Their Broken Pieces by Jessica Gomez
Chapter Eighteen
Jasmine
“W
e won first-class seats,” I say to Alex.
“This is awesome.” He smiles. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen his face like this… so content and carefree.
Shortly after the assembly is over, and everyone heads to their designated buses, Alex walks with me outside without saying a word. The silence is peaceful, instead of the awkwardness that clings to me around most people these days. Just having him next to me makes me feel safe. I’m in the middle of warning myself against thoughts of him when he breaks the silence.
“What bus are you on?”
“Two. What’s your number?”
“Three.” He stands in front of me for a moment, stalling, as if he doesn’t want to leave. “I guess I’ll see you at the airport.”
“All right.” He turns to walk away and a slight panic rises inside. I don’t want him to leave me. “Hey, Alex?” My voice speaks before I can control it. Now I have to come up with something to say… “Thanks.” Thanks! Thanks for what? Say something, you idiot! “Thanks for coming to find me. The extra credit for turning the assignment in early is really going to help, and the first-class prize is nice too, huh?”
He doesn’t respond, just stares. He always seems so in control of his emotions, making me wonder if the response I have to him is solely one-sided. Could I be the only one feeling this way? When he steps even closer, pressing his chest against my breasts, second thoughts flutter my stomach like a hoard of butterflies.
He leans in close, brushing his lips against my ear, and whispers, “You’re welcome.”
He saunters away, leaving me breathless and quivering. Foreign emotions clench my lower stomach and continue to travel south. I’m frozen where he left me when he starts up the stairs of the bus. Then he surprises me when he turns back. When he sees me still standing there, a smirk forms on his beautiful lips, and winks before disappearing on the bus.
I’m so absorbed in watching him, I neglect to hear anyone approach until a hand comes down on my shoulder, scaring the living shit out of me and sending a sharp pain through my entire body from the sudden movement. Closing my eyes against the pain, I pull away and turn to see who’s touching me.
Andrew’s smile falters when he sees my expression. “Sorry. Did I startle you?”
I try to wipe the bitch-face off and put on a cheerful smile, wanting to appear that everything’s fine.
“Yeah, sorry.” Andrew’s easy to throw off any trail; I wish Alex were as gullible. “What bus are you on?”
Andrew takes a moment before answering. “Bus two. You?”
“Two, too.” I smile again, doing a better job of locking down the emotions from five minutes prior.
His face lights with hope. “You ready to go, then? I think we’re the last ones.”
Looking around the school grounds, I realize he’s right. We need to hurry.
“Yeah, let’s go.” My stomach flips. I’m so excited about the warm beaches we’ll be on in a few scant hours.
The bus is full, and Andrew’s able to get a girl to squeeze in with her friends to give us our own seat. We talk about Mrs. Hubert’s surprise twist on the biology project. Turns out, Andrew and his partner Kevin turned their project in early too, so they would join us in first class.
Filing off the bus is insane; there are kids everywhere. The teachers are having a hard time keeping us corralled and directed toward where we need to be. Once we’re ushered to the gate, the principal claps to gain everyone’s attention.
“Class!” he yells over the loud crowd of seniors. “Everyone who turned in their project early needs to gather over there, by Mrs. Hubert. The rest of you need to follow me.” He turns and continues through the gate to our plane. Since we have our plane on reserve, there is no waiting like we would have to do for normal flights.
A group of about twenty waits with Mrs. Hubert. Once we all assemble toward her, she speaks, “All right, everyone. First off, congratulations on turning your projects in early. Hard work pays off.” She smiles at her little joke while the rest of us roll our eyes. “We’re going to go straight through, no waiting.” She moves, but then turns back. “Oh, yes. The only catch about first class is the seating. You must sit with your lab partner. I will assign rows once we are on board.” This receives moans from a handful of people, including Andrew, who I’m sure was planning to sit next to me.
I’m elated. My wonderful teacher is forcing me to sit with Alex. I chance a glance his way and find him already staring at me, a hint of his cocky grin playing at the corner of his mouth, and I can’t help but smile at him.
