Page 189 of Something Rad
The school bell rings, and the gym doors burst open down the hall moments later, students immediately filling the halls.
“Cooper–” Robbie starts, but I cut him off.
“In fact, I think I’ve let you do more than enough to me. I’m done.”
He reaches out for me. “But–”
I unzip my backpack where it hangs from my locker door, digging inside and pulling out his JourneyFrontierstape. I toss it at his chest, and his hands reach up, fumbling for it.
“That’s the only thing of yours that I have to return to you,” I tell him. “Unfortunately, you can't give me back anything of mine that you took. Nothing that matters.”
His throat bobs. “Cooper–”
“No.” I shake my head. “I’m done,” I repeat, turning away from him.
And because that bell meant it’s time to go to second period, and because that means it’s time for history with Ms. Cage, for the first time in my life, I skip a class.
I head straight for the library. Ms. Rose is talking to a student at the front desk when I walk in, but she sees my face, and because of that, she doesn’t question me as I walk behind the counter and into her back office, closing the door behind me.
I lock the door, figuring Ms. Rose will knock when she needs inside or insists on talking to me. I lean my back against the hard wood and sink slowly to the ground. I assumed I’d cry once I got here, but I don’t. I just stare off into space, the anger, embarrassment, disappointment, and betrayal simmering within me.
Ms. Rose never knocks.
I suppose she owes me one.
forty
ROBBIE
I skipped Ms. Cage’s class.
I wasn’t going to. I figured it would be a good opportunity to trap Cooper and force her to listen to me. But she didn’t show.
Sara Cooper skipped class.
Because of me.
The moment I realized she wasn’t coming, I got up and walked out.
Now I’m sitting in my Camaro in the school parking lot, smoking the cigarette I desperately needed an hour ago. But now, it does nothing for me. It’s just a distraction. A distraction that’s not really working.
How do I fix this?
I’m so pissed. Pissed at Cooper for not hearing me out. Pissed at myself for saying the shit I did. Pissed at Paul for bringing it out of me. Pissed at Denise for pulling that stunt.
God, I still can’t believe it.
Before I even knew what was happening, my lips were on hers. And it was all wrong.
When you’ve become accustomed to red, pink just doesn’t do it for you anymore.
I felt nothing. The kiss didnothingfor me. The only thing I could even register was the simultaneous burst of panic and anger running through me once I realized what Denise had done.
Then, like it was nothing, she just walked away. She pulled the pin out of the grenade and threw it. She even smiled while she did it. I wanted so badly to demand she explain herself, but with her walking one way and Cooper walking the other, I had to make a choice. It was a choice that had my feet walking in the correct direction before my brain could even process that there was a choice at all.
Too bad that it was too little too late.
I’m done, Cooper said.Twice.
