The Education of Hailey Kendrick - Eileen Cook [60]
“If you want, you can help me out with something else,” I said. “I need you to get me off the cleaning crew. Isn’t there something else I can do? Wash dishes in the café? Maybe shelve books in the library? I like the library.”
“I don’t think Winston’s going to change his mind about the cleaning. I think he would see the library as too easy.”
“Can you get me assigned to work with someone else?” I avoided Joel’s eyes. “That guy, Drew . . . He and I aren’t getting along. I don’t want to work with him anymore.” It wasn’t that I disliked Drew, but I had more awkward friend-kissing situations than I could handle already.
“How well do you have to get along? You’re cleaning classrooms. I didn’t figure the two of you would become friends or anything.”
“He hit on me, okay?” My voice came out flat. “It’s a bit awkward working with him.” I stood up and began bustling around my desk. I stacked my books and folders back in order. I’d forgotten about an essay due for English. I was going to be stuck staying up late.
“Oh.” Joel sat staring at his math book. “I can see what I can do. It’s completely inappropriate for him to try anything with a student. He’s asking for trouble. You would think he would know enough not to take advantage of the situation.” He touched the back of my hand.
My hand froze in place, and then I yanked it back to dig through my backpack, looking for my book. “It’s not that he’s creepy or anything. I don’t want to get him fired. It’s not that big a deal. It’s just uncomfortable. He likes me and I don’t like him. That’s all.” I pulled the book out and flopped into my desk chair. “Like, today, he said this bizarre thing trying to make me jealous. Get this. He said he thought Tristan and Kelsie were seeing each other.” I snorted to show how absurd I thought the whole thing was. “Talk about a transparent bid to get my attention.”
Joel was silent. His face was frozen as if I were pointing a pistol at his head instead of just looking at him. His Adam’s apple was bouncing up and down. My stomach sank to the floor.
“What’s going on?” I whispered.
“It’s not really my place to say anything.” Joel wiped his hands on his pants.
“Don’t pull that ‘I’m neutral’ act with me.” I crossed the room in two steps and grabbed hold of Joel’s sweater. I was prepared to shake the truth out of him if I had to. “Are they a couple?” I held the sleeve tighter in case he had any plans of making a run for it.
“I don’t know.” He held up his hand as if he thought I might hit him. “I swear, I don’t know. Right after everything went down, Kelsie was around a lot. More than usual, or maybe it seemed like more because you weren’t there too. Tristan was really upset, and, I don’t know. They’ve been hanging out. Doing stuff just the two of them. You know Kelsie’s always had a case of hero worship for him.”
“And Tristan?”
“I think he likes that Kelsie likes him. She’s always telling him how great he is and building him up,” Joel said.
I let go of Joel’s sweater. “I don’t get it. I never even imagined the two of them together.” I pushed down a feeling in my gut that I had imagined it before, that some part of me had suspected for a while.
“They have a lot in common, you know. Kelsie wants to go into acting, and Tristan’s a part of that world, with his folks and all.” Joel shrugged as if he were overcome by the destiny that was pulling Kelsie and Tristan together.
“That’s a lot in common? That’s one thing. What about the fact that Kelsie’s a vegetarian and Tristan’s favorite food is a rare steak? He never met a living animal that he wouldn’t kill and grill. He would eat a kitten burger if it came with pickles. Or how about the fact that Kelsie can spend hours debating the shape of her eyebrows and Tristan hates that high maintenance stuff? Oh, wait. I forgot they both have a connection to acting.” I smacked myself in the forehead. “How stupid of me not to see