Erin quietly digests my suggestion. “Like ride around in a horse and buggy, dress-like-a-Pilgrim, Amish?”
“I know, it’s a bit crazy, but just listen.” I sit up straight. “Amish girls are only allowed to date Amish boys, right? Otherwise their family kicks them out or throws rocks at them or something. Sooooo … if Caleb thinks I’m Amish, then there’s no way that we can be together. At least, not unless he converts.” I take a sip of my iced coffee, then almost spit it out as a thought occurs to me. “Oh my God. Do you think he’ll convert for me?”
Erin sighs. “I don’t think you have to worry about that. Considering there’s no way he’ll believe you’re secretly Amish,” she says, shaking her head. “Really, Quinn, you should just tell him the truth.”
I roll my eyes. “Right. And what should I say? Caleb, I’m sorry, but the thought of ever kissing you again makes my stomach hurt?”
“Well, maybe you don’t have to be quite that honest,” she says. “But why not tell him that you like someone else?”
“I don’t think that will make it any easier on him.”
“Nothing is going to make it easier on him—or you. Breaking up with someone sucks.”
“How can we be breaking up? We’re not even going out,” I say. At least, I don’t think we are. “And besides, I don’t like anyone else.”
“Uh-huh.” Erin turns into the school parking lot. There are only a few cars, but despite all the empty spaces, she pulls right up beside Wesley’s truck. Just to make a point.
Wesley’s inside, talking on his phone. He glances over at us and then glances away. Which is totally rude.
“Hm. Wonder what that’s about,” Erin says, unbuckling her seat belt.
“Oh, he’s probably arranging to donate an organ to charity or raising money for underprivileged gorillas.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind.”
She shakes her head. “You really have him wrong. He’s a good guy, Quinn.”
“Again, you don’t know him like I do,” I say. “You’re blinded by his stupidly handsome face.”
“Ha! I knew you thought he was cute.” She gets out of the car before I can debate this point, and opens the back door to grab her saxophone. “Maybe we should wait for him,” she says.
“No way.” I take one last long sip of my drink and then shove my empty cup in the cupholder. “Wesley is not going to make me late.”
Besides, it’s pretty clear from way he’s deliberately not looking at us that he’s not interested in company right now.
I climb out of the car and follow Erin into the school. I can feel Wesley’s eyes on my back, but I don’t turn around.
When we get to the band room, Erin has to nudge me through the door. Caleb’s inside already and his face lights up when he sees me.
“Hey. I’ve been trying to call you,” he says as I sit down beside him.
“Um, yeah. Sorry.” I unlatch my clarinet case and busy myself with poking around inside so I don’t have to look him in the eye. “I’m grounded. My mom wasn’t happy when I came home less than sober the other night.”
“Damn.” He sighs. “Does this mean that you have to go right home after practice?”
And just like that, I have my excuse. I’ll keep telling Caleb that I’m still grounded until he eventually gives up on me. Even if it takes my entire senior year.
It’s genius. Much easier than pretending to be Amish. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.
I nod. “Afraid so. In fact, it’ll be a long time before she lets me socialize again. A long time.”
“That’s okay,” he says, putting his hand on my knee. “You’re worth waiting for.”
I smile tightly.
“Besides, we’ll still see each other in band, right?” he adds. “At least we have that.”
I make a move to cross my legs, so he has to pull his hand away. “Band. Yes.”
Here’s something I should have thought about before I let Caleb paw me: I have to sit beside him for the rest of the year. It’s not like Mr. Aioki will let me move. We both play the clarinet. There’s nowhere else for me to go.
WHAT WAS I THINKING?
I grab my clarinet and start to screw it together, cursing my bad judgment.
The band room door bangs open and Wesley trudges into the room. He’s not smiling. As he makes his way down the row behind us, his tuba case bangs against the back of Caleb’s chair. Caleb stiffens and turns around and shoots him a dirty look.
“Watch it, James,” he growls.
????????
“Sorry, man. Not intentional.” Wesley settles into his seat and drops his case in front of him.
“What’s going on?” I ask Caleb.
His jaw tightens. “Ask James.”
I haven’t seen Wesley since the party. There’s a dusting of blond stubble on his face and he has dark bags under his eyes. Looks like he didn’t get much sleep last night, either.
“Dude, now’s not the time, okay?” Wesley says warily.
Caleb snorts. “Right. You know all about timing, don’t you, James?”
Clearly, these two are no longer friends. What I can’t figure out is why.
Caleb puts his hand back on my knee. “By the way, I had a really great time the other night, Quinn.” He’s giving me this weird leering smile, like he’s thinking about how we rolled around on the beach together. Blech. I wish I could scrub that memory from his brain—and mine, too.
Wesley looks away from us and starts to vigorously polish his tuba, his mouth set in a grim line. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was jealous.
Wait. Is he jealous? Because he has no right to be. He has a girlfriend!
I turn back around in my seat, thinking. I need to test this theory. I need to know if what almost happened between us at Travis’s party was all in my imagination, or if Wesley really is into me. So instead of knocking Caleb’s hand off my knee again, I lean into him. His fingers immediately slide up my leg, right below the line where my shorts meet my bare skin. I clamp my hand down over his, partly to see if this provokes any reaction from Wesley, but also to stop Caleb’s fingers from wandering any farther.
I lean over to whisper something to Caleb, but really it’s just an excuse to sneak a glance over his shoulder at Wesley.
“Maybe I can convince my mom to let me out this weekend,” I say, just loud enough for Wesley to hear. His face is flushed. His breathing is all erratic, too, like he’s working hard to keep his emotions in check.
Interesting.
I know that using Caleb to make Wesley jealous is wrong. So wrong. But it’s also wrong to flirt with another girl when you have a girlfriend. It’s wrong to stay with that girlfriend when you like someone else. And I think Wesley likes me. If I can prove that, well, then …
Well, then, what?
Okay, I haven’t totally thought this plan through. But I’m going with it.
Caleb grins. “Yeah?” he says, nuzzling my neck with the tip of his nose. “Well, we should definitely get together then.”
My phone beeps. I pull it out of my bag. It’s Erin.
WTH?????
I look behind me at the brass section. She shakes her head slowly at me.
I widen my eyes, pretending not to understand her message.
She grimaces and begins to type. A second later, my phone beeps again.