Operation Beautiful

Chapter 35: valentine's day part one: a verbal thrashing

Chapter 35: valentine's day part one: a verbal thrashing

I pull the note out of my pocket one more time and take a look at it. I’m crazy. I’m thoroughly and completely crazy. Maybe it’s because I’ve been waking up at two every morning to check Emmaleigh these past few days. Maybe it’s because I want to turn back the clock to when the biggest problem concerning Em was whether or note she wrote these notes.

I found it on my bedside table last night. The note I peeled off the locker that day I tutored Emma. The day Matt’s parents left and she ended up in the hospital. I look on the back.

Inside locker 357

When I get there the locker is empty. Not even a combination lock attached. I swing it open. A small green post-it is sitting there, waiting. Do I really want to do this again?

Hey, I scribble. You left a note on my locker. I guess this is kinda like a Secret Santa, huh?. I don’t want Jessica to know it’s me. I just want...I don’t know. I don’t even know. How are you?

I flip the note over to write down where I want my answer, but words are already there.

Come back tomorrow at the break.

***

“What’s up?” Matt asks me during break. We’re leaning against a tree in one of the little grassy expanses between two of the school buildings.

“I got myself caught up in that note thing again?”

“What with Jessica?” Matt asks, annoyed. “Why the hell would you pull a stunt like that?”

“She doesn’t know it’s me,” I reassure him. “Besides, you know I don’t like her.”

“What about Emma?”

I turn to look at him, unsure of what to say. “What about her?”

“Do you like her?”

Yes. But I can’t exactly say anything. I mean, she has had a crush on him for a while, right? I wouldn’t want her to lose Matt because of me. I bite back a sigh. I now understand the American term ‘sucks.’ “Not really. I think you two make a good couple.”

“Cut the bull,” Matt says. “You’ve seen the girls I hang out with. How could you say Emmaleigh and I even make a couple, let alone a good one?”

This is true. The most mellow girl Matt’s every dated was Clarice, and she’s a lot more outspoken than Em is. “I don’t know. You guys...” I stop myself before the ridiculously girlish phrase ‘look good together’ can pop out of my mouth. “Whatever,” I say. “I just don’t like her, okay?”

“That sucks,” Matt says. “Because I think--” the bell cuts him off.

“I should go,” I say. Because if he say he thinks Emma and I should be together, I may end up banging my head into a wall in frustration.

“Corey!” Christa yells joyously as I walk into third period. Of course. She has French with me.

“What?” I snap.

“I’m sorry,” she says, laying a hand on my shoulder. I resist the urge to flip it off. “I heard about your fight with Trevor,” she stage whispers. Now, I’m not like Haley. I can’t lie smoothly to the world and get away with it. The phrase ‘What fight?’ followed by a light chuckle is not something I can manage.

“What fight?” The words come out more shakily than I thought. I knew taking the high road was a bad idea.

“How does it feel that Haley chose him over you?”