The Wrong Path

Chapter Nine





Annabelle’s heart pounded as she walked toward the back entrance of the school. Everyone knew only the trouble makers hung out on the back entrance steps, so almost no one ventured back there. Still, she had made a promise to give the skirt to Ebony, and she hadn’t seen her all day and had no idea where her locker was.

Steeling her nerves, half-praying the stairs would be deserted, she pushed open the back door. Almost in unison, ten heads turned to look at her, and most of the looks were unfriendly. She forced a weak smile, feeling her knees tremble slightly.

“Annabelle!”

Gratefully, she looked over at the retaining wall, where Ebony was perched… between Will’s legs? Annabelle felt her heart fall into her stomach. Why was Ebony…?

And then she remembered the two Goth teens at the mall… the boy leaning over the girl, shielding her from view. The girl kissing the boy’s cheek in the food court. It had been Will and Ebony the whole time. She had just never thought about it since then.

Ebony was dating Will.

She felt it like a punch to her stomach, though she couldn’t explain why. Or why she felt hot, burning tears in her eyes.

She forced her smile back. “I brought this for you,” she forced herself to say, hoping they thought the strain in her voice was because they were all staring at her with wide, unblinking eyes. She handed the skirt, which she had wrapped in a handkerchief, to Ebony, staying as far away from her and Will as she could without looking strange.

“Thanks!” Ebony said enthusiastically. “I can’t wait to wear it. I may even wear it tomorrow, if I can find the perfect things to pair it with. I’ll bring it back on Monday.”

Annabelle carefully avoided eye contact with Will, keeping her gaze focused on Ebony, and tried to hide her hard swallow. “Sure. Whenever you get a chance.” She forced herself to smile at the rest of the group. “I’ll see you later,” she said to Ebony, then turned to the door.

“You don’t need to leave!” Ebony objected quickly, to Annabelle’s horror. She tried not to cringe as she turned back, but Ebony had vaulted off of the wall between Will’s legs and was reaching for her hand, her eyes kind and welcoming. “Really,” she insisted, her voice softer and more sincere, intended only for Annabelle’s ears. Then, raising her voice teasingly, she added, “There’s only a couple of us who bite.”

“You liked it!” a boy from the bottom of the steps called out.

“Made him think I did,” Ebony told Annabelle lowly, winking a heavily made up eye. Annabelle felt a weak smile form on her lips. Ebony really was a wonderful girl—it made sense for her to be dating a nice guy like Will.

And besides that, who Will dated had nothing to do with her anyway. Why was she so upset about it?

Annabelle vacillated for too long to give an answer. Ebony took her arm and led her, to her horror, back to the wall where Ebony and Will had been sitting together. Ebony sat her down by Will’s feet, then straddled the wall on Annabelle’s other side, despite her skirt, which she tugged around herself. It was, Annabelle realized weakly, the “safest” position.

She was keenly aware that no one was talking, and slowly looked down at the stairs, where every eye was trained on her. Startled, she straightened, looking back at them in bewilderment. Could they see up her skirt? She had perched on the edge of the wall with her legs crossed to keep that from happening. Was her hair messed up?

No… It was because she was one of the “in” crowd, and she was invading their territory.

“Stop salivating,” Ebony suddenly ordered, sounding exasperated. Annabelle looked over at her with wide eyes, and Ebony returned the look with an eye roll. “They see a pretty girl and they don’t know what to do with themselves. Just ignore them. How were classes today?”

Classes? Ebony didn’t know anything about her classes, and yet she was acting as though they’d been talking about them forever. Was she doing it to make Annabelle more comfortable? Or was it because she was trying to tell the others that Annabelle was okay to talk to? It didn’t matter. Annabelle wanted to throw her arms around her.

“Boring,” she admitted.

Ebony laughed and to her right, Will scoffed. Annabelle couldn’t bring herself to look at him above his chest, and quickly returned her attention to Ebony, who leaned back against the wall. “No kidding,” she drawled, then launched into a story about her teacher who had put half the class to sleep—complete with imitations.

As she sat there between the couple, laughing so hard she was almost in tears, Annabelle could understand what Will saw in her. Ebony was beautiful, she was funny, she was well spoken, and clearly a leader. What wasn’t to like about her? Shame on her for being upset, when there was no reason to be upset her friend—they were friends, weren’t they?—had found someone so wonderful.

To make amends, she looked over at Will with a smile, startled to find him watching her. She straightened, caught off-guard as she gazed into his unwavering dark eyes. She nearly gasped when she heard Ebony’s voice, breaking their stare.

“Hey, Will,” Ebony drawled. She looked down at her watch. “It’s almost 3:00. Didn’t you want to get home by then?”

Annabelle looked back at Will, who was staring at Ebony flatly. Then he gave her a fake, bared-teeth smile. Clearly whatever he had to do at home he wasn’t looking forward to. Annabelle tried to recall if Trevor had said anything about their mother and Will, but nothing came to mind. “Thanks for the reminder,” he said, lifting himself to his feet. He hoisted his backpack onto his shoulder, started to head to the door, sighed, then turned back to Annabelle. “You came in with Trevor, right?”

She nodded, stunned. “Yeah.”

“Okay.” He turned back to the door.

“Oh, Will, don’t make her wait for Trevor!” Ebony exclaimed, frowning at Will. Annabelle looked over at her in disbelief. “Will can give you a ride. Send Trevor a text saying you got a ride home with someone else. It’s silly for you to wait around for an eternity.”

