Page 11 of Like You Know

It confused me and I didn’t like it. He never even mentioned seeing me at the gym though. He kept my confidence. The few times I glanced up from my phone, he caught my eye, and for a split second, everything around me slowed to a crawl. It was as if he held me in his calm, steady gaze, telling me with nothing more than a glance that he remembered, that he cared, that he had me.

It was weird feeling like I could actually trust this relative stranger with my feelings. It was weird I even wanted to. I wanted to tell him about how my mom pretended nothing had happened when I got home. I wanted to tell him how Cal still being there made me want to punch a wall. I even wanted to tell him about my dad. Listening to Drew and Nicola and the others gossip about people at school, and even their parents, I wanted to pull him aside and tell him which parts were true and which were just sensational gossip. I wanted to ask him things too—to know him. More intrusive questions hovered on the tip of my tongue, but I held them in.

Because they were also talking about the gossip surrounding Jet and his apparently very active dating life. He’d taken half a dozen girls out on dates since he started at Fulton. They all had nothing but nice things to say about him, but not a single one had scored a second date.

He was a player—even though that didn’t exactly fit with the parts of him I’d gotten to know so far—and I was not interested in that mess. I refused to follow in my mother’s footsteps and choose shitty men. Not that I thought Jet was a shitty man, but he wasn’t denying going on all those dates either. Nothing made fucking sense.

I left lunch early, over not being able to focus on my book because I couldn’t stop obsessing over a guy. How cliché!

But there was no avoiding him now—not when he felt like a puzzle to solve.

That weekend, the sisters and I went to the diner where Mena worked, to get burgers and keep her company during her break. Jet was there in a booth at the back, bent over some notebooks and his phone. He waved to us but didn’t come over. I kept my butt planted on the cheap vinyl seat, fighting the urge to go over there and snoop.

When I went to the mall to pick up shampoo, I spotted him in the food court with some guys from the lacrosse team.

He was even in my yoga class on Sunday morning! And he was surprisingly flexible for someone who could do that many pull-ups with ease. I lost my balance several times, while out of the corner of my eye, I could see him holding a perfect tree pose without so much as a wobble.

I rushed out at the end of the class, avoiding him as I had been since that night at the gym. This had to stop. If I couldn’t figure out why he had me off-kilter every time I saw him, I’d just have to fuck him out of my system and be done with it.

The upcoming spring break trip couldn’t come soon enough. I needed a break from him so I couldthink.

CHAPTERFOUR

I sawthe car pull up from my bedroom window and grinned. My friends jumped out before the driver could come around to open the door for them.

It was not normal to be this excited before eight in the morning, but here we were. I’d been packed and ready for half an hour already, waiting for my ride to the airport. My bags lay at the bottom of the stairs, my shoes were on, and I’d been sitting in the window scrolling social media to kill time. I put my cigarette out half-smoked and closed the window, did one last scan of my room to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything, then rushed down the stairs and opened the door.

“Heeey!” Donna, Harlow, and Mena all singsonged at once, throwing their arms out. They were in shorts and T-shirts and had their sunglasses on. It was going to be a glorious Cali day, not a cloud in the sky. The view from the plane would be spectacular.

I whooped and put on my own shades. “Let’s get this show on the road!”

I waved the driver through, and he carried my bags to the car while I hugged my besties. Mena was literally bouncing with excitement.

“Amaya? What’s all this racket so early in the morning?”

My mother’s voice knocked the smile clean off my face, and I glanced at the sky. It was just as bright and cloudless as it had been a moment ago. Apparently the gloom was all in my head.

“Good morning, Mrs. Ellis,” Harlow and Donna said in perfectly polite synchronicity.

“... Mrs. Ellis.” Mena was only a beat behind.

“Oh, hello, girls! How lovely to see you!”

I turned to watch Vivian walk down the stairs and nearly fell onto my ass from shock. She was actually dressed, her hair brushed and makeup done. She didn’t even look hungover.

The gloom darkened when Cal appeared behind her, coming down the stairs as he adjusted his tie.

“What fun things are you up to today?” Mom asked my friends. “Shopping trip to the city? Maybe I’ll join you!”

Oh god, no!

“We’re going on a trip, Mom,” I rushed out. “It’s spring break.”

“I wasn’t aware of any trip,” she said while giving my friends air kisses. “Isn’t the school supposed to notify the parents of these things?”

“The school does. You’re just never around to see it,” I gritted out. “This isn’t a school trip. It’s spring break. A bunch of us just organized to go together.”

“Where?” Mom smoothed a hand down my hair, and I flinched out of her reach with a huff.

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