Trouble From the Start Read online

  Morgan looked at her. “I don’t care about you.” Then she shifted her attention back to me. “I know about you and Fletcher. And that really doesn’t work for me.”

  I sighed. She was obviously one of his groupies, although I thought she had a boyfriend. Not really my business. “Look, nothing happened.”

  “He took you home. And he told me he likes you.”

  I heard Kendall’s jaw pop as it dropped. As for me, I was having a difficult time processing words all of a sudden. The ones she’d just spoken seemed to echo between the tiled walls, between my ears. “What do you mean he likes me?”

  “That’s what he said.” She looked me over like I was a new species. “I don’t get it.”

  “I’m sure you misunderstood.”

  “I’m sure I didn’t.” She took a step nearer, seemed surprised that I didn’t step back. “I want to go to a party with him Saturday night, so tell him that you don’t like him.”

  She stomped out. Blinking, I stared at the door closing slowly behind her.

  “He likes you,” Kendall said at the same time that I thought, He likes me?

  “Is this good or bad?” Kendall asked.

  “It’s ridiculous.” I grabbed my backpack.

  “Maybe not. I wish we didn’t have to get to class,” Kendall said. “We’ll discuss it at lunch. See if Jeremy has heard anything.”

  I walked out into the hallway. “There’s nothing to discuss. She’s wrong.”

  “You only think that because he hasn’t kissed you. Maybe he doesn’t kiss girls he likes.”

  I glared at her.

  “Okay, he probably does kiss girls he likes. We’ll talk at lunch.”

  She hurried down the hallway to her chemistry class. I headed to the front office. During this period I served as an office aide. The tardy bell rang as I walked through the door.

  “Morning, Avery,” Mrs. Muldrow, the office secretary, said, as she filled out an absentee slip for someone.

  “Hi.” I went behind the counter where two other student aides were already working and shoved my backpack into a little cubby. I was used to the routine. A few kids were lining up for tardy slips. I filled out the form, including the student’s name and excuse, then passed it down to Mrs. Muldrow, for her signature.

  The tardies were light this morning. When the waiting area was clear, Mrs. Muldrow released a deep sigh, which was also part of the routine. Then she smiled at us. “Hard to believe another year is over. Cookies are in the copy room.”

  She was famous for her oatmeal cookies. We all grabbed one and then took seats waiting for our assignments.

  “This is our last time to meet like this,” Kevin said, as though it was a revelation. He shoved his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Most kids called him Gamer because he hung out in comic book stores and played role-playing games all the time. He’d read every Game of Thrones book.

  “I’ll miss you guys next year,” Sarah-Jane said slowly, like air seeping from a balloon.

  She was a junior, and I really liked her, even though she dragged her sentences out into forever. “There’s so much to do senior year, you won’t even notice we’re gone,” I assured her.

  “I’ll notice.” She peered over at me, wrinkled her brow. “I heard about you and Fletcher.”

  I rolled my eyes, shook my head. “He just gave me a ride home.”

  “I heard . . . he liked you. And he is so hot. You’re so lucky.”

  What did I say to that?

  “Sarah-Jane!” Mrs. Muldrow called out.

  Sarah-Jane popped up. Mrs. Muldrow assigned her to help one of the counselors.

  “You go together,” Kevin said quietly.

  I looked at him. “What?”

  “You and Fletcher go together.”

  “In what universe?”

  He grinned. “In this one.”

  I blushed, because he often talked to me about his role-playing games. When things were slow in the office he would ask my opinion on various backgrounds he was creating for his characters. “I wasn’t making fun of you.”

  “I know. You’re too nice to do that, but you should play the games with me sometime. You’d be good at them.”

  Mrs. Muldrow called him up and gave him a note to deliver to a teacher. As he was leaving, a woman walked in holding a small paper sack. She spoke with Mrs. Muldrow, who tapped a few keys on her computer before calling me over.

  “Need you to deliver this to Andrea Jackson. She’s in Mr. Turner’s class.”

  “She’s on a special diet,” the woman said, and I realized she was probably Andrea’s mother. I didn’t really need to know the details of what was inside.

  “I’ll get it to her,” I promised.

  I left the office and crossed the courtyard, heading to the math and science building. I thought about trying to peer into Mr. Tant’s chemistry class to see how Kendall was doing on the exam, but I didn’t want to distract her. It was the only exam she had to take and she’d missed getting an A in the class by two points. So I walked on by without stopping.

  When I got to Mr. Turner’s class, I rapped quietly on the door. Through the window, I saw him get up and approach. I also saw Fletcher, front row, far side of the room. Mr. Turner opened the door. Fletcher glanced up briefly, revealing that storm-cloud expression I’d seen before. That sure wasn’t the look you gave someone that you liked. I knew the I-like-her look. I’d seen Jeremy give it to Kendall enough times. It was a slow grin, a crinkling at the corner of his eyes. It was joyous, happy, glad.

  “Yes?” Mr. Turner prodded, bringing me back to my reason for being here.

  “Andrea’s lunch. Her mom just brought it.”

  Now there were two storm clouds looking at me. “Did she not know she would need lunch before she left home this morning?”

  “I’m just the messenger. I think there’s a law that prevents you from taking your frustrations out on me.”

  He sighed. “Just because you aced my class, Miss Watkins, does not mean that you can talk disrespectfully to me.”

  “I meant no disrespect.” I really hadn’t, but it wasn’t my fault I had a lunch to deliver.

  He took the sack, holding it daintily with his thumb and forefinger as though he thought it might contain Ebola or something equally deadly. “Thank you, Miss Watkins. I’ll see she gets it when she turns in her exam.”

  He closed the door. I peered through the window. Fletcher was scribbling again.

  I headed back to the office. The time went really slowly. Kevin and I rotated running errands. The entire time, my mind wandered back to Fletcher, then further back to Morgan.

  Ten minutes before the bell would ring to dismiss class, I approached the counter. Mrs. Muldrow smiled. “Another cookie?”

  “Oh, no thanks. I was wondering if it would be okay if I went ahead and left so I could get an early start on lunch.”

  “I think you’ve earned an early dismissal.”

  After grabbing my backpack, I walked through the door, across the courtyard, and into the math and science building. I knew where Fletcher was. I needed to talk to him.

  Chapter 14

  FLETCHER

  When the bell rang, I was ready. I couldn’t escape the four walls of algebra class fast enough. I hated the subject, disliked the teacher. He disliked me.

  When I saw Avery, I just kept on walking. She fell into step beside me. There weren’t many girls who could keep up with me, but she had legs that went on forever. She had no trouble at all.

  “I ran into Morgan Anderson earlier,” she said, not even breathing heavily.

  “Hope you didn’t hurt her too badly.”

  “What?”

  “When you ran into her. I assume you were in your car.”

  “Can you stop?” she asked.

  “Not really. I’m ready for lunch. I’m hungry.”

  She grabbed my arm. “Morgan said—”

  I swung around. She closed her mouth, backed up a step. I could imagine w