Anew

16

Several weeks passed and Scarlet couldn’t seem to shake her feelings of distrust.

No matter what she did, no matter how wonderful Gabriel was, there was always a sense of suspicion gnawing at her insides.

Seated across from Heather in the school library thinking about how little she really knew Gabriel, Scarlet doodled on her notebook. She repeated the familiar symbol, over and over.

Doodling helped her think.

“I don’t know where Gabriel lives.” Scarlet stopped sketching and waited for her best friend to respond.

Heather didn’t look up from the magazine she was flipping through. “Yeah, that’s weird.”

Scarlet bit her bottom lip. “And I’ve never met any of his family members.”

“Nope.”

She sighed heavily, succumbing to what her instincts told her. “Gabriel’s hiding something from me, isn’t he?”

Heather looked up. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Gabriel Archer is a hot delicious man of mystery. And, possibly, a mobster.”

Scarlet leaned her head back. “I don’t want a man of mystery. Or a mobster. I want a regular high school boyfriend who invites me over to meet his pets and look at his baseball card collection.”

“Baseball cards? Really? Gabriel’s seventeen, not twelve. Do people even buy baseball cards anymore?” Heather went back to flipping through the magazine. “You know what I think? I think he owes you. I mean, you told him about your amnesia thing right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, that’s super personal. It’s like the biggest secret you have. And you shared it with him. And he was cool with it. I think the least he could do is confide in you about…oh, I don’t know…his address.”

Scarlet didn’t regret telling Gabriel about her amnesia because that’s what girlfriends and boyfriends did. They confided in one another.

But she wished Gabriel trusted her as much as she had trusted him. “You’re right, Heather.”

“Yes, I am.” Heather grabbed a new magazine to peruse and glanced at Scarlet. “B-T-W,” she didn’t fully pronounce the ‘W’ but instead shortened it to dubb, “those earrings don’t match that top.”

Scarlet touched a finger to the hoops she had on. “You know what I need to do?”

“Buy new earrings?”

“I need to fully embed myself in Gabriel’s life. I need to get to know the real Gabriel Archer.”

“You need to buy new earrings,” Heather said.

Scarlet ignored Heather and went on. “No more excuses. The time has come. Today, I am going over to Gabriel’s house after school.”

“Good for you. Now let’s talk about your shoes.” Heather put her magazine down. “They suck.”