Poor Gretchen. She's going through something. Poor Dear. She's kinda bitter about this whole thing. Not as many big words this chapter…
Where's T.J.? He failed to arrive back at lunch. He just raced after Spinelli, as usual. Now, we're doing mathematics, and he's still not in his desk. I wonder what could be wrong.
After all, Spinelli is also suspiciously absent. Though she was acting rather strange at lunch, but, then again, Spinelli is rarely ever what most people would consider normal. No, wait, scratch that, she's just not normal, period.
"Ms. Grotke?" I asked, warily raising my hand.
Ms. Grotke twisted away from the chalkboard, smiling brilliantly at me.
"Do you know where T.J. and Spinelli may be? They failed to, um, come back… When they left, um, during lunch," I ask, heart suddenly jumping into my throat.
What if something happened to Spinelli? Or worse, T.J.? Wait, what am I doing, deliberately wishing malice on one of my friends?
Maybe I have taken this whole like-liking-T.J.-thing to heart after all.
However, I really hope that that's not it.
"Oh, Gretchen, they're at the nurse's office. I'm sure T.J. will tell you all about it later… As a matter of fact, Gretchen, since you're so far ahead in the current subject, why don't you go down there and see for yourself?" Ms. Grotke suggests supportively.
How did she know I wanted to go down and see… them? I got the most horrible feeling of butterflies in my stomach when she said that… they… were at the nurse's office. I mean, what are they both doing there?
Sure, they both appeared somewhat exhausted, Spinelli especially… And Spinelli didn't consume much except for that Coke at lunch. T.J. was kind of anxious too, now that I think about it. Well, Spinelli gets into fights often enough, but she rarely ever gets injured.
I wonder, did she and T.J. get in a fight?
I doubt I could forgive her if she did.
Hey, wait a second… I doubt I could forgive her? What on Earth am I saying?
Spinelli's one of my best friends. She's probably my best friend… Uh, after T.J. of course. And what am I saying? T.J. and Spinelli wouldn't fight to hurt each other. They get along like cake. Wait a second… Like cake? I believe this whole liking-T.J.-thing is rotting my brain.
I think I'd better get out of here before I loose all semblances of possessing a functioning brain. Now I have only to pack up my things and to thank Ms. Grotke.
Okay, done with the former, now on to the latter.
"Thank you, Miss Grotke," I mutter half-heartedly, grabbing my backpack and moving to leave.
"Oh, my pleasure, Gretchen… And now, class, back to Quantum Physics…" Ms. Grotke says distractedly.
I bet she's glad to have me out of class. I've been kind of snappy and, well, rude about my constant corrections today. At least I'm finally out of there, though.
Ah, there's the nurse's office. Let's just open the door a little and listen in, shall we?
How odd, there's T.J.
And he's standing there, holding Spinelli's hand. Wait, what happened to Spinelli? And why's he holding her hand. Perhaps I ought to listen in, then.
"Well, Spinelli, I don't really know how to feel about this thing, but she says you can hear me, so go figure. I know you're not going to be happy to hear this, but you fainted. The nurse said it was a combination of mental stress, along with hunger, and uh, fatigue. I'm really worried about you… And, uh, so is everyone else. Anyways, she said you'll wake up soon. Um, I wanted to tell you something, Spin. It's kinda hard to do, but, well, I guess I gotta risk it. 'Sides, you most likely won't remember any of this anyways. Okay, well, lately I've been thinking a lot about… things… and well, I think I…"
I can't take any more of this.
He's going to tell her he likes her. I can't watch that. It hurts me just to think about it.
Which is why I'm halfway down the hallway, crying. Why am I crying, though? This is stupid. Nothing good has come out of me like-liking T.J.
But he likes her, she likes him, and he doesn't like me in that way. I've just got to accept that.
But why does it have to be so hard? Why does it have to hurt me so much?
I'm crying over T.J. Maybe I have deeper feelings for him than I thought. Or maybe it's just hormones. I don't even care about that though, and I'm still crying. I don't enjoy being a blubbering fool. Oh, great, and as if to ruin my already bad exit, there's Vince.
Well, this has certainly been an interesting day, and not in a good way.
Vince is stopping now. He looks concerned. But I don't want Vince to be concerned about me. I want T.J. to be concerned about me. But T.J.'s tied up and bound to Spinelli for eternity. How poetically pathetic of me.
When did Vince get so close? I think he's grown a little too.
These idle thoughts only distract me for a minute. Sort of like school, really. But I try and focus on school, and I'm trying to avoid thinking about T.J.
"Gretch, what's wrong?" Vince questions, worrying, putting a hand on my shoulder.
I blink, rubbing at my still-dewy eyes, looking down at his hand. Why is it on my shoulder? Honestly, what am I supposed to tell him?
The truth? That I was out there sobbing over a possible, and, really, quite likely romantic relationship between Spinelli and T.J. even though I barely knew why myself? Utterly humiliating. This is why you don't cry at school.
"Oh, just hearing a-about T-T-T-T.J. an… an… and S-spin-nelli," I stuttered, giving into a fresh new wave of tears at the difficult words I had just said aloud.
Vince shoots me a curious and almost unbelieving look. He's got a right to be suspicious. After all, I am lying to him. I stuttered a lot in that last sentence too, and I never stutter. However, fortunately enough for me, the male confusion at the sight of a female crying seems to take control.
"Gretch, babe, they're fine," Vince says in his typical smooth tone, which this time seems to take on a reassuring undertone, as he envelops me in a warm, strong hug.
When was the last time someone hugged me? It's definitely been too long, but this feels so nice.
T.J. who?
I break apart from Vince, smiling at him widely. He looks confused.
"So you're okay now?" He asks, a hint of annoying incredulousness in his tone.
At the moment, however, I don't care. He's finally gotten my mind off T.J. for the first time all day. Obviously, my wide grin answers his question.
"Oh, yeah, I'm great now. Thanks, you really helped me a lot, Vince. Come on, let's go to Kelso's. I'm paying," I offer cheerfully.
He beams at me, a mischievous look on his face. He proffers me his elbow absurdly, which I then accept as we begin to walk out of the school.
"Lady, you said the magic words. Besides, school was getting dull anyways. I could only handle listening to Miss Grotke rattle on about The Industrial Revolution for so long…" Vince replies enthusiastically, shuddering at the mention of The Industrial Revolution.
The things we learn about in that class never cease to amaze me.
I nod sympathetically, hoping that Finster doesn't catch us. Right now, I'm just clinging unto the hope that I can forget for a while.
Loren ;
In case you were wondering, Gretchen didn't notice when Vince called her babe. Which is why she said nothing about that… Hmm, does Vince like Gretchen? And what is Gretchen doing skipping class? Man, she must really like T.J., no?
