~Blake~
He kept seeing Leslie Collins, over and over again.
It wasn’t like they’d ever been complete strangers. Living in the same small town their entire lives made it a given that they at least knew of one another even if they didn’t know one another on any personal level. Leslie and Blake had been in kindergarten together and every grade since, but even in those early days when they were both poor kids, they were markedly different enough from one another that even at their age, societal breaks kept them from becoming friends.
Leslie was a people pleaser and a perfectionist both, and Blake so totally wasn’t. He acted out for reasons he didn’t understand when he was young, and it hadn’t changed much as he’d gotten older. As a result, he and Leslie knew each other but never shared any words between them.
When her parents were killed in that car accident and her brother took over their business, the lines between them grew even more pronounced. Not that Blake would have cared either way about that, but after he made his boastful claim to the guys about how far he could get with Leslie Collins this new school year, he was watching her more closely.
And lo and behold, they actually had chemistry together, where they’d been assigned to be lab partners.
Probably because Blake tried only half the time and Leslie tried all the time. The teacher had likely anticipated this based on all she’d heard about them from other teachers and had put them together.
Leslie hadn’t said even two words to him as they sat at the counter, taking all the handouts that were being passed around on that first day of school, listening as the teacher went on and on about class expectations and what their semester would look like. Her silence was okay, though, because he was too busy turning around to some of his boys a few tables over and raising his eyebrows as he tilted his head towards Leslie with a knowing smile.
They all returned that smile, recalling his words from that two a days practice a week earlier.
“Here.”
His attention was forced back to her as she held out yet another stack of papers for him to pass down.
“Thank you,” he said, taking the first and sending the rest of them around to the next table. “Sure is a lot of paperwork.”
She didn’t say anything in response for a long moment. Just as he was thinking that she was going to ignore him completely and that it was going to be a real challenge to win her over at all, she thrust one of the pages underneath his nose.
“Well, we might as well get started,” she said, irritation in her voice, just as their teacher was called out into the hallway by an administrator, telling the class that she would be back in a moment.
“Get started on what?” he asked, glancing at the paper, seeing that it was a getting to know you kind of handout. “This?”
“Wow, five minutes into class, and already, you’ve checked out,” Leslie said with a reprimanding tone. “Were you not listening for the instructions?”
“Not really,” he said, grabbing a pen from his backpack and trying to hide a smile as Leslie gave him a look.
“It’s going to be a stellar semester then,” she said wryly. “As if I didn’t know that before you opened your mouth to speak.”
Had she always been this snippy? He didn’t know her, of course, but the general opinion on Leslie Collins was that she was a nice girl. A little focused and driven, yes, but not mean or rude.
She was challenging all those thoughts.
“I think they lied,” Blake said.
“Who?” she asked, her attention back on the sheet of paper, almost as if she was coolly dismissing him.
“The people who talk about you,” he said.
“No one talks about me,” she countered.
“Yes, they do,” he said. “People say you’re nice. A good girl.”
She looked up at him, the question in her eyes. “They do?”
“Yeah, but they lie. I don’t think you’re a nice girl at all.”
Boom. He wasn’t sure how this would work in winning her over to him, but at least she was looking at him now.
That wasn’t actually good news, though.
Leslie narrowed her eyes at him. “It depends on what you mean by that.”
“That you’re a good girl, sweet and kind, always doing the right thing,” he said.
“Well, I always do the right thing,” Leslie corrected him. “But…” And here, she leaned in close to him, “I’m not always sweet and kind. Especially not with jerks like you.”
Jerks like you. Well, that was unexpected.
“What do you mean, jerks like me?” he asked. “You don’t even know me.”
“I know of you,” she said simply. “And I know what I’ve seen. Like yesterday. Upperclassmen orientation.”
