“I’m going to talk to Trevor at the end of the day. Maybe he’ll tell me something. You should come with me. He knows you better than he knows me.” She nodded in agreement to my request. I had to know what happened to her and what made Trevor stop hanging out with his friends.
I talked to AJ during Ms. Jamison’s class and told him that I wouldn’t be at my locker right after school let out, but to give me about five extra minutes. As Deanna and I stood in the hall waiting for Trevor I thought of the many reasons he could give me for Leila’s absence. When he came into view I straightened my posture to approach him. Deanna waved. “Hey Trevor.” He gave an unenthusiastic nod and started to walk past us. “Wait we want to talk to you about something,“ Deanna blurted. Trevor sighed, rolled his eyes and turned to face us.
“What is it?” He asked sharply.
Deanna was visibly shocked by his tone. “We were just wondering if you’d heard from Leila. It’s been a long time since she’s been in school and we were worried,” she lied.
“What, you all weren’t finished taunting her? She knew none of you liked her, but she insisted that you’d warm up to her eventually. That’s the only reason she kept trying to come around and hang out.” His rant proved that he was more delusional than I thought. He really had no clue that she came around to be near AJ.
“What are you talking about? We weren’t mean to her?” Deanna retorted.
Trevor rolled his eyes. “She heard the things you all were saying about her. You didn’t exactly try to hide your feelings,” he sighed. “But, no I haven’t heard anything from her. She won’t return any of my calls and her dad won’t give me any information either.” After he finished his statement he turned to walk away. Deanna looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. Now, more than ever, I was unnerved with the realization that no one knew what happened to her. I’d hoped that he’d say that she moved away or something, so I could stop watching for her when I was in public. Every car that resembled hers sent a chill down my body.
AJ was waiting at my locker like he said he would be. I smiled trying to mask me feelings, but he saw through it. “What happened?” He asked.
“Deanna and I went to talk to Trevor. I was hoping to find out what happened to Leila, but he didn’t know anymore than we did.”
His expression was curious. “Why would you wanna know about her? Just be glad she’s gone. I know I am,” he stated flatly. “She’s probably in an institution or something. That’s where she needs to be anyway.”
I was silent as he walked me to my car, still thinking about my conversation with Trevor. “Well, I have to get back inside for practice,” AJ said. I didn’t want to leave him. There had been far too much distance between us lately and it was killing me. The look of longing on his face led me to believe that he felt the same way. He kissed me and held his hand to my cheek for a few seconds before he ran back inside.
My phone rang a few minutes after six pm. It was Leslie of all people. My first thought was to ignore the call complete, but my curiosity got the best of me. I closed my math book and sat up on my bed. “Hello?” I answered dryly.
“Hey, Sam. Can we talk a minute?” She asked.
I sighed. “Yeah, what’s up?” She didn’t deserve even a few seconds of my time, but I’m generous.
She hesitated for a brief moment. “It’s a new year and I really wanna clear things up between us.” She paused. “I miss you.”
I almost laughed out loud. “That’s funny, because I would think that if you missed me you would’ve returned my calls, or not turned me down every time I asked you to hang out. Seriously, Leslie I don’t even feel like I know you anymore. All of this because you didn’t like that I hurt Antonio. Even he forgave me.”
“Is that what you think this is about? No, I don’t like what you did to him, but this is about you and the choices you’ve made.” Her tone was more harsh than I’d ever heard it. I didn’t like where this conversation was going.