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CHAPTER TWENTY SIX " I DON'T HAVE TO "
BILLY TAPPED HER ON THE SHOULDER and she turned around confused. All he did was give her his signature cocky grin as if the Snow Ball had not happened at all. Dylan rolled her eyes and continued to pile her books into her locker.
He didn't get the hint and kept standing there, even taking it a step further and opened his mouth to talk to her.
"Cold shoulder, huh?" She kept staring into the dark metal of her locker. "I hear you and that guy are official now."
Dylan thought of Steve and she found herself having to hide a stupid smile. "Something like that."
"It'll never last," there was a thump as he leaned against the row of the lockers gave way to his weight. "Monogamy. It's not who you are. It's not who we are."
She shook her head. "You're seriously deranged."
"Look, Tommy's having a party," he continued without falter. "I wouldn't mind seeing you there."
Confused and slightly annoyed, Dylan slammed her locker and turned a corner. She hadn't forgotten what he said to her at the school dance and the sting hadn't lessened. Despite her feelings for him being somewhat shallow, she'd be the first to admit that, Dylan had mistakenly thought they both had a mutual respect for one another. But that had just been another instance of her being wrong.
For some reason, her being wrong made her chuckle to herself. That was her thing being wrong, especially about boys, and for a moment she could hear Barb's nagging voice "he's only going to use you Dylan, you're so naïve— have some self respect for once in your life," then Dylan would bark haughtily back about how Barb was just a bitter virgin and somehow they'd end up on their living room couch sharing a bowl of popcorn, watching a John Hughes film. Sometimes it was okay to be wrong.
Steve stopped her further down the hallway but before the exit. He put his hand on her shoulder and shot her an odd glance. "You know you look like a total loon laughing to yourself."
"Ha-ha," she mocked. "You ever think of doing stand-up?"
"So, uh, what was Billy talking to you about?"
Dylan laughed. "I like how casually you dropped that into the conversation. Wasn't like you were waiting to ask that for the last six minutes at all."
His arm dropped from her shoulder and he held his hands up in mock defence. "Hey, all I know is the bell rings. I leave Math. I walk down the hall. What do I see? Hargrove harassing my girlfriend."
"Girlfriend, hey?" She said with a slyness to her voice. "I don't remember you asking me."
He copied her expression. "I don't have to."
Though, seconds later Steve went back to serious. "But, really, what did Billy say to you?"
Dylan shook her head. "Nothing. He was just being a dick. The usual."
