Page 177 of The Compass Series

HAILEE

I hated lunchtime. If I had it my way, school would’ve skipped past lunch period and allowed us to get out of prison an hour earlier. Instead, I was left in a cafeteria packed with people I knew but didn’t really know, surrounded by individuals who all seemed to have friends to sit with, unlike me.

Ever since I gained weight, I felt even more self-aware when it came time to eat in front of other people. It was almost as if I’d become obsessed with eating things I didn’t want to eat because I didn’t want others to comment on my choices.

“We should’ve gotten here sooner. It looks like this chick’s gonna take all the food,” someone behind me joked.

I didn’t look back at them. I didn’t know who it was, and I wasn’t even sure they were talking about me, but I felt as if they were.

They had to be talking about me. My thighs rubbed together when I walked.

A tire of pudginess that unfolded from the top of my jeans whenever I sat down, which made at least one of my arms always rest against said bulge whenever I sat.

Even oversized T-shirts didn’t hide the beast.

My hands were clammy around the dull, brown plastic tray that shook in my grip from the unwanted attention.

“Will you just shut up, Robby? I told you, I’m PMSing,” a girl’s voice replied. I glanced back to see Hilary was the one who the guys were joking about taking all the food.

Well, hell. If her guy friends were bullying her about her diet when she was slim, then I was a hopeless case. All I had to do was try my best not to draw attention to myself.

Sit down. Eat quietly. And don’t make a ? —

“Hailee Jones! Behold!” someone hollered.

My heart shot up to my throat.

I turned to see Aiden standing a few feet away from me, holding a piece of paper up in the air.

“I took my grievances to the top tier of authority, and I am officially in lunch A. Victory is ours!” he shouted before he began to hip thrust the air, dancing poorly, reminding me that even though Aiden was famous as heck by society standards, he was still, in fact, my Aiden.

My bad dancing, over-the-top Aiden.

My favorite dancing taco.

I couldn’t wait to have lunch with him for one hundred and eighty more days.

“I can’t believe you had them change your whole schedule so we’d eat dog food together,” I joked as Aiden walked over to join me at our table after getting his food. It was insane how my comfort level shifted the moment I spotted him.

“I refuse to spend my senior year not interacting with my best friend throughout the day. You’re the whole reason I wanted to have a senior year. We also have last period study hall together now, too.”

I smiled. “We’re not allowed to talk in study halls.”

“As if we aren’t close enough to be able to talk without using words. Like right now.” He sat straight and narrowed his eyes at me. “What am I thinking?”

“Nothing.”

He tossed his hands up in the air. “See?! You know me.”

I snickered, shaking my head. The more he sat with me, the more relaxed I became. All the nerves that I felt before when Aiden wasn’t with me had evaporated and turned into joy. Only Aiden had the ability to take my nerves and flip them sideways.

“So should we check the high school bucket list? See what else we have left?” he asked, shoving his chicken patty into his mouth.

I shifted in my seat and nodded. “Yes.” I reached into my backpack and pulled out my notebook. I flipped to the first page, where the list existed.

Tom & Jerry’s Ultimate High School Bucket List

We’d created the list of goals for our high school experience, and we’ve made a pretty good dent in them.

·Get on the honor roll for at least two years

·Enter the school talent show and lose

·Dress up for a full spirit week no matter how corny it is

·Both get into a relationship

·Have a Ferris Bueller Day of skipping school

·Have your first kiss

·Dress up for Halloween

·Go to a high school party

·Lose our V card

·Aiden introduces Hailee to Timothée Chalamet

The last one was a new edition, but a worthy one.

So far, we’d nailed the nerdy honor roll goal for the past three years.

During our sophomore year, when no one really knew who we were, we performed during the talent show and sang “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler—and lost. Check, check.

We’d dressed up for spirit week, even during the week when we weren’t together, and we FaceTimed our outfits to one another. Check, check, check.

He arched an eyebrow. “So we are both still lip virgins?”

“You kissed that Samuela Lee in that show.”

“That was acting. It doesn’t count.”

“It definitely counts.”

“No, I’m talking about a real first kiss. The kind you remember forever. I don’t even remember the Samuela kiss.”

“Go watch the show on any streaming service. I’m sure you’ll recall it.”

“Jerry,” he groaned.

“Tom,” I replied.

“I switched my schedule to eat lunch with you. You can at least give me this.”

