Page 22 of The Art of Us

“We’ve got the whole thumbnail thing figured out,” she said. “I should get going.”

“Right. Let me drive you home.” It was a jerk suggestion since he knew what her living situation was like, but he hoped she would decide to trust him enough on her own to tell the truth.

“I actually really like walking.” Her words came out too fast.

“I do too. Want me to walk with you?”

“No. No, thank you. I’m good. I’ll see you tomorrow in school.” She all but fled to the front door to make her escape.

He followed her and waved goodbye from the open door. Then he closed it and hung his head in his hands, letting his fingers drum the top of his head while he considered all the different things he could do.

“I should tell someone,” he said to his now empty house. But who could he tell and not have her resent him forever?

He couldn’t think of anyone. And worse, he was sure she would do more than just resent him if he told anyone. The independent girl who’d just fled from his house would hate him.

Chapter Seven

Ireland

He’d held her hand. Kalvin Ellis had held her hand. Hers! Not somebody else’s, buthers. It had been four days, and it was all she could think about. He had held her hand like it was no big deal, like he wasn’t touching some sort of pariah. He had held it like it was something natural and normal, but when his fingers made contact with hers, she’d felt anything but normal and all sorts of wonderfully absurd. Absurd in that she felt like breaking into song like one of those over-the-top actors from a musical.

It had been days, but she still wanted to grab people by the shoulders and shout, “Kalvin Ellis held my hand!” She was sure she hadn’t stopped grinning since the moment she’d left his house after they’d created the thumbnails. In spite of the fact that they’d spent a lot of time together since then, he hadn’t done it again. She kept waiting for him to extend his fingers in her direction, but so far, no luck.

Not that they’d had tons of time to be doing any handholding. They’d been working pretty much nonstop to get the murals project up and running smoothly. The art club meetings were not worth the amped-up anxiety Ireland had felt before the first one. Since someone as high in the social pecking order as Mara Washington was in the club, how likely would it be that the rest of the club would accept someone like Ireland?

But then ... Kal had accepted her, so why wouldn’t they?

She’d also worried about being used as Mara’s punching bag, but Mara had been completely civil. Ireland figured it wasbecause the hag and harpy weren’t around. She was sure that if those two had been present, Ireland would’ve been a target.

The nice thing was that the other people in the art club didn’t seem too perplexed when Ireland showed up. They made space for her within their group. Literally. As in, the first day, when Ireland showed up late, people scooted aside their chairs to make room for her at the table. The table was a little extra cozy with her and the six actual art club members, but they hadn’t minded smooshing together for her. Of the six, three of them were part of Kal’s band—Asha, Cooper, and, of course, Kal. The other three were Mara and two other girls: blue-eyed Sophie and red-bespectacled Charisma. Charisma was the girl who had smiled at her on that first day she’d decided to start trying to make friends, and Ireland still loved her for it.

Ireland felt a sense of belonging for the first time in her life. And she had Kal to thank for it.

Beyond the emotional boost he’d become in her life, Ireland hadn’t felt hungry since they’d started hanging out. It seemed like food was a big deal to Kal. Whenever Kal was with her outside of class, they were eating. He’d show up with a fancy cooler bag filled with meat-and-cheese sandwiches similar to those they’d had that first time at his house, or he’d have his backpack half-full of snacks, and he’d dump them unceremoniously on the table where they were working. She would have wondered what his ulterior motives were, except for the fact that he always ate with her and declared himself to be completely starving. It didn’t feel as if he was treating her like some sort of charity case. How could he? It’s not like he knew what was going on in her life. He was just a nice person who didn’t enjoy eating in front of others without sharing. He always brought enough to share with several people. He wasn’t just feeding her but everyone who came to the meetings on themural. It took a lot of the weirdness factor out of the situation for her.

It was as he dropped the cooler bag on the table where the group of art club kids had gathered to do the final vote for the mural that Asha from Kal’s band flipped back her long blue-green hair and said, “You really need to tell your mom how much I love her. Maybe ask if she’ll adopt me. My mom’s idea of fixing me lunch is buying me a gift card to fast-food.”

Several chuckles and murmurs of agreement followed.

“Yourfamily can adopt me too,” Asha continued as she pointed toward Mara. “Your dad’s triple-chocolate croissant is a thing of legend.”

Mara scoffed. “You’d rethink that whole adoption concept if you were the one waking up at three o’clock in the morning on Saturdays to help him make dough.”

Asha was undeterred. She shrugged. “Maybe. But you get to eat what you make, and that would absolutely make it worth it. Plus, I’m guessing he shares his secret recipes with you.”

“The secret is hard work and getting up at three in the morning on Saturdays.” Mara grumbled this while she peered into Kal’s cooler and pulled out carrot sticks and a tub of some sort of dip.

Asha tilted her head and inspected Mara. “You think he does that to keep you from staying out too late on Friday night?”

“No idea,” Mara said. “I only know I get tomorrow off because of the Heartbeat dance.”

“Are you going with Rowan?” Sophie asked.

“No!” The sharp answer all but sliced the air, but no one except Ireland seemed to be shocked by it. Or maybe they just weren’t commenting on it, like Ireland wasn’t. The Heartbeat formal had been the topic of a good many conversations between the club members. Ireland had hung on to every word to see if Kal was going to the dance, but it seemed he hadn’t asked anyone and had no intention of going on his own.

Mara sucked in a deep breath and smiled as if she hadn’t done a snapping turtle impression when responding about going to the formal with Rowan. She continued her conversation with Asha. “Your best bet is to have Superman’s family adopt you. That way you’d get your mommy to pack you snacks and lunch every day.” She squinted into the cooler again. “I’ll bet if we look hard enough in here, we’ll find his blankie and stuffed animal as well. I bet he has a stuffed elephant.” Mara put down the bag and stared at Kal with a smirk.

Kal swiped away the tub of dip at the same time that Mara reached for it.

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