Upperclassmen orientation had been the day before. Why the juniors and seniors needed a special orientation when they’d been going to this school for as long as they had was an enigma until they’d gotten there and had learned that it was less about learning the school and more about hearing all the requirements left for graduation. They’d heard about checking their courses, college entrance exams, career counseling, and all the other services that they’d be using this year.
Blake had half-listened to most of it. He needed the information if he had any hope of going anywhere and doing anything with his life, but he found that most of his attention that afternoon had been on Ben Sanders, who was a junior this year and spent a good portion of the meeting scowling in Blake’s direction.
Still sore from that day after football practice. And all the years up until then that Blake had been awful to him.
What came first, though – Ben being awful to him or him being awful to Ben? Blake wasn’t sure because on that day at upperclassmen orientation, he could almost rationalize that Ben was the instigator of all the abuse he’d gotten over the years because he was giving just as good as he got.
Blake had put his leg out and kicked him, right where they sat. Ben had kicked back. Harder than Blake had kicked him. Blake hadn’t bothered to hide the murderous rage in his eyes at this as he’d hauled off again and actually kicked the seat out from underneath Ben, causing him to land on the ground with a crash.
There had been laughter all around as Ben had fallen to the ground, and Blake had tried his best to hide a smirk as the teachers had looked over to them to see what was going on. Leslie Collins had looked over as well, and her eye had caught Blake’s, cool and assessing and full of judgment.
Jerks like you.
Fair enough.
“Are you mad at me because of that?” Blake asked.
“No, I’m not mad at you,” she said, waving this away. “I just made an accurate assessment of your character based on what I saw yesterday.”
Well, that was true.
“You caught me at a bad moment,” Blake said, shrugging. “Just like I caught you at a bad moment here in this class, where you’ve been nothing but rude to me.”
Her eyes widened at this. “I beg your pardon?”
“Who talks like that?” he said, all out grinning at her. “What seventeen year old says I beg your pardon like that?”
“I do,” she answered hotly. “And I wasn’t rude to you.”
“Yeah you were. Because you aren’t a nice girl, not like everyone says you are,” he said.
“You started it!” she gasped. “When you were awful to Ben!”
“And he started that,” Blake argued back. “Like it should matter, though, right? If you’re nice just to nice people, does it really count? Seems to me if you were really truly nice, you’d be good to jerks like me, right?”
And for a brief moment, there was shock on her face that he’d said these words.
“That’s… that’s Biblical,” she said carefully.
It was what now?
“I don’t even know what that means,” he said, narrowing his eyes at her. “Are you telling me that I’m right?”
She looked annoyed again for just a second before she studied him as though she was puzzling something out in her mind.
Then, she looked all out repentant.
It was Blake’s turn to be shocked.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
This was even more shocking.
“What did you just say?”
“I said that I’m sorry,” she huffed out, impatience back in her tone. Then, as she considered how she’d delivered the second apology, she sighed. “And again. Sorry.”
Well, this was unexpected. He hadn’t meant to make her feel the need to apologize to him. Just some casual ribbing, he thought.
“No problem,” he said, going for a lighter tone. “I’m sorry that I was a jerk earlier. That you saw me being a jerk.”
She studied him for a long moment. “You’re sorry that you were a jerk or that I saw you being a jerk?”
Hmm. That was a good question.
“A little of both, I think,” he said.
“I don’t like it when people are mean to Ben Sanders,” she said, her voice lowered as she attempted to explain herself. “I mean, he’s…”
She left it unsaid, what they all knew about Ben and how unpredictable and frankly crazy he seemed.
“But I’ve grown up with him,” she said. “And his little brothers. So I’m a little protective when people are mean to him.”
Blake could understand that. But he still wanted to justify himself.
“Well, in all fairness, he kicked me first,” he said, not sure if Ben really had.
That sounded childish, but most rationalizations did.
“Whatever,” she said. “But that hardly matters, right?”
Maybe it didn’t.
