by C. J. Anaya
“You’re telling me the hot guy you want me to investigate is new also?”
Angie’s face was a mixture of excitement and disappointment. I assumed the disappointment had something to do with her total ignorance where Victor was concerned.
“Yep. Your hot guy radar seems to be on the fritz as of late.”
“Most disturbing,” Angie said as she tapped her fingernails on the bathroom sink. “Something equally disturbing is the fact that you want me to get you Victor’s class schedule in order to avoid him rather than purposely run into him.”
She studied my impassive face. I said nothing, knowing that she was on the verge of giving me another lecture about my permanent single status.
“You know, Hope, I’ve thought for years that the reason you’ve never had a boyfriend was simply because you were too clueless to notice any of the signals that guys would send your way. You’ve all but admitted to me that you think Victor is interested in you, and instead of letting him do all the work to sweep you off your feet you want to avoid him by employing the kind of illegal measures that only I am crazy enough to think up.”
I tried to maintain eye contact, but I could feel my gaze wavering. I didn’t want to have this discussion with her right now. She was always so carefree and game for anything. Why was she deciding at this moment to have a serious heart to heart about my non-existent love life?
“Now I’m wondering if there isn’t a completely different reason for your indifference here. Don’t you think it’s about time you told me the truth?”
I shook my head and decided to try for a joke, anything to make her back off from this line of questioning.
“Angie,” I said impatiently, “I am not a lesbian. Don’t you know me at all?”
She rolled her eyes at me in annoyance.
“Of course you’re not. There’s no way you could have resisted me for all of these years if you were.”
The corners of her lips turned up into a flirtatious smile. I tried for a slightly outraged look in response to her cocky attitude.
“You are so full of yourself, Angie. I’m not the least bit attracted to redheads.”
There was a full beat of total silence as I glowered and Angie smiled seductively.Unable to hold it back any longer, we both burst out laughing until tears seeped from the corners of my eyes. The tension I’d been feeling ever since I’d entered the high school began to lift as I continued to laugh.
“All right,” Angie said as she swiped at her eyes with the tips of her dainty fingers. “I’ll let this go for now, but eventually we are going to have a serious conversation about your single status.”
“Fair enough.” I stood back up and leaned against the bathroom wall. “So you’ll get me Victor’s schedule?”
“You know I will, but I want to know why you need Tie’s schedule too,” She pulled a folded piece of paper from her back pocket and held it out to me. “It was obvious the guy was into you, but is avoiding both Victor and Tie really necessary?”
I reached for Tie’s class schedule. Just as I was about to grab it Angie pulled the paper back out of my reach and shook her head as if she couldn’t believe she was actually going to humor me.
“This is insane. You have two gorgeous guys who want you. Why are you running from this?”
“I thought you said you were going to let this go.” I reached my hand out for Tie’s schedule again, doing my best to hide my desperation. She handed it to me grudgingly and then folded her arms across her chest. “Besides, once Tie and Victor have an opportunity to talk to you they won’t even remember my name,” I added cheerfully.
Angie shook her head at me and narrowed her eyes.
“I know I’ve pretty much chased after anything male and good looking for the entire span of our teenage years, but if I’d thought for even one second you held some interest in any of those guys, I would have toned it down a bit and given you the wheel for a while. Not only are both of them showing some interest in you, but you seem to be noticing it. That in itself is huge.”
I knew I should have told her the truth. I should have shared with her my fears and suspicions like any normal best friend would. I should have told her that their interest in me was suspect. My ability to heal was what was really on their agenda. At least that’s what I thought Victor’s agenda was, but Tie’s connection to Victor made his motives look suspicious also.
I should have told her the real reason behind my need to avoid them, but I didn’t. I’d kept her out of the loop for so long, and I wasn’t about to change that any time soon, especially if things got dangerous.
My thoughts went back to the previous night when I’d sensed someone was following me. That tree had been torched, the fire meant for me. I knew it didn’t make any sense, but the idea that I’d imagined the whole thing was becoming more and more ludicrous as the day went on. I longed to tell Angie everything, but I was suddenly very scared about what kind of position that would put her in. Would she be a target? Would anyone assume she knew my secret? I couldn’t do that to her. Not to Angie.
“Look, Tie is Victor’s cousin, he’s kind of unpleasant, and I’d rather not run into him if I can help it. That’s all.” I was lying through my teeth and Angie knew it.
She raised an eyebrow and smirked at me in disbelief.
“I saw the way you and Tie looked at each other. You were very affected by his presence. It was refreshing to watch, now that I think about it.” Her smirk was becoming more pronounced. “If lying to yourself is going to help you avoid these feelings that you so obviously have then I will allow it, for now.” She leaned over the bathroom sink and studied her flawless reflection in the mirror. “But for the record, I’m officially handing over the steering wheel to you. Those boys are off limits for me, and I will not make one single move towards either one of them.”
“Angie,” I started in a warning tone.
She held up her finger, effectively cutting me off.
“I’ll let you avoid them for now, but we are going to talk this out, Hope. I won’t let you ruin a great chance for some real happiness just because you’re not willing to talk about what happened to your mother or why you spend so much of your time at the hospital.”
My jaw nearly hit the floor in surprise.
Angie smiled.
“I see more than you think. That’s why I’m your best friend.” She turned around and walked toward the bathroom door. “Man, I’m so hungry the prospect of cafeteria food actually sounds appealing to me. You coming?”
