Baby's Breath

Chapter 16: kidnapped

Friday. The dreaded day had finally come and I found myself at school walking down the hallway with Audra. I lost sleep the night before, my dreams involved Josh avoiding me as I desperately sought him out, and, stupid as this sounded, but my teeth pulverized into a thousand slivers that I spit into the sink. I understood how I'd been stressing about Josh, but my teeth? I had to laugh. It didn't help that Audra had spent the past twenty-four hours babbling about our double date and my stomach spun into tight knots.

"Boy, do I have juice for you!" She lowered her cell for a split second and gave me a loaded wink. "Anyway, I'll see you at the table. Don't be late!"

"Okay." I waved her off and moved to my locker. What did that wink mean? Did Josh tell her something? If yes, then what? I had no intention of seeing him again and I had to come up with a good excuse, one that she would believe. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Hey, Jess!" Veronica, a girl I talked to once in a while, flagged me down in the hallway before I could meet Audra at our table. She came to a skidding halt, her face red and hair frizzled from the damp hairline. "Are you still going out with that guy?"

"Uh, what guy?" I laughed at her sudden question, my lips puckering with thought as I wondered who she might be talking about. I slammed my locker shut, glad to be free from books and bags.

"You know," she sang, fluttering her lashes. "The hottie with all that dark hair and dreamy eyes. The one you were all over at Josi's in her parent's room."

"You saw that?" I clamped my tongue between my teeth. I shouldn't have said that! I should've denied it, told her it wasn't me. Or looked at her as if she just got off a spacecraft. Oh, how impulsive of me! "You must be talking about when I was at the poolside, that's it." How stupid could I be to make out with Josh in the middle of a party thrown by tons of Audra's friends?

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I wasn't the only one, you know." She wiggled her eyebrows. "Anyway, are you still going out with him? 'Cause if you're not, Trevor wants me to set you up with him—he's been asking about you tons."

"Uh, no. I'm through with men." My mouth turned sour and I needed a toilet. Fast.

"Oh, sorry to hear. Okay, I'll let him know. See ya!" She moved away without looking at me.

She showed that it was no big deal; what did I have to worry about? But that wasn't what alarmed me. If Veronica knew, and as she just told me, then a whole lot more knew. A whole lot of people who might recognize him as Audra's brother and confront her as well. How much did they see, anyway? So much for keeping it a secret. A slight buzzing sound filled my head and my vision fuzzed. I staggered through the crowds and into the stall just in time. Well, almost.

I grimaced at the salmon color that splashed across the toilet seat along with what I had eaten this morning. There were at least five girls in the restroom, they'd know for sure!

It was grueling, waiting for all of them to leave. Their laughter and gossip about some boy in a janitor's closet with a girl. After they finally left, I ventured from my stall and washed my face. I was so lucky for lunchtime! Audra was going to be mad—I was ten minutes late!

"Sorry." I moved as fast as I could through the sporadic student body that spread across my wake. She hunched over her cell, two trays of food on the table. Did she know? Had Veronica told her? What were the chances since it seemed she didn't know Josh was Audra's brother?

"Sure. Sit. So, I asked Josh last night about doubling, and he sounded rather happy to go." She turned to me and gave me her full attention.

When the air finally hung awkwardly between us, I said, "I can't make it, I feel so sick." And that was the truth. Imagining being trapped with Audra and Josh at the same time had increased the gaseous twist in my gut. I watched the commons area echo from the loud chattering of a thousand students to calm my nerves.