Shae

Chapter 6

Toad caught up with me after school as I was walking to the lake. I'd avoided him at lunch and sat alone for the first time since I'd met him. He was breathing hard when he spoke.

"Do you not want to see me, Shae? I don't want to ruin anything between us...."

"Toad, it's not that I don't want to see you, it's more of where did the other you go... You're.. You're Todd now." He shivered at the name he was never called unless his mother was angry at him. "I just want my Toad back. Maybe we should try again later down the road." He looked crushed and I almost cried. He stopped walking and stared at me, his face suddenly heating up with rage.

"Kade! This is what this is about! That's why you kissed me in the first place isn't it! He was watching! You little monster, you screwed with my feelings and then ran over them with a truck! Don't talk to me anymore!" And he ran off across the school grounds toward his house, leaving me shocked and gaping at his retreating figure. I stumbled to the lake and sat on the big pile of boulders I had found Stacie and Kade behind those few months ago. I pulled out my phone and called Beau. It went to voicemail, so I shoved the phone back into my pocket. I pulled out my homework (yeah my biology teacher was not a nice man) and stared at it with my pencil in my mouth until I heard a high pitched giggling. I looked around me and saw Kade walking toward me with his petite cheerleader at his side. No, it was a different one.. I thought I saw him glance at me before he pushed her up against a willow tree and leaned in. I couldn't see behind the curtain of leaves so I scoffed and stared at my homework some more.

I decided that when the two of them emerged from the tree, I was going to be cruel. So when they did come out, a long while after they should've, I sat up straight and gasped. "KADIE! Babe! It's been like all summer!" I dropped my stuff and ran to him. I stopped right before I engulfed him in a hug, and I looked at his cheerleader reproachfully. Yep, definitely a different one. "Oh, you must be another one of Kadie's cousins. I got so confused last time this happened, scared poor Stacie pretty bad.. But this time I'm prepared!" I whipped out a big grin and hugged Kade, kicking my foot up behind me and planting a kiss on his cheek. "Now, babe. How was California!?"

Kade was white. He was so confused, like he wanted to either run or slap me. Of course he couldn't do either with his cheerleader watching. Then his cheerleader regained her senses and slapped him, scoffing and walking away. He opened his mouth and scowled in utter disbelief and rage. I smirked and turned to go back to my rock.

"You know, if you were jealous you could just tell me!" I heard him smile dangerously behind me. I turned around sharply and stalked back to him.

"I am not, and will never be jealous toward you." I jabbed my finger at him then straightened up, placing my hands on my hips and smirking. "But if you ever feel that way, feel free to give me a call, and I'll poke fun mercilessly." And I returned to my rock and gathered my things, being careful to look smug and nonchalant. He grunted and threw a rock at the ground. I swung my backpack onto my shoulders and strutted away.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Beau called me back after I got home and started doodling on my walls. I answered, hoping passionately that it was not Toad or Kade. I was so relieved when it was her, my voice was breathy and she asked what happened. I told her what had happened with Toad, but left out the bit about Kade and his cheerleader. She probably would've started crying if she heard that Kade was flirting with a bunch of perfect looking acrobatic Barbie dolls. Her voice was calming and apologetic as she consoled me on the loss of my friend. Again. We chatted on the phone for like an hour after that, then she was called to dinner. It was like ten o'clock where I was, about two hours ahead of her time, so I'd already eaten.

I went downstairs and flicked on the tv, angrily and unsatisfactorily pressing the remote button extra hard past battlestar galactica. I watched pitch perfect tonight. Walked around my room singing the a Capella mixes at the top of my lungs and dancing awkwardly for the rest of the night..

The next morning I woke up in my clothes pile on my floor. I dug through it and found my white camisole and tan cardigan, putting that on with some dark skinny jeans and the caramel gladiator sandals I'd thrown at Kade when he pushed me in the pool. I pulled my stuff together and got in my beat up old fashioned Camaro. It wouldn't start right away so I kicked it from the outside and it started right up after that. I could've just asked my parents for the orange dodge challenger I had been eyeing and they would've given it to me but I wanted to buy it myself, not that I was making any progress.

I drove up to my ginormous school for the second time in this, my senior year. The drive was short as I lived pretty close but walking would've taken up more time than I had after getting a late start. I rushed into den while simultaneously slinging my backpack on and tying my hair up into one of those messy buns I was convinced I could never pull off. Miss B looked at me and raised her eyebrows as I slid into an empty seat just as the bell rang. Crap, I'd forgotten to brush my teeth. After class, I urged to

The bathroom to run my extra toothbrush, the one I always carried in my backpack, over my teeth. No toothpaste, ugh forgot to restock that before school had started back up again. So I popped a piece of gum into my mouth and called it a day.

The next few classes were boring as heck so I fell asleep. People had probably asked me a few questions while I was asleep, but the only thing that could wake me up during class was the intercom or the bell. After school I missed walking home with Toad, and I didn't stop anywhere on the way back. I went straight to my pool house and grabbed the blue basketball my parents had bought me for the beginning of school. I shot a ton of baskets and headed inside for a chilled sprite. Cold never bothered me much, hence the gladiator sandals while everyone else was in knee high boots.

My mom came into the kitchen from the upstairs tv room where she spent a lot of her time sewing baby gifts and watching what not to wear. She asked me how my second day at school was and clipped her last word short as I looked at her with a blank expression and tiptoed upstairs like the ninja I knew I was. The next day I was sick.