The Stillburrow Crush (21 page)

"Well, who was it?" Marty demanded.

E.T. slid my brother a nervous look and then said to me,

"Sidney Eggrow."

"Sidney?" I blinked. Abby's own sister had started it? I didn't know what to say.

"Mr. Eggrow sent her home when he found out. She said she didn't mean for everyone to know. She only told one 195

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friend." E.T. shrugged. "But you know how that goes. She overheard Abby telling her parents that she thought she was pregnant. And no one knew Sidney heard it so they didn't know to tell her it wasn't true. But Mr. Eggrow called an assembly for the whole school in the auditorium and explained it was all a big misunderstanding. That Sidney heard something she wasn't supposed to hear and no one knew to tell her it wasn't true because they didn't know she knew."

E.T. shook his head. "It was really confusing. But then Luke stood up and asked right there in front of everyone if Mr. Eggrow was going to apologize to you for accusing you of defamation."

My hand flew to my mouth. "He didn't."

E.T. nodded and grinned. "He did. I called your house right after school. But your mom hadn't heard from you all day.

She sounded real worried too because the school had already called twice to say you were suspended and then to say you could come back. She was pretty confused when I talked to her. By the way, she's looking for you right now too."

I glanced at the clock on the wall. "Oh no. It's already four."

"You better get home," Marty said.

I was halfway down Marty and Austin's front steps before I realized E.T. had followed me out.

"Hey," he said.

"What?" I turned back, impatiently staring up at him on the top step.

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He opened his mouth and then shut it. Then he glanced down the street.

"Come on," I said. "You're making me even later."

He frowned down at me. "Are you going out with Luke Carter?"

It sounded odd to hear that spoken aloud by someone.

Going out with Luke Carter? It just wasn't normal. But what was normal anymore?

I shrugged, and squinted up at E.T. "I don't know," I said.

"How can you not know?"

I tried to think up some way to explain it, but there really was no explanation unless I replayed the last few weeks and told him everything that had happened between Luke and me. And I didn't have time for that, so I just said, "It's complicated."

E.T. seemed to mull it over. Finally, he said, "I guess he's good enough for you."

Now that startled me.

I had no idea E.T. cared whether I dated anyone or not, or how they would treat me. He was the only friend I had at school. But we never really discussed personal things like feelings and that kind of junk. He was just the guy I always sat by and defended. It was touching to know he thought about me enough to worry about my life.

"You're not going to start ignoring me now that you've got a boyfriend, are you?"

I rolled my eyes. So much for the sweet E.T. who was only worried about me. "Shut up," I said.

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He grinned and lifted one shoulder. "I didn't think you would."

I sighed. "Does that ease your worries? Can I go now?"

"Yeah," he said. "You can go now."

"Thank you, your highness." I bowed down to him and when I straightened, stuck my tongue out before racing across the street.

"Bye," he called after me. I glanced back and waved.

I ran the whole way home. It was four blocks and I was winded by the time I reached our yard. The sun was easing down below the horizon. I pulled up short when I spotted the white Mustang with black racing stripes parked out front.

Luke.

I dashed the rest of the way to the front door and flung it open.

He sat on the loveseat with his knees spread wide and his hands hanging down between them. His head was lowered but he raised it when the door opened. He stood when he saw it was me filling the entrance. Dad had been in his chair with the footrest down. He didn't bother to stand at my arrival.

Luke took a step in my direction. But then Mom appeared in the kitchen doorway.

She rushed past him, crying out. "Where...have you...been?" She crushed me into a hug and then said. "Don't you ever do that to me again, young lady."

I pulled back. "I was at Marty's."

"The school called," she went on. "They started talking to me about your suspension and then they were saying it'd been dropped. I had no idea what was going on."

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I lowered my head, kicked at a patch of carpet. "I was at the library studying until about two thirty. Then I went to see Marty." I looked up. "There's no baby."

"There's no baby?" she echoed.

I nodded. "Abby's not pregnant. It was all a misunderstanding." My voice choked a little then. I thought of the expression on Marty's face when he'd insisted there had been. "But Mr. Eggrow thought I'd told everyone there was, and he got mad."

Mom moved back a step. Her face was a little pale. "She's not pregnant?"

I shook my head. And my mother backed even further away. Dad pushed to his feet then. When she turned away from me and disappeared down the hall toward her room, Luke came to me.

He couldn't take his gaze off me. "Are you OK?" he said.

His eyes moved from my face to my arms as if he were searching for physical wounds.

I nodded. "I'm fine."

His searching blue eyes returned to mine. "You weren't earlier."

I slipped a hand in my pocket and my eyes fell as I remembered exactly how I'd been earlier. "I'm better."

He said, "I guess you heard what happened," at the same moment I said, "E.T. told me what you did."

I lifted my face and we shared a moment where no words had to be spoken. The simple contact of our gazes was enough. Softly, I said, "Thank you."

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He nodded once, and reached for my arm. But before he touched me, Dad's voice interrupted from behind us.

Obviously, he'd been watching the whole scene.

"Carrie's still grounded."

Luke glanced over at him, a regretful—but almost defiant—

look still on his face, like he wanted to argue with my father.

"Now that she's made it home safe and sound, you should be going, Luke."

It was clear from his expression that Luke didn't agree. "I need to tell her something," he finally said to Dad. "May I very quickly tell her something?"

Dad seemed to seethe at Luke for being brave enough to stand up to him. Finally, he said, "You can tell her as she walks you to the door." He turned on his heel and followed Mom's path back to their room.

I turned to Luke. "I'm sorry," I said. "This house hasn't been the greatest place to be lately."

"Gee, I wonder why?" Luke said, trying to make me smile.

