Homeroom 23

Chapter Nine: Get Her Name Out of Your Mouth

The rest of the interviews went by relatively fast, and by 'relatively fast' I mean even faster than mine. They did stand by their promise of interviewing everybody, but we could all tell by the end they were getting pretty sick of hearing the same recycled story every time.

Things weren't going much better for me in the common area either. Despite the fact that no one talked to me, I could tell that they were all watching me trying to figure out what the hell my relationship with Daniel was. It was almost as if I was a riddle they could crack if they only studied me for long enough. I was getting sick of all of their stares, and even sicker of the fact that Daniel was very deliberately ignoring me. After only a few minutes of sitting next to sleeping Anthony and Noah, I decided enough was enough and moved to sit next to Daniel. I didn't even care if people whispered (which I knew they were.)

I intentionally sat next to him while it was Victoria's turn being interviewed so that she couldn't try to stop us from talking, but once I was sitting next to him I realized I didn't even know what to say. After a moment of awkward silence I was keenly aware of people listening in on, I finally spoke.

"So, what's with the ignoring me?" I asked, only half joking.

"I'm not ignoring you," he stated. "Besides, wouldn't you rather be hanging out with Anthony?" Suddenly I was struck by a weird thought, was he jealous of Anthony? The idea was so preposterous that I almost laughed, but I kept my face solemn.

"Wouldn't you rather be talking to Victoria?"

"You saw what happened between us. I think you know the answer to that."

"Speaking of what happened between you two, what did you say to her?" He was silent for a moment. I had finally had him at a loss for words.

". . .What's it to you?" He eventually got around to asking.

"Dude you managed to get Victoria to shut up, that's a skill I think most people would be more than eager to get in on." He smiled for a moment, but didn't respond. "You know I would prefer the answer within a few business days if that's convenient."

"Get her name out of your mouth." It came out as more of a breath than a sentence, so quiet I could barely tell he had spoken.

"What?" I felt my heart stop, instantly wondering if maybe he did care about Victoria.

"Get her name out of your mouth," he repeated, a little louder. "That's what I whispered to her." I broke our mutual synchronicity of staring straight ahead and turned to look at him, but he kept his eyes on the wall. Maybe I was just imagining the pink shade that was kissing his cheeks, or maybe Daniel Torres really was blushing because of me. In an effort to change the topic that was clearly awkward for him, I said,

"Clearly our pamphlets were very much appreciated."

"Appreciated, hated," he mumbled wearily.

"The only people they were hated by were the people who were exposed because of it. I mean, they had a better effect than I ever thought they would is all I'm saying."

"I just wish that sometimes things could have a positive effect without also...y'know...putting the cafeteria in a state of civil war."

"From the looks of it, you seemed more than willing to participate in said civil war."

"From the looks of it," he repeated.

"Are you saying you didn't want to take part in the spoon throwing?"

"I'm saying I do a good job at pretending to enjoy things that people expect me to enjoy. That's all I'm saying." We were both silent for a moment.

"You do make a mean utensil airplane," I was more than thrilled to see him laugh. His laugh was somehow even more beautiful than his smile. "You know, you don't have to take part in any of...this," I gestured to the room around us where all the cliques and groups were gossiping to each other. "You could always ignore them. Come sit with us at lunch or whatever."