I got to my English class late. Mr. Burt gave me a stern look, but went on telling us about Romeo and Juliet. I slumped into my chair and put my head down on my arms. Who was this mystery girl? I needed to know. My whole mind was preoccupied with my millions of questions. I didn’t even pay attention to what Mr. Burt was saying, besides I’d read Romeo and Juliet so many times I could have told you any lines in the book. I considered Juliet as me, and my Romeo was Nick. Though I wasn’t so sure he was my Romeo anymore, his heart belonged to some other girl. That sent another tear at my heart. I wasn’t sure if I had fallen asleep or what, but someone’s tap woke me up with a “What, what? I turned beat red when I saw the teacher standing in front of me, arms crossed and a detention in his right hand. I took it numbly and shuffled out of the room. My next class was the same as the last. I was too distracted to pay attention. Finally it was lunch. My stomach growled in response to my thoughts. I was probably going to sit at my lonely table anyways. Maybe Nick would still want to sit by me though, despite his love interest. How soon was soon? I grabbed my lunch money from my backpack’s front pocket and went over to Nick’s locker. He was just putting the last book on the shelf when I leaned on the locker next to his.
“Get the fries, they’re good.” I said with a smile. He smiled and shut his locker.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“So when are you gonna tell me who this mystery girl is?” He blushed as I mentioned the topic.
“I’m debating when the right time to tell her is,” he said bashfully as we started heading for the cafeteria.
“She must be pretty special,” I said with jealousy.
“Yeah, seeing her everyday just lights up my day. I just really hope she likes me. I’m pretty sure I love her. That’s a first.” My stomach turned.
“That’s… special…” I choked out. He looked at me concern.
“Are you ok?”
“Yep, dandy!” I said with fake enthusiasm. I guess he didn’t buy it, considering the look he gave me.
“Are you worried about who I like?”
“No, no! You silly boy, why would I worry about something like that?” He shrugged.
“You just seemed really stressed ever since I told you that I liked someone.” I sighed.
We entered the cafeteria and got in line. I felt self-conscious as I noticed the people at the table closest to us staring at Nick and me. Nick did decide to get the fries and added a hot dog and a Gatorade. I grabbed some fries and an orange vitamin water. We sat at my usual table and we looked very out of place at the empty table.
“So you sit here alone everyday?” he asked.
“Yeah, life’s good ain’t it?” I said sarcastically.
He laughed, “I guess so.” I dunked a couple fries in my ketchup and threw them in my mouth, then took a swig of my drink; Nick did the same.
“Hey, are you doing anything tomorrow?” He asked eagerly.
I munched on a couple fries before replying, “No, I don’t do much. What did you have in mind?”
“I was thinking of inviting you over to my house.”
“You mean mansion. Sounds cool. What would your parents think?”
“Not sure, but I’m sure they’ll love you.” The rich kid’s parents loving a Goth girl. What a joke.
“Whatever you say. So what do you do for fun? Bowl in your basement or something?”
“Yes actually,” he chuckled. “We also have a pool and hot tub, a tennis and basketball court, and my mom’s decked out garden. I’ll take you in there, it’s pretty amazing. My mom goes berserk if one flower starts to turn brown. So I’m sure you won’t find one in there.”
“Wow, talk about mental,” I said widening my eyes, and looking down at my bowl of fries.
“If you think that’s mental, you should see my dad in action. I swear, you will never find a speck of dust on anything. He’s a total neat freak.”
“Yeesh! I don’t know if I wanna go to that place after all.”
He laughed, “I’ll keep you with me the whole time. You won’t need to feel uncomfortable.”
“Hmmm, I’m not sure I understand where you’re going with that,” I said warily.
“You’ll see what I mean tomorrow.”
“Hey, do you think we could skip school tomorrow? That way you can see everything in my house.” He smiled.
“I like that idea a lot. I don’t think my parents will mind much. I’ll pick you up in the morning, or….” He trailed off, studying my face with an innocent smile.
“Or…?”
“Or we could you know, have a sleepover.” Uhhh…. Where was he going with this…?
“Like sleepovers that girls have with each other?” I asked, “You’re not gay are you….?” He gave me wide eyes, “Of course not, Morgan!”
“Ok, ok! I think I’ll pass on the sleepover though.”
“Ok, so tomorrow is a set date?”
“Yep,” I said with a smile.
We got up, threw away our trash, and walked out of the cafeteria together. The rest of the day finished slowly. When Nick and I went to the back of the bus at the end of the day it was a relief. As I got off at my stop, Nick waved through the window the entire time, until the bus pulled away.
I opened the door to hear Gina screaming her lungs out.
“Morgie! Come quick!” she cried. I threw my backpack on the couch and ran to her room.
“What? What’s wrong, Gina?” I asked panicky. She pointed at her little fish bowl.
“I think Nemo, dead.”
I put my face up to the glass. At the bottom, on top of the rocks was a bunch of pink.
“Gina, what’s that pink stuff?” I said pointing at it.
“That’s my pixie stick,” she said, “He looked hungry…”
“Gina! Fish don’t eat candy!”
“So he is dead?” Her eyes got all watery.
“Yeah…”
“Mommy!” she cried and ran to find my mom. I grabbed the fish net and scooped the poor little guy and flushed him in the toilet.
I finished my homework in a couple hours then listened to my ipod. I started to get sleepy and decided just to go to bed. I turned my ipod off and shuffled over to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth and washed my face. I crawled under the covers, and fell asleep dreaming about Nick.