When I got back up to Maddie and Clare's bedroom, I saw that Cameron had changed the washcloth on my little sister's forehead, and she was dozing off into a feverish sleep. Clare had retired to the corner of the room, sitting on the cushion on the windowsill with her knees pulled up to her chest, staring out into the backyard.
"Clare, why don't you work on your homework in my room today?" I asked her, making her glance up at me as if I'd yanked her out of a dream. "I don't want you to catch what Maddie has."
Clare studied me a little sulkily and then left the room, dragging her backpack behind her.
"All right, then," I said once her footsteps had retreated across the hall, "What are we working on today?"
Cameron flipped open my homework planner and began scanning my assignments—I realized a little belatedly that I had embraced my inner middle school and had doodled hearts in it during bio that day. He didn't seem affected, though, because he snapped it shut a few seconds later and said, "Whatever you want to work on. You're actually doing pretty well in everything, so I don't think there's much I can do."
I could practically feel my high spirits sinking to the pit of the stomach as I expected him to stand and begin packing up, but instead he stayed sitting on the carpet, staring at my now-closed homework planner. He glanced up at me and I thought I saw a little sparkle in his crystal eyes, and then he looked away and ran his hand through his short brown hair.
"So..." I said, to ease the awkwardness that was quickly growing.
Starting, he opened my planner again as if he hadn't just looked at it five seconds ago. I leaned against the wall and waited for him to say something, but he didn't look at me. His hands, usually so confident and sure, hesitated a little as he opened his backpack and pulled out a pencil.
"I guess it never hurts to study," he said. "I made you this during study hall today—you can work on it now if you want. It's for your conic sections test."
He handed me an extremely thick packet of neatly handwritten notes and practice problems. I noticed the back half of the stapled papers consisted entirely of detailed answers and explanations.
"When did you have time to make this?" I asked, my eyes widening.
He shrugged. "Like I said, I had study hall."
I started in on the assignment without further questions, but the fuzzy little glow had grown back until I felt like I was holding a lantern.
There was a silence as I scribbled and Cameron pulled out his science textbook, flipping through it and commenting occasionally. It was peaceful, in the lamplight and with the quickly darkening radiance of the sun.
The atmosphere was interrupted when Maddie woke up sick again, and I had to hurry over and tend to her while Cameron checked the math that I'd done so far. Once I'd settled my sister back into her blankets and pressed my cool hand against her flaming cheek until she fell back asleep, I returned to my position on the carpet.
"Things have been so crazy around here, sorry," I said as I sank back down on the floor and pulled my math back towards me.
Cameron had made tiny black check marks in pen next to each of the problems I'd completed so far, so I hurried to finish the last nine before it got too late. He had set his textbook on the floor and was now watching me work—though it seemed like he was staring at me more than my math.
Flushingbrilliantly, I angled my head so that I couldn't see him except in my peripheral vision and punched in some numbers on my calculator. Still, my eyeballs kept swiveling to the right so that I could see if he was looking at me—he always was.
"Here, I'm finished," I muttered a little over half an hour later, handing him my paper. He blinked rapidly a few times and took the packet, then flipped to the back to compare my answers against the ones he had written.
"Perfect," he said. He quickly ran check marks down the page and then handed it back to me. I stared at it with a small smile for what felt like minutes before I felt like things were getting awkward again, so I said, "I can't believe I was actually able to do that."
"Of course you could." Smiling, he flicked back my blonde hair off my shoulder and said, "You're brilliant."
I felt like my blush, which had only just settled from the last happy glow, intensified under the lamplight.
He was still staring at me, and I felt like I had to say something, so I tilted my head backwards so that I was looking at the ceiling and said, "Not until you came along."
"That's not true. You were always smart. You just let schoolwork slip aside for a little while."
He actually understood. Not like my guidance counselor, who acted like she knew me like the back of her hand but really didn't get anything that was going on in my life. Cameron didn't even know half of the truth, and yet he knew exactly how I was feeling. "You know I didn't put school on the back burner just because I was lazy, right?" I asked.
"Yes." His blue eyes squinted as he studied me. "But then why?"
Suddenly, I realized just how dangerous this situation was getting. I stood up and stretched loudly, extending my arms far out to the side and then above my head. "It's getting late," I said. "You probably want to head home."
He grabbed my hand and I pulled him up off the carpet, so that he was towering over me. "You're a complicated girl, Evelyn," he said, stooping down to pick up his backpack. The corners of his eyes were crinkling. "You're a mystery I'm going to figure out."
I glanced over at Maddie, who was still sleeping peacefully, before following Cameron out of the room and down the stairs. Even though he said it lightheartedly, I was getting worried about letting this boy in my house, so close to my secrets—especially now that he was so determined to unveil them.
