Chapter Seven

I had the strangest dream last night. It had Alexander with it, so of course it was a dream. We were actually talking, and enjoying each other’s company without some stupid history project in the way of us. It was bliss. But then Charlie showed up, and he sat in between the two of us and he kept cracking jokes and being his hilariously awesome self, and it turned out to be a total nightmare.
Damien was outside in his car. I didn’t even realize it until I started to get ready for school. This rushed me a lot, so I looked like complete crap when I left the house.
“How long were you standing here?” I asked, getting into his car.
He shrugged. “Since, like, six or something.”
“And you didn’t bother to call me to tell me to come out or anything in all that time?” I asked.
He shrugged again.
I didn’t bring it up again, and Damien drove.
Romander gave us a pop quiz in Calculus. We turned in our essays in Whitson, and Damien still didn’t talk to me. Even at brunch, he took me straight to the library and started to read and didn’t say a word at all.
I saw Alexander on the other side of the library again. I was peering at him from over the top of my book.
He looked at me. I quickly ducked and hid behind my book.
When I looked back up, Alexander was standing right above me. I looked over at Damien, who seemed to not even notice he was there.
“Uh, hi, Paige,” Alexander said.
“Oh. Um. Hi.”
“I don’t really have anyone to hang out with,” he said. “And I was just wondering if you’d like to just, you know, walk around or something and talk for a bit?”
I must’ve been dreaming. Not only did he acknowledge my existence, but he also wanted me to hang out with him. Me. With him.
The first thing I did was look at Damien. He was there. This meant this was real. Not some sort of wacky daydream.
“Oh, wait,” he said. “Am I interrupting something between you two?”
“No!” I said, a little too quickly. “Not at all! I’d love to hang out with you.”
He smiled at me. “Actually, maybe at lunch since the bell is about to ring. I should’ve asked you earlier, huh?”
“I guess,” I said, a little uplifted that he said he should’ve asked me earlier, but a little disappointed that he wanted to wait until lunch.
It was pretty spot on. The bell rang right there. I sighed, and proceeded to History. To my surprise, I actually walked with Alexander to History.
“Hey, where’s Chrissy?” I asked.
“Oh, she had some extra cheerleading practice or something.”
“Sounds like fun,” I said, laughing slightly.
But Chrissy obviously wasn’t at her extra cheerleading practice anymore, because I saw her in front of our history classroom. Standing. Waiting for Alexander.
“Hey, Great!” she said.
“Oh, hi.”
“And… Paige.”
I didn’t say anything, and smiled.
“You know, Great,” she started, “I have to turn in my alternate history assignment today since I wasn’t there when he assigned the original one.”
“I see,” he responded.
I didn’t sit next to the Great in history, Chrissy did, and whenever I caught a glance at the two of them I could always see her flirting with him. I didn’t see what Chrissy could possibly like about him. I mean, she didn’t look like a girl who particularly read a lot of books like the Great did.
It didn’t really bother me all that much that Chrissy probably could have most likely has a major crush on Alexander, the part I didn’t like was that Alexander probably could have most likely like her back.
I got sick of it, and was glad to be on my way to Chemistry.
You would think having Damien sit next to you in Chemistry would be an improvement from watching the guy you like and the girl you despise flirt with each other, but actually, it really wasn’t. He continued to be quiet around me. I could barely stand it anymore; I decided to talk to him once the class ended.
“Damien,” I started, “what is up?”
He looked at me, his expression slightly angry. “Nothing.”
I frowned. “Don’t give me that, I know something’s up. You’ve been acting really moody and stuff lately.”
He sighed. “I know. I’m really sorry about that. I haven’t had the best couple of days, and I really was trying my best to hide the fact I was in a sort of crappy mood. I apologize, Paige.” He smiled.
I smiled back. “So you okay?”
He patted my back. “Yeah, don’t worry about it. I’m all right.”
His eyes looked sort of sullen, and his expression seemed to be a fake-happy, but I didn’t want to pressure him into telling me anything, so I just smiled at him.
Instead of him buying me lunch, I actually bought it myself using money I used from work. I felt a bit proud of myself, and I was relieved to hear Damien laugh when I told him.
“So why aren’t you with the Great?” Damien asked, biting into a chicken nugget.
“I have a feeling he’s with Chrissy.”
“And why is that?”
“I think they might like each other.”
“What makes you say that?”
I shrugged. “They were flirting a lot and stuff in History. And I can just see it, they like each other.”
He laughed at me, which I didn’t appreciate very much. “How can you tell if someone likes someone else?”
“Because I see it in a lot of other people all the time. I can just never tell if someone likes me, because I don’t get that a lot.”
He smirked at me. “I know someone who likes you.”
“Yeah, so do I.”
His eyes widened. “Do you? How’d you find out?”
“Katie told me. It’s sort of hard for me to believe, but yeah. I didn’t think I’d be Charlie’s kind of girl.”
“Oh, I see. Charlie is really great, though.”
“He is, I’ve seen him around Katie all the time, but I’m really unsure because I like Alexander.”
