walked along his empty side. I trailed behind, which caused Bryce's arm to fall behind with Corrigan on my other side. I caught him glancing up and down the hallway and asked, "Looking for Logan?"
Corrigan cast a sharp, cautious, glance my way, but sighed as he saw genuine curiosity in my own eyes, "Yeah."
We had stopped at Bryce's locker and I leaned against his neighbor's locker when I remarked to Corrigan, "You should have her come over today. I'm sure my mother will be gone house hunting with her boy."
Bryce looked up at that and commented, "I'd rather hangout at Corrigan's."
I looked sharply at him and breathed in relief. I was still in his plans after school.
"Sweet. I'll tell Logan," Corrigan said quickly before anyone could change their mind.
I said flatly, "No Chantal."
Bryce shrugged and remarked, "No movie star."
"Fine."
"Fine."
"Fine," Corrigan piped in and wrenched me aside as Logan approached the group. With the handcuffs, I got a good grope under her shirt as Corrigan greeted her like a long-lost lover that had been separated and held hostage by warring neighbors.
"Okay." I tugged my hand back and commented, "No more of that until we're not actually handcuffed together."
Corrigan and Logan parted at my words.
Logan was flushed, speechless.
Corrigan just grinned and replied, "Deal." He let go of Logan.
Bryce raised our hands as Miss Connors walked through the hallway. He remarked, "See, Miss Connors. Handcuffs."
"That's very nice, Bryce Scout," Miss Connors commented, politely, as she continued down the hallway.
Corrigan punched Bryce in the shoulder when she disappeared, "What was that, idiot?"
"What?"
"Nothing like telling her that we figured out how to get out of the handcuffs," I remarked.
Bryce cast a shrewd eye over me and shrugged, "Whatever."
Logan surprised everyone and asked me, "How are things with your mom?"
Bryce and Corrigan didn't say a word.
Neither did I.
No one asked about The Mother.
"That's a loaded question," Corrigan commented and eyed his girlfriend in pity.
But—new leaf and all—I said, calmly and even a little bit nicely, "She's…hopefully gone pretty soon."
Corrigan suddenly laughed and suggested, "We should have a sleepover at your place tonight, Bryce."
I grinned and commented, "AnnaBelle Scout would pray the whole night with a Bible on her lap."
Bryce rolled his eyes, but I caught the slight quirk at his lips.
"Why?" Logan treaded onto uncharted waters once again. She asked, "What's your mom like?"
The pause wasn't so obvious this time and Corrigan answered easily, "AnnaBelle hates Sheldon."
"And she loves Corrigan. Corrigan's a saint in AnnaBelle's world," I added.
Logan kept quiet, which was wise.
Bryce muttered as the four of us moved towards my locker, "She'd go after Miss Connors and the school would lose a good counselor."
"She said she got everyone's permission for this thing."
"She called my dad, not my mom. The school knows to call my dad for anything real about me. They call mom if they want her to volunteer for a food drive or something." Bryce rarely talked about his dad and he couldn't hide the bitterness from his tone as he did now.
Logan glanced at me. Corrigan quieted, skimmed an eye over Bryce and turned to me.
I watched Bryce and he looked up to find my eyes on him.
"Don't even," he bit out.
I grinned, "What? You think you're the only one who can have a screwed up family?"
The second bell rang then and Corrigan asked, "What class are we going to?"
Mandy Justice approached us at that time. She gave us each a handout and said what the title read, "We're doing a candlelight vigil for Leisha tonight. It's nine in the tabernacle at Holy Mount."
Holy Mount was the local Christian college.
"Who's we?" I asked.
"Me. A few others. Becky, Jill, just…the regular girls."
"You guys didn't even know Leisha."
"No, but Carlos did and Becky wanted to do this for him." Mandy shrugged. "Your fight's not with me, but it's a good cause."
"You should get some of her friends to do it." And why would Becky want to do this for Carlos?
Mandy flinched. "Look, no one else is doing it so…just show up, okay?"
Mandy left before I could say anything.
Bryce nodded and stated, "We're going." It went without saying, but Bryce had already said it.
The final bell rang and I stuffed the handouts in my books.
Chapter 21
Compared to the normal hustle and bustle, all three of us spent a boring afternoon at Corrigan's. Bryce and Corrigan played video games, laughed, and punched each other. I curled on the couch for awhile and then moved to the bedroom.
Katrice came down a few times. The first time she brought a tray of crackers and cheese. Her second trip consisted of cookies that she'd baked that afternoon. The entire house was filled with the aroma of chocolate chip cookie dough. And her third trip was with hot chocolate and tiny marshmallows.
Corrigan and Bryce ate it up—literally.
I accepted the hot chocolate and curled up on the couch afterwards.
Logan hit the doorbell around seven and Bryce gave me his phone to call my house. I didn't ask for it. He didn't offer it. He simply dropped it in my lap with my number already on the screen.
I called, but there was no answer and I didn't leave a message.
Logan sat on the opposite couch and we watched the boys play their games. I sat up once for a round of Guitar Hero, but my blanket called my name after I was done.
For a group that was generally known for their action and immorality, we were saintly and boring that afternoon.