Twisted

When I walked into homeroom, Kelsey Caine acted like I didn’t exist. That was a good thing. Sean did, too. That was bad. But he was busy comforting his friend Derek Berven, who had just been dumped, so I forgave him.
When the bell rang, I dropped my notebook so the papers would scatter all over. This made me late to class, but it guaranteed that Kelsey would be in front of me. One-on-one I could handle Kelsey Caine no problem. But she had an army on her side. I was still the slightly weird kid who had only one friend.
As my calculus teacher yelled at me for being late, I realized that I needed to work out again. My hard-earned landscaping muscles were beginning to melt. I’d start doing push-ups. I’d run. Maybe Sean would let me pick him up and practice lifting him.
I’d have to phrase that in just the right way so he didn’t slap me.

---

I was called down to the principal’s office at the beginning of second period.
Mr. Hughes looked terrible. All of the buttons on his phone were blinking red. His walkie-talkie lay on the desk, crackling. When the secretary showed me in, she reminded him that he had a meeting with the superintendent in five minutes.
“We’re keeping this short,” he told me after she had closed the door. “My spies tell me there was an altercation in the girls’ locker room after school yesterday.”
Kelsey had an army. Mr. Hughes had a spy network. I needed to beef up my recruitment efforts.
“Were you a part of that altercation?” he continued.
“No,” I said, happy to tell the truth. The altercation was the attack on Hardy. I was part of the aftermath. A technicality, perhaps, but an important one.
“You’re sure?”
“Did someone see me there? Did someone file a complaint?”
He stared at me for a full minute. The seconds dragged on the clock behind him like the hands were stuck in tar. “No,” he finally admitted. He tapped a piece of paper on his desk. “I am required to report any trouble you get into to your probation officer.”
I nodded. “I’m seeing him this afternoon. Should I ask him to call you?”
Another half minute of silence, then, “No. But your grades are not what one would hope for.”
How was I supposed to answer that? I kept my eyes on him and focused on blinking regularly, but not too fast, so I wouldn’t look like a liar or a cheat.
“You’re walking a fine line here, Elise. You don’t have any room for error.”
Blink. “Yes, Mr. Hughes. I know that.”
“I don’t want to hear any more rumors about you. You keep your nose clean.”
“I’ll try my best.” I sniffed and wiped my nose on my sleeve. He didn’t notice.

---

Sean sat with us at lunch again. He didn’t put his foot in my lap, but he had the choice of sitting next to Aaron or me, and he sat next to me.
His arm bumped mine four times.
After lunch I sniffed my sleeve. It smelled like him. I wanted my neck to be longer so I could ravish in the scent, but the lunch ladies were already giving me funny looks.

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