Page 98 of Hate Me Like You Mean It
“Yes, but I promise none of them will care about what you’re wearing and vice versa. Are you at the elevators yet? How long is this hallway?”
“I’m here. Am I supposed to read the note that’s taped to it? Or not yet?”
“Yes, but press the button first.”
A small smile toyed at my lips as I reached for the folded papers. “So glad I’ve got you on the line giving me instructions.”
“All that sarcasm and you’re still opening the pages before pressing the button.”
Oh. Oops. “Wait, up or down?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
The doors to the elevator behind me slid open as soon as the button lit up, and I turned around to find it brimming with red roses. They were spilling out of the giant stone flower urns, adorning every wall and every corner, and covering all the buttons with one exception: the roof.
“Pretty,” I said.
“Thanks.”
“The compliment was meant for whoever actually did the decoration.”
“I’ll be sure to pass it on,” he said, the warmth of a smile apparent in his tone. I unfolded the cream-colored papers, noting the jagged rip that marred their left sides.
And almost dropped the walkie-talkie.
The recognition was immediate, and it hit with a warm pang. I would’ve recognized the clumsy chicken-scratch handwriting anywhere, given how many times I’d tried to decipher it in subtle peeks during an exam.
Holding my breath, I started reading.
Dear me/ journal/ god.
Today was a really bad day.
We had to do presentations on superpowers and it didn’t go so good for me. Loch Ness chose mind control for hers and everyone seemed to really like that even though I know she only wants it so she can make me do embarrassing stuff likepick my nose in front of the whole class or something. She even looked at me a bunch of times and kept grinning real wide like she was imagining the possibilities.
She’s so scary.
My stomach feels fuzzy from fear and stuff whenever I see her.
Anyways I chose flying because then I could go and visit my dad. I’ve never met him, but Mom says he loves me a lot and watches all my soccer games from the sky. My friend Peter thinks she’s lying but Mom isn’t a liar and Gampy confirmed it anyways when I asked him and he knows everything so I know it’s true. I’m thinking that if I could fly then I could just take a picture with my dad and prove it to Peter.
Also it would be cool to see him too and maybe we could talk and stuff. I know he didn’t leave on purpose but sometimes I miss him so much that it makes me really sad even though I don’t think you’re supposed to miss someone you’ve never met. Usually I can handle it though because I’m really tough, even Adrien says so and you can ask him if you want.
But this time was different.
Troy started it. He doesn’t like me very much because my mom is a housekeeper for Mr. and Mrs. Cloutier, so she cleans their toilets and stuff and he says she’s dirty and has poop on her even though I’ve said so many times it’s not true. He won’t even stand next to me or anything because he says he can smell it and keeps flapping his hand in front of his nose whenever I walk by and sometimes the other kids laugh too.
Anyways he raised his hand before I was even halfway done with my presentation and said really loudly in front of the whole class that my dad wasn’t waiting for me anywhere because he was in the ground and probably already eaten by maggots and worms.
Ms. Rivers got really mad at him but he accused me of spreading misinformation and said he was going to tell his parents. Then Loch Ness told him to shut his stupid mouth and threatened to stuff it with maggots if he didn’t and Ms. Rivers sent them both to the principal’s office.
I tried going back to reading off my typed notes but it felt like there was this giant humongous bowling ball in my chest and it kept getting bigger and bigger until I couldn’t talk anymore. I couldn’t even see any of the words. I justdropped my papers and ran out of the class and locked myself in one of the bathroom stalls.
A couple of teachers came to check on me but I didn’t want to talk to anyone at all so I just kept the door closed and asked them to please leave me alone. One of them said the office people had called my mom to come pick me up and a few minutes after he left I saw a pair of bright yellow shoes stop in front of my stall.
I don’t know how Loch Ness escaped the principal’s office so quickly or if she even went but I didn’t really have time to ask. She started crawling under the door before I could say anything, even though this was the boy’s bathroom.
She doesn’t care about rules as much as I do though.
