Page 43 of Ask No Questions

“I’m glad. Mckayla mentioned you’re fitting in with the kids there.” She wore an obvious smirk.

“Yeah, I guess. It helps that Mac and the girls have accepted me.”

“So tell me about the boys!”

Shocked at her abruptness, I turned and looked at her. “What?”

Diane laughed and nudged me with her shoulder. “You think I brought you out here to talk about classes? Please, Aubrey. I know you had a 4.0 at your old school. I’m not worried about that. Mckayla and the girls all love you, and I knew the kids at school would see how amazing you are. I want to know about the good stuff! Tell me about the boy drama!”

My jaw dropped. Who was this woman? This was the third thing I’d noticed during this conversation that set her apart from my mom.

“Seriously? You care about that?”

“Honey, of course! I want to know about school and dance as well, but I want you to know you can talk to me about everything. I know all about Sean and Justin, and even Mark. That’s saying something because Talia is a vault about who she likes.”

“Huh. My mom never asked me about this kind of stuff.” As long as I was dating one of her approved choices. “Well, there’s Mike, my friend from math. He's been so nice to me since the first day of school. He introduced me to all his friends and made sure I knew he had my back. He took me on a really nice date, as friends. I had a really good time, but he never brought it up again.”

“Have you brought it up?”

I sighed. Life was too confusing at seventeen. “No. That weekend I also went surfing with Luke.”

“Oh, right. You guys came over here that evening.”

“Yeah, things were really fun with him too. I think I really like him. His smile…it’s amazing. I get butterflies just thinking about him.”

She grinned and laughed lightly. “Sounds like someone has a crush.”

“I guess. He seems so perfect, but he hasn’t asked me out again either.”

“Boys are slow at your age. Most of the time they need help figuring out what you want. I bet they’re dying to ask you out again, but they are waiting for you to let them know that you want them to.”

I laughed at how true that was. “You’re right, but there’s one more.”

One of her eyebrows shot up. “Another one? Well done!”

“Yeah, but he’s by far the most difficult to figure out. He’s not friends with the girls, or really anyone. He’s got a bad reputation at school, but I’ve talked to him and I think people are just being cruel. He’s been blamed for something that wasn’t his fault, but nobody will forgive Gage. Not even himself.”

Diane sighed and looked away from me. “Gage? As in Gage Vincent?”

“Yeah.” I sat there panicking. What does she know about him?

“Aubrey, I want you to be careful with that boy. I know about the accident. It was a very unfortunate event and devastating for the community. He wasn’t at fault, but trouble seems to follow him. I’m glad you have become friends with him. I’m sure he needs one, but just please be careful. I love you too much to see something bad happen to you, even a broken heart.”

I turned and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you.”

It was taking time, but I was getting more and more used to having people care about me and actually listen. As much as I didn’t want to disappoint her, I couldn’t go back to ignoring him. I just hoped I didn’t end up regretting it as much as people thought I would.

Nineteen

Thursday’s announcements chimed in after the first period bell rang. The principal stated during lunch nominations for the winter formal court would begin. The top nominees would be revealed tomorrow morning.

After the lecture, I turned to Nick and Mike. “Winter formal court? I thought that was just for homecoming and prom.”

Nick smirked and shook his head. “Oh no, here at Bay View we take every opportunity to encourage elitism and flaunt popularity.” I couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous it sounded.

Mike laughed too and leaned toward me. "Don’t worry though, this week is just nominations. Next week is when people start campaigning, but nobody really does that. Except for Sydney. She buys her votes, not that she's ever won. People are more than willing to take her candy bars every year, though." He and Nick started laughing.

She must have had radar for her name because right as the guys started laughing, she stood up and crossed the room toward us. "Don't bother worrying about formal court, new girl. This is my year."