At Wits End

Chapter Two

I evaded her the entire day. How, I have no idea. We had nearly every single class together. Even lunch period. But hey, I’m a short dude. I get lost easily in the crowd, so every time she noticed me and her eyes brightened with some sort of dark pleasure, I ran into the halls.

 

Not the most brave thing to do, but what else was there? I just got into my car and checked my phone. I had a call from someone halfway through my last period, but I didn’t dare check to see who. Ms. Lloyd was a very strict teacher.

 

I practically ran to my car, seriously trying to hide from Tessa. She just gives me the vibe that she’d kiss me one second then steal all my money by threat the next.

 

She really scares me.

 

Anyway. I checked my phone, and saw it was my dad. By now though, he’d be at work and almost totally out of contact. Sighing, I put my phone in the dock and called my papá, putting it on speaker phone.

 

Just as I turned on my car, the passenger door opened. I jumped and looked over. It was Tessa. I watched in horror as she casually grabbed my bag, put it with hers, and threw them in the back seat. She climbed in and closed her door, frowning at me.

 

Ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit--

 

“Hola?” Oh, fuck. Papá is on speaker phone. “Julian, eres tú?” Tessa raised her eyebrows at me, looking between the phone and me as if to say, ‘Say something, dumbass.'

 

“A-ah, sí. Soy yo, papá.”

 

“I didn’t know you spoke Spanish, new kid. Or should I say, Julian?” Tessa mocked, making the J in my name sound like a H, like my papá. She smirked, settling her - well, my - seat.

 

“Qué? Quién es ese?” My papá asked almost frantically. He gets weird on the phone. I mentally face palmed. Oh, my God, why is she here? I turned to her and whispered harshly in English, “Tessa, what are you doing here?”

 

Tessa pretended to pout. “You were ignoring me all day. What did I do wrong?”

 

“Julian? Estás ahí? Julian? Qué pasa, Julian?”

 

“Espera un minuto, papá, por favor!” I let out a deep exhale before continuing. “I’ll call you back in a little bit, okay? I need to talk to someone.” My glowering eyes never left hers. Tessa seemed totally amused by the whole exchange.

 

My papá sighed and hung up without another word. I rolled my eyes, reaching out to grab my phone from the dock. Before I made contact into it, a hand slapped mine away. Surprised I drop my hand and look at Tessa incredulously.

 

“I’m talking to you, you asshole!” She said loudly, but not angrily. In fact, she still looked amused as hell. “Where have you been?”

“Why are you so intent on this?” I asked instead, scared to admit that I was avoiding her.