“Oh, I-I usually just do my homework in the library—“ she protested quickly, not wanting to inconvenience Will. He probably liked the time alone. More importantly, he seemed unusually annoyed about something, and it was making her uncomfortable.

“That’s boring. Will, I order you to take Annabelle home.” Ebony stood up from the retaining wall and crossed to Will’s side, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Annabelle had to look away, trying to force down the strange twisting sensation in her stomach. “Call me later,” she purred.

“Belle?” Will sighed.

She dutifully rose from the wall, smiling weakly at Ebony. “I’ll see you later,” she said.

“You bet,” Ebony confirmed, grinning.

Annabelle walked through the door Will held open, both of them silent as they made their way through the empty hallway. She fidgeted uncomfortably as she tried to figure out what she had done in the last half hour that could have caused such a dramatic change in Will. He’d been so sweet and charming yesterday… Was he angry she had invaded his circle? Was he mad Ebony had made him give her a ride home?

When he unlocked the passenger door and held it out for her, she hesitated. “I can get a ride home with Trevor,” she said uneasily. “I don’t mean to inconvenience you.”

She couldn’t meet his eyes, but she could feel his stare. “You mean inconvenience me by making me drive to the same place I was already going to go?” She looked up quickly, but his annoyance appeared to have faded, and a slightly teasing smile lifted the tone in his voice and relaxed his shoulders. “Get in the car, Belle.”

Relief washed over her and she flashed a grin back at him, sliding into the seat. He shut her door and climbed into the driver’s side.

“I finished Elmer Gantry,” she told him, as he started driving.

“Yeah? What’d you think?”

“I thought it was amazing and insightful.” She smiled over at him. “Thank you for loaning it to me.” He flashed back a charming grin that made her heart skip, surprising her. Nervous at the sudden beating in her heart, she went on quickly. “If you want to come in, I have it and your shirts all washed and cleaned for you.” She paused, then shook her head, even more flustered. “I mean, I have the shirts washed and cleaned. Not the book. The book’s fine.”

Will laughed and looked over at her. “You had me worried about you and books for a second there.”

She blushed and made a face at him, which just made him laugh more, and she couldn’t resist joining him. She relaxed back in the seat, feeling herself start to calm down. This was Will. He was a good looking guy, but he was her friend. That was all.

“Are you going to Homecoming?” she asked, looking over at him.

He arched an eyebrow at her. “Are you kidding?” he asked back.

She frowned, caught off-guard by his tone. “No. Your brother is the quarterback, and it’s going to be his last game at our school. I thought maybe you’d want to go and support him.”

Will didn’t say anything for a moment. “You mean the homecoming game.”

“Yes.” Surprised, she looked over at him, then laughed as she caught on to his clarification. “Did you think I meant the dance? No. I couldn’t exactly picture you at a school dance, all dressed up in a tuxedo.”

He made a face at her. “I can wear a tuxedo,” he objected.

She laughed again, trying to picture Will in a tuxedo. The thought was so foreign she couldn’t even conjure the image in her mind. “I’m sure you’re fully capable of it. But actually wearing it… for an entire night… It just doesn’t seem you.”

“Not like you, right? Happy to be all dressed up in some fancy gown like a princess?”

She frowned and straightened at the insult. “I like dressing up,” she argued. “What’s wrong with wanting to look nice and get to feel like a princess once in a while?”

Will looked over at her. “Reality?”

She crossed her arms over her chest, scowling. “I think it’s fun,” she insisted. “We’ll never have chances like these again in the future. Why not enjoy them now while we can?”

“Why not get lobotomies while we can, too?” he countered, rolling his eyes.

“What do you object to about dances?” she asked sharply. “You get to dress up, look nice, go out to dinner with your friends, dance, have your picture taken, and have a great time.”

He snorted derisively. “You just named everything I hate about them.”

“You hate having a great time?” she returned, surprised at her anger.

He slammed on the brake at a red light and faced her. “Why don’t you just call it like it is?” he snapped. “It’s fun to dress up and pretend to be someone you’re not for a night.”

Her face flamed. “And you?” she demanded. “You just don’t want to show up in an uncomfortable tuxedo and risk being ridiculed by your classmates for coming to an event that doesn’t fit in with your image!”

There was silence as they glared at each other. Annabelle’s heart pounded furiously in her chest as she stared into his flashing dark eyes, refusing to look away. She didn’t think she’d ever really yelled at anyone like that before. She wasn’t one to attack when someone said something nasty to her. She usually just looked away and tried to say something nice. And yet she didn’t want to back down. She didn’t want to let him get away with accusing her of something without pointing out his own motives.

Behind them, a car honked its horn loudly, and Will spun in his seat, slamming on the gas. Flustered, she crossed her arms and glared out the window, her mind racing. Will would probably never have this kind of argument with Ebony. Ebony probably hated school dances as much as he did.

They finished the drive in silence, and before Will could get her bag, she retrieved it herself. “Thanks for the ride,” she snapped, throwing open the door.

“Anytime,” he returned sarcastically.

She slammed the door on him and stalked up to her house. She slammed the front door shut behind her, too, hoping Will would hear it in the street. Then she stormed up to her room, threw her bag on her floor, and sat on her bed, fuming.

And then an overwhelming sadness overcame her, and she buried her head in her pillows to muffle her tears.