Chapter 5

May and Ethan continued to their first class together, chatting amiably now. They walked side-by-side, like they really were friends. This was remarkable only because Ethan was notorious for wrapping his arm around any girl he happened to be walking with. This lack of physical attention seemed to indicate to May that he considered her differently now. He was driving the conversation, and she responded comfortably to his easy queries and commentaries.

“Hey, isn’t that guy your brother?” Ethan asked suddenly.

May looked in the direction Ethan was indicating, and saw Jared looking at her with a look of genuine concern.

“Yeah, that’s Jared…” His expression had her confused, and she wanted to see what was wrong. “Hey, I’ll see you in class, okay? Thanks for the ride. It was really nice of you.”

“Alright. But don’t forget—I’m not done being nice to you!”

If that was a threat, it was the kind May could get used to. She jogged over to Jared, who hadn’t looked away from her yet.

Before she could greet him, he burst out with, “May, what were you doing with that turd?”

May had to laugh at Jared’s fourth-grade word choice. She could only imagine what the other boys at school must think of Ethan. He was the guy all the girls loved to fawn over.

“That turd offered me a ride to school when he saw me walking by myself,” May said in Ethan’s defense. Jared had gotten a ride with a buddy, and hadn’t even thought to see if May wanted to join them.

Reading the accusation in her tone, he shot back, “Yeah, and whose fault is it that you had to walk today? Not mine.” He glared down at her.

May riled at his harshness, “Well, I’m not so concerned about it anymore… Ethan has offered to drive me for the rest of the week.”

This seemed to make Jared mad, “May, I hate that kid. He’s such a man whore. Watch yourself around him, I seriously doubt he actually cares about you.”

If she had been feeling charitable, May would’ve given Jared the benefit of the doubt and seen that he meant to protect her from getting hurt. But now she was on the defensive, and didn’t love having her big brother intimate to her that she was undesirable. She became livid at his words. Fights between siblings sometimes have an element of the primeval. May had no words at this point, so she made a guttural animal growl at him before storming off.

On her way to class, she began thinking of all the ways she would love to make her brother angrier now. He thought he could tell her what she should be doing, all the while insulting her? This was new between the two of them, and she didn’t like it at all.

She got to English with five minutes to spare. As she walked to her seat, she passed Ethan and Ryan. Ethan smiled at Ryan and said, “So guess who forgave me?”

Ryan’s reaction seemed to indicate that he thought it was boorish of Ethan to bring up the topic. He looked up at May, “Well, I’m glad to hear it. You should have made him suffer, though. We all know he deserves it.”

Ethan started laughing then, “Oh, she did make me suffer, don’t worry. . . Ryan, did you know I’m despicable?” May was confused now. Was Ethan making fun of her?

“Yes.” Ryan answered the rhetorical question blandly.

Well, if Ethan was mocking her, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of being embarrassed by him.

She rolled her eyes at him and said, “Maybe I should have chopped you down a few more pegs. Your ego seems to have had no trouble bouncing back strong as ever.” This she did with a wink, so as to cover her bases in case he hadn’t meant to offend her.

“Ooh, ouch!” Ethan said, still laughing. His good humor seemed to be genuine, and May felt sure now that he hadn’t been trying to be a jerk.

Class was called to attention at that moment, and so the conversation ended there.

The rest of the day passed quickly. May was feeling super confident, and very happy. She bumped into Ethan again at lunchtime, at which time he confirmed their car ride for the morning and told her when he’d be by.

Emily still didn’t know about her car accident, nor did she know about the arrangement with Ethan. May decided she shouldn’t be so silly about her accident, and was going to tell Emily about it. She also decided that for whatever reason, she wanted to keep the Ethan thing to herself. Maybe she was worried Emily would have the same reaction Jared had.

“So,” May began. “I did something really stupid yesterday…” Emily looked like she was about to die from suspense. Before she could start guessing what kind of heinous acts might qualify as ‘really stupid’, May told her.

“I totally caused a car accident. It was minor and all that, but my car isn’t drivable for a while.”

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry! You must feel horrible. I’m so glad you weren’t hurt though! Wow, I’m just so sorry!” Emily went on and on… “I’ll give you a ride home, of course! What about the mornings? How did you get here today?”

“Oh, don’t worry,” May placated her. Emily was such a good friend… “No, I’m all sorted in the mornings. But a ride home would be beautiful, thank you so much!”

Emily drove May home, arriving at the same time as Jared and his friends. May knew Emily would want to see Jared, so she invited her in. His friends were also coming in. It looked like the makings of an impromptu get-together.

“Hi, Jared!” Emily tripped over to him and his two friends. May couldn’t remember their names.

“Hey, Emily,” Jared answered. “So you gave May a ride home? Glad to see she got rid of the turd.”

“Turd?” Emily whirled around to look at May in askance.

“Jared…” May said in a warning tone.

“Yeah, that low-life Ethan kid. Didn’t she tell you he gave her a ride this morning?”

“May, are you serious? Ethan drove you today?” Her face was a contortion of excitement and betrayal. May knew Emily was hurt that she hadn’t dished.

Jared laughed a belly laugh, “Oh, don’t tell me! You think you have a secret romance with him or something! Ha! I told you before there is no way that slime ball is seriously interested in you, or anyone for that matter.”

Okay, Jared just crossed a line. May was exploding inside with rage-- to talk to her like that again, but this time in front of witnesses? She wished there was something she could do to Jared to make him feel just as angry as she did now.

Then it hit her. Oh, it was too perfect.

First she had to defuse this situation. As coolly as she could, May responded.

“Nothing of the kind, as I said before, he offered me a ride because he saw me walking alone. He was very nice to me, and I don’t think of him as anything other than a friend from school.” She turned to Emily, “I didn’t think there was anything to tell really. It was a non-event. If I had a secret rendezvous with someone, it wouldn’t be a secret from you, Emily.”

May could see Emily was placated. But now she was eager to exact revenge on her brother.

“Emily, I just remembered I have a project due tomorrow that I haven’t finished yet. I think we should hang out some other time.”

“Oh, um, alright then.” Emily said her goodbyes and drove away.

May shot her brother a baleful look, and then ran inside to her room as fast as she could. She locked the door, and then turned to face the mirror. She collected her thoughts as she stood there, trying to remember how it had worked.

Ok, I wished out loud that I could re-do something… and it happened. So if I think of the moment I want to re-do now, it should take me there. To get back here, all I had to do was fall asleep.

Her heart was beating faster now in excitement for what she was about to do. Something so out of her character that she would never dream of doing it in a world where her actions had any permanence.

Then she spoke into the mirror, “I wish I could re-do this morning,” And as she said the words, she pictured herself in Ethan’s car, pulling into the parking lot at school.