Page 41 of As the Rain Falls
“Look, I’m just trying to make a new friend by breaking the rules and possibly pissing my teacher off,” Mateo avoids my question. “Can you tell me if it’s working, or am I just making a fool of myself?”
“I don’t know,” I answer casually, knowing he has been around since early September and never tried befriending me before today. “You’ve never spoken to me before, so to be honest this feels a bit forced.”
“Ouch, that’s rough.”
“No, it’s not.” I shake my head, finding him silly.
“Oh, come on, Cassandra. There’s a first time for everything. And I’m really not so bad, you know. You might even like it, being my friend.”
Mrs. Yun’s gaze snaps forward, eyes like a hawk, trying to find out who is cheating during her test. I snort lightly, drawing attention to myself.
“Is there a problem, Cassandra?”
I fake a cough and Mateo bends over, hiding his face between his arm and the table.
“Allergies, miss,” I lie.
“Well, keep coughing more quietly so as to not disturb your classmates, please.”
“Yes, miss,” I answer while nod profusely, putting on my best good-girl act.
“Yes, miss,” Mateo imitates me, and the kid sitting behind us chuckles a little too loudly.
I roll my eyes and start doodling on the test.
“I’m Mateo, by the way.”
“Yeah, you already said that.”
“And you’re Cassandra Rivera.”
I shake my head this time. “Yes, that’s me.”
“Good.” Mateo grins happily. “We’re so off to a good start.”
I can’t help but disagree.
“No, we’re not.”
Another five minutes goes by where Mateo doesn’t say anything else. I start to think he might be done with talking to me, but he finally decides to speak again.
“Now that we’re basically best friends, can I ask you something very important?”
I roll my eyes, but my tone remains. “What?”
“Don’t go out with Caleb.”
“Shouldn’t you be trying to convince me to give him a chance?” I point out, finding it strange that he isn’t pushing me the other way around. “I thought you two were friends.”
Mateo drops his gaze. “I guess, but…”
“But what?” I press. “What’s the deal?”
“He is…”
Mateo checks around to see if anyone is listening to our conversation. There’s a nervous edge to him now, something that definitely wasn’t there before.
“He is not who you think he is, okay?”
