KDBookOnline
Share Us
“Never,” I said, shoving the paper back in my bag.
Wilson shook his head. “I’ve never known you to be chickenshit.”
“Wilson!” I said, smacking his chest. “What would the town council think if they heard that language? You’ll never be citizen of the year again.”
“I’d cuss enough to make the devil blush if it meant you’d show Theo that sketch.”
I tugged his arm. “Come on, we’re already late.”
When Wilson and I opened the door, the rest of the class stared at us from their usual seats. Theo stood at the front of the room, watching us as well. I made a point to lock eyes with him and smirk. The creases on his forehead melted.
That smirk cost me every ounce of my limited social graces. Luckily, Wilson acted like a shield, nodding hello to everyone as I trailed him to the back table.
“All right, y’all,” Theo said, clapping his hands. “Now that we’re all here, let’s start by showing the sketches you did for homework. Who wants to go first?”
Wilson elbowed me in the ribs. I elbowed him back hard enough to shift his body on the stool. He shook his head and centered himself.
Gladys scooted her walker toward Theo when no one else volunteered. She hacked some phlegm from her throat and pulled a sheet of paper from the little basket attached to her scoot ’n sit. She wiggled closer and held out her elbow for Theoto hold. “Get a good grip,” she said, flashing him a worn smile. “I’m better on my back than my feet.”
The other members of Theo’s Fan Club snickered, and he blushed an adorable pink. Whenever young women flirted with him, which let’s face it, happened all the time, he ignored them. But these old biddies made his cheeks burn every class. I sometimes wondered if he could make himself blush at will. A small gift for the women who looked forward to seeing him all week. It’s exactly the kind of thing Theo would do. And one of the million reasons why I couldn’t find it in me to stop wanting him.
“If you’re not showing that sketch, what are you showing?” Wilson whispered as Gladys shared a rather phallic looking still life of a vegetable garden.
“One of Chris,” I whispered back.
“Lovely. Can I see it?”
I pulled out the sketch I’d done of my brother and slid it to Wilson. He picked it up and ripped it in two. Gladys stopped mid-sentence and everyone but Esther turned in their seats to stare at us.
“Oops,” Wilson said, and then proceeded to tear the two halves in half again.
“If you’re done, Gladys,” Esther shouted. “I’ll go next.”
Gladys wasn’t, but she nodded and shuffled back to her chair as Esther groaned out of her seat with the grace of a front loader lifting a dumpster.
“Wilson,” I whisper yelled once everyone had turned their attention back to the front. “I thought we were friends.”
“We are,” Wilson said, his eyes twinkling with mischief. “Sometimes we need our friends to nudge us in the right direction when we’re scared.”
“I’m not scared.”
Wilson shrugged. “Hurt, then. Embarrassed. Whatever negative emotion you choose that’s keeping you from showing that picture.”
I glared at him, unwilling to admit it was all of the above, and turned my attention to Esther, who’d made a decent attempt at a self-portrait. When Esther finished, we all clapped and Wilson raised his hand.
“You’re up, Mr. Wilson,” Theo said with a smile.
“Oh no,” Wilson said. “I forgot to do the assignment, but my friend Poppy here is ready to present hers.”
Really, Wilson? He couldn’t even let me sit in abject panic until everyone else had gone before I made a fool of myself. More likely he’d figured I’d realize I could make another sketch of Chris while everyone went before me.
“You’re evil,” I hissed before takingthesketch from my messenger bag. Wilson smiled like I’d given him the greatest compliment on Earth and made little shooing motions with his hands.
I pressed the sketch to my chest to hide it and purposefully stopped before I reached Theo. He’d have to walk past me to see it, but everyone else had an up-close view. I turned the sketch to face them, but didn’t say anything.
Theo started to walk forward, but Mrs. Adams held out her hand to stop him. “If she wanted you to see it, she’d have walked closer.”
“He should see it,” Wilson shouted from the back.