The Unpredictability of You and Me

eighteen - classroom explainations

The next morning, Adrian and Carter both aren't home when I wake up. I knock on their doors, check the bathrooms, and look around the whole house.

"Where are the guys?" I ask, trudging into the kitchen.

Mom is sitting at the table, drinking coffee. "They both went to school early with Darrius. Carter is finishing that project, and Adrian said he had to go talk to his teachers about missing work."

I frown. I was hoping to talk to Adrian before school about the folder. And maybe the kiss too.

I manage to get ready in record time, not even bothering with makeup. My knotty hair is up in a ponytail, there's bags under my eyes, and my clothes are a mess, but I don't care.

"I'm leaving," I tell Mom, grabbing my bag from the counter.

She does a double take when she sees me. "Like that? Did you even shower?"

I give her a look. "I'm running late."

"Did you take your meds?"

I grab an apple off the counter. "Yes."

"If you see Adrian, tell him not to be late coming home today. The social worker is coming right after school."

"Will do," I call out, closing the door behind me.

✘✘✘

I try to get Adrian's attention during homeroom, but he doesn't look my way all period. At lunch, I catch up to him in the hallway by his locker.

"Hey," I call out.

He turns around, putting a book inside the locker. "Hey."

"Can we talk?"

"Right now?"

I nod. "Yeah. Unless you have plans for lunch?"

Adrian shakes his head, closes his locker, and follows me. I walk into an empty, dark classroom and close the door behind us. He leans against the teacher's desk, while I pace around on the floor in front of him.

"So," I start. "I read the folder. It was. . . intense." He bites his lip, not saying anything, so I continue. "Thank you for letting me read it."

He looks a little relieved. "Thank you for reading it."

I smile at his expression, then I remember what we're talking about, and the smile quickly falters. "What's all the charges on your name?"

Adrian ducks his head a little. "Those are pretty misleading. I didn't burn down a school, if that's what you thought. I was with this girl at school after hours because they never lock it, and we were smoking weed on the roof. I guess one of us dropped a blunt somewhere and the roof caught on fire. It wasn't big, or anything, though."

I raise my eyebrows. I know I should be more relieved he didn't actually commit arson, but only thing I'm thinking about is a girl. "Wow. What about the weapon?"

"Dylan was in some trouble with some guys, so I took his gun and hid around the corner when he was meeting up with them to make sure he didn't get in trouble. The cops caught us with it."

I frown. "You've been to juvie a lot."

He frowns. "It's not like I had bail money. I've spent some time there."