When I didn't, he took my hand and we started making baby steps toward the door. When we finally reached it, we stopped and faced each other.

"I finished the poem," he whispered.

I smiled. "Really?" I'd forgotten all about the poem, all about our Fourth of July Celebration in November. Just remembering that night boosted my spirits.

Luke nodded. "It's not with me, so I can't show it to you now. But it's done. I wanted you to know that." He glanced up at the ceiling and then to me. "I tried to show it to you on Thanksgiving Day, but..."

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I nodded. "Yeah."

He moved closer to me. "I want to kiss you," he whispered.

My eyelids fluttered and I swayed toward him. Was it possible to have this strong of a pull toward another human being?

I managed to shake my head. "Bad idea."

"I know." He did dare to reach up and lightly move the back of his index finger over my cheekbone, though. "But I thought you'd still like to know."

He was right. I did like knowing.

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I arrived early to school the next morning. Luke was waiting for me once again by my locker. People stared. And they talked. There's no denying that. It was hard to decide which shocked them more: the scandal with my brother or the fact that Luke Carter was interested in me.

He walked down the halls beside me. It felt very strange, like I was wearing my shoes on the wrong feet, but Luke courted like a gentleman. He didn't kiss me in public or even hold my hand. But he subtly let people know he was with me.

I about died when he introduced me to his best friend. I'd lived in the same small town as Nathan Bates my whole life and here was Luke introducing us. Nate very graciously shook my hand, but I had to say, "Hello, Nathan. Have you lived in Stillburrow long?"

He paused at that and cocked an is-this-girl-mentally-stable look toward Luke. But Luke shoved his hands in his pockets and glared at me. "Very funny."

Nate finally realized I was joking and then he couldn't stop laughing.

Luke even had E.T. and me sit by him at lunch. I think E.T.

fell into hero worship over Luke too. At first he was a little self-conscious, thinking Luke was making a better grade than he was in trigonometry, so he quizzed him a little. Thank goodness I'd given Luke the head's up about E.T.'s complex.

He knew to answer the questions with an, "I'm not really sure." And then he'd scratch his head as if he were puzzled.

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When E.T. gave him the right answer, he'd nod and say, "Oh, OK. I get it," as if the light was just then dawning. I could've kissed him right there for doing that.

Abby came to school that day, but Sidney didn't. Abby walked down the halls with a limp. I chose to believe what she told everyone when she said she'd hurt her back practicing a new cheerleading routine. But I kept thinking of what Marty had told me and wondering if that had anything to do with the reason she moved like every muscle in her body was sore.

Luke didn't know the whole story about her, but he saw the way I watched her and he constantly tried to divert my attention.

"What'd you get on your trigonometry test?"

I glanced up and wondered if I'd ever grow used to seeing him smile at me. He had a smug grin as he crossed his arms and leaned his back against the locker next to mine.

"You got a better score than you ever have before, didn't you?"

I showed him only the hint of a smile. "Maybe." I closed my locker and strolled away. Knowing he was following, I pulled my test results out of my binder. Within moments, it was snatched out of my hand.

"Ninety-eight percent!" He sounded insulted. I paused and glanced back at him. He'd stopped walking and was holding my test with both hands, staring at it with a gaping mouth.

Students streamed around him, heading down the hall in the opposite direction. A few jocks slugged him in the shoulder as they passed.

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"I know, I know," I said with a sigh. "You're right. I could've done better."

"Done better?" He glanced up at me. "I only got a ninety-four."

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. Stealing the paper back, I spun away and started down the hall again.

"Maybe you should've studied more, Carter," I called over my shoulder.

A moment later, I felt a slight jostle at my shoulder. He'd caught up with me again. He was striding quietly beside me and staring straight ahead. His jaw was tense. "Don't even think about rubbing it in," he said.

I shrugged and kept up the brisk pace beside him. But after a few moments of silence, I couldn't take it anymore.

"You know, if you start falling behind enough to make Under-the-hill sic a tutor on you, I'll be more than willing to give you a hand."

He glared. "Shut up," he said, then turned away. But he couldn't keep in the laugh. We'd just made it to my next class and he stopped us by the door. He examined my face and then reached up and tucked a stray hair behind my ear.

"Good job," he said, and his blue eyes glittered with pride.

I glowed. "Thank you."

"Meet me here, next hour?" At my nod, he leaned over and placed a quick kiss on my lips. I felt my face heat.

Glancing around to see if everyone nearby had stopped to gawk, I couldn't stop myself from lifting a few fingers to my still-tingling mouth. But the only two people that took notice of me were trying to walk around me to get into the 204

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classroom. For a moment, I was paralyzed. Why was no one flipping out and staring at me for kissing Luke Carter?

And for the first time, I thought maybe I wasn't such an oddball in school after all. Maybe everyone didn't think I was a freak of nature. Maybe it wasn't so misplaced for me to be seen with Luke. And I couldn't seem to hold back a huge grin.

The lake party took place that Friday. I heard through the grapevine that Abby had asked some basketball player to go with her. It irked me. Sure hadn't taken her long to get over Marty, had it? So I must say I was wickedly pleased when, by the end of the week, Liz Curry had wrapped the basketball player around her finger and snagged him out from under Abby's eager grasp. Abby was forced to go stag with Jill Anderson.

Luke asked me to go with him but I reminded him I was grounded.

"Still?" he said. But he already knew that. He'd been calling every night, asking whichever parent answered the phone if he could come over and see me. And every night, either Mom or Dad would tell him no. I was grounded.

On Thursday, he asked, "How long is this grounded thing going to last?" Then he moved closer and whispered. "I need to read my poem to you."

I grinned up at him. "Read it to me now."

But he only shook his head and glanced around at everyone passing us in the hall. "No," he said with conviction.