"I've given you all several tools to help identify the minerals, "Mrs. Meekum said, pacing in front of the chalkboard. "If you've been paying attention for the past week, you should have no problem filling out the worksheet. You have until the end of class."
I stared at the assortment of minerals in front of me. I hadn't been paying attention, but I knew what most of them were. Next to me, Milo Kowalski was biting into a piece of pyrite.
"I guess they don't call it fool's gold for nothing," I said with a small smile.
Milo shrugged. "You can't blame me for trying." He set down the pyrite and started scratching a nail into a block of calcite.
I'd been interacting a lot with Milo lately. I'd joined him at his table in chemistry lab and I ate lunch with him most days. I guess you could say we were becoming friends, which was nice, because I'd lost all of mine. My social standing had fallen pretty quickly with the way I had been acting and also because of some stupid rumors Wyatt was spreading about me, something about how I had been raised by nuns. It probably didn't help that I was hanging out with Milo, but I didn't care. For the most part, I had stopped being concerned about what everybody else thought of me.
"So, has Frog texted you yet?" Milo asked, rubbing some graphite on a piece of paper.
"No," I grumbled, a little irked that Milo kept asking me this question. "And honestly, I don't think he's ever going to."
Milo shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense! Frog was crazy about you."
I looked over at Milo. "Really?"
His eyebrows shot up. "Oh, yeah. Couldn't you tell?"
I shrugged. "I didn't want to assume…" I trailed off. In fact, I had suspected that he liked me, but lately I had rationalized that he was just being nice.
"Well, you should have assumed," Milo said. "Frog would have done anything for you."
I smiled, oddly comforted by Milo's assertions. So Frog had cared about me. "Maybe he doesn't feel that way anymore," I said sullenly, flicking a broken piece of mica off of the table.
Milo snorted. "I doubt it. Maybe you did something to scare him off."
I shrank in my chair a little bit. Had I scared him off? I thought. Was my kiss so bad that he never wanted to talk to me again?
Milo glanced at me with curiosity. "Did something happen with you two?"
"I, um, kissed him," I muttered.
"What?" Milo exclaimed loudly, drawing several looks from our classmates.
"Shhh!" I hissed. "It wasn't really a big deal," I said quietly, looking around to make sure no one was listening. "It was just a small peck on the lips, it wasn't like I threw him against the wall or anything." I felt the heat rise in my cheeks. It had, in fact, been a pretty big deal. Even though the kiss had been quick, I could still remember the rush of pleasant emotions I had felt.
"Well, no wonder he's not talking to you," Milo said, staring at me. "You probably blew his mind! He probably doesn't know what to say to you!"
I inclined my head. That did make a little sense. And I had left him a plethora of texts and voice messages. Maybe I had overwhelmed him.
"I'm telling you, Kayla, you need to just text him," Milo urged. "Just a simple "hello," or something. Break the ice. Ease him into it. Guys like us aren't used to getting any action, so when it happens, it kind of overloads our systems."
I nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe I will."
*****
I pressed through the crowd of students streaming out of the front doors. School had just ended and everyone was eager to get to their cars or on the buses to get out of the cold. I had left my volleyball uniform in my truck, and I just needed to get it before practice started. I wove my way around a group of football players and nearly ran into Wyatt and Miranda, who were making out at the top of the steps. Just seeing their mouths interlocked and Wyatt's hands running all over my former friend made me want to throw up. I quickly turned away and saw something that filled me with an entirely different kind of nausea.
At the bottom of the steps stood a tall man with dark hair and a self-assured smile. Ten years had only given him a few gray hairs and some wrinkles around his golden brown eyes. Eyes that were the same color as mine.
"Dad?" I gasped, feeling all the air go out of me, as if someone had just punched me in the stomach. He saw me then. His sickening smile deepened and he walked confidently up to me.
"Kayla! I can't believe it! Look at you! You're all grown up!" He put his arms out as if he was going to hug me, but I stepped back.
"Stay away from me." I said evenly.
My dad's face only fell for a second. "Come on, pumpkin, is that the way to greet your father after all this time?"
"Kayla, is this your dad?"
I turned around and found Miranda staring at me.
"I thought he was dead!" She exclaimed.
My dad gave Miranda an odd look. "Dead, in prison, it's all about the same," he said with a shrug.
"Prison?" Miranda screeched.
"You stay out of this," I warned.
"Are you kidding?" Miranda replied, a sneer forming on her lips. "You've been lying all this time!"
I turned away. I didn't care to deal with Miranda at that moment. As I focused back on my dad, I noticed that a crowd of students had gathered around us.
"Kayla," my dad said, stepping closer, "I know I let you down, but I've spent the past ten years thinking about you and missing you."
"Maybe you should have spent that time thinking about the horrible choices you made," I responded fiercely.
My father was undeterred. "Now that I've been released, we can start over. I can make up for all the time I was gone."
He started to put his hand on my shoulder, but I pushed it away. "No! Leave me alone!" I yelled. "You ruined my life and I won't let you do it again!"
I pushed past him and ran to my truck. I didn't look back as I started it up and drove out of the parking lot. Fifteen minutes later I pulled in to the diner and ran inside. I found my mother at the front counter.
"Mom," I said, trying to keep the hysteria out of my voice, "I just saw dad."
Her eyes grew wide. "Sir, you'll have to excuse me," she said to the gentleman she had been helping. "I'll be with you in just a minute." She grabbed my arm and pulled me around to the other side of the counter, then led me into a small storage closet and shut the door behind us.
"Where did you see him?" She asked, frantically brushing my hair out of my face with her hands.
"He was at my school, just outside the entrance."
"Did he escape?"
"No, he's been released. At least, that's what he said."
My mother blew out a breath. "He spoke to you?"
"Yeah, he just wanted to reconnect, start over."
My mom rubbed her forehead. "I'm so sorry, Kayla. I should have realized he was going to get out soon. I was just hoping it wouldn't be until after you had gone to college.
I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to get rid of the chills. "Can't we do something to make him stay away?" I asked. "Get a restraining order or something?"
"I really don't know if we have the grounds to do that right now, but I'll find out." She closed her eyes for a moment, then shook her head vigorously, as if trying to expel the unpleasant feelings. "I have to get back to work, why don't you go home, honey?"
"No!" I nearly shouted. "I don't want to be there alone! I'll stay here and help out until closing."
My mom nodded and opened the door to the storage closet. She headed to the front while I went back to the kitchen to get started on the dishes. As I stacked the plates on the racks, I started to wonder why I had freaked out so much about seeing my dad. He hadn't seemed threatening or even imposing when I talked to him outside the school. Perhaps he had changed and really did want to start over with his daughter. Maybe I had been angry and disappointed with him for so long that I just expected him to be an awful person. I shook my head. He had fooled me before, I wasn't going to give him my trust until I was certain he was worthy of it.
Later that night, after I had closed down the diner with my mother and followed her home, I sat in my bed and thought about the bizarre and unfortunate events of the last several weeks. More and more, I just wanted to talk to Frog, even though I knew that wouldn't solve all my problems. I considered what Milo had said earlier that day, how maybe I had somehow inundated Frog with my actions and messages. I needed to be simple.
I grabbed my phone and quickly texted Frog before I could change my mind.
[Hi. How are you?]