Page 5

Me: Who?
Skyler calls me on FaceTime, and I can’t believe how dramatic he is. My bun looks like a rat’s nest on my head, but I shrug it off and answer the call.
“Thank God you picked up. Calla, he’s making me go crazy!” Skyler screams. At first, I jump, but then I turn down the volume on my phone so that Skyler doesn’t wake up Maisie. “Who is driving you crazy?” I asked him. He had glasses on that I didn’t know he wore, and his hair was curly and messy. He let out a loud sigh and fell down on his bed, which made him bounce up and down as the mattress held him up.
“Jaxon! He keeps asking me about you. He says, “Dude, can I have her number?” and I say, “Sure, here you go.” Then he says, “No, bro!” I don’t want to look like a creepy stalker, so I won’t give you her number. But I want to talk to her. What should I do?”
Skyler’s complaint shocks me. Jaxon is thinking about me? And wants to talk to me? I can’t help but smile, which Skyler notices. “Aww! Check out your little smile!”
I cover my face with one of my hands so Skyler can’t see the blush that is forming just thinking about Jaxon. Skyler says in a fake, high-pitched voice, “Don’t hide from me, Calla,” making fun of what Jaxon said to me in the coffee shop. This makes me mumble, “Oh my gosh,” and close my eyes, hoping that Skyler will stop teasing me. He really knows how to humiliate me. I can’t believe he brought that up!
When I hear Ezra’s voice on FaceTime, it sounds like my prayers were answered. “Skyler, stop teasing her.”
“What are you going to do about it? Skyler makes fun of Ezra, and I see Ezra whisper something in Skyler’s ear. Skyler’s eyes pop out of his head as he listens to Ezra, and I really don’t want to know what he says. Skyler seems to be the one who is flustered now because he quickly says he has to go and will send me Jaxon’s number.
Twenty seconds later, Skyler sends me Jaxon’s number, and I’m looking at the contact that I’ve added to my phone as “Broody.” Should I call him? No, that’s too forward, and what would I say? Skyler thinks Jaxon wants to talk to me, but he could just be lying to make me feel better. It would be like Skyler to trick me into thinking Jaxon is interested in me.
But what if he really means it?
Okay, I’m going to text him. It’s nothing special, just a simple “hey.” I type a text to Jaxon, delete it, and then type it again. This goes on for a full minute until I realize I need to do this for myself. I need to act like a normal teenage girl and text the boy already!
Hey Jaxon, it’s Calla. Skyler gave me your number.
I did it! Oh my gosh, I did it. What if he thinks I’m-
I stop any bad thoughts that come to mind because I see the three dots that show he’s texting back. My heart races, and my palms get sweaty as I wait. I don’t take my eyes off the screen, and when his text comes in, I smile right away.
Broody: Hi, sweetheart. How was the rest of your day?
Me: It was pretty good! I just spent time with Maisie. How about you?
Broody: I just went home after that. It wasn’t as exciting as that 6-year-old!
Me: Yes. She’s a lot of work, haha.
After I send that text, I wait for Jaxon to text me back. I’m disappointed when he doesn’t respond after five minutes. When did this become me? The girl who gets upset when a guy doesn’t text her back right away? I’m not going to sit around and wait for his response, so I take a quick shower, keeping the bathroom door slightly ajar so I can hear Maisie if she needs me. Then I brush my teeth, comb my hair, and pull out The Great Gatsby—my classic of the day. I’ve read this book at least four times and can probably quote some parts of it already.
I read for 20 minutes, then checked my phone to see what time it was. I was shocked to see that I had three texts from Jaxon from 30 minutes ago.
Broody: Sorry, I had to do something.
Broody: I wasn’t ignoring you.
Broody: What are you doing now?
I quickly unlock my phone and open my messages. My eyes are a little blurry because I’m tired from the day, but I can’t go to sleep knowing I could be texting him.
Me: I’m just reading The Great Gatsby again, haha.
He answered right away.
Broody: I’ve never read it. Is it really that good that you’re reading it again?
Me: Are you kidding me? YES! It looks like a love story on the outside, but underneath it all, there is passion, longing, and love. It’s amazing!
Sorry for the rant…
Broody: Haha, don’t be sorry. It’s cute.
I’m so glad he’s not here right now to see me blush. I can’t stop smiling. I’ve never been this attracted to a guy before. I’ve seen attractive guys before, but none like Jaxon and none that have looked at me twice. Also, Jaxon is so sweet and flirty with me. Just thinking about him gives me butterflies, and I only met him today!
