Page 12 of Theo
She shook her head."Let's get out of here, okay?"Her soft voice still trembled from the tears.
"How about a cherry slush?"
A faint smile appeared.Lacey's smile always melted my heart, but one that was edged with sadness made my heart ache.She was rarely unhappy, but when she was, I wanted nothing more than to figure out how to make her smile."You always know how to cheer me up."
I walked her to the passenger door."Is it true you jumped a skateboard off the stage in the auditorium?"She sat in the car and smiled up at my non-answer."I'll take that as a yes."
I walked around and climbed in.It had taken me fucking forever to save up enough to buy the old Chevy.It wasn't cool or special or fast or loud, but I no longer had to ride my bike around town like a little kid, and it had plenty of back seat space for theimportant stuff.
"Mac rode his skateboard to school, and we were both there early to?—"
"To do your school community service for your last bit of trouble."She smiled.
"Hey, I didn't believe Grayson when he told me those two chemicals would cause an explosion.He dared me.Had to try it.Turns out Grayson is pretty smart in chemistry."
"So, you and Mac were here early to wipe away your last punishment, and you got in trouble again by skateboarding through the auditorium."
"The room was empty and that jump—it was begging to be jumped."I reached back and rubbed my ass."Turns out jumping off a stage isn't a great idea.Mac nailed the landing but me, not so much.Left a nice ass print on the newly mopped floor."
I turned up the tunes and pulled out of the school lot.I glanced over.Lacey was gazing out the window, still looking upset.
"Hey, Ace, you wanna talk about it?"
Her face dropped."Megan is a snobby bitch."
Megan was an on-again, off-again friend.Lacey had a wide circle of friends, brainy, popular types who were competitive and occasionally backstabbing, and they had very strong opinions about Lacey hanging out with Theo Stone.The phrasesnobby bitchassured me this had something to do with me.
"Yeah, tell me something I don't know," I said.
"The girls are having a formal party with fancy dresses and the guys are dressing in suits.It's happening at the country club that Megan's dad manages."
I looked over at her."Isn't that called prom?"
Lacey laughed.Talking about it had made her liven up."I know it's so stupid cuz prom is a month away, but they're doing this party withthe group."She raised air quotes.She turned to look out the window, and her posture deflated some.
"This is where you tell me the part that makes Megan a snobby bitch," I said."I'm not invited."
She looked at me.Her big blue eyes always stole my breath."Would you go if you had been?"
"Fuck no, I hatethe group.Ace, if you want to go without me, I don't mind."
She stared out the window again as if there was something interesting to see, but we were driving through town, the same town she'd seen thousands of times.
I reached over for her hand.She rested her hand on my palm, and I laced my fingers through hers."Lacey?"
"They didn't invite me," she said it fast as if it would hurt less that way.
"What the fuck?"
She sniffled."Never mind.I don't want to talk about it."
"Is it cuz of me?"I asked.
"They don't know what love is.They're just jealous."She sniffled again."Megan said the party was to discuss college plans.Some of them are applying to the same university and—it's all just stupid.I don't care.I don't give a shit about any of them."Lacey and I had figured a way around the politics of her friends and me.She kept those parts of her life separate, but I knew damn well it wasn't easy.She'd skipped out on her friends to be with me, even when they were doing something like a day at the beach or a party.I didn't fit into her circle of friends, but she fit right in with mine.I always felt the weight of that plenty.It wasn't fair, but I was also far too crazy about her to let it get in the way of us.
"But you're going to college too."It was a topic we avoided because it meant the possibility of Lacey moving far away, something that I couldn't even think about without feeling sick.
"I know but—" She fell silent again.
