Branded

Chapter 7

He comes in the diner every night with his girlfriend. He tells me her name, but I never remember it. I don't care. I'm jealous of her, but I won't let him know that. I hide the bitter feeling inside of me and smile whenever around him and her. His kiss haunts my lips whenever I'm near him. But I keep my cool. I can't let him know how I feel.

Finals are over and the last two weeks of school are basically just blow off days. Until we get our final results back, we won't know if we've graduated. Lee spends all her extra time dancing. The recital is three days after graduation, so the time she used for homework before is now used to dance. She's going to wear herself out.

One day, two large packets come in the mail. They sit on the table in front of Lee and I. We stare at them frightened to know their contents.

"Do you want to open mine and I'll open yours?" she suggests. I nod. I could look at hers, but never my own.

We handle the packages as if they were bombs that would explode if moved too suddenly. We slowly rip the seals off and pull out the sheets of paper. Lee passes all of her tests with flying colors. Not a surprise. She's basically a genius and always freaks out for nothing. I keep a serious face on as if something went wrong. I glance up at Lee who is smiling like a maniac.

"You passed! You passed all of them!" she says jumping up all excited. Lee does a happy dance that is so adorable I can't keep a straight face any longer.

"So did you. You did an outstanding job." I say handing her the tests.

"We should celebrate! C'mon, I found this bar not too far away. We can take a cab and be there in fifteen minutes. It'll be fun!" Lee says. She runs to her room to find an outfit for herself. Even if I didn't want to go, she'd make me go now. Once her outfit is in the process of being made, there's no stopping her.

She comes out wearing her robe. Her hair is wet. I didn't know she could power shower like that. I didn't even hear her turn the shower on. She drags me into my room and raids my closet. She throws out a pain of skinny jeans with ripped knees, my Fall Out Boy T-shirt, and combat boots. Lee also does my hair in a low bun that's slightly messy. She limits my makeup to gold eye shadow, black eyeliner, and a pinkish shade of red lipstick.

Lee quickly runs into her room and gets herself ready. Her hair is down and her makeup is a flesh-toned lipstick, white nails, and mascara. Her shirt is black with a back made of netting; a mid-thigh, white skirt; and black, wedge-heeled boots. She wears a bit of classy jewelry to complete her outfit before slipping her nice coat on.

"Oh, what's this?" she says as she runs into my closet and pulls out his leather jacket.

I acquired it by mistake. It wasn't raining when I walked to work, but when my shift ended at midnight, it was pouring rain. I stood under the roof behind the diner as I waited for the rain to let up. I'd been standing there nearly an hour and the rain was coming down just as hard as it had been. I saw a figure walking out of the shadows towards me. I considered running back into the diner, but I'd heard the owner lock the door nearly an hour ago.

Soon, light reached the strangers face and I relaxed as I recognized him as Michael. He didn't say anything to me. He just took off his leather jacket and put it around me. He held up the collar as I slipped my arms through the sleeves. He rested his hand on my cheek for a moment, allowed himself to smile, and then walked back into the night.

I've worn the jacket everyday since.

I try to tell her its nothing, but she knows it was Michael's. She insists that I wear it. I humor her by putting in on and she drags me out. She gets a cab and we ride in silence. I know she's kind of excited because she can't sit still. Either we're going to stripping club, or its just a really cool palace.