I yawn and cover my mouth with my hand as I think this. I check my phone and see that it’s 12:45 a.m. How did it get so late? Jaxon sends me a text as if he knows what I’m thinking.
Broody: You probably have class tomorrow, so I’ll let you go. Can we talk tomorrow?
Me: That would be great.
Broody: Good night, Angel.
Me: Good night 🙂
I turn off my phone and put it on charge. Then I walk over to my window and close the curtains. Before I do, I look outside and see the bushes moving in the wind on the other side of the street from my house. For a split second, I think I see an animal, but then it’s gone and all I can see is plants.
I close my curtains and set my alarm for the morning. My mom has to work overnight, so I have to get up early to take Maisie to school. I pull the covers over me and pull them as tight as I can until I’m wrapped up like a burrito. I’m always cold. I go to sleep with a smile on my face.
All I can hear are my heart beating and my heavy breathing as I run. I run as fast as I can because my life depends on it. Well, my academic life. I overslept, and this is my first ethics class, so being late is even worse.
I finally get to the lecture hall two minutes late. When I open the door, everyone turns to look at me like I’m that person who can’t get to class on time. The professor even gives me a look before going back to talking. At least he didn’t say anything. I think I would have exploded if he had.
I chose to sit in the back of the room, and the only seat available was next to a guy with platinum blonde hair. He didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the teacher; instead, he was reading a small, old book on his lap. On the other side of me, a girl with black hair was chewing gum and drawing what looked like a rose.
I sit down and cringe a little at how squeaky the chair is. Then I take out a new notebook and one of the twenty pens in my bag. I smile as I think of Skyler.
I wanted to know what the teacher was talking about before I got there, so I asked the guy instead of the girl. She seems very interested in her drawing.
“Excuse me?” I whisper to the guy, and he grumbles, “What?” without looking up.”
“Sorry to bother you, I just wanted to know what the professor was talking about before I walked in,” I whisper again. He sighs, puts a bookmark in his book, and then turns to face me. His eyebrows go up as if he wasn’t expecting me to be talking to him. “Um… He says in a low voice, with a slight smile at how ironic my situation is, “He was just talking about how attendance is required and how he hates being late.”
I realized I was late while he was talking about how much he hates it when students are late. “Crap,” I mumble more to myself than to him, but he laughs anyway. “It’s okay, it’s the first day.” He says, “He won’t remember that it’s you,” which makes me feel a little better. I smile at him and then go back to listening to the professor. The professor is talking about when assignments are due when the guy next to me gently nudges me with his elbow. “I’m Felix,” he says.
“Calla,” I say, and he smiles. “Nice to meet you, Calla.”
About twenty minutes into class, the teacher gave us an assignment. “I only see you guys once a week, so a lot of your readings and assignments will be done online.” We’re going to start with a short writing task today. I know you haven’t learned anything yet, but I want to see how you feel about right and wrong. Please answer honestly; this isn’t graded. If you were walking alone in an empty parking lot and saw a wallet on the ground, what would you do? Would you take the wallet to the nearest building in the hopes of giving it back to its owner? Would you take the money out first and then give back the rest? Would you just leave it there and act like you never saw it? Write one or two paragraphs about what you would do. Later in the semester, we’ll look at the different responses and see which way of thinking you all go back to. “Go ahead and start.”
I start writing down my answer. It’s clear what I would do: I would do my best to give the wallet back to its owner. It’s their money and ID, not mine. I finish quickly and read it over. On my second reread, Felix takes the paper from my hands and starts reading it. “Hey! Give it back!” I complain, but he leans over with the paper so I can’t get to it. He starts to laugh softly as he gives it back. “There’s no way that’s what you would do.”
I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion. “What do you mean?” “I would, of course,” I say.
“Okay, but you wouldn’t even want to look at the money inside? You said that even if they had hundreds of dollars in their wallet, you still wouldn’t take anything.
“And I stand by that,” I said.
“But what if I told you that you wouldn’t get caught? No one would ever know that you were the one who took the money?” Felix asked.
“It doesn’t matter.” I would know that the money I’m using is stolen. That’s not right, and my conscience wouldn’t let me do it.
Felix says, “Well, you’re a good person then.” “I would take some of the money.” I’d still give it back, but who cares if the wallet has $400 instead of $600? No one would catch me. I’m still going to return the wallet, and I’d have $200 more!”