“Ok, I’ll be there to get you at like quarter to seven then.”
“Sounds good. Well look, I have to get to class. There’re a few questions I need my teacher’s help on before I have to turn in last night’s homework,” I lied.
“Ok.” Antonio was obviously suspicious of my behavior. “I’ll see you later then.”
“Yeah, see you.” Hopefully, I hadn’t been too obvious. If I was going to pull this off I’d have to hold it together better than that.
For the rest of the morning, I was fortunate enough not to run into either Antonio or AJ; which may have been because I was dodging them. Lunch was a bit more complicated though. I didn’t feel much like eating, so I just joined my friends at our table. Terrance was seated next to Leslie and there was an empty space between her and Antonio that was evidently being saved for me. As I approached them, I tried to search for AJ discreetly, but didn’t see him anywhere. Maybe he wasn’t going to show. That would certainly make things easier for me. I was quiet when I took my seat, still lost in thought.
“Hey girl, what’s up?” Leslie greeted me.
“Hey,” I replied.
“I was thinking that you, me, and AJ need to get together at your house again Saturday.”
Why oh why did she have to bring this up now? It felt like if I moved I’d give everything away. Hearing AJ’s name mentioned aloud in Antonio’s presence was extremely uncomfortable and I could have died right then and there. Although I was pretty sure that he had no idea of what was going on, it was still a little too much for me.
Hoping that Leslie would drop the subject, I replied quickly. “Yeah that’s fine.”
“Maybe this time you and AJ can actually talk to each other. Then maybe we can be a bit more productive than last time.”
Shoot! Leave it alone, Leslie! I tried to laugh it off. “Yeah……maybe.”
“I don’t know what his problem was. Weird,” she continued.
“Well maybe he just doesn’t like me or something. You know that can happen. Everyone doesn’t have to get along,” I said defensively.
“Maybe,” she said quietly, detecting the harsh tone of my voice.
“Sure didn’t seem that way at Homecoming,” Antonio muttered under his breath as he jabbed his fork into his food.
I glanced at him momentarily and then looked down at the table trying not to hyperventilate. I had to force myself to act normally so I started talking to Leslie again, about something else of course. “So what do you and Terrance have going on this weekend? Any plans?”
“No nothing that I know of,” she said as she glanced at him to see if there was something that she’d forgotten. So much for that conversation I guess. As I sat there searching for something else to talk about, my heart sank to my stomach. A.J walked into the lunchroom and his eyes were on me the entire time. Even once he’d taken his seat he continued to stare. I made myself turn away so that I wouldn’t call attention to him, but I was too late. Antonio had followed my eyes right to AJ. He looked over at me again, but I’d already turned away.
“I’m really starting not to like this dude,” Antonio said dryly.
Ignoring his statement and pretending that I hadn’t heard a thing he’d said seemed like the best way to handle it. I was too scared to look over at Antonio because I didn’t know what he was thinking. He continued to eat in silence and I could only hope that AJ had found something more interesting to look at than my face. I needed Antonio to stay totally unaware of what was going on behind his back. That’s how it had to be.