"How about you mind your own business and stop playing Sherlock Holmes," I said, forcing a laugh as I unlocked the front door. I pushed him good-naturedly onto the porch. "Out you go, Maddox."
"Aw, Evelyn," he said, turning back towards me just as I was about to close the door. "Don't kick me out. I've been gathering up my nerve all evening and I was just about to ask you something."
Before I could stop myself, I'd began braiding my hair worriedly again, some kind of nervous energy rising up inside me. "What?"
"Will you go out with me?" he asked.
I opened my mouth in a slight gape, studying his puppy-dog expression and wide eyes, his slightly upturned smile and his eyebrows, arched questioningly. I'd been asked out before, in my freshman year, and I'd never really taken any of the boys up on their offers. But now...Was Cameron Maddox really asking me out?
"Evelyn?" he asked. "I'm getting sort of nervous here. You can just say no if you want to."
Cameron Maddox thought I would say no to him?
I realized that I had been standing in the doorway looking flustered for most likely a full minute, so I forced myself to answer. "Oh, wow," I breathed, trying to control myself. "I'd love to. Wow, okay. That was unexpected."
Beaming, he pulled me into a hug before stepping back and holding me at arm's width.
"Awesome!" he exclaimed, looking relieved and sounding even more so. "How about tomorrow? After soccer practice and work?"
I was just about to answer when I remembered my sisters. Just as I was about to open my mouth to explain, Cameron added, "As long as Maddie's feeling better, of course. And she and Clare can come, too."
"Oh, Cameron, thank you so much. That would be perfect."
Cameron leaned forward and looked as if he were about to hug me again, then stepped back at the last moment and settled for an awkward wave. "All right, then," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow in school, okay?"
"All right," I said, waving back as he hopped down the porch steps and jogged out to his convertible. As I finally closed the front door, I felt happier than I'd felt in years—as if I could explode.
With a little bounce in my step, I headed back up the steps and into Maddie's room to check on her again. She was fast asleep, a peaceful smile on her face. I kissed her forehead and then went into my own room to check on Clare.
"Why so happy?" she grumbled, scribbling something down in her workbook. She'd just barely looked up and taken in my ecstatic expression when I'd entered the room.
I felt as if it would be unnecessary to gush to my little sister who was definitely not interested in boys about my date, so I shrugged. "Are you done with your homework? You should go to bed now. It's getting really late."
"Cameron stayed long enough," she said sourly. She closed her workbook with a snap and tossed it into her backpack, her eyebrows crinkled together.
"He had to help me with my math. Now go brush your teeth and get to bed, okay?"
She rolled her eyes and slunk out of the room, leaving several pencils strewn on my hardwood floor. The door slammed shut behind her.
I stared after her with a perplexed expression for a few seconds, then shrugged it off as a bad mood and hurried to my closet to pick out something for me to wear for Cameron's and my date.
~*~*~
"Take out your pencils," directed Mr. Roberts once I had slid into math class on Friday morning. "I'm passing out these tests now. There will be no talking."
Rifling through my pencil bag, I pulled out a pink mechanical pencil, then a blue one in case the lead on my pink one broke. Since I was sitting in the front row, Mr. Roberts handed me my test first. I took one and passed the stack to the girl behind me.
After I wrote my name on the top of the paper, I started the first problem. It asked me to find the focus and directrix of the conic section given the equation.
I could do that, easily. I graphed the equation and then set to work, solving, almost wanting to hum to myself as I scribbled numbers. The blonde-haired guy beside me looked like he was struggling; at least, his fists were clenched, his jaw was locked, and he was staring at his paper with an extremely fiery expression.
Smiling to myself, I kept on writing, finishing the first question with ease and moving on to the second.
I finished the test well before the allotted time limit, and once I'd checked my work multiple times and turned in my test, I was left sitting at my desk with nothing to do. My mind turned instantly to my date with Cameron tonight. Before I could even think about it, though, I knew I had to go to work and run to the grocery store—my supply of suitable meals at home, even the microwaved kind, was dwindling dangerously. On a scrap piece of paper, I began writing out a grocery list, which quickly expanded to a general list of things I had to do.
"And...time's up." Mr. Roberts began collecting papers from the students who hadn't finished their tests, stacking them neatly and then tapping the stack against his desk to line them up. "We're not going to start on our next unit today, so feel free to use the rest of this period as a study hall."
Just what I need, I thought sarcastically, continuing with my list, more time to think my obsessive thoughts and stress about the events of the evening.
A/N: Remember to VOTE and COMMENT!