Lessons On Love

12: Self Checkout Or The Express Lane

            Todd nodded, the confidence showing in his eyes now that he knows he’s got my support, but still blushed and lowered his gaze when he continued the topic. “So my first kiss,” he murmured. “You really think I’ll lose it?”

            “Ahh...” I sighed, taking in a deep breath before releasing it. “The weather is so nice today.”

            There was a long pause after and when Todd continued our conversation, I was pleased that he had changed the direction of it. “Speaking of the graduation trip, you are going right?”

            I shook my head. “Most likely not. I don’t have a reason to spend any extra time with people I don’t even like in the first place.”

            “But Camila, it’s going to be one of the last things you’ll do in high school. Second last actually, to prom.”

            “I don’t plan to go to that either.”

            “Camila!” He frowned at me. “What about me then? If you don’t go, who will I hang out with when we have free time or... or... who’ll take pictures with me? It’ll be so lonely!”

            I shrugged. “Even if we were to say I’m willing to endure it and waste my time on this trip, it’s still a couple hundred bucks,” I reasoned. “I need to save money for my ticket to New York.”

            “What if I paid for it?” And at first, I think he was just saying it out of pure lack of judgement, but when the words settled in and his clockwork started ticking, he turned to me with a newfound sense of brilliance. “Oh my god, this is brilliant! I’m brilliant! This will definitely work. What if Camila, I pay for your flight to and back from New York for your second audition, and in return, you attend the graduation trip? We won’t even talk about prom yet, just the grad trip for now. I've still got money left over from when I won that science fair last year, and I mean, you’ll still have to pay for the trip of course, but with the fundraising, at the end of the day you’ll pay a lot less for the trip than if you were going to pay for the airplane ticket yourself. Think about it! This is a great deal!”

            I quickly shook my head and tried to reason him out of it, but Todd was as much of a one way character as I was once he’s started rolling, and by the end of lunch, it was officially settled. I was going to the graduation trip.

            The problem I soon realized was that if I indeed was going – and it looks like my chances of escape are low – then I was going to have to participate in that bake sale taking place Friday. My head was already overwhelmed with the fact that I’ll have to spend an evening with Tyler that day, but now on top of that, I’ll have to bake – something that I’ll openly admit I can’t do.

            I groaned out loud even in the middle of class. The more I thought about it, the more the whole thing seemed impossible. Brooklynn and Mr. Hudson had already arranged everything and told everyone to bring what type of baked goods on Friday. All that needed to be settled was who was going to take in cash and the other smaller details tomorrow after school during our rehearsal for the play which I wasn’t planning to attend whether Marriah wanted me to or not.

            It was at that moment though, when I was about to snap something in half, when Marshall texted me.

            Marshall: ?

            I frowned at the vagueness in his message before typing back.

            Camila: ??