The Lunacy Fringe

When we finished with music, Felix picked up my bag and walked me to my next class. We stopped at the door out front, and he handed the satchel over. He had a slight smile but didn't say anything.

"Thank you," I said. "For helping me out today." He smiled crookedly and then pinched his lips like he was holding back thoughts.

"It's not a problem," he replied. Then he smiled and walked away.

I watched him go and sighed to myself. Even though I hadn't been in California long, I had heard enough about Felix to make me cautious. He was gorgeous and beautiful and sweet, but he made me stupid. And I didn't like being stupid. I didn't like the way he made me forget how to speak. Or how I would hang on to his every word.

And everyone liked to remind me about his way of losing interest quickly. He was Quinn's best friend, so that made things worse. I didn't want to end up hating him and then get stuck sitting with him at lunch every day. But then again—it sucked being so stupidly in like with him and having to sit with him at lunch every day. And live next to him. And sit behind him in English. And—ugh.

But on the flip side, he'd never actually shown a genuine interest in me. Not really. He did kiss me once, but we were drunk, and he hadn't tried again. He was nice by holding my bag and visiting with me when I was recovering. He was flirty on occasion, but that didn't mean he liked me. Some people were just flirty by nature. Maybe he was taking Quinn's hints about not breaking some stupid friend code. Or perhaps he was just nice and not even flirting at all.

I plopped down at my desk. I could have gone to talk to Freddy and Martin before class started, but they were arguing about something. So I avoided it and didn't speak to them until Martin caught up with me after class. I didn't talk to him as much as the others. He was nice, in a quiet sort of way. And cute too. And if I didn't have this stupid crush on Felix, I would have taken him up on his offer to go to prom.

"Hey, Ruby," he said, appearing at my side.

"Hey. How's it going?"

"Pretty good. Have you given prom much thought yet?"

"I, um—I haven't really had much time to think about it. Sorry."

"It's alright. I can stop asking if you want me to."

I felt terrible. There was no logical reason for me to not accept his offer. He was cute, nice, and friendly. And we liked the same music and had the same friends. He didn't have a questionable reputation, as far as I knew. But he also didn't make my stomach burst with butterflies. And my skin didn't tingle when he brushed up against me. I wasn't acting stupid in any way. Was he the logical choice? Probably. But not the one my heart wanted.

"Oh well—I guess I'm not even sure I'm going yet. It's not really on my list of priorities right now. Sorry," I explained. He smiled and nodded.

"You know Billie's not going to let you get away with not going, right?" he asked. I had to laugh. Of course not.

"Oh no. I didn't even think of that," I admitted. He shrugged and held his books closer.

"It's alright. I'm sorry for bugging you about it."

"It's okay. I'm sorry for saying no. Again."

"No worries. I'll talk to you later." He gave me a wave and walked off into the crowd of students. I felt awful for the rest of my walk to Chemistry.

Billie was waiting for me outside of Study Hall at the end of the day. She was standing by the door, bouncing on her feet in excitement.

"Sit down, sit down!" she said.

"What are you so excited about?" I asked, wanting to join in on her fun. But she was an excitable person in general.

"I want to know everything that's going on between you and Felix." She wrapped her hand around my good arm and pulled me toward the table at the back of the room. We sat down, and she leaned on her elbows, waiting impatiently for me to answer.

"Billie, I…," I started, but then I stopped because Meg was on her way to our table. She smiled as she sat down beside me.

"Hey, Ruby," she said. Billie and I both froze. Meg had never actually talked to me before, and she definitely never paid us any attention in this class. Unless something changed while I was gone. But I could tell by the look on Billie's face that she hadn't expected this either.

"Oh, hey." Billie looked back at me with wide eyes, and I shrugged.

"How are you?"

"I'm getting better."

"That's good." She was nervously picking at her fingernails. "Listen, could I talk to you about something?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Um…," Billie started. "I'll just go—watch for the teacher, I guess." Then she jumped to her feet and headed toward the open door. But she spun around and mouthed the word "everything" before disappearing into the hall.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" I asked when Billie was gone, though I was pretty sure I knew. She sighed and laced her fingers on the desk before us.

"It's about Felix." I winced involuntarily, but she wasn't looking, so she didn't notice.

"What about him?"

"Are you guys like—together?" She looked up at me, and I shook my head slowly.

"Well—uh—no."

"Oh, I just heard you were, so I wanted to ask."

"Who told you that?"

"One of my friends. She's in one of your classes. She said you guys were getting kind of—close. Felix doesn't really get 'close' to people unless he's dating them."

"He's just been helping me out because I can't move my arm."

"Well, you heard we broke up, right?"

"Yeah, I heard."

"It was my fault. I said some stupid things. I just wanted to fix it, but I didn't want to do that if you guys were—together or anything." I faked a smile and shook my head again.

"We're just friends."

"Do you like him?"

"Um…." Billie came speeding back into the room and slammed into the table with her hip. She was my hero. Our teacher followed along just after she collapsed in her seat.

"Alright, get to work," he said, obviously already bored. "Homework, classwork, projects. I don't care. Just get working."

"I guess I'll talk to you later," Meg said. I nodded and watched her go to her usual seat with her friends. Then I felt extra guilty.

"That was scary," I whispered to Billie. She nodded with wide brown eyes and immediately began scribbling in her notebook. I figured she was writing me a note because of the frantic way she was writing, but I probably wouldn't be able to answer. At least not on paper. She finished writing and shoved the whole notebook across the desk so I could read it.