I follow the line of students that trail behind Mrs. Hubert. We make it to the plane about ten minutes before the rest of the senior class. Once on board, Mrs. Hubert heads to the front of the first-class section and clears her throat.
“All right, now here’s how things are going to go. You’re a first-class passenger, so they’ll treat you as such. However, you will sit in the row I assign you, and next to your lab partner.” She looks around at each person. “That being said, let’s get started.” She reads names off a piece of paper, directing us where to go.
Alex and I take our seats in the sixth row, both of us reaching the aisle at the same time. I’m giddier than a kid in a candy shop and want to sit next to the window. I’m practically bouncing up and down with a gigantic grin plastered on my face.
Alex laughs, and a relaxed, very real smile spreads wide, showing all his beautiful, straight white teeth. “Go ahead.” He gestures.
As excited as I am, I lean in and hug him without being conscious of deciding. When I lean back, embarrassments clear on my features, but Alex looks pleased. I hurry and scoot to my seat before I do anything crazy, like kiss him.
Whoa, wait. Check yourself!
Margret’s no joke. She’ll find another reason to hurt me and look forward to doing it, and that’s something I’ll have to deal with… but this time she’s threatened my dad, and that’s not a chance I’m willing to take.
After thinking about the situation, I realize that after this flight, continuing to talk to Alex will only put my dad in danger. I cannot risk Margret hearing about it, even if the likelihood is slim. My dad is much more important and I would do anything to make sure he’s safe.
“Are you all right?” Alex is studying me with his all-knowing, watchful gaze.
“Yeah.” My voice sounds weak, so I clear my throat before speaking again. “Yeah, I’m fine… just thinking,” I reply vaguely.
He studies me for a moment longer and nods.
I turn and watch out the window as our plane takes off and heads for Hawaii. I decide to worry about things when we land, and at least enjoy the flight there.
Our flight left at one and our estimated time of arrival is in five hours, putting us there at around six or seven. We’re staying in Honolulu, at The Luxury Hawaiian, on the beach. It’s one of the nicest hotels in Honolulu. Our class got a great rate since we rented out two entire floors’ worth of rooms, not to mention the majority of the student’s parents are wealthy. I’m ecstatic to arrive. The only thing I’m uncomfortable about is the roommate situation. We’ll all be rooming with one other person, and since I have no friends, it is going to be interesting to meet mine.
Lunchtime rolls around for everyone on the plane. The first-class passengers have a choice between chicken Caesar salad, pizza, or cheeseburgers, while the other passengers only have turkey sandwiches.
I chose the salad, which is amazing.
“How’s the pizza?” I ask Alex.
“Good. You want a bite?”
“No.” I wave him off.
“Come on, Jaz. We used to share pizza all the time.” His smile is genuine, remembering the sleepovers we used to have together with our siblings.
I smile, recalling all the stupid things we used to do together. I decide to just give in and lean over and take a big bite of his pizza. My eyes roll back in my head and I moan with food pleasure. “Dis is fooo good,” I say, sauce and cheese overflowing my mouth.
Alex laughs. “I told you.”
I chew and try to reel in my friendship mode with Alex. I can feel myself getting too comfortable with him, so I need to stop this friendship from spiraling out of my control; the game of distance must rear its ugly head again. Even a slight slip, like from Andrew’s big mouth, got to my mom’s ears. Information could very well come from anyone.
The flight attendant’s voice snaps me back to reality. “We’ll be landing in about thirty minutes. Please be sure to take your seats and lock your seatbelts in place.”
I’ve already started the distancing game and have done a decent job of staying to myself and blocking Alex’s glances out. He’s turned to me several times during the flight, lips posed as if to speak, then choosing not to, and going back to his thoughts.
Stage one of distancing from Alex… Check.
Now all I have to do is try to avoid him the entire time we’re in Hawaii. I can hang out with Andrew non-stop; we did already have a date planned for tomorrow night. If that went well, then we could easily hang out the rest of the week.
Yeah, that could work.
In reality, hanging out with Andrew is not my idea of a great vacation. I’m not even sure if I still want to go on a date with him, but at least it will give me a decent distraction from thinking about Alex… hopefully.