“But Alexander likes Chrissy.”
I looked at him. “Well, then I’m going to try to break ‘em up.”
“How do you plan on doing this?”
I frowned at him. “You ask way too many questions.”
“Is that a problem?”
“No, but… hey, that was another one!”
“But seriously, how do you plan on breaking up the Great and Chrissy?”
“I’ve just got to show Chrissy I’m not a girl to mess with when it comes to guys I like.”
“You’re not?”
“Stop asking questions!”
I was so relieved Damien was no longer quiet, but by the time we finished eating we didn’t get any time to go to the library since it was already time for 5th period. I proceeded to Drama.
We were watching a movie. Oklahoma. I didn’t particularly like watching movies and plays in drama. I mean, they’re interesting and all, but you don’t get to do anything, and it’s just sort of like you’re sitting there, watching a screen with moving pictures and sounds. It’s not you who is doing the acting, and so I was quite bored in that class once we started the movie.
For some strange odd reason, I didn’t feel like going to work today. I was thinking about it the entire way to work in Damien’s car. The only reason I could think of was that I didn’t want to act all odd in front of Charlie. Now that Damien was feeling better, and it wasn’t like I hated work, the only thing keeping me from enjoying work today was the fear of Charlie.
While zoning the isles, I saw Katie out of the break room for the first time.
“Paige!” She screamed, running up to me.
“Yeah?”
“Charlie wants to ask you out today!”
I frowned. I had no response.
“Are you going to say yes?” she exclaimed.
“I-I don’t know…” I said.
“Well, you have to. I don’t like seeing Charlie boy sad. He was sad about Jessica, and now I don’t want to see him sad about Paige-ica.”
I could tell she was trying to rhyme like a little kid, which I thought was a bit weird for someone for her age.
“Don’t worry about anything, Katie. Shouldn’t you be working? And where’s Angela?”
“Angela girl is working and Katie girl is going to go take her break!” This officially marked Katie’s childish behavior: talking in third person.
“Well,” I started, “Katie girl shouldn’t be bothering me right now, since I’m trying to get some work done.”
Katie pouted in that adolescent way, and started using her immature voice.
“You gots to like Charlie boy, ‘kay? Because Charlie boy is awesome!” She averted her eyes in a millisecond, as if distracted by something fairly quickly. “Hi, Damien kid!”
Damien smiled. “Hey, Katie. Off for your break again?”
“YAY! Damien kid did not yell at me like he did yesterday!”
“Hey, Katie girl, sorry ‘bout that. We’re cool right?”
“Damien kid, we would be cool if we were in a burning building in the middle of the Sahara Desert.”
He smiled, and winked at her.
“I loves you, Damien kid!” she exclaimed.
“Haha, cool. I’ll catch you in the break room in a bit, ‘kay, Katie girl?”
“Yes, sir, Mister Damien kid, sir.”
And Katie headed off towards the break room.
“Hey, Damien, I’ll just check those last two isles and then head on over for my break, okay?” I asked once Katie was out of sight.
“Sure, that’s fine.”
The two isles finished fairly quickly because thankfully everything was in order. I walked toward the break room.
Katie was in there, sitting down with Charlie.
“Hey, guys,” I said a little nervously. I didn’t know if Charlie knew that I knew that he liked me, but I didn’t intend to find out.
“Hi, Paige,” Charlie said, smiling friendlily.
“Hi.”
“Yo, Paige, what is up?” Katie said, laughing.
Charlie turned to her. “Katie girl, my love, you’ve got to learn to calm down a tad.”
“Charlie, no!” she said in her kid voice.
“Yes, Katie girl, yes! Do it for Charlie boy?”
She looked down. “I do it for Charlie boy.”
He put his finger on her chin and lifted her head up. “That’s my Katie girl.”
She smiled. “Charlie!”
She hugged him, which seemed to catch him by surprise.
“Whoa, Katie girl. What did I say about calming down a tad?”
“Oh right.” She let go. “You’re silly.”
“As are you.”
She giggled.
If you had looked at them from a distance, and if you didn’t have the knowledge that Charlie liked me, you would think that Charlie and Katie were like a new couple sort of thing. It was kind of cute, but you had to wonder why they acted like this if they were just friends.
Damien walked into the room, looking more serious than the rest of us.
“Charlie, are you flirting with Katie again?” Damien said, smiling.
Charlie laughed. “Of course, Damien, I always do that on my breaks.”
“Aha. Just don’t do something that shouldn’t be done in a Wal-mart break room, okay?”
He laughed again. “Count on it, Damien. You know who I like anyway.”
I felt a little awkward.
“Oh! Oh! Oh!” Katie exclaimed, jumping up and down in her seat. “I know who Charlie boy likes!”
“You shush,” Charlie told her. “You told Damien kid, and I don’t appreciate that, so now you’ve got to shush! I trusted you!”
“I’m sorry, Charlie boy,” she said.
“Don’t worry ‘bout it, Katie girl,” he said. “As long as you didn’t tell her don’t worry about it.”
She smiled at him nervously.
