Page 86 of A Scandal in Homeroom
I nodded and set off to do just that.
Get answers.
* * *
Reen
“Asshole, asshole, asshole!”
I handed Janie another wad of rolled up toilet paper so she could wipe away her tears. We were tucked in the first girls’ bathroom closest to the lunchroom, and thankfully, it was empty as lunch was still in progress. That would change once the bell rang, so we had only a limited amount of time to disparage Ed properly.
“He’s such a dick,” I corroborated.
“And an asshole,” she repeated.
“You should just stop talking to him,” I said.
That made her stop crying immediately. “You think? You think I should just freeze him out? Like gone. Done. No more.”
This was tricky territory. “Is that what you want to do?”
“Yes!” she cried. “I mean, I should. Want to do that. Just cut him off completely. How would he feel then?”
“Like shit,” I suspected.
“Yes! That’s what I want. For him to not have me and feel like shit.”
“As opposed to having you and feeling awesome. Which he could do, by the way, if only he would…”
Yeah, like I said. This was the tricky part.
Janie sighed. “He’s not going to break up with her. Not as long as she’s sick. He thinks she’s his responsibility.”
She tossed her wadded-up toilet paper in the trash bin then leaned over a sink and turned the water on. She splashed her face a few times and I got a piece of paper towel out of the dispenser.
“I’m sorry,” I said. In part because I felt a little guilty about the whole thing. I’d teased her brutally about her thing with Ed over the summer, but I don’t think I knew how serious it really was.
Because before Locke, feelings were just something I’d played at, not something I’d considered too deeply. He was changing that. Making me see things more clearly.
“For what?” Janie asked.
“For not being there, I think. When you really needed me. Are you finally going to tell me what happened between you guys over the summer? Because you can’t keep pretending it was nothing when it was obviously something.”
She pressed the towel against her face to dry it, but when she lowered it, I could tell she was pissed. This time at me.
“Seriously? You’re askingmeto tellyouwhat happened over the summer?”
I winced. “Janie, I know I screwed up.”
“You didn’t screw up, Reen. This isn’t like forgetting your homework assignment or going out to a party instead of studying. You created a freaking illegal poker game! You didn’t tell me, your best friend, about any of it. And you got in so far over your head that someone beat you up because of it.”
I bit my lip and tried to think of some kind of defense, but I knew there wasn’t one. “I couldn’t tell you. YouknowI couldn’t tell you. You would have freaked out.”
“Yes!” she shouted. “I would have freaked out and told you to stop it! I would have protected you from all of this.”
“Janie,” I said, shaking my head. “Protect me from what? My reality? You can’t do that. Mr. Sumner caught me one time, one time, sneaking in after a late night and threatened to have me rehomed.Thatis my reality. Maybe you didn’t like the means, but the end is I have some money. Money to start a life. If you think I wouldn’t suffer ten black eyes for that, you’re crazy.”
“I just don’t want to lose you, Reen. Ican’tlose you.”
