It's My Life - Stacie Ramey Page 0,16
he puts his hand on Julian’s shoulder and points to the paper that Tori graded for him. He clicks his pen open. “Actually, this is the correct answer for this one.”
I can practically feel the heat coming off Julian, and can picture how the tips of his ears have turned red. I may be way too focused on the boy’s physiology. Most girls in my position would consider his anatomy. His strong shoulders. His cute smile. It’s not that I don’t get all of that, I do. It’s just that I remember so much about him. How he looks when he’s interested in something. Like hockey, of course, but also birds and trees, actual specific trees—the names and where you find them and all.
Mr. S. turns around and looks at me. “Jenna might be a good person for you to team up with. You both missed a bunch of assignments, and she’s pretty great at getting caught up.”
Now it’s my turn for my ears to go red.
Tori grabs Julian’s phone right out of his hand. “We already exchanged numbers and set study dates, Mr. S.”
And it’s not that they already exchanged numbers that bursts my dream bubble. It’s that she’s holding his phone and he’s not objecting—to anything she’s doing.
Mr. S. puts his hands up like he’s surrendering.
I can feel Julian try to catch my attention, but I make myself busy looking over my paper even though all I’m doing is wishing like mad that I was the one who got to hold his phone and make study dates with him.
* * *
Every once in a while, a bear straggles out of the woods on the north of town and goes into someone’s back yard. It makes everyone talk about how we are depleting their habitat. Everyone gives their best bear advice, as in how to avoid getting eaten by one. Me? I worry about the bear. Will somebody shoot it? Can it find its way home?
Today, a bear sighting has everyone in school all worked up. Kids have their phones out at lunch. They’re doing some kind of GPS thing that tracks the bear. I’m sitting with Ben and his group of marketing kids, who are all talking about fund-raisers and price points, and I scowl at my phone.
Ben puts his palm in front of Simon Newsome’s face as Simon tries to talk him into carrying condoms in the school store. “It would definitely drive sales,” Simon says.
Ben looks super annoyed. “No. No way,” he says, then he swivels to face me, his shoulder bumping mine. “What’s up? Aside from not being able to contend with the stupidity of our peers?”
Simon leans across the table. “It’s not stupid. It’s brilliant…”
Ben ignores Simon completely now, just shuts the dude down. He turns to face me full on. “Tell me what’s got you down, sweets.”
“You’ll laugh.”
“Probably. But that’s our thing, isn’t it?”
“I’m worried about the bear.” I show him my phone. “They’re tracking him, and it’s not like it’s his fault. He’s just being a bear.”
Ben takes a sweet potato fry off my plate, dips it in ketchup, and chews on it slowly. He looks like a movie star from the old days, only back then the fry would have been a cigarette. He watches the bear live-action tracking cam. “I think he got away,” he says, showing me.
“Really?”
He puts his arm around me and gives me a squeeze. “That’s why I love you, Jenna. You have the sweetest heart.”
“Or I’m a big dork.”
“Those things are not mutually exclusive, you know.”
Julian walks into the cafeteria, and my eyes zoom in. I immediately feel worried for him, like the bear. No, this high school isn’t hostile exactly. Most people are fairly chill, and I don’t worry he won’t find a table. I mean, theoretically he’s already found one, since he’s been back a while already. It’s just, if he sits with Tori, that would kill me.
Simon snaps his fingers in front of Ben’s face. “Are you going to address the condom issue?”
Ben cracks up and puts on one of his this-is-going-to-be-fun smiles, which distracts me for a second from the where-will-Julian-sit situation. “Should I give it to him?” he asks me.
“Uh, yeah…”
Ben shifts his attention back to Simon. I half listen while I watch Julian exit the food line. “We are not going to pursue your useless idea. Final decision.”
Julian starts walking down my row. The hockey team sits just to the left of us, so that’s probably where he’s headed. I