All's Fair in High School Ch.10
Charity sat at the counter at the book café, sipping a skim latte, hoping she didn't look too much like a loser. She glanced at the clock for the millionth time in the last ten minutes. Miguel was over half an hour late already.
He was avoiding her. She knew it. Her nerves were fried, but she smiled at Beth as she walked past her. After Kay's pathetic little display, Miguel had been distant. He usually kept his arm around her, or held her hand. Constant contact. But today he'd barely touched her. God, you'd think she had freakin leperecy from the way he was treating her.
" Hey Charity, can I get you anything else?" Beth asked, surprising Charity.
" Uh, no, thanks Beth. I'm just waiting for Miguel. He should be here any minute." Charity responded sweetly. "Unless he's standing me up." She muttered.
"Who would stand up a beautiful girl?" Beth asked, causing Charity to smile.
She was right. Charity was being silly. What if something had happened to Miguel? What if he had gotten into a car accident or something?
She grabbed her purse and took out her cell phone, dialing Miguel's number.
" Hello?" Pilar answered.
" Hi, Pilar. It's Charity." Charity said.
" Hello, sweetheart. I'm afraid Miguel's not here right now." Pilar explained.
" Oh, is he on his way to meet me then?" Charity asked, a smile creeping onto her pretty porclaine features.
" Uh, I do not believe so, Chairty. He said something about going to the Justin's to play some basketball."
" Oh. Maybe I got the times mixed up, then." Charity said embarrassed, trying to save face.
" You could try calling him at Justin's house." Pilar suggested, " I have the number."
" No, that's okay, Mrs. Lopez-Fitzgerald. I know it." Charity said.
" Goodbye Charity." Pilar responded before she hung up.
Charity hung up, her heart racing. She knew she didn't have the time wrong. She and Miguel made these plans only a few hours ago. Had he forgotten? He certainly couldn't have left her sitting there purposely!
She picked her phone again and dialed up Justin's number.
Several rings went by. " Lo?" Justin picked up, obviously out of breath.
" Justin, it's Charity. Can I talk to Miguel?" she asked.
" Miguel?" Justin tried to catch his breath. " Miguel's not here."
Charity's heart skipped a beat. " Yes he is. His mom told me that he was going over there to play basketball with you guys."
" Well he was—" Justin started. He covered the phone with his hand and Charity could hear some muffled speaking in the background.
" Hello?" Miguel picked up, panting.
" Miguel?"
" Char? What's up?" he asked, trying to catch his breath.
" Justin just told me you weren't there," Charity said.
" I just got here." Miguel said stiffly.
Charity's heart started to pound. "You just got there? It doesn't sound like that. Your out of breath, so obviously you were playing—"
" I just got here and ran inside." Miguel interrupted.
"Whatever." Charity snapped. " Did you forget that you were supposed to meet me at the Book Café forty-five minutes ago?"
" God Char, I'm sorry." Miguel said, too quickly. " I forgot."
Charity took a deep breath. " Can you just come here now?"
She heard laughter explode in the background on Miguel's end of the phone. She felt her face heat up.
"Will you guys shut up?" Charity heard Miguel hiss, holding the phone away from his mouth. Then he was back. " I'm sorry, Char. I promised the guys."
Charity felt the tears spring to her eyes. " You promised me."
" I know. I'll call you later, okay?" he asked.
He really wasn't coming. " Migu—"
" Okay?" he asked a little louder.
" Fine." She snapped, hanging up on him. Charity's heart was racing. She pushed through the bathroom door and walked over to one of the porcelin sinks by the wall. She gripped the edges of it, staring at mirror, willing herself to calm down.
" He didn't just do that to me." She whispered. " There's no way he just stood me up, lied and blew me off." She took a few deep breaths and told herself just to wait until later, when they could talk. There was no point in getting herself all worked up when there could be nothing to worry about. As she rationalized, her anger subsided.
Unfortunantly, it left behind a sinking feeling.
Chad looked at the note left for him. So now Whitney was hanging out with his friends? Well, at least she was out of his face, and that was a first. He still couldn't believe that he was stuck living with her, of all people.
He looked around the room and noticed that his answering machine had the red light blinking. He walked over to it and played the message.
