Summer
finally returned to her class, 20 minutes later than she should have
done.
« Get sidetracked, did we Miss Roberts ? » asked
the teacher. « That's detention for you today, you've
missed half my lesson ».
Summer, too preoccupied to answer,
just nodded her head. She took a seat next to Alex, intending to tell
her what had happened with Marissa just now. As she leaned in to
whisper to her, however, the techer cut her off.
« That'll
be two detentions, if you're not careful, » he said
pointedly. Summer just rolled her eyes, and went back to what she was
supposed to be doing. Alex was looking at her curiously, but she just
motioned that she would tell her later.
Meanwhile, Ryan had
awoken, finally, in his classroom, only to wonder where the hell
Marissa had disappeared to. He only wondered about this for a second,
however, as he fell asleep again shortly.
Marissa was sat outside
her house in her car, as she had seen her mother go into the house
moments before, and had narrowly avoided being seen. She was waiting
a while to be sure it would be safe for her to go in without the
threat of her mum sending her back to school.
At school, the
bell rang, signalling the end of the second to last lesson today.
Summer practically dragged Alex outside the classroom, eager to let
her know she had told Marissa that she was here.
« Slow
down, Summer. I didn't realise you liked history that much, »
said Alex, laughing at Summer's haste to get to their next class.
« What ? I don't, it's boring, » she said. «
I just wanted to talk to yyou. »
« Well ? » said
Alex when Summer didn't continue.
« Oh, right, »
said Summer, finally grasping that this was where she was supposed to
tell Alex. « I told Marissa that you're going to school here.
She seemed a little surprised, but cool with it. She thinks you can
be friends. That's good, right ? I mean, you do want to be friends
with her, right ? Cause she'll think it's weird else, and she'll
be all, like, disappointed…
« Summer ? »
«
Mmm ? »
« Has anyone ever told you that you talk too
much ? »
« A few times, yeah. Personally, I don't
think that I do… » As she was about to launch into an
explanation of why she didn't talk too much, she caught the
expression on Alex's face.
« I'm doing it again, aren't
I ? »
Alex just laughed. « Where is Marissa anyway ? »
she asked.
« That is a good question. She's supposed to
be here now. She msut be skipping school again, I'm gonna have to
talk to her about that, » said Summer.
« She's been
skipping a lot recently ? » asked Alex, concern just evident in
her voice. « Is she okay ? »
Summer bit her lip. «
I think so, » she said, not wanting to worry Alex. «
Besides, she's got Ryan now anyway. I'm sure if there's
anything wrong, it'll be sorted out in no time. »
Summer
noticed the quickly hidden expression on Alex's face when she heard
Ryan's name mentioned, but didn't say anything about it right
then. Maybe Alex wasn't quite as fine with her and Marissa's
break up as she first appeared. Summer stored that information away
for later, it could be useful. Oh, but she wasn't supposed to be
interfering. Damn, she had forgotten about that.
Later, Alex
offered to drop Summer home, due to the fact that Marissa was
supposed to take her, and Summer had to complete her detention. Alex
had to sort something out anyway, so she didn't mind waiting. When
they arrived at Summer's house, it was to find Marissa witing on
the doorsetp.
« Coop ? What are you doing waiting outside ?
You know where the spare key is kept, » said Summer.
«
I only just got here, and anyway, I'm not stay… » she
trailed off as she saw Alex. Deciding to act as if nothing had
happened, she smiled at her.
« Hi, Alex. »
«
Hey, » Alex replied quietly. « Look, I'd better go, »
she said, turning to leave.
« You can stay if you want, »
said Summer.
« No, Rachel's waiting, » she said. «
I'll see you tomorrow. » She looked over at Marissa. «
Bye Marissa. »
Marissa replied, feeling a little awkward.
Well, she guessed she couldn't expect things to be fine between
them straight away.
When Alex had left, Marissa turned to Summer,
frowning. " Who's Rachel?" she asked.
" Oh, Alex's
girlfriend," she said casually, unlocking her front door. " You
coming in?" she asked as Marissa just stood there on the doorstep,
an unfamiliar feeling in her stomach at Summer's words. Shaking
herself out of her stupor, she said, " Sure, but I can't stay
long. My mom wants to have dinner with me; I think she's up to
something.
" Isn't she always?" replied Summer. " Where
were you this afternoon, anyway?" asked Summer, none too subtly.
"
Oh, you know, around," said Marissa evasively.
Summer looked at
her pointedly.
" I just had some stuff to think about," was
her next attempt at an explanation.
" Alex stuff?" asked
Summer slyly.
" What? No, I already told you, there's nothing
between us anymore."
" Didn't look like it a second ago,"
said Summer.
" Why are you pushing this, Summ? We've both
moved on, okay?"
Summer simply nodded, looking a little
surprised. Marissa had never snapped at her like that. At other
people, yes, but not at Summer. She must have hit a nerve, thought
Summer. Not wanting to upset Marissa, or get snapped at again, she
didn't say anything else on the subject. When she thought enough
time had passed, however, which, in Summer's world, was about ten
minutes, she asked Marissa what she thought about inviting Alex to go
out with them at the weekend.
" Alex hates shopping, Sum,"
said Marissa.
Summer's eyes widened. " She WHAT?" she
practically screeched. " Well, that settles it, she has to come. I
have to change her mind. Besides, it'll be good for the two of you.
Make things, you know, less awkward."
" Fine then, Sum,"
said Marissa resigning herself to the fact that she was going to have
to spend a very awkward Saturday with her best friend and her
ex-girlfriend. " You can ask her in school tomorrow."
Summer
smiled. " Great! This is gonna be so much fun…"
