Scorched

Chapter Five - Cafeteria

RAYMOND

“I can’t believe you are really leaving me,” Molly said dramatically as she sat down across from me in the lunchroom and set down her tray. She had her glossy black hair pulled up into a bun on the very top of her head. A pair of long beaded earrings danced around her neck as she glared at me. “I don’t know why you want to go to the stuffy old school anyway,” she huffed, picking up half of her grilled cheese.

I felt my heart sink a little bit. We’ve had this conversation at least half a dozen times. She kept giving me the same guilt trip for abandoning her. “It's my best chance at a scholarship,” I grumbled into my slice of pizza. Next fall I would be going to Blakemore Prep, and Molly would be finishing her senior year in the public high school. “And I’ll be earning a bunch of college credits in the process.”

Blakemore Prep was mostly for rich kids and nerds like me. Of course, it cost an arm and a leg, and even with a partial scholarship, my mom couldn’t afford the tuition. Which was why I was going to be working for my crazy aunt Morgan in West Texas over the summer.

“You do realize the hole in your logic… you are going to pay for a private school to avoid paying for college?” Molly chewed on her sandwich aggressively. “Why do you even need to go to college, Ray? You are going to be a famous writer. What do you need a degree for?”

“Back up plan,” I said. I was distracted by movement out of the corner of my eye. It was like my body was homed in on Jackson. I was immediately aware every time he entered a room. I turned my head and caught sight of him at a table on the far side of the cafeteria. He sat with a bunch of cool and popular kids at a crowded table. He was just lowering his long body onto a seat when Brooke Sawyer practically crawled into his lap.

I felt something ugly roll over in the pit of my stomach.

It was hard to label what exactly Brooke was. She wasn’t a cheerleader; she was way above that. She was small and petite with hair that was professionally cut and colored and styled. She had a little birthmark under her eye that somehow only made her look more sophisticated. She wore designer labels, drove a Porsche, and went on skiing vacations with her family. What kind of parent lets their teenage daughter drive a Porsche? She just oozed with money, self-confidence, and s*x appeal.

I watched as Jackson easily snaked an arm around her waist and laughed heartily at something she said. She slapped him lightly on the chest, and then left her hand resting on his pec. I was entranced by their interaction. Jackson looked so comfortable, and so at ease, as if it was nothing to have a girl come sit on your lap during lunch. He just reached around Brooke’s body and continued to feed himself fries and chat up his friends.

“Hey! Earth to Raymond!” Molly snapped her fingers in front of my face, pulling my attention back to her and my congealed slice of pizza.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

She discretely leaned back so that she could see what I had been staring at. She leaned forward again with a knowing look on her face. “You know…” she picked up her chocolate milk and waved it in the air. “There won’t be a Jackson Lockheart at Blakemore.”

I choked on the piece of cold pizza I’d been trying to swallow. After I coughed a few times, I swiped her chocolate milk out of her hand to wash the lump down my throat. I glanced back over at Jackson, only to find his green eyes looking straight at me. I could have sworn he even had a vague expression of concern on his face. I quickly looked away and swiped at my mouth with a paper napkin. “What has that got to do with anything?”

She gave me a sly look, “I’m just saying, you’ll miss us!”

“Sure, I’ll miss you,” I said. I wasn’t going to comment anything about how I felt about leaving Jackson. Given the fact that he was letting Brooke feed him grapes now, I had a feeling I had misread what had gone down at Martha’s. He was just being friendly, and I was acting like a freak. “Jackson’s got nothing to do with it.”

“Whatever you say, cowboy.” Molly laughed and took her milk back out of my hand. She stuck a straw in the carton and took a long slurp before she pointed at me. “You’ve got a milk mustache.”

JACKSON

I kept looking for an opportunity to talk to Ray throughout the day, but I was blocked at every turn. I thought about joining him at his table for lunch, but I got pulled over to my usual table by my so-called friends. I had barely sat down when Brooke landed in my lap.

“Hey Jackie, there are no more seats left, I can sit with you, right?” She gave me a pouty look.

I shrugged, “Whatever, knock yourself out.”

Brooke was complicated. Most people thought she was just a rich b***h, but there was a lot more to her than met the eye. She was smart and funny and had a killer sarcastic tongue. People flocked around her because she was rich and pretty, but very few people actually knew her. That mean girl was just a cover for a person who was really lonely and unhappy. She and I had dated a few times, but we both had our own reasons. For Brooke, it was a kind of twisted revenge on her parents, who clearly didn’t want their little princess dating a guy like me.

And for me? Occasionally dating random girls keeps the homophobic dogs off my scent.

There were a couple of openly gay students at Limbert High School. They had rainbow flags in their lockers and were always making political statements about their s****l orientation. They marched in the parades and posted their s**t all over social media. More power to them and whatever, but that wasn’t my scene. Maybe I was just a coward, but I didn’t feel like I needed to advertise my preferences all over the school. Lately I’ve been thinking that it's nobody’s business who I like.

I heard someone having a coughing fit, and my eyes immediately went to where Ray was sitting with his friend. I’d purposely chosen this seat so that I would be facing him. He looked up like he felt me staring at him and met my eyes for a second before he turned away quickly. My mouth quirked in a smile as I continued to gaze at him for a moment too long.

“So, you wanna come over tonight?” Brooke was playing with the collar of my shirt. I frowned down at her, suddenly realizing what this must have looked like to Ray. I pulled her hand off my shirt and put it firmly back in her lap.

“I have to work tonight, thanks anyway,” I told her shortly. I stood up and moved Brooke onto the seat I had been occupying. “I gotta go, you can have my seat.” I nodded to my friends and grabbed my backpack from the floor. I made my way through the maze of tables to the place where Ray was sitting with Molly. They were deep in conversation and didn’t notice me at first.

“Hey Raymond,” I said, pasting a smile on my face.

Both of them looked up at me with identical surprised expressions. Raymond’s face turned pink, and he looked half guilty as his eyes skittered away from me.

“I was wondering,” I said, fishing my cellphone out of my back pocket. “Could I get your number?”

He blinked at me in surprise. “Uh…” He made no move to take the phone from my hand.

Molly rolled her eyes and grabbed the phone from me. She quickly tapped in a number and saved it in my contacts before she handed it back to me. Raymond gave Molly a dirty look, but she only raised her eyebrows at him, as though she were challenging him. His mouth opened, but whatever he was going to say was cut off by the bell.

“Thanks,” I smiled at Molly as I shoved the phone back in my jeans. I turned to Ray and couldn’t resist reaching out to touch his shoulder. “I’ll catch up with you later, Ray.”