Chapter 8

During lunch, May headed to the library, using the same apocryphal project from yesterday as an excuse for why she had to leave Emily. She settled herself down at one of a bank of computers by the reference section.

What now? Where do you begin a search for hard facts about the fantastical? She opened up a browser and typed in “wikipedia.”

May’s heart skipped a beat when someone from behind her said, “Wikipedia, huh? That’s always my first line of research, too.” She whirled around in her seat and was beyond surprised to see Ryan there. He sat down in the stall next to her.

“Uh, yeah.” She had no clue what to say to him. She had no clue why he was here, now. “Why aren’t you eating lunch?”

Ryan looked as if he wanted to point out that she wasn’t eating lunch, either. But instead of tease, he answered, “I like to get as much homework done while I’m still at school so I don’t have to do it at home.” How very Ryan-like of him to be responsible and on top of things. He continued, “I’m here most days during lunch, actually. But I’ve never seen you here before.”

If May had found herself in this same situation only two days earlier, she would’ve thought up an extra-credit project to grant her an excuse to say, “Why, I’ll be working here at lunch most days from now on, too!” Just so she could be around him more.

But she felt an overwhelming compulsion to secure someone else’s affections, now. Ethan was her sole objective. If she hadn’t been so single-minded, she would be surprised at herself for not jumping at the chance to loiter wherever Ryan was.

Instead she said, “I guess I usually save my homework for home. I wanted to look something up that I had been wondering about.”

“What were you wondering about?”

Magical mirrors that transport you into your own past and make other people dream about you.

“Bees.” May said the first thing that came to mind.

“Bees? What about them?” Ryan was sincerely interested.

May scrambled, “Well, I heard somewhere that the honeybees are disappearing. I wanted to read more about that.” She tried to make it not sound like a question.

“Oh, so you are interested in ecology?”

“Um, no… I just thought it sounded weird, and it made me curious.” May answered lamely.

Ryan smiled at that, and didn’t ask her anything else. May couldn’t do the research she wanted to do with Ryan around, so she got up to leave.

“Are you leaving? Sorry, I hadn’t meant to disturb you.” Ryan looked apologetic.

“No, I actually really would love to stay and talk, but I don’t want to keep you from getting work done and I just remembered that Emily had wanted to see me about something.” None of these things were lies, strictly speaking. She just didn’t want to hurt his feelings by telling him that his presence prevented her from doing what she came here to do. She would just have to wait until she got home to do her research.

“Before you go—“ Ryan spoke up as she was about to leave. “I heard your car isn’t working right now. Can I offer you a ride home today?”

May found everyone’s new obsession with offering rides curious. She wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth though. The chance to ride with Ryan is the sort of thing she had always dreamed of, wasn’t it?

“Um, yeah, that would be really nice, actually. Thank you! I’ll find you after school, I guess?”

“Perfect!” Ryan smiled back.

Now May knew she needed to find Emily. She surely owed her an exact recitation of everything Ethan and her had said to each other, and she also needed to let her know that Ryan would be driving her today.

“Do you have any idea how many girls totally hate you right now?” Emily demanded after May finished telling her all about the day. “Ethan is such a magnificent hunk, and Ryan isn’t bad, either! And they are both paying so much attention to you all the sudden. I think Ethan seriously likes you. I bet Ryan, does, too! What is the secret, May?”

“If I knew, do you think I would’ve waited this long to use it?” May enjoyed her friend’s enthusiasm. Emily was saying all the things May wanted to be thinking, but felt too cautious to admit.

When the end of the day came, May made her way to Ryan’s locker. She saw that Ethan was there, talking to Ryan. They seemed to be having a very focused exchange; they didn’t even notice her when she first approached.

“I just don’t know what you expect me to do about it, Ryan.”

“Look, just—“

“Hi, guys!” She greeted them with a smile.

The two looked up at her at the same moment, both suddenly stopping their conversation. May was pretty sure this meant that she had been the topic. Again? Seriously, what was with the sudden interest?

“Um, Ryan,” she continued, looking between the two of them with a little look of suspicion. “Are you about ready to go?”

“Yes.” Ryan glanced at Ethan again, something unspoken in his eyes. Then he looked back at May with a friendly expression, “Yes. Let’s go.”

As they walked to the parking lot, May asked, “So, what’s the deal with you and Ethan? Are you guys fighting?”

She could see from the way he stiffened slightly that he didn’t want to talk about it. She still wanted to know how he would answer, so she didn’t retract the question. It might have been none of her business, but her intuition told her it actually was.

“Fighting? No… we’re just trying to come to an agreement on something. Just a family sort of thing.”

May respected Ryan’s tactful way of avoiding disclosing information. He was just classy like that, not wanting to lay private matters before other people. Yet again, it was confirmed to her how thoroughly good Ryan was.

Ethan probably would’ve told her exactly what they had been talking about, even if it had been about her. Actually, he would tell her especially if it had been about her. Or at least he would tease her with just enough information to try and make her beg for more, as he had tried to do this morning.

As nice and pleasant as it was to be around Ryan, and as happy as she was to be spending time with him now, on a hidden level, she really wished it were Ethan driving her. She felt like she was betraying herself and her veneration of Ryan to admit to that Ethan was more exciting company.

Ryan asked May polite and general questions about classes and school, and soon they were at her house.

May thanked him, and climbed out of his car. He waited at the curb to see that she got safely inside, and she waved at him from the door. She was very tranquil for a moment, thinking of how secure and pleasant she felt around Ryan. She had to pause now and consider that he might like like her. If this thought had crossed her mind the same time last week, she would have been giddy. Now she felt almost sick about it. She couldn’t stop thinking about Ethan, and didn’t want to, either.

What a confusing week this was turning out to be.