"What exactly did she say?" she wrote. I chuckled and pointed to my strapped-up arm. She smacked herself on the forehead with her pencil and pulled the notebook back to herself. She scribbled another note. "Fine, tell me later," it said when she held it up.

Five minutes to the final bell, we gathered our things. Billie helped me stuff everything back into my bag, and I leaned across the table as far as I could before hurting myself.

"We need to get out of here quick after class. So Meg doesn't try to talk to me again," I whispered. She nodded dramatically like this was a life-or-death situation.

"Gotcha," she said. "This is some real James Bond type secret agent stuff." When the bell rang, she jumped out of her seat and reached for me. "Ruby, I need to talk to you about something important!" she shouted, just to make sure everyone in the next three classrooms knew.

"Okay, great! I'll follow you!" I replied as she yanked me out of my chair.

"Hurry!" She had to pull me so I could keep up with her, and once we were far enough away, I practically collapsed against a locker and put my hands on my ribs.

"Did she follow us?" I asked between ragged breaths.

"I don't think so. But let's hang out here for a minute just in case she tries to find us." She peeked around the corner.

"Good idea."

"So, what did she want to talk to you about?" She turned back to face me, but the hallway was crowded, and I didn't want to talk about it in such a public place. Where one of Meg's friends might overhear. Or worse, Felix.

"Do you want to come over today? I'm sure my dad can give you a ride home later."

"Sure, I'll call my mom at your place."

"Good. C'mon."

I stood back up, and we headed out front. Billie kept on the lookout for Meg, and I tried to spot my dad's truck in all the chaos. But as soon as we stepped out onto the grass, someone shouted my name. Billie yelped and yanked me into the shrubs lined up around the building.

"Ouch, Billie," I hissed.

"Oh, sorry," she whispered. "I panicked. It could have been Meg."

"Sure, if Meg sounds like Quinn." A shadow blocked out the hot sun, and we looked up to find him staring down at us. A single eyebrow raised in question.

"What are you doing in the bushes?" he asked.

"We're avoiding detection," Billie answered.

"And do you normally drag injured people into random bushes to avoid detection?"

"The suspect was armed. I had to protect her."

"Armed with what?"

"Possible information." He laughed and reached out a hand to pull me safely from the shrub. He helped her out a second later since she was much shorter and seemed to have more trouble getting out than in.

"Who were you hiding from anyway?" he asked as I brushed the dirt off my jeans one-handed.

"Meg," I admitted. Then Billie smothered my face with the palm of her hand.

"No one," she told him with a smile.

"Billie, I can't breathe," I muttered.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry, Ruby. I should really never be around injured people." She pulled her hand back.

"I noticed."

"Sorry, Quinn. We'd love to stay and chat, but we have business—and stuff."

"Right," he said slowly. "Well, if you're not riding the bus, I can give you a ride."

"That won't be necessary, Emery. I'm going to Ruby's, and we're going to get a ride with her dad." She started toward the street.

"I guess I'll come by later then," Quinn told me. "I promised Felix I'd give him a ride." With the mention of Felix's name, Billie spun back around.

"Felix, you say?" she said as I rolled my eyes. "Why don't we all just go in Quinn's car, then? It'll be much easier than trying to stuff ourselves into your dad's truck."

"There's only two of us. It's not really a…." She shook her head, and I shut up. "Okay. Well, let me just let Dad know then."

We headed toward the street again, and I spotted Felix standing by the tree. Meg was with him. I paused for just a moment before Billie wrapped her hand around my wrist and dragged me forward. If Quinn noticed my hesitation, he didn't make it obvious. He headed right toward Felix and Meg.

"Hey, I'll meet you by the car," he said with a nod.

Felix turned away from Meg and nodded back. His eyes met mine for just a moment before he turned back to her. I didn't know what I was feeling. Jealousy. Guilt maybe. Because I wanted the same boy as her. Jealousy because she was pretty and was already his girlfriend once. Probably infinitely more likely to be his girlfriend again than I was. Especially since she probably didn't have a brother he was best friends with.

As far as I knew.

My dad's truck was a little ways off, so Billie and Quinn followed me over. But it was kind of far, and I was still kind of slow, so Quinn finally just put his hand on my shoulder to stop me. Then motioned to let our dad know we were going with him instead.

"See you at home!" my dad said out of the window.

The Volvo had been totaled, so I wasn't sure what Quinn was driving now. I ended up just following him and Billie to the parking lot until they reached a car I didn't recognize.

"You two weirdos want to take the back?" Quinn asked, unlocking the front door.

"Sure," Billie said. So she climbed in, and I took the seat beside her. Then we sat there nervously, waiting for Felix to show up.

"When did you get a new car?" I asked while we sat there baking in the hot sun.

"It's Mom's. She's letting me borrow it on the condition that I drive less like a maniac," he told me.

"That'll be the day."

Thankfully, Felix didn't take very long to save us from the heat. The passenger side door opened, and he slid in beside Quinn.

"Sorry," he said, then he didn't say another word for the rest of the ride home. He and I both stayed silent as Billie and Quinn bickered about whether or not Quinn should wear a tux to prom. I tried not to look at him because I didn't want him to catch me. But the few times I did glance in his direction, he was just staring out of the window, apparently in deep thought.

When Quinn pulled the car into the driveway, my dad's truck was already parked. Felix was the first to get out. He turned to face us.

"See you, Detroit. Bill," he said, nodding to each of us. Then he hopped out and made it all the way to his house before Quinn had even helped me out of the back.