The Truce

Chapter 19

Any time I saw Scott over the next few weeks, he looked very unhappy. Granted, I wasn't around him very much, but I could tell he'd gotten in a good deal of trouble. I wished I could somehow find out specifics, but even if I had the desire to speak to him, he'd never tell me himself. I knew none of the teachers would either. Still, it was satisfying to see that something had, in fact, happened to him. I wanted to laugh when I caught one of his glares directed at me or Sebastian.

After a little while, I was able to forget all about Scott's temper tantrum and focus on my relationship with Sebastian. I still wanted to kick myself a little bit for all the wasted time, but I was choosing to do as he suggested and focus on not wasting any more.

This morning, I couldn't wait to see him. His birthday present finally arrived in the mail late yesterday. So after showering and getting ready at warp speed, I raced over to his house and rang the bell. I was practically bouncing as I hugged the present to my stomach and waited for the door to be opened.

"Good morning, Michaela," his mom said, letting me in.

"Hi, Mrs. McBride." I stepped inside. "Sorry, I'm a little early." I usually met Sebastian at his car in the mornings.

"It's fine." She waved me off and then turned toward the stairs. "Sebastian! Michaela's here!" She focused on me again. "You don't even need to ring the bell. The key is still in the turtle."

"Sebastian and I named him Yertle." I smiled thinking about the decorative ceramic turtle that had been on their front porch for as long as I could remember.

She laughed. "Of course."

Sebastian came downstairs a moment later. "Hey," he said, looking pleased.

"Morning." I settled for smiling rather than giving him a proper greeting with his mom standing there. "I have something for you," I explained, indicating his present.

He looked intrigued but his mom spoke first. "That's so sweet," she said. "I have to be getting to work, but you kids have fun. Just don't be late." She gave Sebastian a warning look that I suspected had very little to do with tardiness and everything to do with leaving us alone in the house. My face felt a little hot as I awkwardly looked away.

"We won't." Sebastian gave her a kiss on the cheek before ushering me to the couch in the living room.

"That was embarrassing," I said quietly after I heard the front door close.

He laughed. "Like your mom is any better."

Unable to help it, I grinned. Thrilled as our parents were that Sebastian and I had reconciled, they weren't so thrilled that we were long passed the stage where we thought kissing was gross. Any time I had Sebastian over with my mom there, she was constantly finding some excuse to come check on us.

"Here," I said, handing him his present. His mom wasn't wrong about us not having a lot of time before school. "Happy belated birthday."

Smiling, he looked down at the gift in his hands. "You didn't have to get me anything."

"I know, but I wanted to. It would have been sooner, but I had to wait for it to get here."

Sebastian ripped open the paper and unfolded the black t-shirt. "Where did you find this?" He sounded a little awed. On the front of the shirt was a collage of some of our favorite old movies. Along with the Neverending Story, it had something from Goonies, The Sandlot, Back to the Future, E.T., Short Circuit, and just about everything else I could cram in there.

"There's a guy online who makes basically whatever you want. I just had to send a bunch of pictures, and he put it all together."

"This is amazing." He smiled down on the shirt for another minute before leaning over to kiss me. "Wait here." He popped up and left the room. He was only gone for a minute and when he came back, he'd traded his navy-blue shirt for the new one.