" Chad? This is Dave." His music teacher's voice said. " Listen, dude, I just got a gig. My band is going to be playing at the Waterworks place Friday night. I can supply you with all the tickets and backstage passes you need. Let me know, man. Later."
This was unbelievable. Dave actually got a gig. This was going to be amazing.
"She's such a loser." Mindy said, bringing her black coffee mug to her lips. " She thinks just because she has an older boyfriend, she's way cool. I heard that Ethan couldn't go to college because his father refused to pay for his tuition, now that he's with Theresa. "
" That's not true." Miguel said, shifting in his seat.
" What?" Mindy snapped.
Will took a deep breath and told himself not to rip off Mindy's smug
Little face off. This was not his idea of a fun way to spend a Friday night before a game, but he had promised he'd spend time with Charity after bailing out on her. Now he was trapped at the Book Café with Charity and her obnoxious little friends.
" Anyways, like I was saying…" Miguel blocked out Mindy's whiny voice from his head.
Miguel leaned back in his chair and stared at the door. The guys were having a mini- psych up session at Todd's. They were probably scarfing Tabo Bell's and playing video hockey and going over that afternoon's practice. Roseville was one of Harmony's biggest rivals. Miguel would buy the whole café a round of coffee if it would get him out of there.
" Miguel? Will you get me another latte?" charity asked.
Now he was errand boy? Miguel took a deep breath. He was overreacting because of all the tension he had felt around Charity lately. But it was just a phase. It would wass. All relationships went through this.
" Are you sure? Don't you want to sleep tonight?" he asked.
Charity smiled. " Your right."
Emily smirked at Miguel. " How about a decaf Char?"
" Yeah. How about a decaf?" Charity repeated.
Miguel pushed back his chair abruptly and stood. " Can I get anyone else anything?"
" No, thanks!" Mindy and Emily called in unison.
Miguel walked over to the counter and pulled out his wallet. Maybe he should tell the girls that their teeth were turning yellow. They were all too vain to ignore something like that.
" Hey man." He looked up to see Josh Carter, the captain of the Roseville Raiders standing behind the counter, wearing a green apron.
" Hey." Miguel only knew Josh by reputation, but he pretty sure that Josh knew who he was, too.
" Shouldn't you be psyching yourself up for tomorrow? You know, at least pretend you had a chance?" Josh asked with a good-natured laugh.
" Seriously. I shouldbe hanging out with the guys right now." Miguel answered wistfully.
" I know what you mean. If I had a choice, I would not be here. There's some pretty decent parties going on right now." Josh added.
" Yeah. You're right." Miguel said, straightening. The guy might be the enemy at the moment, but he had a point. Miguel should be with the team, getting pumped up for tommorrow, not sitting in some lame café sipping coffee.
Miguel ordered a latte and pocketed the change. " Later," he called to Josh, " Good luck tomorrow. Be sure to bring lots of body bags."
" For you to borrow, right?" Josh shot back, smiling.
Miguel walked back to the table and handed the latte to Charity. He grabbed his coat from his chair.
" What are you doing?" Charity hissed. " You're just gonna leave?"
" The guys are gonna be pissed if I don't show." Miguel said, his patience wearing down.
Charity remained silent. Miguel almost walked out. He didn't really know what he was waiting for.
" Thanks so much, Char." Miguel said, practically running towards door.
" And we can spend time together tomorrow." Charity said smiling.
" Sure, Char. Whatever." Miguel said, walking out the door.
He had just gotten in his car when he realized that he had forgotten to kiss Charity goodbye.
Miguel Lopez- Fitzgerald
I usually don't stand people up, so ever since I left Charity sitting alone at the book café, I've started to wonder why I did it. Because I knew it was wrong even while I was doing it. So how could I be such a jerk? Well it just hit me so here it is:
Lately when I'm with Charity, I feel like I'm suffocating.
I always thought that was an expression—that people who said stuff like that were just exaggerating. I thought it was impossible to be in love with someone and feel like you were closed in—gasping for air. Because if you love someone, you want to be with them. You don't feel like you HAVE to be with them. You don't feel like they're your responsibility.
The thing is, I've always sort of felt like Charity was my responsibility. Part of our relationship was me taking care of her—watching out for her. It's only lately that I've felt… trapped. And it's not a feeling I like.