Lumen Cove Page 11

  Kelsey made a face. “Why would I be sexting Elliot?”

  Reva gave her a bored look, wondering how her best friend could be so utterly blind. “I have no idea, Kelsey. No idea.”

  A hard ball of anxiety had been lodged in Kelsey’s chest all day, exacerbated by a series of calamities that had her wondering if the universe was punishing her. She’d spent fifteen minutes arguing with Duncan Hersch in physics about a trick question and she’d looked like an idiot. She’d spilled soup all over herself at lunch and she was relatively sure that she broke at least one of Elliot’s toes in Etiquette trying to learn the Charleston.

  “I’m really sorry,” she told him again as they made their way down the hall, following Logan and Reva through the crowd of students.

  “It’s really fine,” he said with a smile though he was limping. “You okay? You seem pretty distracted.”

  “Everything is fine,” she replied automatically pulling her sweater tighter around her chest, still self-conscious about the tomato soup carnage all down her front.

  “Okay…” Elliot conceded though not convincingly.

  Kelsey could feel her heart beating hard in her chest, the rhythm thudding in her ears and drowning out the sounds of the hallway as they inched closer to English class. Alex’s class. A full 88 minutes of listening to his voice, watching him pace in front of her. Logan was already disappearing through the doorway and Reva was about to follow. Kelsey felt a surge of panic.

  “You know what, I’m gonna stop off at the ladies.” Reva turned to give her a quizzical look.

  “The bell’s gonna ring in like two seconds. Have Danvers write you a pass,” she said, but Kelsey was already moving away from them, back towards the other end of the hall.

  “I’ll just be a minute,” she hollered over the calamity of the hallway and Reva looked at Elliot who shrugged, limping into the classroom behind her.

  Alex looked up when Logan entered, watching Reva follow, then Elliot. He frowned as the bell rang, watching his students settle into their seats, one distinctly empty in the front row. His gaze kept returning to it as he went down his roll list, checking everyone off by sight.

  He kept his eyes on his clipboard as he said over the low din of chatter, “Miss Sarno, will Miss Charming be joining us or should I mark her absent?”

  He looked up when she didn’t answer right away and found Reva’s face conflicted but it smoothed quickly.

  “She just needed to hit the ladies. She should be here soon.”

  Alex pursed his lips and hummed. What had been a small gnawing insecurity this morning had swollen to something clawing and biting throughout the day. He couldn’t concentrate, irked by the smallest thing and staring at Kelsey’s empty chair only agitated him further. He tossed the clipboard onto the desk with a clatter and what little chatter had been going on stopped abruptly.

  “Sorry,” Alex muttered, reaching for his copy of Hamlet and moving to sit behind his desk. “If you’ll all take out your books…”

  They began to work through Act III Scene I but it became clear within the first few pages that he didn’t have the stamina for this right now. Reva and Logan had started an argument over the skull prop, so popular in the stage adaptations, during Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy. Alex pinched the bridge of his nose wondering how Kelsey could stand being around this day after day.

  “I just think it’s a stupid move. Like, why is he dragging around his dad’s skull? Like, did he dig it up and just tuck it under his arm like some kind of purse and no one thought this was weird?” Logan asked. Reva turned in her seat to glare at him.

  “He’s crazy. That’s a way that Shakespeare used to show that he was crazy. You know who carries around the skull of their father? Crazy people.” Reva gestured with a hand and turned to look at Alex. “Right Mr. Danvers?”

  It took him a beat to realize she was speaking to him, his eyes on the door, wondering where Kelsey had gotten off to. Skipping class wasn’t her style. “Uh, yes Miss Sarno, that was one of the topics of discussion for your essays. ‘Was Hamlet actually crazy?’”

  “Yes, he’s carrying around a human skull for chrissake,” said Reva while at the same time Logan was saying, “No Shakespeare was just a shitty writer.”

  Reva looked absolutely horrified as she turned to look at him and he grinned at her. “Logan, I swear to God–”

  “Okay, you know what,” Alex said, throwing his pen down on his desk and all eyes were on him. “How about we all just read silently for the rest of the period?”

  “Really?” Reva asked, confused. Students began to look at each other, incredulous. Mr. Danvers never dedicated class time to silent reading.

  Alex sat back in his chair, feeling the student’s eyes on him. No one moved, all of them looking at him as if he’d just told them to murder their mothers. He raised his eyebrows. “I can give you a quiz if you’d like…”

  It was almost comical how fast their heads dropped, twenty teenagers going dead silent as they stared hard at the books in front of them.

  Alex chewed his bottom lip in agitation, staring down at his own desktop. He wasn’t sure if he should be relieved or concerned that Kelsey was avoiding him. He also wasn’t sure why he wasn’t more concerned with her telling someone about what happened. The only thing he seemed to care about was seeing her again.

  He continued to brood for the duration of the class period, the pensive look on his face more than enough to keep the entire room silent, if not sharing looks between each other nervously from time to time.