Blake was at a loss as to what to say next. He could feel his friends’ eyes on him and knew they were watching and waiting for him to make his move. Blake wasn’t sure he wanted to keep on pursuing this because Leslie didn’t seem like the kind of girl who deserved –
“We need to do this,” she said, tapping a finger on the getting to know you paper again. “Even though it’s really lame and stupid.”
He smiled a little, nodding. “Beats doing actual chemistry, I guess.” He glanced up at her. “Why are you even in this class? Shouldn’t you be in an honors section or something?”
She smiled at this. “Could have been, but I’m trying to lighten up some of my course load in subjects that I couldn’t care less about. I’m rearranging some of my priorities this year and needed more… free time, let’s say.”
She was nearly gleeful in the way that she said it.
Blake was intrigued.
“Free time,” he repeated. “What does that mean?”
She grinned, clearly eager to talk about something, even with him. “I’m starting my own business,” she said simply. “Well, I mean, I already have the business. Been doing it for years. But this year, I’m taking it up a step.”
“Business?” he asked, thinking briefly of her brother and his business, of how well everyone knew he’d done with it. Which led to thoughts of Tim, how he’d lost his job, about how pathetic Blake’s life was with a worthless father –
“Yes, business,” Leslie said, still grinning, no pathetic life on her part. “Cupcakes.”
“I know a little something about that,” he said. “Saw that you were working the teachers’ meeting thing or whatever it was.”
“Parent Teacher Association,” she corrected. “But yes. I sell my cupcakes for meetings, parties, get togethers. Small things.” She took a breath. “Until now. I just got my first order for a wedding cake.”
He blinked at her.
“Wedding cake?”
“That’s right.”
“You do cakes?” he asked.
“I do cupcakes,” she clarified.
“How are you going to do a wedding cake, then?” he wondered out loud. And furthermore, why was he so interested in something that he legitimately didn’t care anything about?
Because Leslie Collins was smiling at him, excited to tell him more.
He’d said he was going to pursue her to make a point to his friends about his natural gifts with the ladies. But sitting here with her as she turned the sheet of paper over and began drawing out a sketch for him, he wondered if his intentions were turning into something more.
“I can artfully arrange my cupcakes,” she said, intent on what she was sketching for him, “into cakes. Or pseudo-cakes. I can make them into pretty structured displays of deliciousness.”
Sure enough, that’s exactly what she was drawing. A multi-tiered cake comprised of tinier cupcakes, all swirling into a graceful arc until they looked like –
“A wedding cake,” he murmured. “That’s pretty fancy.”
“Isn’t it, though?” Leslie asked, beaming at her drawing. “This will be my first real attempt. Well, the practice runs will be my first real attempt. The actual wedding cake will be the first time I get paid to do one. And you know what they say, don’t you?”
He didn’t, shaking his head.
“One success leads to countless others,” she said. “And word of mouth travels. I’ll have a whole new division of my business in no time at all. Breaking into the wedding industry, then going on to college and getting my business degree, and then… my own shop. Where people can come and do tastings, parties, whole events.”
Wow. She’d really thought this through. Blake didn’t even know if he was going to apply to college, much less what he was going to do if he got there.
“That’s impressive,” he said.
“And the day is coming,” Leslie said, her voice lowered, “when my business is going to take off, and I’m going to leave this no account town behind in a blaze of glory.”
He didn’t doubt it.
“But that said,” she sighed, “we should really get to working on this dumb worksheet, because I’m sure chemistry will be just what we need to –”
But before she could finish what she was saying, their chemistry teacher came back into the room, wiping at her eyes with a tissue.
The sight of a teacher crying quieted the entire room as they all watched her make her way to her desk, where she took a deep breath and looked out at all of their faces.
“We just got some… terrible news,” she said, her voice cracking.
Terrible news?
“There’s been an accident… Ben Sanders has…”
She swallowed as everyone sat forward in their seats, waiting.
“Ben Sanders is dead.”