
Jake wiped his fingertips on his napkin and shook his head, avoiding eye contact. “Not anymore, dude. It’s your problem now.”
Chloe shook her head. “I’m going to the bathroom.”
“You don’t have to go,” I said. But it was too late. She was already waddling away. Faith got up to follow her, and Jake shot her this evil look, like he felt betrayed. In that moment his face looked entirely different. Sharper. Uglier, somehow. I barely even recognized him.
I was going to be sick. I really was.
“Why don’t you try saying that to my face?” Will said, taking a step closer to Jake.
Instantly, the guys at the far end of the table stood up, their chairs scraping against the linoleum. Will’s face got blotchy red, but he didn’t look away from Jake. In fact, I couldn’t understand why the heat of his glare wasn’t boring a hole in Jake’s skull.
“Okay.”
Jake got up as well. He was taller than Will, but only by a couple of inches. The two of them stared at each other, and I swear I could taste the flying testosterone.
“You guys, come on,” I said nervously. People were starting to take notice, getting up from their chairs, straining to see what was about to go down. “You don’t have to fight.”
“Oh, I actually think it’s long overdue,” Will said.
“Don’t talk to her,” Jake spat.
Will laughed under his breath. “Now you’re telling me who I can and can’t talk to? Who the hell do you think you are?”
From the corner of my eye I saw one of the history teachers, Mr. Bucolli, making his way toward us. He was short, neckless, and seriously stocky, and people had been calling him Mr. Troll-ie for years. The door to the teacher’s lounge opened and the vice principal, Dr. Giles, walked out as well. It was like he had a sixth sense for when a student was out for blood.
“I’m the guy who’s about to pummel your ass,” Jake said.
He grabbed the front of Will’s sweater and I yelped. At that moment, Mr. Bucolli’s beefy hands met Jake and Will’s chests and pried them apart. Man was definitely a wrestler in his earlier life.
“No one will be pummeling anyone’s anything,” he growled.
Jake and Will were both panting like bulls about to be released into a fighting ring. If Mr. Bucolli lowered his arms, they would have cracked skulls. Instead, the VP arrived and cleared his throat.
“Mr. Graydon, Mr. Halloran,” he said, tugging on the cuffs of his shirtsleeves beneath his jacket. “My office. Now.”
Neither one of them moved.
“Jake,” I pleaded.
He glanced at me then, but his eyes were blank. Then he reached down, grabbed his backpack, and stormed off, shoving open the cafeteria door with the heel of his hand.
“You too, Mr. Halloran,” Dr. Giles said.
Mr. Bucolli released him, and Will seemed to deflate. “Would you guys make sure Chloe eats something?” he said, glancing over at their forgotten tray.
“We’re on it,” Sha
“Thanks.”
Then he turned around and trudged out with Dr. Giles at his heels. The guys slowly lowered themselves back into their chairs, and gradually the noise level in the cafeteria returned to normal, maybe even louder than normal, as everyone started blabbing about what had just happened. I stared down at my untouched pasta, feeling somehow hot and frigid at the same time.
“You okay?” A
“Sure.” I picked up my water bottle. My hand was shaking. I managed to take a sip, then cleared my throat. “Know how you guys were talking about Guys Suck Day?” I said weakly.
“Yeah,” Sha
“Well, I think I’m in for that,” I said grimly. “I think I’m most definitely in.”
jake
“It’s not like I don’t know what’s going on around this school,” Dr. Giles said.
The dude was seriously tall with dark skin and graying hair, but not intimidating. When he sat on the edge of his desk and crossed his arms over his thin chest I couldn’t help thinking I could take him. If they needed a disciplinarian around here, they should’ve given Mr. Troll-ie the job. His hand had felt like a brick against my chest. For a second there I thought he was going to snap me in half. Plus you don’t fuck with a guy who has that much hair growing out of his ears. There’s definitely something wrong there.
“I know what’s going on,” Dr. Giles continued. “The Internet age has been most enlightening.” He tugged a Droid phone out of his pocket and lit up the screen. “Thanks to this I can find out who’s doing what around here at any given moment of any day just by logging on to Twitter.”
I swallowed, but my throat was dry, which made me cough. Dr. Giles was reading our tweets? Okay. Maybe he was intimidating. My leg started to bounce up and down. At the far end of the couch, Will was frozen.
“I understand that the two of you are in a trying situation,” he continued, slipping the phone back into his pocket. “And I sympathize. I do.”
He got up and walked around his desk, then leaned both fists into it.
“But let’s get one thing clear right here and now,” he said, looking us each in the eye. “The animosity between you two will not manifest itself within these walls. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Will barked, like a soldier.
Kiss-ass. I couldn’t even remember what “animosity” meant. Let alone “manifest.”
“Good. Because if it does, you’ll both be suspended. This is your warning.” Dr. Giles stood up straight. “If I hear about one punch, one kick, one shove, you’re both out for a week. Understood?”
Right. That was clearer.
“Yes, sir,” Will said again.
“Yeah,” I muttered.
“Good. I’m glad we’re all on the same page.” He crossed over to the door, stepping over my backpack to get there, and yanked it open. “You can go now.”
I snatched my bag off the floor and walked out into the deserted hallway. Will was right behind me, but he speed-walked past me toward the caf, probably ru
“Watch your back, man,” I said under my breath.
He stopped in his tracks. I was surprised but kept walking. When I came up even with him, he turned to face me.
“What the hell is your problem?” he hissed.
“Seriously?” I blurted.
“Yes. Seriously. If anything I should hate you,” he shot back. My jaw dropped, but he kept right on talking. “I was going out with Chloe all summer and she cheated on me with you! Then you get to be there for her for months while she’s going through this stuff and I—”
“I get to be there with her?” I blurted, my face screwing up in disbelief. “Are you shitting me? You think that was fun?”
Will just stared at me. The silence, even five seconds of it, made me squirm.
“Because it wasn’t.”
My face was on fire. Because I was lying. I realized it just like that and it killed me. Dealing with Chloe and the baby, it hadn’t exactly been fun, but it had been kind of nice. Being there for her. Feeling like she needed me. Knowing there was going to be a kid who was a part of me. I’d felt … important. And now I was just the idiot who’d fallen for the biggest lie of all time. I was the jackass. I was the punch line.
And this guy, Will, was the father.