Woot. I'm glad you guys have responded well to this new story, it's been a while since that's happened. For those of you still reading HTGT, I'll update it before I go on my road trip next week. I'm so excited about that. Woot!
But for now, let's continue with this.
Disclaimer: Meg Cabot owns all.
When I finally looked up to see who it was that'd followed me outside, my heart skipped a few beats. It was Michael.
"I'm sorry, Michael," I choked out. "I know we're not supposed to be talking, let alone yelling, but I don't know what came over me. And I know we're not supposed to leave the room, I just needed some fresh air. I didn't…"
"Shh, Mia. It's ok. I'm not here to tell you off. I mean, yeah. That's not usually how detention is supposed to go, but it's not your fault."
He sat down next to me. Not as close as I'd have liked, but he still sat close enough that I could smell the sweet scent of soap on his skin. What is that? Lavender? Whatever it is, it's now Michael-scent forevermore.
"So you're not going to give me another detention next week?"
"Well, I dunno," Michael said in a tone I can only describe as coy. "It might not make my day so boring if you're around."
He means that only because of the whole yelling at Lana thing, right?
"Hey, what are you doing supervising detention anyway? Is this where you always are on Saturdays?"
"Yep, I've been doing it all year. And not only because it looks good on your College applications, but Gupta was so desperate for someone to do it she said she'd let me have unlimited access to the school computer system in exchange for it. That means all the internet access I want during school time and I can also look up peoples profiles. Ha, I bet you didn't know Lana's middle name is Beatice did you?"
I couldn't help but laugh. Lana Beatrice Weinberger? If that ever got out it'd sure put a damper on her popularity.
"What's your middle name?" I asked him, just out of curiosity.
"James. But I don't need to ask yours. Your whole name is in your profile."
"You know my whole name?" I'm shocked. Sometimes even I have trouble remembering all of them. But why would Michael have wasted time looking up my profile?
"I sure do, Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Renaldo. But what I want to know, is where's the Thermopolis? On your profile 'Mia Thermopolis' is written in brackets, like an after thought or something."
"That's Grandmere," I told him. "She never includes Thermopolis in my name. It's supposed to be Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo. She must have gotten into the school files herself and done some tweaking."
"Would your grandmother know how to tweak? Because I could always change a few things around…"
"You mean you could add that Lana's top choice for College is Hardy's Clown College? Or that Josh, as an extra curricular activity, bathes old people?"
Michael laughed out loud. "I'm sure if I wanted to do that, I could. But I meant that I could add Thermopolis to your name. I wasn't thinking along the same lines as you. But I'll think about it. Haha."
I smiled at him and took a much needed deep breath. "Cool."
"So, Thermopolis, are you ready to go back inside? I think Lana should have calmed down by now."
"I guess," I mumbled. When really, I'd rather stay outside with Michael forever.
He stood up first, then held out his hand to help me up. I gladly accepted and let him pull. When we reluctantly walked back into the library we were both surprised to see everyone was silent. Even Lana. She's now sitting across the other side of the library from Josh. A sulky look on her tear strained face. She's lucky she wore waterproof make up, or else she'd look like me that time Lilly and I were walking home and I got drenched with muddy water splashed up from the gutter when a car drove past. I've always worn waterproof make up since that day.
Michael sat down at his desk again and I walked, alone, back to mine. I ignored Josh's death stare; I ignored the druggies inquisitive looks; I ignored Lana's evil eye.
But I couldn't ignore the note Lilly threw me as soon as I sat down. It just missed my eye this time.
I'm so proud of you! I knew you had it somewhere in you! You just needed that cow to crack for you to let it out. What did Michael say in the hallway?
I shook my head to myself. That Lilly, she always has to know everyone else's business. She always claims not to care, but she does. If I ignore the question, she'll keep hounding me about it.
Thanks. For the record, it felt great to tell her all that stuff. Michael just wanted to see if I was ok. He didn't say much.
I threw it back at her and caught a look at Lana. She was re-applying her make up with her hand mirror. Every now and then she'd look over at Josh, sitting about three seats away from her now.
"Josh," she whispered eventually.
Josh didn't look as if he heard. Or he didn't want to.
She said it again, a little louder this time.
"Lana," Michael said, proving that if he could hear her, Josh must have. "I think you've said enough for today."
"I just want to apologise," she said meekly.
"Ok," Michael said. "I'm sure Mia would love to hear your apology. Go."
"Not to her," she said, her tone getting louder again. "I want to apologise to Josh. I'm so sorry, Joshie, please forgive me. I don't want us to fight. I never should have gotten upset with you in the first place, I should have accepted what you said, and gotten over it. Please…"
"Oh, please!" Lilly cried. "You are so pathetic, Weinberger. You're crawling on your hands and knees for a guy who treats you like dirt. Don't you have any respect for yourself?"
"Shut up, pug-face. Like you know anything about anything."
"I know more than you do, Lana. I know that if you don't respect yourself, no guy will respect you either."
Lana shot daggers at Lilly. "Whatever."
Things were silent again for a few minutes. But I knew they wouldn't be silent for long.
