It's Lust, Not Love

Part 18

Ana’s POV

School. Yuck. I hadn’t even thought about ways to avoid Lewis at school. I had considered faking an illness, but I didn’t feel like having being around dad and Marissa all day. They were acting very lovey-dovey lately, which was great for them but really annoyed me.

My cell phone rang, interrupting my rambling thoughts.

“Ana, get your butt outside! Guess who’s taking you to school today!” I heard Patrick’s voice on the other end.

“What do you mean?”

“Just come out!” I grabbed my bag and school tie and rushed out.

“You got a car???” I screamed. There Pat was, in a rainbow-painted car. “A rainbow car???” He motioned for me to jump in, so I did.

“Like it?”

“I love it! Where on earth did you get a rainbow car?” Pat started the engine.

“My dad got me a car, and my cousins decided to paint it rainbow. I guess they thought I’d be mad, but I love it!” Patrick laughed. His family wasn’t exactly gay-friendly, and they had a hard time accepting Patrick. His cousins were the worst, always picking on him and acting immature, but Pat didn’t let it get to him.

“So will you be taking me to school like this every day?”

“If you want me to.”

“Well obviously I do!” He grinned, and I did too. I knew just how to make him happy.

“Miss Rogers, Miss Warden, stop talking! Do you want detention?” Miss Pedersdatter screeched at us. I had to stifle a giggle with my hand.

“Croaky old toad!” Amber muttered.

“Miss Warden, did you say something?”

“No ma’am!” Amber replied quickly and began to read her book. I followed her example for a while until I saw Charlie’s pale hand pass me a note. I glanced at Miss P. to check if she was watching and then unfolded the note and began to read.

You’re really good friends with Patrick right? 

I scribbled back

Yes.

And passed the note back. He wrote something on it, and gave it back to me. I noticed Amber watching us.

Is he seeing anyone?

I replied

No… Why?

His answer:

Could you maybe put in a good word for me? I stared at Charlie and mouthed You’re gay? He nodded. I knew it! I wrote back to him on the note.

Of course I will!!!

That was so adorable! They would make such a cute couple!

After about 10 more minutes the class ended and I hurried out. Amber caught up to me and grabbed my arm.

“So what were you and Charlie talking about?”

“He wants me to set him up with Patrick!” Her eyes widened.

“He’s gay?”

“I told you so!”

“That’s great! He and Pat are perfect for each other! Is Pat in your next period?”

“Yup, P.E.”

“Tell him!”

I promised I would and rushed to the locker room.

We had to play badminton in P.E. so I made sure Patrick was my partner. When I told him about Charlie, he was shocked.

“He’s gay too?”

“Mhm!”

“Do you think you could…I don’t know…Set us up?” Pat blushed.

“Of course!” He beamed at me as he hit the birdie to me with his racket. It smacked me in the forehead.

“Woops!”

Back in the locker rooms we all showered. I was one of the last ones out, and I walked back to my locker to find all my clothes missing. Luanne and her friends were missing too, and there was a note on my locker that said

Hey Tease,

Come find me!

-Your Clothes

Underneath the writing was an arrow, and I looked where it was pointing to find another arrow, and another.

“You have got to be kidding me”! I groaned. Real funny, Luanne. She had even taken my P.E. uniform. What was I supposed to wear to go out and find my clothes? Obviously Luanne wanted me to be embarrassed and give up instead of finding my clothes, but I wasn’t going to let her get the satisfaction. I wrapped my towel around my body and followed the arrows she had left for me, leading me out of the locker room.

There was another post-it-note-arrow on the wall, and I continued following them, ignoring the stares from everyone around me. I really think I hate her!

The arrows were leading me towards the 600s building, where my 2nd, 3rd and 4th periods were. Perfect, after I was done giving her a piece of my mind and changing I could just walk into class and not be late.

I followed the notes into the hallway of the 600s building and found Luanne and her friends standing in a circle and laughing.

“So, can I have my clothes back?” I called to them. They all stopped talking and turned to stare at me. Luanne walked forward.

“You actually came.” She looked me up and down and giggled at my towel.

“Obviously…. My clothes? Any day now?” I held out my hand.

“You mean these clothes?” She held my uniform up. “I don’t think I want to give you your clothes back though. I think I’ll keep them.” I would have slapped her if I wasn’t using both hands to hold the towel up, so I contented myself to glaring at her. She was about to say something, when she shut her mouth quickly and her eyes widened, staring at something behind me. She looked terrified. I whipped around to see what had scared her, to find Lewis standing right behind me, his eyes cold and hard.

“Miss Mathews, please return the clothes to Miss Rogers immediately.” She thrust the clothes at me, her eyes still on Lewis. “Now apologize.”

“Sorry.” She muttered.

“You will get detention for the week. Report to Miss Pedersdatter after school.” She nodded. Inside I was cheering. “You can go now.” She trudged off and her minions followed her. I turned to leave but he called me back.

“Ana!” I looked at him. His expression had softened. “You can change in my classroom.” I followed him in, confused. Was he still angry at me? “You can change in the supply room, if you like.” He motioned to a door in the corner of his class. I didn’t say a word, but went in there and changed. I debated hiding out in there to avoid an awkward conversation with Lewis, but decided that would be immature of me.

He was sitting with his feet on his desk when I came out, and looked a little embarrassed. He stood up quickly.

“You ok?”

“Yeah, thanks.” I started chewing on my lip, but made myself stop. That was a bad habit of mine. “I should, um, probably get to class…” I looked down at my feet to hide my red face.

“You can skip it if you like. I’ll write a pass for you.”

“You’d do that?” I looked up at him.

“Sure, you can just stay in here. We need to talk.”