I walked out of the room as fast as I could. I can't believe I almost told him I liked him. I mean, I'd barely realized it, and I almost blurted it out in between calling him a jackass and storming out of the classroom. I tried to think if I'd ever yelled at a teacher before, or even got mad at one. Right now, my head was just a combination of frustration and embarrassment. I felt tears prickling in my eyes and I angrily brushed them away with the back of my hand as I went to my locker, quickly spinning the combination. The sooner I got my stuff the sooner I could leave. Grabbing my purse and jacket out of my locker I could feel my phone vibrating from the inside. I pulled it out, checking the screen. It said I had 5 new texts. Confused, I flipped it open, finding they were all from Maggie and said basically the same thing:
Cheer practice cancelled. Had to give rides to Meg, Sarah, and Kim. Txt me if you need a ride.
The last one she'd sent had been over an hour ago. I cursed under my breath. She must have left already. Dumping my stuff back into my locker, I grabbed my phone, dialing my house and prayed that someone was home.
After spending a good ten minutes kicking myself for being such an inconsiderate ass and making a girl cry, two things which I tried my best to stay away from, I started packing up to go home. Or maybe to the bar, I could really use a stiff drink at the moment. Something that could dull the rest of my senses, which of course were all on high alert right now. The worst part of it all was that she'd been brutally honest, and from what I'd known about her, she didn't do it very often. She'd called me a jackass, and I'd definitely deserved it. The only thing that had shocked me was that she planned to stay in the class. And just so I didn't look bad with Mr. Bryant. I wouldn't have blamed her if she'd gone and told Bryant that I'd made a pass at her or something. As soon as I thought about it, a shiver went up my back. But I would never do that I said to myself, more to reinforce the idea than anything else. I grabbed my jacket off the wall with my messenger bag. Slinging it over my shoulder I checked the clock. It'd been about twenty minutes since Lexi had stormed out of the class. I figured that was enough time to leave. I walked out the door, locking my room behind me. I headed out of senior hall down to the front door. I moved down the steps, when I saw someone sitting on the bench by the sidewalk. As I walked down, I recognized the sweatshirt. I stopped mid-step and swore under my breath. Glancing around I tried to figure a way to get around her. She was sitting right in front of the lot, in which I'd parked front row today. There was no way to avoid her. I might as well just face the music. With a sigh I fixed my jacket to block the cold wind and walked down the rest of the steps up to the bench. She must have heard me coming because as I got close she spun around. When she saw it was me, she dropped her eyes to the ground, and turned her back on me again, crossing her arms.
"You've gotta be kidding me." She mumbled.
"Wish I was." I said back.
I noticed her shivering.
"Where's your ride?"
Without turning around she replied
"No idea. My parents don't really listen to their voice-mail very often, so right now I'd say not until they notice I'm not home. Which won't happen for at least a few hours since neither of them get off till eight."
"Ah. Did you try and call anybody else?"
"Like who? The probably already drunk friends I have? It's a Friday night, nobody is going to drop what they're doing and come back to school."
She shivered again wrapping her arms tighter around her.
I stood there for a minute debating. I felt horrible for what I'd done to her, and I wanted to make it up to her, hope there weren't any hard feelings. But there was still that thought in the back of my head that this was wrong and I could get fired. Finally I stopped, giving in to chance.
"Listen, I know I've been a jackass. And I'm sorry about that. But if you needed a ride home—"
She turned around glaring at me.
"I'll be fine. Plus, wouldn't want you to get in trouble with the school."
There couldn't have been more sarcasm in her voice.
Even though I knew I deserved this, I could feel myself getting frustrated.
"Look, what do you want from me? I try to apologize for what happened and I offer you a ride, and you shove it back like I insulted you or something!"
She stood up, getting just as angry as I now was.
"It is an insult! I don't know if you think I'm some kind of slut or something, but I wouldn't do that. I don't hit on teachers. I don't hit on guys my age for that matter. And maybe it isn't your fault that you didn't know that, but you didn't give me a chance to prove it to you. You just assumed the worst and ignored me. So now I'm supposed to take some fake stupid apology from you and a pity ride and pretend like it makes everything alright?"
My cheeks flushed a little when she started talking, but I could still feel the anger.
"You're right. I didn't know you and I still don't. But if I want to keep my job, I have to assume the worst. I can't give you the benefit of the doubt and just pray that you don't take advantage of that. And I am legitimately sorry for what happened. I didn't mean to hurt you. But if you won't let me try and make up for it, then I can't do anything to fix this and every day is going to just as awkward as this week has been."
Once I'd finished, she didn't say anything at first, seeming to think it over. We sat in silence for a minute. Finally she sighed.
"A ride would be great. Thanks for the offer."
"Uh.. alright. My car is over here."
I was a little shocked at how quickly she'd given in.
The only thought running through my head was I can't believe I'm actually doing this. I was all ready to tell him no and just wait for my parents, but his argument made sense. If I didn't let it go eventually, then the whole year would be awkward and I'd start to hate school. At least this way I got a free ride along with the apology. As we headed down to the car I shivered again. It was way too cold for a spring day. We walked up to the car in silence, but as I climbed in he went digging in the trunk. He came back and got in the car, handing me a sweatshirt.
"Here-you looked cold."
I was surprised but took it from him pulling it over my head. It smelled good, just like him. I glanced at the front and saw it was an NU sweatshirt.
"Thanks. So you went to NU?"
He turned the car on and pulled out as he smiled to himself.
"Yeah four years of fun. I loved it there."
"That's where I'm looking to go in the fall. I'm just waiting on my letter. I'm supposed to get it in a few weeks."
