Will Always Be (5 page)

“I stole the tests,” she announces happily, practically waving them around for the whole class to see.

“Karli!” I gasp, grabbing her hand and pushing it down. “Have you lost your mind?”

Karli rolls her eyes and flips through the tests still in her hand. “I just hope I got them all. All he needs is one to run off more copies. But I think I did. I mean, I checked and then double-checked so I think we’re okay. And, honestly—”

“Karli,” I say, getting up out of my chair and grabbing the stack of papers from her hands, “do you have any idea how much trouble you could get into for that?” I stuff them into her book bag and zip it shut. “You could get expelled.”

“Only if I get caught,” she points out. “Which I don’t plan on doing.”

“Shred them,” I order her. “Do you understand me?”

She considers this for a moment. “Where will I get a shredder?”

I look at her. “I don’t know. Maybe in the same place you got the tests! This is on a whole new level of nuts, even for you.”

“Well, at least this kind of makes up for the whole bringing you around Mark thing,” she announces happily.

I’m just about to tell her that she shouldn’t have done this for me. That putting herself in danger because she thinks it’s helping someone else is still stupid. But right at that moment, Mr. P walks in. He announces that he’s misplaced the tests and needs time to make up new ones and will let us know when the rescheduled test date is.

Karli turns to me, grinning as if to say, “See? It all worked out.”

I moan loudly and put my head on my desk, counting down the minutes until the period is over. Then I can go to gym and talk to Austin and figure all of this out once and for all.

Chapter Six

The only problem is, Austin isn’t in gym. I look for him for the rest of the day and don’t see him anywhere else in school either.

Finally, when the final bell rings at around 2:15, I send him a text that says, “Hey, can we talk?”

At first I think maybe he just didn’t see it before practice. But then, as it gets later and later into the night, it becomes clear that he’s just not going to answer me. I swear, it’s like boys know how much girls hate to be ignored and that’s why they do it. I mean, what’s the point of ignoring me? To avoid another fight? I don’t even want to fight. All I want to do is talk.

I’m still upset about it the next morning when I pull into Alexa and Karli’s driveway to pick them up for school. I mean, I haven’t talked to my boyfriend in two straight days. There’s got to be a rule against that or something, doesn’t there? Not to mention I don’t even know if Austin
is
still my boyfriend. Melissa seemed to think he wasn’t, which makes me wonder if he told her we broke up.

But we haven’t broken up. Unless I’m supposed to assume that we have from our conversation. I haven’t exactly had that many boyfriends in my life, so I’m not exactly sure how the rules work.

“You need to wait for him to come to you,” Alexa tells me on our way to school.

I just finished telling her and Karli about how I still haven’t heard from Austin, and they’re doing their best to give me advice.

“That sounds like an awful idea,” Karli calls from the back seat.

“No,” Alexa says trying to be the voice of reason. “You tried. He’s clearly really mad. Wait for him to calm down. And when he does, he’ll come to you.”

“No,” Karli says, practically screaming over Alexa. “He’s acting like a bitch and you need to call him out on it.”

Alexa looks at me. “Just wait it out. Trust me.”

Then Karli brings up Jake and they go into some long conversation about if Alexa should kiss him before or after her party. I’m not trying to be a bad friend, but I can’t help but tune the whole thing out.

By the time we arrive at school I decide that, at least for now, Alexa is right. I tried to talk to Austin and he ignored me. I have to trust that there was a reason for that, even if I don’t like it. I’ll give him some time and wait for him to come to me, at least for a couple more days. It’ll suck, but if it’s going to save our relationship I’ll do it.

I spin the combination on my locker and swing it open. Just as I start to take out the books I need for the day I spot Austin across the hall with a few guys from his basketball team. He’s wearing a hooded sweatshirt and dark blue jeans. He looks hot as always. My heart drops a little in my chest. But then I remember what Alexa told me and I let it go.

I’m just about to shut my locker and get out of here when I feel someone beside me. It’s Mark.

“Hey,” he says, smiling down at me.

“Oh, hey,” I say, a little taken aback.