Angela soon walked in. She smiled at everyone sweetly before whispering to Katie, “Katie, come outside for a second.”
And they left.
“So Charlie,” Damien started, “how has—” but he was interrupted by Katie and Angela coming back into the room.
Angela whispered something to Damien, and he said a little loudly, “Oh, shit, are you serious?” Angela nodded.
The three of them turned to Charlie and me. “Uh, it seems a little problem has sprung up in the other end of the store,” Damien said. “I think the three of us are just going to check it out.”
“I’ll come with you guys,” Charlie said, half getting out of his seat.
“Charlie boy, sit!” Katie ordered.
“Katie, if there’s some sort of problem, then let me help.”
“No, Charlie boy!” she said, even more loudly. “You’re always telling me what to do, and I always listen to you! I’m not your freaking dog, you know? So for once, when I tell you to do something, will you just trust me and sit the heck down!”
Charlie looked a bit stunned by Katie’s sudden authority, and sat immediately.
“Thank you, Charlie boy!”
And then all three of them left the room.
I sat there. Silent. I could feel Charlie looking at me, but I was trying to avoid his eyes by looking the other way.
“So…” he finally said.
I looked at him. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
More silence.
“So are you sure you don’t like Katie?” I asked, still feeling a bit awkward being in a room alone with him.
“Katie? Nah. I love her a lot, but not in that kind of way. She’s like a little sister to me sometimes, you know? Even though we’re like the same age, I think she was dropped on her head as a child or something.”
He laughed, and I laughed back, nervously.
“You know, just looking at you two it seems like you guys are a couple.”
He laughed again. “We just act like that sometimes. Katie is very sweet, but I don’t like her in that way. I think I told you, I like someone else.”
And suddenly I started to doubt that I was the one he liked. Maybe he hadn’t gotten over Jessica or something. But I had a feeling Katie wasn’t telling me the truth. I mean, she said a bunch of crazy things all the time.
“Katie knows who you like?” I asked.
He smiled. “Unfortunately, yes. Katie does know who I like.”
“And why is that unfortunately?”
“Well, she’s the one who told Damien, you see? And she sort of told everyone, too. She swore that she didn’t tell the actual girl, and I believe her on that one. But I don’t like it when she spreads around my secrets.”
“So everyone but this girl you like knows?”
“Yes, everyone but her.”
“Well, I don’t know,” I lied.
“Oh.”
“How come I don’t know?”
More silence.
“Because you’re the girl.”
More silence.
“I’m sorry?”
“No, just forget it.”
More silence.
“Did you just tell me you liked me?”
“Did I?”
More silence.
“Well,” Charlie said, “this is a tad bit awkward.”
“Is it?” I said, slightly sarcastically. “I hadn’t noticed.”
He smiled, but then turned away from me again.
“I guess I kind of like you, too,” I said, but the second after I said it, I realized what I had said.
“Pardon?”
“Huh? Oh, nothing.”
“No, tell me what you said,” he persisted.
“Nothing. Really.” It was awkward enough saying it once, but I felt even weirder since I didn’t even know if that sentence was true or not.
“Do you like me?”
“Um.”
“I think you said you liked me.”
“Did I really?”
“Did you?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Well, I like you.”
“I’ve heard.”
He smiled at me. “Do you want to, you know, go out some time or something?”
“Uh, sure I guess.”
His grin grew. “Wow. Thank you.”
I smiled back, a little nervously. “Sure, Charlie.”
The door slammed open, and Katie came barging in. “She said yes! Charlie boy is a happy boy!”
“Katie, were you listening outside?” Charlie exclaimed, now standing up.
“Don’t yell at me, Charlie boy,” she said, pouting.
He sighed.
“Charlie boy is angry with me?” she said, childish voice intact.
He smiled at her. “Never, Katie girl.”
She smiled back. “Yay for Charlie boy! And yay for Mrs. Charlie boy!”
I laughed. Sometimes Katie could be kind of annoying, and sometimes she could just be plain amusing. This was one of those times where she was just funny.
Charlie stuffed his hands in his pockets and smiled first at Katie and then at me. “Maybe I’ve got to get to work.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Me, too.”
Smiling at Charlie felt a little awkward at first, but then I had to go back to the Electronics department right away.
“So,” Damien said, walking up to me, huge grin on his face.
“What’re you smiling about?” I asked, smiling myself.
“I hear you’re going out with Charlie,” he said.
“How could you possibly have heard that?” I asked, but then I knew.
“Katie,” the two of us said at the same time, and then we laughed.
“Yeah,” Damien said. “She was, like, listening outside the door, just so you know.”
“I noticed,” I laughed. “She came running into the room the second I said yes.”
He shrugged. “That’s Katie for you.”
I laughed, and started to walk around the isles with Damien.
“So what about the Great?” he asked.
“What about him?”
“I thought you were madly in love with him?”
“I’m not so sure about that anymore,” I laughed.
Damien shrugged. “I guess this just goes to show you, you never know who you’re going to end up with.”
“You can never know anything, Damien,” I told him. “Everything is unpredictable. You see, things are just always and constantly changing.”