Blue

Chapter 8

Thursday night I was sitting in the kitchen with Carter and Hazel playing Monopoly. We had to play five rounds before Carter agreed to stop flipping the board over.

"Fucking Dingleberry," Hazel scoffed after rolling the dice.

While the two were arguing about paying the right amount of rent, the doorbell rung. I scooted my chair back and left them at the table while I went to answer it. Opening the door, I saw a thin rectangular box on the doormat with my name on the lid. I looked back into the kitchen. They're not going to stop bickering for a while.

I crept up to my room and shut the door behind me. I got in bed and crossed my legs, hovering over the box. I flipped the package over and shook it back and forth. Not a mailing address nor a sound. I untied the ribbon and lifted the lid up. Inside was a single blue rose. I took it out and examined it. There wasn't a card or a name, just a tag around the stem that read '1 out of 6'. I scratched my head, putting it back in the box. I'll deal with it later.

-

In science we are working on some questions in the textbook having to do with the periodic table. I think Mr. Ingram just ran out of things for us to do and is making us work on pointless things like this. Prince is back today, sitting in his usual seat next to Jack.

"How are you doing?" I asked him, leaning over America.

"I had to go to the hospital to get my stomach pumped. The nurse gave me a lollipop though. It kind of tasted like Kool-Aid so it was totally worth it."

America face palmed.

-

After school I rode with Nate to the nearest Target. Apparently they're running short on goods for the bake sale that's in a few hours so we volunteered to go pick up some sweets. A plus in sitting in the passenger seat is getting to control the radio.

"So, are you thinking about getting a license?" Nate asked me.

I shrugged. "Eventually. I don't think I'm ready now, though. I can barely control my vehicle in Mario Kart."

"I promise it's easier driving in real life," he chortled.

He pulled into the parking lot. Considering it was the early afternoon, the parking lot was nearly empty. I reached inside my backpack to grab my wallet, but Nate assured me he'd pay for everything. We picked a red cart out and Nate was quick to jump in, his long legs barely having any room inside the small thing.

"Nate, you're going to break it," I laughed as I wheeled the cart into the store. He turned around, his dimples deep from how excited he was. I've never noticed how attractive he was.

"It's fine! If it can carry a load of groceries, it can carry me!"

"If the cart isn't going to break, you're going to break yourself," I said, grunting slightly while I tried to steer the cart into another aisle. I've never been here before and I have no idea where the baking goods are, let alone where anything is. I leaned forward so that my forearms were resting on the handlebar, my fingertips lightly brushing against the nape of his neck as I walked.

Nate's blue eyes flickered back and forth, his arm stretching out to the right. "It's that way."

I struggled to steer again, almost tipping the damn thing over. I found a shelf that was filled with a cupcake and cookie combo tray and headed over to that. Nate reached up from inside the cart and grabbed two trays, letting it rest on his knees.

"Before we leave can we get something for my girlfriend?" He asked.

"You have a girlfriend?" I didn't mean to sound that shocked.