Through the Break in Her Hair

Chapter 25

"What the heck, man?!" I surged across the library, hoping to scare Van straight out of his pants. No chance of that happening though, guy was tough as rocks.

He looked lazily up at me, a textbook lying open on the table. His grin was smug and teasing, which is to say, the same as always. "Oh, hello, John," he glanced up as if only noticing me just then, even though my presence was obvious to every other person in the library from the second I stepped through the doorway. "What's the matter?"

Pfft, like he cared. His empty shell of a heart wasn't capable to feel concern for anyone else's matters. "You sabotaged me!" I jabbed a finger so close to his face that I could feel the heat from his breath as it warmed my fingertip. Gross.

"I honestly have no clue what you're talking about." His eyes drifted back down to the pages of the grammar book, bringing our conversation to a close.

I reeled back a chair and dropped into it, pushing my body over the table towards him. "You know exactly what I mean," I hissed, trying to subdue my anger enough for people to stop staring. And let me tell you, that was a challenge. I was piping hot, a tea kettle about to scream.

Van sighed. He slumped back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "I assure you that I do not, but I have a feeling that you're going to tell me anyway."

I dug my fingernails into the cheap laminate table top, willing myself not to claw it to shreds. Because Lord knows that the cheap, faux wood stuff they used to make these tables certainly wouldn't stand up to a pencil scratch, let alone my fit of rage.

"I was this close," I squeezed my thumb and index finger together until they were only an inch apart. "to kissing her. We would have been officially dating by now if it weren't for you!"

Van's head snapped up, eyes piercing me through with a single gaze. "On the contrary, John. I just saved possibly your entire relationship with that girl."

I narrowed my eyes at him—he was bluffing. I just knew it, even if I couldn't decipher every thought sneaking around inside his crazed brain.

"Oh, you don't believe me?" He asked, brows pricking with astonishment. "Let me tell you something. If you had kissed Lindsey Sumners today, you would have totally and completely ruined your chance with her."

"There's no way that you can know that."

His head clicked to the side like the minute hand on a clock just reaching three. "Try me."

We glared at one another. I felt like Billy the Kid when he faced-off against the town sheriff, minus the tumbleweeds and handguns—those weren't allowed on school property, well, the guns anyway. Tumbleweeds were kind of up in the air. I'm not sure anyone in the state (including myself) had ever seen a tumbleweed in person, or carried one in their back pocket. No, I was one hundred percent sure that no one in the entire state of Michigan carried around a tumbleweed. That would be uncomfortable.

Van got bored just staring into my eyes, and reabsorbed himself into the textbook. It was a little anti-climactic, in comparison with a true Wild West showdown, but hey, could you blame him? Our lack of tumbleweeds and twangy whistle music really just killed the mood of a showdown. Even I wasn't that into it after the first ten or so seconds.

"Are you going to tell me what you're talking about or just sit there and ignore me?" I said, a touch of sharpness slicing corners into all my words.

Van slammed the book shut with a crack that made everyone in a five mile radius jump. Even the school's librarian gave a little start, her two inch heels clicking as they landed back down on planet earth. She clutched the pearls that were visibly strangling her neckline, and spun so quickly in our direction that I thought she might topple over.