Here’s the thing. I don’t have a problem with Mark exactly. But after what Karli told me, it’s probably not a good idea to be around him until I know more about him as a person. Not to mention I don’t need to add more stress to the whole Austin situation. On the other hand, I don’t want to be rude either. I mean, the kid never really did anything to me.

“I wanted to see how your test was,” he says. He’s wearing a pair of black basketball shorts and a long-sleeved shirt that matches his blue eyes perfectly.

I sneak a glance at Austin. He’s not paying any attention to us. The guys are talking to him and his eyes are on them.

Mark follows my gaze and then nods to himself. “Oh, I get it,” he says knowingly. “He’s not talking to you, right?”

I look at him. “How do you always know what’s going on without anyone telling you?”

He laughs loudly. “It’s a gift.”

I shoot him a half smile. “I’m just giving him space.”

“Maybe he’s giving you space, too. Or maybe,” he says taking a step closer to me, “he just doesn’t care anymore. We could find out.”

At first I think he’s kidding so I laugh uncomfortably. But then he runs his fingertips up and down my arm and I realize he’s not joking at all.

“Look—” I say, ready to tell him what a bad idea this is. But I don’t have a chance because right there in the middle of the hallway, with Austin less than twenty feet away from us, Mark latches his lips onto mine and kisses me.

I’m so shocked that it takes me a minute to realize what’s happening. I try to pull out of his grasp but my back is already up against my locker. He’s a lot stronger than I expect him to be. Just as I’m about to try pulling away again, Mark’s body flies off of me and backwards down the hall. It all happens so fast that it takes me a minute to realize what’s going on.

Austin slams Mark against the lockers and pins him there with his arm against his chest. “What the fuck are you doing?” he asks Mark. His whole face is red. I’ve never seen him so mad before.

“Austin,” I say slowly, “this isn’t what it looks like.”

He ignores me and moves his arm up higher on Mark’s body until it’s right under his throat. “I said, what the fuck are you doing?”

Mark starts to struggle a little bit under Austin’s arm, but Austin shows no sign of backing off. “Answer me,” he says angrily.

I’m about to point out that he probably can’t talk since Austin’s cutting off the air to his throat, but I figure this probably isn’t the best idea. People in the hall have all stopped now, staring at us and trying to figure out what’s going on. I’m scared that a teacher is going to come out any second and then it’s game over.

Just then, the few guys from the basketball team that Austin was talking to pull him off of Mark. Mark coughs loudly and moves his hands to his throat.

“What the hell?” one of the guys from the team says as he looks between the two of them.

“He’s fucking making out with my girlfriend in the middle of the hallway,”

Austin says, pointing at Mark accusingly.

One of the guys, I think his name is Mike, pushes Austin to the other side of the hall.

“Leave,” he tells him. “We have a big game coming up and we don’t need our two best players unable to play. Just get out of here, Austin. Let it go for now.”

Austin looks at me and then looks at Mark. He shakes his head and takes off down the hallway. I shut my locker and run to catch up with him.

“Austin,” I call.

He ignores me and keeps walking. I sprint to his side and put my hand on his shoulder. “Austin, please stop,” I tell him.

He slows down and turns to look at me and for the first time I can really see the hurt expression on his face.

“It wasn’t what you think,” I tell him, not taking my eyes off of his.

“Really,” he says, clearly still pissed off, “because what I think is that you accused me of being a cheater when you were the one making out with someone in the middle of the hall a few days later.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Are you saying you’re a cheater?”

“Unbelievable,” Austin says, shaking his head. “I made out with Mark’s EX-girlfriend like two days after Megan Laurenfield broke up with me. It was at some party and I was drunk. I was also a freshman. I never cheated on anyone. So maybe you should get your facts straight before you go around listening to people.”

He starts to walk away and I call out, “I didn’t kiss him. He kissed me.”

He turns around and his face softens a little bit. But then, he shakes his head and says, “Even if that’s true, you’re clearly still talking to him when you know how I feel about the kid.”

“Oh,” I say, “kind of like how every time I turn around in school you’re with Carmen, right?”

