CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

see you later

mrs fennel chose to thunder at walker and me in front of the whole class. she even waited for everybody to get settled before she stood up and used us as an example of people who don't know they're impact on other's days. i couldn't even focus on what she was trying to say, i was just preparing myself to be publicly humiliated if she also chose to let the class know why i was permitted to leave. but that never happened. instead, once she felt she got her point across, mrs fennel punished us further by giving us individual work, saying she was drained of all her energy to teach us that day. no, she didn't take the opportunity to give us more time for the project.

and it was almost like madeline could hear my thoughts. she did exactly what i predicted she would. the classroom was finally starting to quiet down and let the audience in my head hear my complaining as i started the worksheet, when i noticed the chattering from madeline's table. she sat next to her clone, violet, one of the girls present at the sandwich skirmish. behind her were the two other girls that would be responsible for the impending audition epidemic.

i witnessed it go down. i saw her cup her hand over her mouth and whisper to the girls around her right in front of my eyes. but i didn't do anything about it. what was i supposed to say? that i can't let them audition because i think that they're annoying bitches whose teeth are so artificially white that we wouldn't even need a flash on set? i just had to watch as the group shrieked and gasped and nodded.

i checked if walker beside me was also hearing this. i feel like this has happened so many times — he was looking at me before i looked at him. but this time he had the face of someone who just ate a lemon whole.

"what'd you get for question three?" he asked.

i didn't think that would be the next thing he said to me after that face, and he could have just looked next to him, but i still answered. "c. you?"

"when?"

"what?"

"see me when?"

i chuckled. "i see what you did there."

"you know, i'm free on friday," he said.

"yeah?" what was this boy doing?

"wanna see me friday?"

"what do you mean?" i squinted at him, skeptical that he was asking me out. no, that would be crazy. friends ask friends to hang out all the time.

"i'm suggesting we hang out on friday."

"is this your way of apologizing for telling madeline?"

"i can't just want to hang out with you?" he asked, pretending to be hurt.

"but what was that disgusted face you had on a second ago," i accused him.

"i was thinking about mr fennel and principal dowery."

"the unnamed kid said that was just a rumor."

"well there are true rumors out there. he could have cheated to get her to disband the theater program," he suggested. that is true. the help around her office could have been something more...adult. i didn't respond to this suggestion, deep in pondering how that could be possible to do in a principal's office. "also, i am sorry about telling madeline. looks like we have no shortage of emilys."

"nah, it's good. she would have thrown punches otherwise. and hey, maybe it's a good thing they know! we can totally crush their ego when they audition with the acting skills of a thumb!"

he gave me a thumbs up, then frowned and turned them upside down. "they're offended."

that was so cheesy, but i loved it. i was laughing when i suddenly stopped and pointed at him. maybe i was still in my pulling-a-maeve mood, because i said, "i declare a thumb war."

"oh really?" he shoved aside the worksheet and secured his elbow on the surface. i did the same, and we interlocked fingers. this was the closest i'd ever gotten to holding a guy's hand, prompting my pesky sweat glands to start in with me. now it seemed like i was nervous, which i definitely wasn't... who would be nervous having their crush's hand tightly wrapped around theirs?

"one, two...," i solely began to chant and move my finger as one would do before a match. then he remembered and joined me, "three, four, i declare a thumb war."

before we started, i realized how unfair the advantage he had over me was. his entire hand was bigger than mine, and if he could open a gatorade bottle and i couldn't, i'm done for. "wait! this time, i give you permission to let me win."

"if you say so. but i'm kind of rusty if you couldn't tell."

we recited the preliminary countdown and actually began the war. we both immediately vied for the upper hand. despite his previous claims, walker started off strong. i found myself having to avoid his persistence instead of trying to prevail. and the next thing i knew i was biting my lip in frustration. "this is what you call letting me win? this is what you call rusty?"

"yes? i haven't been in a thumb war since the third grade," he said. it was almost like his thumb and mouth were being maneuvered by two detached things. he was talking and playing at vastly different rates.

"you're not letting me win, are you?"

"that's not necessarily true." did walker think he was sly or something? i didn't want to admit it, but he was starting to get a rise out of me.

oh, i got it. that was the point.

my eyes didn't leave the battleground as my bitterness grew. i couldn't look away at my nimble movements gradually meeting his level. sure, i was eager to see his reaction when i won, but what i really wanted was to witness the actual victory unfolding.

he started to fumble slightly. i could almost taste the victory. i swore i was about to win, when time was once again not on my side. our teacher stood in front of our desk, a mocking smile curling on her lips.

i quickly pulled my hand away from walker's as she began to speak like a lawyer to a criminal. "so you think this is the time to play silly games?"

i glanced down and tried to say "no," not because i was too nervous to make eye contact with her, but because i didn't feel like looking up at her nose hair. before i could open my mouth, however, she walloped her pen against the desk and pestered, "you look at someone when they're speaking." there's a difference between speaking and opening your mouth to let out the demon trapped inside of you, mrs fennel.

she cleared her throat and continued, "evidently, you two have no place being near each other. i'm moving your seats. there will be no argument."

she had to be one of the gorgons, because my heart turned to stone and sunk all the way to the bottom of my stomach. i should have expected this.

"but, mrs fennel, we're partners for the project you assigned yesterday," walker pointed out with a hint of desperation.

"have you started it?" she asked both of us. when we didn't respond for two seconds, she said, "that's what i thought." she then spun around to the class, who was watching us like the reality tv show we probably seemed like. "has anyone started the project?"

there were crickets.

"okay... since no one has started, i can choose who i want to pair you up with." she rubbed her chin. "indigo, you switch with walker."

"it's violet," said violet.

"don't talk back to me."

violet bowed her head and rushed to pack up her things. she would be my partner in sitting at this desk and for the project, meaning walker would be madeline's. i told myself it could have been worse. i could have been partnered with madeline. and it's not like i had anything to worry about! walker too can't stand her.

before he got up, he whispered to me, "so are we on for friday?"

i nodded with a dispirited frown. then he took his bookbag and left to go sit next to madeline. it was apparent that it hadn't clicked that walker would be sitting next to her, because it wasn't until then that her eyes widened and she silently screamed to her remaining friends.



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thank you for reading chapter 18!