Unlovable by Sherry Gammon

accepting the ride was better than freezing to
death and climbed in.
    “ You should eat the bagel
while it’s still warm. The cream cheese practically melts in your
mouth.”
    “ I’ve already eaten,
remember?” I stole a whiff of the warm bagel. Heaven itself
couldn’t possibly smell this good.
    “ Thin as you are, it won’t
hurt to eat a second breakfast. Hobbits eat second breakfasts.” I
bit my lip to keep from laughing at his analogy. “You know,
Hobbits? J.R.R. Tolkien? Lord of the Rings?”
    “ Yes, I’m familiar with the
story.” Everyone on the planet was familiar with the
story.
    “ Never mind.” He grumbled
something under his breath about a great joke and looked back over
at me. “Why do I make you nervous?”
    “ You don’t. Why do you keep
asking me that?”
    He leaned over and tugged softly on my
fingers. I was twisting my hair again! “Because it seems every time
I talk to you, you start doing this. Not that I mind, it’s kind of
cute.”
    “ It’s kind of cute I twist
my hair, or it’s kind of cute you make me nervous?
    “ Both.”
    “ I twist my hair mostly out
of boredom, sorry to disappoint you.” I smoothed out the tangled
mess and mentally slapped myself. Get it
in control, girl .
    I was relieved the foul tempered
Hillary was nowhere to be seen as we pulled into the parking lot. I
thanked him for the ride and the bagel, vowing silently to never
again twirl my hair. I took off running for the bathroom to devour
the bagel, I couldn’t very well eat it during our class after
making such a big stink about not being hungry. I chided myself
again for my foolish pride, but not before stuffing a huge piece of
the delicious bagel into my mouth.
    “ Slow it down, girl. You’re
chowin’ on that as if you haven’t eaten in a week!” Oh! Not Melody ! Within
seconds I had the low-down on the two new transfer students while
she dragged me down the hall to Mythology. I nodded, shoveling
pieces of the bagel into my mouth as she continued her babble. We
stepped into the room as the bell rang. Melody ran to the front row
and dropped into the desk next to Hillary. As my luck would have it, Seth was
sitting next to the only empty spot left in the room. I dropped my
books down on the desk and sank into my seat.
    “ Psst.” I ignored him.
“Psst,” he said again. He motioned for me to lean toward him and I
wondered what bit of torture he had in mind for me next. He reached
for my face, and with his thumb slowly caressed my bottom lip,
stealing my breath away. He popped his thumb into his mouth and
licked it, sending the blood coursing through my veins at an
inhuman speed. He mouthed the words, “Cream cheese,” which,
thankfully, helped me to regain my composure. I mouthed back,
“Annoying,” and turned away. Out of my peripheral vision, I could
see him silently laughing.
    “ Good morning, my fellow
humans.” Oh. My. Gosh. Dr. Bore is such a
nerd ! “It has been brought to my attention
by one of your classmates,” Bore said, grinning at Melody, “that
the syllabus for this course has a typo. It states you are to do
either ten hours of community service, or a
ten-page paper on community service. However, it should read a 25 page paper on community
service , not ten.” The class, myself
included, let out a collective groan. Where was I going to find the
time to do a 25-page paper? Leaving my mom alone for long periods
was difficult, it was too easy for her to get hurt, even going to
school some days were a challenge. It was why I hadn’t taken an
after-school job, though we certainly could use the money. I
brought the idea up to her once, but she forbade it, saying I had
responsibilities at home and she wasn’t going to pick up my slack,
as if that was ever going to happen.
    I was still brooding over the news
when class ended. Gathering up my belongings, I moped silently to
Seth’s car, hoping CaL would cheer me up.
    “ You’re not upset over the
whole cream cheese thing are