  When the bell rang, chair legs scraped the floor as students tried to scramble out of their desks. It was a quick exit, most of them still uneasy about Mr. Danvers’ threat of a quiz, others simply ready for the weekend.

  “Mr. Danvers?” He looked up to find Reva Sarno looking back at him concerned. She was the only student left in the room. He eyed the open door.

  “How can I help you Miss Sarno?” He asked with a sigh, fatigue evident in his voice. She frowned.

  “Please don’t get mad at Kelsey for missing class.” Alex fought the roll of his eyes. “She’s had a really terrible day, and she’s just embarrassed.”

  Alex froze, his eyes snapping to hers and she jumped at the intensity of his gaze. Jesus Christ, and Kelsey has to deal with this practically every day.

  “What do you mean she’s embarrassed?” Alex asked, his voice low with fabricated calm. Reva blinked at him.

  “She told me what happened. You’ve gotta know Kelsey doesn’t do stuff like that on the regular.” Alex’s heart began to pound. “She’s a ‘good girl,’ ya know,” Reva said making air quotes and smiling.

  “S-s-she told you? About… about what happened?” Alex asked, his mouth so dry he nearly choked on the words.

  “Yeah,” Reva said with a careless shrug of her shoulder. “I mean I did have to practically drag it out of her. I know it’s super embarrassing but you should know all of us do it. It’s a generational thing.”

  Alex’s eyebrows creased. “I’m sorry, I don’t-”

  “Look, if you could just text her or something and say she’s not in trouble and you’re not going to stop tutoring her or whatever, it’d go a long way,” Reva said with a nod and she didn’t understand why he looked so pale all of a sudden.

  “You think I… I should text her?” Alex sputtered and Reva nodded looking at him as if he were dense. “I’m supposed to text her about this?”

  “Well, yeah,” Reva snorted, shaking her head as if this wasn’t absurd. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe this was how teenagers handled losing their virginity now. “Are you okay?” Reva asked taking in his stunned face and then she gasped. “Oh… oh Mr. Danvers don’t worry,” Reva said waving her arms. “I’m not gonna tell anybody. I know you would get in super a lot of trouble even though she was the one that sent it to you.”

  Alex had a hand to his chest, really worried that he might actually be having heart palpitations as her words sunk in. “Sent me what?”


  “The text message,” Reva said blinking at him. Alex gave her a blank stare.

  “Wait a minute,” Alex said holding his hands out in front of him. “What are you talking about?”

  “The text message about bending her over a desk. She was talking with a guy and sent it to you by mistake,” Reva said. Alex’s eyes widened and he jerked so hard Reva heard his knee collide with the underside of the desk. “Was that not what you were talking about?”

  “Yes!” Alex practically shouted and Reva jumped. “Yes, it was I just- What do you mean another guy?”

  “Yeah,” Reva said with a shrug. “You know us crazy teens and our sexting,” she said nodding and then looked horrified when she realized what she’d said. “I mean uh, not that Kelsey does that. Or me.”

  “But you said–“

  “I mean, yeah, she did that once when she accidentally sent it to you. But it wasn’t, like, about you. That would be inappropriate.” Reva said, her face a mask of seriousness. Alex didn’t know what was going on but he saw an opportunity to get some insight about Kelsey from probably the best source available.

  “Is that why she’s been acting weird?” He ventured. Reva’s eyes widened.

  “Okay, so you’ve noticed it too!” Reva threw her hands in the air as if she were finally vindicated. “She’s been super sketch lately, like coming home super late and just, like, disappearing for hours at a time, not returning texts.” Reva shook her head looking out the window. “And she’s been lying…”

  “Lying?” Alex asked, feeling a tinge of nervousness.

  “Yeah. She thinks I believe her because I don’t call her out on it but I know, Mr. Danvers. I’ve been friends with that girl for seventeen years and she is the world’s shittiest liar,” Reva said with a snort. “I just wish I knew what she was lying about.” She frowned out the window again before looking at him. “You don’t know where she’s been, do you?”

  “Me? Why would I know?” Alex asked, his voice cracking. He could see Reva fighting a smile but she had the decency to move on without comment.

  “She spends more time with you nowadays than with anyone else.”

  Alex felt his ears heat up. “I wouldn’t go that far,” he muttered.

  “Anyway, don’t give her detention or anything, please? She’s just super awkward and embarrassed.” Reva squinted her eyes as if something were dawning on her and she crossed her arms. “You know she also might have gotten her period.”

  Alex’s eyes bulged before he snapped them shut, shaking his head as if it would fling what he’d just heard out of his mind.

  “I mean that totally makes sense right? Why would she insist on going to the bathroom before the bell when she could have just gotten a pass? And then when she didn’t come back… you know it probably ruined her-”

  “Miss Sarno if you stop talking right now I promise I won’t give either of you detention,” Alex said finally and Reva looked at him confused.

  “Why would you give me detention?”

  “Because you’re bothering me. Go home.” Reva blinked at him, his words taking a second to sink in. Then she laughed and shook her head.

