Filed to story: My Life with the Walter Boys Book (I & II) PDF Free
I nodded my head and noticed that everyone was staring at me. “What?” I asked.
“My birthday’s tomorrow,” Isaac responded.
“Liar,” Jack accused, crossing his arms.
Isaac elbowed his cousin but grinned. “I never lie, and you best get me something good. No slimy spit finger in my ear, okay?”
“Maybe we can arrange for some bleach to end up in your shampoo,” Jordan said. “I always thought you’d look good as a blond.”
“Boys,” Katherine cut in, giving her sons a warning glare.
“Hey, Jackie?” someone said, pulling on my sleeve. I looked down to see Benny staring up at me.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“Can you get me a puppy for my birthday?” he asked. Everyone laughed.
***
“That was such a cool present,” Alex told me when we were sitting in anatomy.
“Thanks,” I said quietly.
The ride to school had been slightly uncomfortable. For once in his life, Danny couldn’t shut up. He wouldn’t stop talking about how awesome his present was, and everyone seemed jealous of him. I was starting to think that maybe the ticket had been too much after all.
“Truthfully,” Alex whispered excitedly, “besides the Xbox we all got for Christmas last year, that was best thing anyone has ever gotten.”
“Really?” I asked, feeling even guiltier. I didn’t want Mrs. Walter to be mad at me for getting her son a better gift then she could afford.
Alex nodded his head. “Flying to New York is going to be so fun.”
I finally giggled. “What’s so fun about flying?”
“I don’t know,” Alex said, grinning at me. “I always thought it would be fun.”
My smile dropped. “You’ve never been on a plane before?”
“Nope.”
“Don’t you guys ever go on vacation?” I asked.
“Yeah, we go camping all the time. Oh, and last year my parents saved up enough money to go to Florida for their twenty-first anniversary, but they drove down.”
At the moment, I felt unbelievably spoiled. Back home in New York, when it got really cold, my mother would take me to Miami for the weekend to soak up some sun. I never even considered Florida a vacation.
“Why? Where did your family go on vacation?” Alex asked me.
For a second I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to tell Alex that I had been all over Europe, South America, and even China.
“Oh, you know, just around,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.
“Oh, come on. Tell me,” Alex said and elbowed me in the side. When I didn’t answer, he frowned. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I guess I just feel awkward. I didn’t know this was going to be such a big deal. Everyone seemed kind of jealous.” And I don’t know how to act around you anymore, I wanted to add, but I kept my mouth shut.
“Jackie,” Alex responded, staring at me seriously, “what you did for Danny was thoughtful, and sure, some people are probably jealous, but that’s not a bad thing.”
“You sure?” I asked, looking up at him.
“Yup,” he said. “It also means that I expect something cool for Christmas.”
I laughed. “And what would that be?”
“Just a Darth Vader helmet, dual signature edition.”
“What’s that?”
“Nerd shit,” he said with a laugh. “And only one of the most expensive pieces of Star Wars memorabilia in the world.”
“Well, it sounds like you’ll have to be awfully nice to me.”
“How about I start by taking you somewhere fun tonight?”
My heart almost burst from my chest. He didn’t mean like on a date, did he? “Where?” I finally asked him, not bothering to meet his eyes. Instead, I concentrated on my anatomy notebook, flipping to a blank page and writing the date in the right-hand corner.
He paused at this. “I know someone who’s having a party tonight,” Alex said, trying to sound casual. “We should go together.” When he saw the hesitation on my face, he added, “You know, as friends.”
I thought that hearing those last few words would help me relax around him, but when my stomach dipped, I realized that maybe that wasn’t what I wanted after all. What if I just needed to give Alex a chance?
I was about to say yes, that I would go with him, but there was something about the way he was avoiding my gaze that made me suspicious. “Whose party is it?” I said instead.
“Mary’s,” he said in a rush. “But I thought that if you told me what she said, we could work everything out.”
I shook my head. “Sorry, Alex, but no.” Maybe I needed to stop thinking of all the bad things that would happen if there was something more between Alex and me, maybe I needed to give him a chance, but I wouldn’t do it at her party. Not after what she’d said, how she’d hurt me. There was nothing Alex could do to get me to go.
“Please, Jackie? I don’t get why you’re making such a big deal out of this.”