With a dramatic sigh, I agreed. “Fine. Neither of us has had a first kiss. I’m sure it won’t be much of a challenge for you to get a girlfriend this year,” I grumbled as girls kept walking past and whispering about Aiden.

It didn’t shock me that he was so unaware of the attention these girls were giving him.

Aiden had never had much attention from the opposite sex up until now, so he probably assumed they were talking about someone else.

My sweet, na?ve, idiot of a best friend.

Soon enough, girls would be lining up to kiss him.

“We also have to pick out our Halloween costume,” I said. “Last year was sad because we couldn’t do themed costumes together. And since this is our last year, we must go all out. I was thinking a badass duo or?—”

“Hey there, Hailee. I haven’t seen you all day!” a voice said, cutting into the conversation. I looked up to see Carlton walking our way, and the happiness on Aiden’s face evaporated and shifted to confusion as Carlton walked up to our lunch table.

Carlton wore his thick-framed lime-green glasses, vibrant orange Adidas jumpsuit, and red Converse. He was also rocking a cheap gold chain that he probably got from a Run DMC costume. For lack of a better word, he was weird. Not that weird was a bad thing. I was weird, too, in my own ways.

He was the oddball who did extremely embarrassing things in front of people just for attention.

He had a strange desire to be liked by the popular kids, but he was so out there that any popular person was simply using him to get a laugh.

They didn’t respect him at all. He dressed ridiculously every day and would tell terrible jokes as if he was a sixty-year-old dad.

People would laugh, but he never realized they were laughing at him, not with him.

Surprisingly, when Aiden was away, Carlton made me laugh at his stupid jokes. If it wasn’t for him and his weirdness, last year would’ve been that much lonelier for me. Unlike others, I laughed with Carlton, not at him.

I sat straight. “Carlton. Hey. I thought you had a different lunch period?” I said, feeling the tension in the space, or maybe it was just my anxiety-ridden mind. Wait, no. Aiden was shooting daggers toward Carlton.

“I did, but I wanted to switch lunch periods to be able to eat with you.” He looked toward Aiden. “Even though it seems you already have a lunch buddy.”

“Oh no. There’s room for all of us,” I said, patting the spot to my left. “Right, Aiden?”

Aiden didn’t say a word. His brows were arched in a perplexed way.

I kicked him under the table, and he snapped out of it, clearing his throat. “Yeah, totally. Sit,” he muttered, still a bit baffled.

Carlton didn’t even pick up on Aiden’s confusion. He sat and began talking nonstop about whatever came to mind. After his random ramblings that didn’t really connect, he looked over at the notebook.

“What’s that?” he asked.

Aiden shut our bucket list and shoved it into his backpack. “Nothing.”

“We were trying to decide on our Halloween costumes for this year,” I said to Carlton.

“Oh! Sweet! We should totally do a triplet costume or something.”

Aiden shook his head. “It’s a Hailee and me thing.”

“It was a Hailee and me thing last year. I was Superman, and she was Wonder Woman.”

Aiden shot me a stunned look before he leaned over to whisper to me. “You dressed up with him last year? Why didn’t you tell me you dressed up with him last year? Since when are you and Carlton friendly-friendly?”

“It just so happened we showed up that way. We didn’t plan it. And we’re friendly-friendly since last year when my best friend left me alone with the wolves,” I whispered back. “Play nice.”

“Your wish is my command,” Aiden stated, still baffled but going along with it.

Before the conversation could expand, Cara, the homecoming queen for three years running, came bouncing over to our table.

She’d been Aiden’s ultimate crush for the past seven years.

She slid onto the bench right beside Aiden and flipped her hair over her shoulders.

Then she batted her long eyelashes at my best friend.

“Hi, Aiden,” she sang as if her interaction with him was the most normal thing in the world.

It should be noted that Cara, Aiden, and I have been in the same classes since kindergarten, and Cara Simmons had never made it a point to converse with either of us.

She was always too good to talk to people outside her friend group—at least that was how it read to me.

Aiden must’ve felt the same oddity from the situation because his eyebrow cocked up high, and his voice stayed low. “Uh, hi?” he said in a questioning tone. “What’s up?”

“Nothing. It’s so good to be back in school, isn’t it? Speaking of school, we missed you last year,” she said.

I’m sorry, we?

We?!

We missed who?

Who is this we you’re speaking of?!

The nerve.

“Uh, yeah. Thanks?” he said, confused.