Part 13 (1/2)
Chapter thirteen.
Josh is my boyfriend.
Josh is my boyfriend.
It's a miracle that after only a single weekend, we are a real-life, not-just-in-my-dreams couple. Every morning, he arrives at my door before Kurt so that we can have a few minutes alone before breakfast. And then he joins us in the cafeteria. I think, maybe, he needed rea.s.surance that he wouldn't be sitting at an empty table. It's strange to realize that Josh detached Josh, composed Josh worries about these things, too.
It might even explain the detachment.
We're inseparable until our schedules split apart in fifth period. But we reunite after school, and I walk him to detention. If Kurt is the expert of roads less travelled, Josh is the expert of rooms long forgotten. All day long, he sneaks me into s.p.a.ces that are cramped and hidden and neglected, and we kiss through the darkness until the warning bells ring.
I work on homework while he's in detention, and when it ends, we all have dinner in the cafeteria. And then we re-separate from Kurt. We leave campus for the privacy that our dormitory no longer allows. It means that I usually visit the Treehouse twice once with Kurt in the afternoon and once with Josh in the evening. We spend our nights in liplocks, sweet and earnest, while fumbling sublimely around things less innocent.
When Josh dated Rashmi, they were notorious for their public displays of affection. It was torturous. I was both envious and repulsed. With me, he's quiet. He holds my hand and steals my kisses, but he saves most of his affection for when we're alone. I think he understands that I don't enjoy drawing attention myself. I also think, perhaps, he's placed a higher value on his own privacy.
Even so, our relations.h.i.+p hasn't escaped the notice of our cla.s.smates. But I'm happy. Despite my shyness, I still want to parade him in front of the entire school. I want to shout, Look! Look at this perfect boy who wants to hold my hand!
On Friday, Hattie startles us from behind in the hall. ”So you're the guy who busted my sister's nose. Either you have the best aim or the worst. Which is it?”
”Pleasure to meet you,” Josh says.
”Whatever. Isla, I need forty-six euros.”
”Why?” I touch my nose self-consciously.
”Because I want to buy a weasel skull and put it on this one girl's pillow.”
I try not to sigh. I'm not successful.
”She's my friend,” Hattie says.
”No,” I say.
”Ugh, fine. Maman.”
We watch her stalk away. ”Was she for real?” Josh asks.
”I'm never sure.”
He shakes his head, mystified. ”Your older sister isn't like that, is she? We had studio art together my freshman year. She always seemed cool-”
”She is.”
”Yeah. She always seemed like...she had things figured out. Like she had the motivation and confidence to do anything.”
I smile. ”That's Gen, all right. Last summer? She shaved her head and came out as bi. My parents really like her new girlfriend. But my mother is p.i.s.sed about her hair.”
Josh laughs. When I drop him off at detention that afternoon, I run into another opinionated force. The head of school stops me. ”I'd be concerned,” she says, ”but Monsieur Wa.s.serstein has been remarkably punctual, as of late. You must be the reason.”
I'm not sure how to respond.
The head looks down at me through her gla.s.ses, which are perched on the tip of her nose. ”You're a bright girl. Be careful there.” And then she strides away.
I don't appreciate her tone. Or her presumption that hormones might be getting in the way of my intelligence. Is she afraid that Josh's att.i.tude will rub off on me? That I'll stop caring about my education? Well, she can take her concern and shove it up her a.s.s. But when I open my bedroom door a few hours later, Josh is also unusually cross.
”It backfired,” he says. ”You know that whole detention-on-the-Sabbath idea? I asked the head about it, and she went straight to my parents.”
I wince.
”Yeah. And even though this time the excuse is in theory legitimate, my parents agreed that I'm being impudent, and now I have two additional weeks of detention.”
I'm shocked. ”Two weeks? But that means-”
”Detention through the end of October.”
”That's insane! What the h.e.l.l is the head's problem?”
He kicks off his shoes and flops onto my bed. ”Welcome to the latest attempt at trying to get me to take this school more seriously.”
”I'm sorry. The Sabbath thing was my idea. My stupid, stupid-”
”Hey.” Josh sits up on his elbows. ”Only because I didn't think of it first.”
There's a commotion in the hallway. ”Look who's on Izla's bed,” Mike says. ”Give us a show, girlie girl! Give us a sneak peek.”
Emily hoots. ”Is Kurt jealous?”
Dave pushes his s.h.a.ggy hair away from his eyes. ”Nah. They're getting ready for a threesome.”
I want to punch them all in the throat. But Josh is staring down Mike. ”Her name is Eye-la. It must be difficult to remember when your brain is smaller than your p.e.n.i.s. Which, rumour has it, isn't that big in the first place.”
”f.u.c.k you, Wa.s.serstein.”
”Good one.”
The stairwell door clangs open, and Sanjita appears behind them. Her gaze is fixed on something ahead in the lobby. It's an unnatural position that tells me she already knows this is my room. ”Come on, Mike.” She tugs on his arm. ”I'm hungry.”
He's still puffed up like an angry baby owl. He points a finger at Josh. ”I'll get you.”
They swagger away, and Josh scowls at the doorway with supreme irritation. ”Has there ever been an emptier threat?”
”What is with people today?”
”I don't know. But I hate them. I hate everyone in the world but you.”
”And Kurt.”