He couldn’t see into the house.
Maybe if he stood here long enough, she’d look out the window. Park just wanted to see her face. Her big brown eyes, her full pink lips. Her mouth kind of looked
like
the
Joker’s
–
depending on who was drawing him – really wide and curvy. Not psychotic, obviously … Park should never tell her this. It definitely didn’t sound like a compliment.
Eleanor didn’t look out the window. But the kids were staring at him, so Park walked home.
Saturdays were the worst.
CHAPTER 17
Eleanor
Mondays were the best.
Today, when she got on the bus, Park actually smiled at her.
Like, smiled at her the whole time she was walking down the aisle.
Eleanor couldn’t bring herself to smile directly back at him, not in front of everybody. But she couldn’t help but smile, so she smiled at the floor and looked up every few seconds to see whether he was still looking at her.
He was.
Tina was looking at her, too, but Eleanor ignored her.
Park stood up when she got to their row, and as soon as she sat down, he took her hand and kissed it. It happened so fast, she didn’t have time to die of ecstasy or embarrassment.
She let her face fall for just a few seconds against his shoulder, against the sleeve of his black trench coat. He squeezed her hand tight.
‘I missed you,’ he whispered.
She felt tears in her eyes and turned to the window.
They didn’t say anything more all the way to school. Park walked with Eleanor to her locker, and they both stood there quietly, leaning against the wall almost until the bell rang. The hall was practically empty.
Then Park reached up and wrapped one of her red curls around his honey finger.
‘Back to missing you,’ he said, letting it go.
She was late to homeroom and didn’t hear Mr Sarpy tell her that she had an office pass. He slammed it on her desk.
‘Eleanor, wake up! You’ve got a pass from your counselor.’ God, he was a jerk, she was glad she didn’t have him for a real class.
As she walked to the office, she trailed her fingertips along the brick wall and hummed a song Park had given her.
She was so blissed out, she even smiled at Mrs Dunne when she got to her office.
‘Eleanor,’ she said, hugging her. Mrs Dunne was big on hugging. She’d hugged Eleanor the very first time they met. ‘How are you?’
‘I’m good.’
‘You look good,’ Mrs Dunne said.
Eleanor looked down at her sweater (a very fat man had probably bought it to wear golfing in 1968) and at her holey jeans.
God, how bad did she usually look? ‘Thanks, I guess.’
‘I’ve been talking to your teachers,’ Mrs Dunne said. ‘Did you know you’re getting As in almost all your classes?’
Eleanor shrugged. She didn’t have cable or a phone, and she felt like she was living underground in her own house … There was plenty of time for homework.
‘Well, you are,’ Mrs Dunne said. ‘And I’m so proud of you.’
Eleanor was glad there was a desk between them now. Mrs Dunne looked like she had another hug coming on.
‘But that’s not why I called you down here. The reason you’re here is because I got a telephone call for you this morning, before school started. A man called – he said that he was your dad – and that he was calling here because he didn’t have your home number …’
‘I don’t actually have a home number,’ Eleanor said.
‘Ah,’ Mrs Dunne said, ‘I see.
Would your dad know that?’
‘Probably not,’ Eleanor said.
She was surprised he even knew what school she went to.
‘Would you like to call him?
You could use my office.’
Would she like to call him?
Why would he want to call her?
Maybe
something
horrible
(something really horrible) had happened. Maybe her grandma had died. God.
‘Sure …’ Eleanor said.
‘You know,’ Mrs Dunne said, ‘you can come use my phone whenever you need to.’ She stood up and sat on the edge of her desk,
resting
her
hand
on
Eleanor’s knee. Eleanor was this close to asking for a toothbrush, but she thought that would lead to a marathon of hugging and knee-rubbing.
‘Thanks,’ Eleanor said instead.
‘Okay,’ Mrs Dunne said, beaming. ‘I’ll be right back then.
I’ll just go freshen up my lipstick.’
When Mrs Dunne left, Eleanor dialed
her
dad’s
number,
surprised that she still knew it by heart. He answered after the third ring.
‘Hey, Dad. It’s Eleanor.’
‘Hey, baby, how are you?’
She thought for a second about telling him the truth. ‘Fine,’
she said.
‘How’s everybody?’
‘Fine.’
‘You guys never call.’