“Can we start this conversation over?”
“Not unless you have a time machine,” Tamara said.
“Then can I apologize again?”
“I don't know, can you?”
“Fine,” he sighed, “May I apologize again.”
“Permission granted to grovel,” Tamara smirked.
“I was trying to ask if you wanted to hang out some time this week?”
“That's not groveling,” Tamara said, arms crossed.
“I know, but I'm above groveling. So, what do you say?”
“You think I'm crazy and you want to hang out with me?”
“I never said you were crazy,” Hayden sighed.
“Might as well have.”
“I'm sorry.”
“We'll talk later,” Tamara sighed and turned on her heels again, just in time for the bell to ring.
By third period Tamara was exhausted and debating whether or not she was going to tell Amber about leaving the lip gloss and yesterday at the library. She was still mulling it over when she arrived at their lockers to find that Amber hadn't arrived or had headed on to drama class without her. Tamara pretended not to notice Hayden talking with Greg and the others across the hall.
Her stomach churned as she walked past the group. Hayden tapped her shoulder and when she turned to look slipped a note into the side pocket of her backpack. Tamara scurried away pretending not to notice the dirty look Cindy and the others shot her. Were they bad mouthing her? Was he only talking to her to get dirt for the Chess Club? Tamara wanted to hit her head against the wall, but instead she stifled her cry of frustration by biting her lip and power walking to class, determined to find Amber and tell her everything.
The drama classroom was noisy and crowded, but Tamara forced her way through the crowd searching for her BFF.
“Have you seen Amber?” Tamara asked, one of her classmates.
“I think she went home,” the girl said, twirling a lock of hair around her forefinger and smacking her lips, before producing a bubble of orange gum and sucking it in back into her mouth, “Her and Josh had a fight.”
“Thanks,” Tamara sighed and sank into her desk.
Maybe Mercury is in retrograde or something, Tamara thought, because everyone seems to be having a crappy day. Tamara was supposed to be mesmerizing her monologue from Hamlet, but instead she found herself tucked away in the bathroom calling Amber, again and again without getting an answer.
Her phone's most likely dead again, she thought hanging up the phone for the last time. Remembering Hayden's note she sat down on the toliet seat and fumbled in the side pocket of her bag. An empty tube of lip gloss, two pennies, a nickel, and a leadless mechanical pencil littered the bottom of the pocket and kept the note from sinking to the bottom. She pulled it out and looked at the smooth white surface of the paper before unfolding it.
Her fingers shook and her heart pounded against her ribcage. Tamara knew her anxiety wasn't going to abate until she knew what the note said.
“Tamara,” it began.
At least he spelled my name right, she thought.
“Every time we talk I find a way to seem like an asshat. I've made a list of things I shouldn't have done or at least should have apologized for. I'm apologizing for everything on this list, though, I'm sure I've missed some.
*Calling you a snob the first time I drove you home. *Acting like an ass because I knew more about chess,
*Calling you without asking if it was okay first
*Convincing you to steal apples with me,
*Implying you were crazy/not believing you about the faeries,