Duality

Chapter 8- Wicked

She pushed off of me and hastily wiped her eyes and nose. As she rounded the front of the car I rolled up the window and tried to compose myself. What just happened? Did I really just think what I thought I thought? I had a feeling I was entering dangerous territory and made up my mind to keep my mouth shut for the duration of the ride to school.

Blythe got in the car, pulling on her baseball cap, and I threw the 'stang into drive. I'd occasionally hear her sniffling and the shuffling of her wet sneakers on the plastic floor mats. The only constant sound was her hair dripping rainwater on her windbreaker.

Ten minutes later I parked the in the junior lot and we walked to the school in silence. At the main stairwell, Blythe had to take the steps down to her locker while I had to take them up to commons. She was just about to keep going when I grabbed her hand.

She eyes snapped up to look at me. I kept a straight face and returned her unwavering stare. Mr. Chambers casually walked by.

"Not hats in school, Miss Baker."

Blythe quickly grabbed the cap off her head but didn't take her eyes off mine. I squeezed her hand and walked up the stairs, leaving her standing stiffly on the landing, staring at the place I had just been.

During study hall, Blythe and I sat next to each other in an awkward silence. I was just about to erase my entire physics homework in frustration when the classroom door opened.

"Hi, Mr. Singer," a cool yet smoldering voice said. My head jerked up.

"Miss Fredericks. What can I do for you?"

"I need to see Sawyer Rothschild for a moment." Her brown eyes held no mercy. Her knuckles were white as she clutched the door handle.

"Whatever for?" Mr. Singer's nasally voice squawked.

"Um, I was... supposed to borrow a book for a class from him." Her smile was devious.

I could see Blythe looking from me to Delilah out of the corner of my eye, waiting for what I was going to do along with the rest of the class.

"Well, Sawyer?"

I looked at Mr. Singer. That's when it came to me. I dove into my backpack.

"Oh, I don't have to run to my locker with you or anything," I said. "I have what you need right here." I drew the book from the bag and chucked it across the room.

The entire class ducked and Mr. Singer got himself in a huff. Delilah shrieked and clumsily hid behind the door to avoid catching the paperback. After it landed, she slowly bent over to pick it up, staring at the cover. Blood slowly rushed to her face. Her hands shook with fury.

"This," she hissed. "is yours."

"Not anymore. Keep it. Forever. I don't need it anymore."

Her eyes smoldered like never before. She whipped around into the hall and slammed the door. Her scream got quieter as she stomped further down the hallway. The classroom snickered while Mr. Singer babbled on about inappropriate dress validating inappropriate behavior.

I turned to Blythe to see her smiling widely.

"Damn," she said. "That was Wicked."

"Bah-dum-tsch!" I provided.

"Thank you, thank you. I'm here till Thursday."

We smiled goofily at each other before she grabbed my physics homework and started correcting every problem.