Black and White

Chapter Nineteen.

                “You’ll have to run this past Riley.”  I scowled, and he shook his head. “And we have to figure out what to do about our little pest problem.”

                I gave him a blank look before it clicked, and my scowl reappeared.  I held a finger up, saying, “First off, Riley is not my mother.  I don’t need to ask his permission to do anything.” I held up a second finger. “Secondly,  I’ll have time to take care of that problem before the party, so don’t get your pants in a twist.”

                Hannah and Geo watched us curiously, and Xander gave a frustrated shake of his head, his already tousled hair falling into his eyes.  He brushed it back with a look that told me he would let it go for now, but it would definitely be brought up again. I shrugged at him, and smiled at Hannah.

                “So, what would one wear to such a shindig?”

                She grinned.  “Oh, I’ve got that covered; just get to my house early.”

                “Okay?”

                “Great!”  She took a deep breath, and I felt her mentally relax, as if I’d been checked off some extensive To-Do list.  “You’re a size six, right?”

                I laughed.  “Very roughly.”  I was more like a size eight, but if whatever she had in mind was loose, I could make it work. “Why?”

                “Call it curiosity.” She slid to a stand as the bell rang, tugging a confused Geo with her.  “See you there!”

                As soon as they’d gotten out of earshot, Alexandre glared at me. “You know he’ll be pissed, right?”

                “Of course, but he’s really not responsible for me.”

                “But he’s—“

                I held up a hand, cutting him off with a glare. “Not yet, he’s not.  And at his current rate of pissing me off, I’d say he never will be.  Let it go, Xander.”

                “You’ll have to talk about it eventually, Ellie.”

                “Yeah,”  I said scornfully, sweeping my unruly red curls back up into a messy bun, “As if you didn’t hear our entire conversation the other night, Alexandre.  Don’t try to deny it; I’m surprised it’s taken you this long to say something about the two of us.  But that really doesn’t matter right now.  We need to get to class.”

                He sighed in resignation, and asked, “What is it this time?”

                “AP European History.”

                “Oh, just shoot me now.”

                                                -----[oOo]-----

                The bell rang, cutting off the rambling of Mr. Duncan.  I think I speak for the entire class when I say that I was one binary code joke from killing myself.  We all rushed to gather our papers and leave before—

                “Class!”  Mr. Duncan’s slow, monotonous voice drawled. “Your assignment tonight is to read and answer the questions on section three, to be turned in tomorrow as soon as the bell rings.  On second thought, read section four while you’re at it as well.”