Circles

Chapter Twelve

         “Wake up!” Liz shouts.

            I sit up and rub the sleep from my eyes. “What’s going on?”

            “We have to go eat breakfast so we can go shopping. We are going to be doing another group activity this afternoon, so we have to hurry up and get back.”

            “I’m not really hungry. We can go now if you’re ready,” I say.

            “Alright, get dressed. I’ll be downstairs.”

            “Okay,” I say. I throw on a sweatshirt and jeans and head downstairs.

            I don’t see Liz anywhere. “Liz?”

            “She’s in Cody’s room,” Mike answers.

            “Um, okay, thanks.” I walk down the hallway to Cody’s room and knock on the door. No one answers, but I hear movement inside. “Liz?” I say cautiously. No response. I open the door slowly and quietly to see Cody and Liz making out on his bed. “Liz!”

            It is not until then that they notice my presence in the room. Liz turns to face me. “Sorry, I’m ready now, let’s go,” she says, then turns to Cody and says “See you later,” with a small smile. He smiles back at her and squeezes her hand. We walk out of the room and out the front door to head for the bus stop.

            “What was that all about?” I ask.

            “What do you mean?”

            “I didn’t know you guys were dating,” I say, vaguely hurt that she didn’t tell me.

            “Dating? No, Alex. It was just a kiss.”

            “That was not just a kiss.”

            “Well, for right now, that’s all it is,” she says, mildly irritated.

            “Whatever,” I respond. We arrive at the bus stop and get on board. I walk back to the seat I sat in yesterday with Matthew.

            “Why are we sitting back here?” Liz asks.

            “I don’t know. I just like it back here.”

            “Okay.”

            We ride to the clothes store in silence. When we get there, we’re the last ones off the bus. Liz leads the way inside and immediately starts pulling stuff off the racks for me to try on.

            “Jeez, don’t grab so much,” I say. “I don’t have enough money.” Once a month, everyone in each Circle gets $30 sent to them. Everything in every store is only one dollar, but it’s still the beginning of October, and I need to make my money last.

            “Don’t worry, I can help pay too,” Liz answers. “Here, try these on,” she says, handing me a purple skirt, a white long sleeved holey sweater with a purple tank top to go underneath, a powder blue dress, and a pair of dark blue ripped skinny jeans.

            “Okay, go sit in the viewing area.”

            “Alright. Try the skirt on first,” she suggests.

            I get into the dressing room and pull on the skirt. I put on the sweater and tank top as well, assuming it was intended to be an outfit. Once I have it on, I fix my hair with my hands and go out to Liz.