I was a liar in several respects, and I lied to Bonnie, too. I lied by omission to Russell, but told him the absolute truth on matters of emotion; Bonnie got the facts, but as far as she was concerned, it had had little impact on me. She was full of advice on all things practical and sought to make drama out of everything. Everything had either a meaning or a terrible consequence, and in the latter case, I was left to play devil's advocate to balance the doomsday scenarios she came up with. "He's spending an awful lot of time with Mia lately," she'd observe, and I'd shrug and say, "Well, she's his girlfriend, Bonnie," and then we'd argue about whether or not I qualified as his daughter. (She thought sort of; I merely wished.)
Once in awhile I was successful at steering the conversation away from both of our respective families, and we'd talk about our classes or schoolwork or after-school plans. Or boys. Bonnie actually liked a boy her parents approved of, but they wouldn't allow her to date until she turned sixteen later in the year; I had my eye on a junior who had, against all reason, found multiple excuses to talk to me in the hall. He was tall and red-haired and tanned, and his locker was next to mine. Furthermore, he was in my world history class, which gave us an excuse to talk. Awkwardly. His name was Oliver.
"Hi, Emily," he said. It was Thursday morning and I had just pulled my social studies book out of my locker.
"Hi," I said. I wished for the thousandth time that I'd been able to keep the assumed name I used with Russell.
We stood awkwardly in the hall.
"Well," he said. "You... want to go to class?"
The two-minute walk was uncomfortable and wonderful all at the same time.
"You're new," he observed.
"Well, yeah. I moved up here. To my dad's house. My mom got married to a guy and they moved to Michigan."
"Where were you before?"
"Vacaville."
"Ew." We laughed. "I bet you're glad to be out here. You're a sophomore, right?"
I nodded.
We walked in silence for a minute, and then he came out with it. "Look, you maybe want to go see a movie? After school sometime?"
He was asking me out on a date. It took me a moment to collect myself. "I... yeah. Sure. I mean... I'm grounded right now."
"Oh."
"But I won't be grounded later, I think today's my last day. Or last night was."
"You don't know?"
I shrugged. "Things are new. With my dad and me."
"Would he let you go see The Book of Eli?"
I rather thought that that Russell wouldn't care. "Probably. I'll ask. Tonight. But." I paused. "It's rated R, isn't it?"
"He won't let you see rated-R movies?"
"No," I said, "It's just that I'm not old enough to get in by myself."
"I'm seventeen. I can buy the tickets. And anyway, that theater never checks."
"Cool," I said. We looked at each other, and I looked away, happy, nervous, and slipped inside the classroom.
