When the Clock Struck Midnight

When the Clock Struck Midnight-14

Chapter 14

          Two weeks passed before anything interesting happened. First, Amber and Rodney finally decided they were together. During lunch, we’d noticed they were sitting next to each other and were sharing secret smiles. Two things were obviously different. The first thing was that they were sitting next to each other. Ever since Colorado, they’d avoided sitting anywhere near each other. The second was that they were sharing secret smiles. There are only so many reasons why someone would share a secret smile with another. It was Van that forced them to spill.

The second interesting thing happened not five minutes later.

“Hey, Holly,” Max said from behind me. “Hey, Jordan.” He nodded at him and Jordan did the same.

“It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?” he said looking down at me. I looked from side to side completely clueless.

“What are you talking about?”

“The dance, Holly. Don’t you remember?” Uh-oh.

“N-no. I never went to the dance,” I lied.

“Um, yeah you did. We even had a semi-decent conversation, before we were rudely interrupted,” he said and glared at Jordan. Wait a minute….

“Are you sure you’re not getting me confused with someone else?” I could feel everyone watching me. Jordan was scary quiet.

“I’m not an idiot…wait, never mind, but yeah I’m sure. I remember trying out that really lame pick-up line on you,” he insisted. This is not good. I couldn’t get him to shut up. “So, anyway, I’m having a party this Friday and I wanted to know if you could make it.”

“Um, I have homework.”

“On a Friday?” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

“Max, the reason Holly would use a really lame excuse like that is because she doesn’t want to go to your party,” Jordan said through clenched teeth.

“Fine, I guess I’ll see you around then,” Max said and walked away. I was too scared to turn around, but it was inevitable.

“You were at the dance?” Van accused more than asked. I hesitated, but nodded. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“You know,” I started, playing with my hands nervously. “It’s really not that big a deal.” Van was hurt, that much was obvious, and Amber and Royce kept their heads down, probably sensing this wasn’t going to end well. Rodney was watching Jordan. I turned to him and the look of hurt, anger, and so much more shocked me. It shouldn’t have, but it did. I should’ve known it’d hurt them. God, I’m so stupid.

“It is to me,” Van continued, but I was still looking at Jordan. He shook his head slightly, got up, and left. It hurt him more than I thought it would.

“Go talk to him,” Royce said. I did as I was told. I found him walking at the end of the hallway, his back stiff.

“Jordan,” I called, but he kept walking. I ran after him. “Jordan, wait.”

“Why?” He stopped suddenly and I almost slammed into him. He turned around. “Why should I? So you could lie to me some more? I knew all along that you were lying, you know.” I thought back to Colorado. Yeah, I knew. He looked down at me with such sadness and said, “I thought we were supposed to be best friends.” I hated how he phrased that in past tense.

“We are.”

“Best friends don’t lie or keep secrets.”

“I’m sorry,” I said desperately.