Fitting In

Chapter 12 - The Closet Cliche

I freaked out a bit. Going to grab the door I reached out. He quickly grabbed my hand and held it back.

"We should wait and make sure it's safe. We could get expelled if we're caught."

I nodded, realized he couldn't see me, and whispered, "Okay."

We were facing each other. The shelf dug into my back, and there was only about an inch of space in between me and him. The door and another shelf were on each side of me boxing me in.

"Lucky it was unlocked," I said quietly.

"It's always unlocked," was the soft reply. Then it was quiet again. I wanted to back away. We were too close. He shifted, and his hand accidentally brushed across my arm. I  inhaled in shock, then immediately regretted it.

"Sorry," he murmured. He shifted again, but there was no room. I also moved a bit to try and create space. Instead of widening the gap, our movements had the opposite effect. He ended up using his hands to keep steady on the wall behind me, and this caused him to have to lean in. This made the room between us even smaller. I was now lightly pressed against his chest. It was mortifying. Reminding myself to breathe, I closed my eyes. It would all eventually be over.

"Taylor," he said.

"Yes?" I asked. I couldn't help but smile at our crazy situation.

"Can I ask you a kind of personal question?"

"You can ask, but I make no promises about answering."

"Why did you move here?"

Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no,no, no, no, no, no, no. No and no. Nope. Heck no. Abort. Run. Hide. Lie. Anything but that. Anything.

"My favorite color is indigo," I said.

"I didn't ask what your favorite color was. Why'd you move?"

I wanted to open up, but I've done that before. It never works out. Your always going to be judged for everything, and nothing is ever good enough.

"You can tell me. I'm good at keeping secrets. I mean, I'm already keeping this one."

I decided to lie. "I was expelled."

"No you weren't. I work in the office, remember? I got a little curious so I looked at your file. There was absolutely nothing. Perfect grades, extracurriculars, and no disciplinary record. There doesn't seem to be a reason why you would move. Especially because your still in the same house. So why? And why would  you lie about it?"

"I lied because it's none of your business, and stay out of my files from now on," I snapped. Maybe if I was mad enough about the invasion of privacy, he would feel bad and drop the whole subject.

"That will be easy. Why would I look at then agian? I already know what they say. Nice GPA by the way."

"I can't believe you went through my file."

"Believe it, because I did. You gonna answer my question?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I don't have to, I don't want to, and, again, it's none of your business."

"What if I'm making it my business? I'm a curious person, and right now you're a mystery." The last part was whispered into my ear, and I knew why.

"I'm not going to tell you."

"Then I'll just have to figure it out myself." He leaned in even closer. I didn't think it was possible, but somehow he did it. For a second I thought he would kiss me, but I was wrong. "I think the coast is clear."

He opened the door, and we both stumbled out. The trip to the window went smoothly, and soon I was by my car in the parking lot.

"Thanks," I said, not quite knowing what else to say.

"Just remember you owe me. This was fun. We should do it again sometime."

"Yeah," I laughed, "Next time I need to pull some crazy operation, I'll call you."

He shrugged, "You have my number."
Then he walked off to his own car.

. . .

It felt like my head had just hit my pillow when my alarm went off. I decided sleep was more important, so I clicked snooze. I would get an extra two hours of sleep by skipping my morning workout. After the night I just had, I would need it.

The only thing getting me out of bed that day was four cups of coffee and the thought of the look on Tyler's face. Well, that and my moms constant nagging. I quickly dressed, and didn't even care that I looked a hot mess. I skipped breakfast and went straight for my car.

Arriving at school, I waited in the courtyard like everyone else. Meeting up with Hattie, I looked around for Tyler. If he didn't show, then I don't know if the plan would work. The snake wouldn't die from starvation or dehydration. That much about snakes I knew. But, schools have this really odd thing where it has to be below zero degrees Celcius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) at all times. Everyone always wears hoodies not for the 'esthetic' but because constant shivering and goosebumps are a little distracting. Maybe they think if our teeth are chattering hard enough, we won't be able to talk while the teacher is teaching.

Hattie was halfway through her current rant about yesterday's events when I spotted him. He was walking with his arm around a girl. I looked at Hattie.

"Um, you're not going to like this," I said, pointing at the pair. She turned around and practically growled.

"Well," she hissed, "The school player and the cheater. I don't even care at this point. They deserve each other, and they deserve whatever crappy luck karma has in store. Karma's a b*tch, and so am I."

We walked inside with everyone else. Heading toward our lockers I heard a blood curling scream, and a yell. Hattie and I followed the rest of the curious students toward the noise. The crowd was so thick I couldn't get a good view, but I could tell from the dialogue what was happening.

Gabby also must have hated snakes. They both ran in the opposite direction as us, and I saw the poor frightened snake coming our way. The wave of students parted for the little guy. Some others were also terrified, but the majority of people thought Willie was cool. Everyone was curious about who would do such a thing. I also pretended to be shocked and intrigued. I felt a tug on my arm. It was Macey.