Twenty Dollars-Worth of Love

Chapter 12

Twenty Dollars-Worth of Love

Chapter 12

I tiptoed carefully as I walked down the busy hallway. It’s highly unlikely to get caught because the hall was swamped with senior students, but I’m not taking any chances.

The weather was cloudy outside, and not long later I’m sure the rain would pour down. Stopping by my locker I shot my surroundings a sideways glance as I wrench open the locker. I had been really careful since this morning’s first period, and one wrong move could blow up my whole disguise. I had pulled my hair into a bun and lifted my dark gray hoodie to partially cover my face.

“Sky!” I heard a voice said, but I didn’t budge. I was more than determined not to get caught by Alex; after all it serves him right for ditching me yesterday. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder, but when I saw that the owner of the hand was wearing a ring with tiny crystals on top, I turned around. Alex wouldn’t wear that, right?

“Why are you wearing that?” Dane said as her eyes narrowed into slits. Well, if you’re wearing an over-sized hoodie and old faded jeans, maybe it’s only reasonable for people to question your outfit.

“Shhh! I’m trying to hide!” I said as I put a finger on my lips, motioning her to shut up.

“Come and I’ll tell you,” I said as I grabbed her hand.

***

“He ditched you?” Dane whispered furiously as she took a bite of her peanut butter sandwich. We were at the one place I’m pretty sure that Alex wouldn’t look— the library.

“Yeah, if it wasn’t for his cousin I’d be waiting there for ages,” I said as I scribbled some notes on my notepad.

“And to think he ditched you for that bitchy cheerleader,” she said rolling her eyes.

“Bitchy and hot cheerleader. Yeah, he’d ditch me,” I said sarcastically as the pencil I was holding created a hole on the paper. Dane made a frown on her face that says ‘you-know-you’re-better-than-her’. Either that or ‘sure-as-hell-he’d-ditch-you’. Gee, I love you, too bff.

“And you’ll never guess what happened next,” I said as Dane raised both her eyebrows in anticipation of what I’m going to tell.

“Selma knew that I brought Alex home last week,” I said as I continued stabbing the paper.

“No frigging way!” Dane said and then asked “What’d you tell her?”

“I said I’m helping out a friend,” I answered.

“Liar,” Dane teased rolling her chocolate brown eyes at me.

“What? It’s the complete and one hundred percent truth,” I said. I’m trying to be honest here, okay?

“Yeah, yeah whatever you say,” Dane said as she stood up. I haven’t realized the time until now, it was almost five in the afternoon and I can now go home and celebrate an Alex-free day.

***

“Damn it!” I said as I pounded my fists on the steering wheel. Only a few cars were left in the school’s parking lot and as I expected, the heavy rain started to pour down several minutes earlier. The storm was getting heavier by the minute, and I frantically looked at the red ‘E’ sign on my fuel gauge. Way to go, Sky. I really do have the perfect timing for my car to run out of gas and get stuck in the middle of a storm.

I reached in my pocket for my phone and I was horrified when I saw zero bars on the signal. How the heck can I contact anyone if there’s no signal? Feeling frustrated as ever I went out of the car, slammed the door shut and kicked the stupid tire.