The forest was the only one I could trust to talk about Brice with, and that was because, most of the time, I couldn’t hear a word she said to me. So after school, I headed off to sit amongst the trees and see if I could sort out what was going on.
It wasn’t as if I was developing romantic feelings for Brice--that was for certain. Even if I had enough room in m
I walked into art class the next day with a new resolve. I was going to remind Brice Parker that we were not friends, that he could not just assume that, because we’d done a decent scene together in drama the day before, we were somehow “okay.” From the way he was acting, he thought we were friends or something, best pals. Well, he was in for a rude awakening because that was definitely not the case.
I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with Brice’s note. I’d shoved it in my pocket after art class ended, and kept it there, where I was certain it was burning a hole, not even through the fabric of my jeans but also through my thigh. More than once before lunch, I considered taking it out and tossing it in the trash can, but I didn’t do it. Instead, I attempted to pay attention during my classes, but my mind kept going back to that slip of paper. Where did he get off anyway? Why did he think I was spending so much time thinking about him?
That night, after dinner, I went to my room to call my sister. It had been a long time since I had really talked to her, and I wanted to see how her first week of school had gone. The last time I’d talked to her, Mom was planning to take her shopping to buy school clothes, and Grayson was super excited about that, even though she wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of starting a new school. I knew that I was actually funding all of those new clothes, but I was okay with it, as long as it made my sister happy.
There would be no fun trip to the donut shop on the way to pick up Melanie Saturday morning, or on our way to the shopping center, for that matter. Sam was in a mood, and I guess I couldn't blame him. We were supposed to pick Melanie up at 10:00 and left our house at 9:55. Sam was driving Ben’s truck because it had a front and back seat, whereas Sam’s only had enough room for three people, unless someone rode in the bed, and I didn’t see making Raven ride back there to another town, even though she said she didn’t mind. I minded.
“What do you think of this one?” Melanie asked, pulling out a red dress and showing it to me.I knew she meant for herself because of the size. She was a little bit bigger than me. The dress was form-fitting, a satiny red fabric that would’ve hit above her knee and showed all of her curves. It had little black accent lace pieces around the waist and neckl
It was a little after 1:00 when we entered the restaurant across the parking lot. The place was slightly crowded with the late lunch crowd, but it wasn’t too bad, and we were able to be seated in a booth right away. I slid in on the closest side quickly so I wouldn’t be forced to choose between sitting next to Melanie or sitting next to Raven. It made sense that either one of them would prefer to sit next to me, since they were both here because they were my friends, but I wouldn’t like to have to choose between them. Raven sat down next to me, and Melanie sat across from us. We decided to put the dress bags in the spot next to her.
Sam’s demeanor hadn’t changed much while we were shopping, unfortunately. I held my dress on my lap, my bag full of accessories and the shoe box by my feet. He was mostly silent, not asking us about how it had gone or anything else that would’ve made for polite conversation. I asked him where he’d gone, and he said a restaurant down the street. I asked him what he’d eaten, and he said, “Food.” That was about the extent of our discussion.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked Brice. I kept my tone in check. I wasn’t demanding or even rude, despite my choice of curse words, just inquisitive.He half shrugged as he leaned against the tree. “You brought a new wolf into our forest, and I wanted to know who it was.”