When the Bad Boy Isn't Bad

Chapter 27: Messenger

Fletcher left me alone after that incident in the hallway, but he did occasionally use Blaze as a messenger between us. Well, mostly to me, because I didn't care enough to respond to him. 

"Fletcher wants to know if there's any chance that the two of you could ever get back together," Blaze told me. We were in art class, and the two of us had started sitting together again, seeing as Brianna and Luke kind of left me as a third wheel most of the time now that they were dating.

I shook my head. "No chance at all. He and I are over. Besides, Charlotte and I swore off of bad boys, so even if there were a chance, there'd be no chance."

Blaze tilted his head at me, a confused look on his face. "You do realize that makes absolutely no sense, right?"

I laughed. "Which part, the swearing off bad boys? To put it simply: we don't date bad boys, we don't kiss bad boys, and we definitely do not give bad boys another chance." The bell rang. "I'll leave you and Fletcher to figure out the rest."

I scooped up my books and pushed through the door, leaving Blaze probably more confused than before.

I had chosen to help make the set for our play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, for drama class, and Fletcher, well, I didn't know what Fletcher was doing. Nor did I care.

"I still think you should've let him explain," CJ told me as we painted one of the props. 

I put on a blank face. "Who?" I asked innocently.

She sighed. "You're so difficult."

I had thought about it, thought about the fact that he might have an explanation, but then I would remember that I didn't want his excuses, that I had seen the evidence, and there was nothing to explain. What had happened had happened, and that was the end of it. And this was how life was going to be.

Blaze burst into the room, drawing the attention of everyone in there, glanced around, and headed over to CJ and I. 

"You wanna hear what my Spanish teacher said? That I was pretty much beyond her help at this point in the year and that I should just come down here and make myself useful. So here I am. Need help?"

I glanced over at CJ, then back at Blaze. "What do you mean, 'at this point in the year?'"

He shrugged. "I'm being switched into some other class for second semester, so a couple weeks isn't really going to help my Spanish. And the play's coming up right before Christmas break, so the teacher figured you drama people could use all the help you can get. In other words, free Spanish escape passes for the rest of the semester."

"Just paint the tree and stop talking," CJ muttered.

"What tree?" He asked. "Oh, you mean that ugly monster you're giving a makeover?"

CJ smacked his leg with her paintbrush.

"Maybe this was a bad idea," he muttered.

I laughed. "Nice tan... or should I say green?"

Blaze scowled. "Not funny."

After he'd washed the paint off, he sat with us and began painting the cardboard tree, adding minor details like lines in the bark and darker leaf outlines.

"See, when we watch the play, you'll see that our tree will be the best in the forest," he explained. CJ looked pointedly at me. I widened my eyes at her and held up my hands in a "don't ask me" gesture.

We finished a couple other props before the bell rang and we went our separate ways.

CJ caught up with me at my locker. "Does Charlotte know?" she asked.

I gave her my most sincere answer. "There's nothing to know."