Walking down the hall I never focused on one face that I passed and I made it to homeroom without seeing either Antonio or AJ. That was a relief for the moment because I wasn’t quite sure how to carry out my plan. I’d definitely have to cue AJ in on my revelation from the night before. Was I even sure that he’d go along with having to be in the background? What if he wasn’t willing to hide our relationship? Was it even fair for me to expect that of him? There was only one way to find out.
I devised a plan while I sat at the back of Mr. Talbert’s class. Once I’d been in my first hour for about ten minutes I’d fake a stomach ache and ask to be excused to the office. Kyla and I had that class together, so I had to make sure that my acting was believable. AJ would have to agree to meet me in the school auditorium, which I was sure would be empty because there weren’t any assemblies or anything going on today. That could work.
I pulled out my phone inconspicuously and held it under my desk. It was time to text AJ now so he could get his story together for his teacher.
“Think u can sneak out of ur 1st hour?”
Enough time passed before he responded that I considered that he may still not be talking to me. I guess that was silly considering the kiss the night before. A moment later I received his message.
“yeah, y?”
“I need 2 talk 2 u. Kinda important.”
“sure.”
“k. about 10 mins into class ask 2 b excused. I’ll meet u in the auditorium.”
“K.”
Everything was all set. I settled back in my seat and waited for the bell to ring. When it finally did, I arose from my seat and was a girl on a mission. I made it to Math without Antonio seeing me; I wasn’t really ready for that part yet. My first order of business was to deal with AJ.
As planned, exactly ten minutes into class I approached Mr. Kendall’s desk and asked him if I could have a pass to the office, feigning a stomach ache. He signed the pass and then I free to go.
I walked down the stairs and made my way to the auditorium doors. After double checking for witnesses, I crept inside. It took my eyes a few seconds to adjust in the almost complete darkness. I felt around for the wall to lean against while I waited and gasped aloud when my hands came to rest on AJ’s chest.
“You scared me,” I gasped.
“I noticed,” he replied, sounding like this brought a smile to his face.
There was a brief moment of silence before I decided to let him in on why I’d asked him to meet me here. “There’s something that I want to talk to you about and I’m not really sure how to say it or if I should say it, but I guess here goes.” I took a deep breath, held it for a minute and then released it slowly. “What I said the other day in the parking lot about needing my space? Yeah……turns out that was a pretty stupid idea. I want…..no that’s not right.” I shook my head, grateful for the darkness that hid my nervousness. “I need you in my life and I can’t settle for just being friends. I thought about this for a long time last night and I still haven’t really worked out the details yet, but……I at least needed to let you know where my head is. Now, there’s still the issue of Antonio, but like I said I haven’t really worked that out. Please, just be patient and let me deal with him the way I think is best.”
AJ listened patiently to my rant without interrupting until he was sure that I was done talking. “Sam, you already know how I feel. I seriously did try to respect your wishes, but I couldn’t help it last night. Clearly, I wanna be with you too…..but I need to be clear on what you’re asking me to do.”