The Education of Hailey Kendrick - Eileen Cook [27]
“Very well. I’ll expect you two to present tomorrow. We’ll discuss the impact of this extension later.” She looked down at her grade book. “Phillip, let’s have you and your partner start us off.”
When the bell rang for the end of class, I sat in my seat while everyone else streamed out of the room. The room was quiet except for the ticking of the clock on the back wall and the sound of Ms. Brown tapping her long fingernail on her desk.
“‘Nothing is a greater stranger to my breast, or a sin that my soul more abhors, than that black and detestable one, ingratitude,’” she said.
My forehead scrunched up. I had no idea what she was talking about.
“It’s a quote from George Washington during the war,” she clarified.
“Oh.” I pulled my notebooks together. I didn’t know if she was calling me an ingrate, or was implying that Kelsie should be grateful that I was taking the blame for our project, or was randomly spitting out historical quotes. History teachers are an odd breed. Maybe it comes from inhaling all those dusty books. “I’ll make sure our presentation is done by tomorrow.”
“It’s an automatic reduction in your grade.”
“I know.”
She waited until I was almost out the door. “If you’re interested, I may have some extra credit assignments you could do. It might balance out your overall grade. The assignments are of course also open to Kelsie if she wishes.”
A smile spread across my face and I gave her a nod. The brief upswing in my mood lasted until I got out into the hallway. Kelsie was leaning against the wall waiting for me.
“I have no idea what you’re trying to pull,” she said, her jaw thrust forward.
“Nothing. The project is my fault. I should have finished it. It was just, with everything that happened, I honestly forgot.”
Kelsie sighed. “What kind of sign of the apocalypse is it when Hailey Kendrick forgets to do homework?” She looked around the hall to make sure we were alone. “Who were you with last night, and why the hell did you cut the arm off the statue?”
“We didn’t cut it off. It sort of fell off. Not by accident or anything. I was sitting on it. We were trying to get his head off, actually.”
Kelsie looked at me like I was speaking another language. “How long have you been cheating on Tristan?”
“I’m not cheating on Tristan,” I said firmly. “There wasn’t any big secret Romeo and Juliet relationship. It was a onetime kiss. It shouldn’t have happened. It was a heat-of-the-moment kind of thing. A bunch of stuff went wrong yesterday, there was the project to finish, and then I got nail polish all over my mom’s sweatshirt. Then the thing with my dad . . .” My voice trailed off. “I had to get out of my room and blow off some steam. I was so mad—mad at everything. Then there was the statue, and I happened to meet this guy there, and stuff happened.” I shrugged. I knew it sounded crazy. It was crazy, but it was the truth and the only explanation I had.
“What’s some townie doing on campus?” Kelsie’s nose wrinkled up a bit when she said “townie,” as if I had been caught kissing a homeless guy who smelled like cat pee.
“He was taking a walk and ended up on campus. No big deal. There wasn’t a big plot or plan. The whole thing was like a weird freak accident. It just happened. You know me. You know this isn’t the kind of thing I do.”
“Man, when you decide to blow off steam, you sure do it big. Most people just sneak a few beers and throw up.”
Throwing up reminded me of Tristan and what Joel had seen. “I have to talk to Tristan,” I said.
Kelsie grabbed my hand. “No, you shouldn’t. He’s really hurt. And ticked.”
“I have to tell him my side of things. What if he thinks I’ve been cheating on him?”
“You did cheat on him. You were making out with some guy. The security guard saw you.”
“We weren’t making out. It was one kiss.