Page 44 of My (Not So) Perfect Plan

I open my eyes and sigh. “Yeah, I am.”

Mom watches me for a few more moments before she rubs her hands together. I wouldn’t say she’s pleased, more like she has her game face on and we’re going to do whatever we need to do to make it happen. I’m relieved because it finally feels like I have someone in my corner.

“All right then, sweetie. What do you need from me?” Mom asks.

The week flies by. I spend all of my time outside of school exercising, tutoring, and working on my little side project. It involves getting to know Raven, Tamara, and Rachel a lot more through text.

Tina finally took the hint that I wasn’t interested. While she still loved to put down Claire or any of her friends, she knew to be wary about how far she went when she saw I didn’t care about my reputation enough not to stop from giving her an epic verbal beat down.

The longer I go without Claire, the more I know I want her in my life. So many other girls might have the clothes, the hair, the model body or model looks, but they aren’t the girl forme. This wall between Claire and I is going to have to come down and I’m going to have to be the one to breach it and remind her of what she wants. It’s easy enough for girls to friend-zone a guy they like, avoid the pressure of a relationship. It’s time to step up my game and, as Claire would probably say it, ‘woo the girl.’

TEN

CLAIRE

I’m almost to my first period class when I hear Evan call my name. It’s an unusual occurrence and it has me turning around before I realize what I’m doing. He’s standing right behind me, way too close. I jump back and then trip over something. He catches me, his arms around my waist, my eyes huge and my hands clutching his shoulders. Something shifts in his eyes. They look warm and oh-so-come hither.

“Hi,” he says, the side of his mouth twitching to avoid a grin.

“Hi,” I respond, breathless because I almost took a fall and he saved me like a superhero, and because he’s still holding me in his arms. He slowly stands me on my feet, his eyes looking regretful as he takes a scant step back. We’re still standing too close together, but I can’t bring myself to move away.

“I was wondering if you had any of those tickets left to sell. I need to buy four,” he says.

“Four?!”

“Yeah. Myself, mom, and dad, and my date.”

“Date?” I squeak, like it’s any of my business. I scramble to move past it like he’ll forget I asked. “Um, sure I have four tickets. Let me just get some information from you.”

I pull out the ticket sheet and start filling out information. My hands are shaking so bad that I screw up numbers and letters and have to cross them out and redo them afew times. The whole time my mind is circling around the words ‘my date’ over and over again. Why does it hit me right in the solar plexus to know he has a date? I don’t care. Because I have a plan. Plan. Plan. Plan. Date versus plan. Plan wins. My mind seems to want to do a thing of its own though because it goes back to his words like a toddler with a scab.

I’m putting away the $1200 he gives me into the envelope and wishing there was a way for us to be together when Tamara comes up to me, sees what I’m doing and does this jump squeal thing.

“Did you buy the tickets, Evan?” Her face is creased up in a grin so big I’m worried her face will crack. Um, and since when do Tamara and Evan talk like they are buddies? This situation is getting weird.

He grins at her and holds up the four tickets fanned out. She claps her hands together and twirls in a circle on one foot. “Ohmigosh! This is going to be awesome!”

I feel like I’ve entered some parallel reality where Tamara and Evan are friends and I know nothing about it. She starts asking him whether or not he got fitted for his tux yet and then they are discussing limo rentals. My mind can’t take it all in and my eyes bounce back and forth between them, clueless, and wondering why I am feeling so betrayed. I shouldn’t. Tamara knows there’s nothing there with Evan and I. Why should this be make me so uncomfortable?

Evan says he has to go. His eyes cut over to me and gives me another almost-smile.

“See you around, Claire.”

“F-for sure,” I rasp out. I clear my throat and offer a belated smile but he’s already turned away, walking down the hall.

“Oh snap!” Tamara looks at her oversize watch and then clasps me in a perfumed hug. “I’m gonna be late to class! Gotta go!”

The bell rings a few seconds later and I’m still standing there dumbstruck, trying to figure out what the heck just happened.

Raven joins me at the lunch table, Tamara-less, which is weird because the three of us always sit together at lunch.

“Where’s Tamara?” I ask, pulling out my sandwich. She had some ‘splainin’ to do.

He waves a hand behind his head. “Oh, you know. Off doing, um, gala stuff or something.”

Was he covering for her? Because that was really unconvincing. Was there a conspiracy? I take a bite of my sandwich, but it turns to sandpaper in my mouth. I decide that the best thing to do when doubting one’s friends is to lay it on thick. They can’t leave you out when you show them how much you appreciate them, right?

“You guys are really getting into it. Thanks for helping out,” I say.

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