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Last, but not least, was Brieana, the newest—and arguably the most normal—member of our posse. An Air Force brat, Brieana lived with her parents who were stationed at nearby Nellis Air Force base. She’d arrived earlier in the school year and stunned everyone. Her petite frame boasted a powerful singing voice. I swear, she was all lungs and limbs. She’d already booked singing gigs at a respectable Vegas nightclub, with her military dad, who was built like a tank, standing off to the side, daring anyone to take one step too close to his daughter.
And then there was me, the writer who was trying to write a novel whose main character was the badger version of Sherlock Holmes.
“Nothing’s wrong, huh?” Raj said to our table at large. “Yeah, I don’t believe that for a second, Ciaran. Does it have something to do with a certain teacher?”
“What?” I sputtered, glancing around.
Thank God I hadn’t taken a bite of the lasagna. Four pair of eyes pinned me down. No one knew about my crush on Mr. Jones, not even Raj, whom I told everything.
“What’s going on?” Kinzy asked, her eyebrows knitting together. She put down the Percy Bysshe Shelley Zastrozzi paperback she’d been reading, her amber eyes blinking with curiosity. “Are you in trouble again with Mr. Jones?”
“Why does everyone keep saying that?” I asked. Big mistake. I shouldn’t have asked, because my friends were only too happy answer.
“Because he always calls you out,” Rowen said. “It’s like he’s obsessed.”
“That’s a weird thing to say, Rowen.” Sure, Mr. Jones often called me out of class. On the days he subbed in some of the classes, he’d press me hard on questions. “He’s been my mentor since freshmen year,” I explained. “He wants to see me succeed.”
“From my perspective,” Brieana started, “it seems to me that he tries hard to make you look bad, Ciaran. Like he has a vendetta.”
“What? No, he doesn’t,” I insisted. None of that made sense.
“Did your mom reject him or something?” Brieana asked as she flicked her braids over her shoulder before digging into her pizza slice.
I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so. Mom has never said anything.”
“He frowns at you all the time,” Raj declared with a mouth full of fries. “And as annoying as you are when you rail against certain books that land on the bestseller lists—you know I say that with love—I can’t think of a single reason why someone would be mad at you all the time.”
“I mean, for the kid of a former nudie showgirl, you are kind of vanilla,” Kinzy announced as if that was helpful. She smiled brightly.
“Ouch.” I motioned to remove the pretend knife from my heart. “Please, all of you, tell me how you really feel.” I turned to Rowen. “Anything you’d like to add?”
“Dunno, man,” Rowen said with a shrug. He wasn’t talkative unless it was for one of his videos. “Mr. Jones downright scowled in your direction this morning.”
“This feels like an intervention.” I laughed as I chewed the rubbery pasta. I mean, I wanted to decipher the meaning behind all of Mr. Jones’s expressions, but couldn’t make it seem like I cared. Frantically, I knew I had to steer the conversation into another direction, and the only direction I could take it was the discussion I wasn’t ready to have. “He probably looks at everyone that way. Besides, that’s not what’s bothering me.”
I had everyone’s rapt attention after that.
“Jesus, Ciaran,” Kinzy badgered when I didn’t immediately launch into a TEDx talk, “talk about a cliffhanger. Are you going to make us beg for an explanation?”
“It’s just I didn’t want the news to come out this way.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mr. Jones enter the cafeteria, his posture self-assured and confident. Sure enough, Rowen’s description of a scowl exactly described Mr. Jones’s current expression. I figured it would be best to blurt everything and let the chips fall where they lay. “I’m still coming to grips with it myself. The thing is, my mom eloped last night and we’re moving to Malibu.”
Silence stabbed me.
My friends’ faces morphed from confusion to surprise to downright anger. Raj’s jaw fell open. Kinzy’s face reddened, while Rowen gritted his teeth. Brieana, who hadn’t known me as long, set her mouth in a tight line.
“Eloped?” Kinzy asked. “Like, legally eloped?”
“Yes.”
“Whoa,” Brieana murmured.
“When do you move?” Raj asked quietly. His eyes darted from side to side, and I could tell he was calculating everything in his mind. He was nothing if not methodical. “Summertime? You’ll get to finish the school year, right?”
The hopeful tone in his question murdered me. Even Rowen held his breath and he was the least emotional person I knew.
“No.” Last night’s conversation was fresh in my mind. “We’re moving at the end of next week so I can complete the rest of my AP tests.”
Raj dropped his fork and threw up his hands. “What the fuck, man? What day next week?”