“I got partnered up with her for this paper in English, Ash. That’s all. To tell you the truth, I don’t even like her that much anymore. You were right, she’s exactly like Melissa.”

My heart starts to beat normally in my chest again. Nothing is going on between them. He still cares for me. “You ignored my text yesterday.”

“Well yeah,” he says looking down, “I was still pissed.”

I don’t say anything.

He shakes his head sadly. “It doesn’t even matter anymore, any of it.”

“It doesn’t?” I ask him, a little confused.

“No,” he says. “We clearly can’t trust each other. And how can you be in a relationship with someone you don’t trust?”

He then turns and walks off down the hall. And this time, I don’t chase him.

Chapter Seven

Karli, Alexa and I don’t think twice about leaving school early. As soon as Karli sees me crying a few minutes after Austin broke up with me, she takes my hand and leads me outside to my car. She then texts Alexa and tells her what’s going on. A few minutes later we’re all on our way to the mall.

“What you need to do,” Karli says, “is find someone new. The faster you move on, the faster you forget about what’s his name.”

We’re inside American Eagle looking at clothes, trying to find Alexa a new outfit for her party.

Alexa sighs. “Sometimes I don’t know how we come from the same family.”

“I don’t want to move on,” I announce sadly. “I want to
not
move on.”

Alexa holds up a white shirt for my approval. “Yes or no?”

“Hello,” I say. “Try to concentrate. Girl with a broken heart over here.”

Alexa puts down the shirt and smiles at me. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Ash, I don’t think it’s over. I think he was just really hurt. But if it is over, if he really can let you go that easily, then he doesn’t deserve you anyway. You’re going to be okay, I promise.”

She reaches out to hug me and I let her. I feel really lucky to have a friend like Alexa.

“Or maybe it’s you who doesn’t deserve him,” a voice says. I turn around and see Melissa and Carmen standing right behind us. I roll my eyes.

“Come on, Alexa, let’s go,” I say.

“Yeah, Alexa,” Carmen says flipping her hair over her shoulder, “you better go.”

“Do I even know you?” I spit at her.

“Everyone knows me,” Carmen says confidently. “Can’t say the same for you.”

Melissa laughs loudly. “I don’t know why you’re upset. I mean, you knew it was going to happen sooner or later, Ashley. You two don’t belong together. You’re from different worlds.”

I take a step toward her.

“What are you going to do?” she asks me in a singsong tone. “Hit me?”

I stop and look at her for a minute. I can’t believe it’s been months and this girl is still giving me a hard time. Months and she’s still treating me like she’s better than me.

A big part of me wants to smack the stupid smug look off of her face, but I know I’m better than her. No matter what she says, she can’t take that away from me.

So I sigh and back down. “You aren’t worth it.”

“It’s worth it to me,” Karli says from behind me.

Then before I know what’s happening, Karli’s fist comes into contact with Melissa’s face. Melissa cries out in pain and then falls back into a rack of clothes, knocking them all over the place.

One of the employees towards the front of the store turns in our direction as the clothes crash all over the floor. She walks toward us with a concerned look on her face.

“And now,” Karli says in a calm voice, “would be the time to get the hell out of here. And fast.”

Alexa drops the pile of clothes in her hands on a nearby table and we take off running as fast as we can out of the store.

And we don’t stop running until we’re safely in my car with the doors shut tight and locked behind us.

***

“I will never forget the look on her face right before I hit her,” Karli says, opening up a bag of chips and pulling one out of the bag. It’s four days after the mall incident and we still can’t stop talking about it.

We’re sitting in lunch obsessing over whether or not there’s still a chance the police will be called. I doubt it though, since Melissa’s official story about how she got her black eye has something to do with her walking into a door.

Alexa laughs. “It really was priceless.”

I pull my pretzels out of my lunch bag and sneak a look at Karli out of the corner of my eye. Somehow she managed to sneak into our lunch without getting caught again.

There are no teachers in sight. And even if there were, I doubt they would make Karli leave. Even though she’s a lot to handle at times, she really is a good person and a good friend. I mean, how many people do you know who would punch someone in the face for you?