Better Off

5

"If I have to hear another word about Thorne freaking Baxter, I'm going to cut my ears off."

I raise my eyebrows, taken aback. That's not normally the way Saige likes to start a conversation, but there's a first for everything, I guess.

"Why?" Emmie asks, taking a bite of a carrot. "You jealous that all the other girls are fussing over your man, Saigey?"

Saige rolls her eyes, clearly annoyed. "That's exactly my problem," she mutters. "All the girls in my home ec class would not shut up about Thorne. Thorne this and Thorne that; it's honestly so tiring, you know?"

"Can't relate," Emmie says, shrugging. "The boy's hot. Like, really hot. I wish I had classes with him. I'd get a free show every day."

I bite my lip, thinking about yesterday. Thorne sitting next to me in chemistry. The way he called me Sunshine. How he knew what an oxymoron was.

"You know," I speak up, shocking myself. "I have a class with him."

"What?" Emmie and Saige say at the same time, looking like they have very different opinions on this subject. Saige looks repulsed, like I just told her I ate a can of worms for breakfast. Emmie looks beyond excited, like a kid on Christmas morning.

"You lucky bitch!" Emmie exclaims, shaking her blonde head. "What's it like? What's he like? Where does he sit?"

"Uh . . . it's okay, I guess," I say. I'm not really sure how to explain what it's like having Thorne in my class. I don't even really know how I feel about it. "He's, um, Thorne? He sits next to me, actually."

"What?" Saige and Emmie practically scream, speaking in unison once again.

"He sits next to you?" By the way Saige's nose is wrinkled, I can tell she doesn't like this idea. I forgot how judgmental my friend can be.

"Well, yeah." I'm kind of nervous now. There's no way I'm telling them about the winks. Or the Sunshine thing. Or the way he told me my name was pretty. Part of me wants to keep this information to myself because I'm afraid of what they might say. The other half of me wants to keep this all to myself for selfish reasons. I don't want anyone else to know that Thorne Baxter has a nickname for me. I want that to be a secret shared only between the two of us for reasons I can't even begin to name, because I don't know myself.

"Oh my God!" Emmie cries. She's grinning so wide she looks like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. "Are you guys friends? Do you talk to each other?"

"Please, Em," Saige says icily before I have a chance to say anything. "This is Mia we're talking about. Of course she's not friends with someone like Thorne."

I can feel that weird twinge of pain flowing through my veins once again for the third time in two days. I can't stop myself from wondering what Saige means by this. Is it really so shocking that a boy like Thorne would dare to speak to a girl like me? If so, why? What about the thought is so crazy? Not that I can really talk. I was more or less thinking the same thing myself yesterday.