  “Kelsey said you were funny.” She looked at him for a beat longer than he was comfortable with. “Don’t worry, Mr. Danvers, I’ll get to the bottom of it,” she said with a nod. “I have a sixth sense for deception.” She tapped her temple. “And it’s Kelsey; what kind of deep dark secret could she be hiding?”

  Alex coughed. “Ex-exactly.”

  “Okay well, I’ll see you on Monday. Have a good weekend, Mr. Danvers,” she said brightly, giving him a real genuine smile, not her usual flirtatious smirk. He watched her go, not entirely sure what kind of conversation had transpired between them.

  He was even more conflicted now than he had been before. Was Kelsey seeing someone else? Reva had been right, though he would never have admitted it to her, they had been spending the majority of their time together for the past two weeks. When did she have time to date someone else?

  Listen to yourself. Someone else? As if you two are dating?

  Alex shook his head, his elbows thumping onto the desk as he rubbed his face hard. He didn’t know how he was going to do it but he had to talk to Kelsey. If she had regrets, if she hated him if she was embarrassed it didn’t matter. This couldn’t hang between them unaddressed forever. She couldn’t continue to skip class and expect him to pass her. At least that’s what he told himself because admitting that he couldn’t stand not knowing where they stood with each other was too much for his weary mind to handle.

  Chapter Eight

  Kelsey wiled away her afternoon at, of all places, the Blue Heron Cafe. She’d spent $48 on plate of four cucumber sandwiches, a tiny scone that was the size of a doughnut hole and more Earl Grey than she’d ever had in her life. The cafe was located on the opposite end of the beach from Lumen Cove, the last stop on the boardwalk before the stairs descended to the semiprivate beach of the Bellengrath neighborhood. It attracted mostly tourists and the wealthy crowd and Kelsey now understood why; the Earl Grey was the cheapest thing on the menu at $8 per cup

  She walked away from English class that afternoon without turning back. She passed the bathrooms at the end of the hall, which was where she had originally intended to go, just to get herself together and calm her racing heart, but didn’t stop even after she was out the side doors of the school and into the early October chill. She didn’t know where she was going but it felt good to be moving, burning her manic energy and stretching her sore legs. She just needed to be by herself for a while, did not want to see any familiar faces, longed for an anonymity that was near impossible in a small town like Lambency. It was the first time she ever regretted not having a driver’s license.

  When the waiters began wiping down tables for the night, Kelsey reluctantly paid her tab and gathered her things. Despite spending nearly five hours there she hadn’t got much studying done. Her mind was an open cage, thoughts flitting in and out like tittering birds and she couldn’t make herself focus. She felt pinned under the weight of something she didn’t understand and wished more than ever that Gram was here.

  She stepped out of the cafe, the setting sun reflected perfectly in the still water of the bay and began the long walk home. She took the stairs down to the beach, walking in the shadow of the boardwalk and listened to clips of conversations as she passed under the people above, some voices familiar while others she couldn’t place. She felt jittery and unmoored, something she attributed to having entirely too much caffeine and nothing to do with what happened between her and Alex - Mr. Danvers.

  She didn’t want to think about it. The more time had passed the more embarrassed she’d become about the entire situation. He’d seen her naked. He’d had his face in her- She shook her head hard and closed her eyes trying to will the thought away while wishing the sand would swallow her whole. How was she supposed to go back to being just his student? She chewed her lip as her feet took her past the busy shops above onto the open stretch of beach, the Sand Bar a sparkling oasis of lights and music in the ever growing darkness. She contemplated taking the stairs up to the boardwalk to avoid crossing in front of the tiki bar. What if Sully was there? What if Alex was there?

  She swerved over to one of the many access points to First Street, climbing the stairs in unnecessary haste. She kept her head down, ignoring the couples and groups that passed her in their quest to get to Ezio’s Pizzeria or Perkatory, the places to be on Friday nights. She reached the end of the boardwalk without incident, descending the stairs once more, cloaking herself in the shadow of the crag and avoiding the light thrown from the Sand Bar. She rounded the bight and heaved a sigh, trudging across the sand, her way clearly lit by the lights of Lumen Cove.

  Kelsey stopped dead in her tracks at the corner of Building One, her eyes flicking up on instinct to Alex’s deck and there he was, leaning on the railing and looking out over the dark ocean. It seemed he noticed her as soon as she noticed him.
He straightened, his eyes holding hers. She tore her gaze away, a hot flush of embarrassment heating her cheeks as she began to hurry along down the beach as fast as she could without actually breaking into a run.

  Alex didn’t know what he was thinking when he called her name loud enough for anyone within earshot to hear. He fumbled with the latch on the gate, stumbling down the stairs in bare feet to hurry after her. He said her name again but she didn’t stop, nearly running now and he broke into a jog to catch up.

  “Kelsey, seriously, wait!” He exclaimed in a heated whisper, his hand slipping around her bicep. She whirled on him, ripping her arm from his grasp.

  Alex held up his hands in surrender and took a step back to leave a more than respectable gap between them. They were shadowed beneath the steps leading up to Caroline Munter’s deck, the rental unit below it dark. He could barely see Kelsey’s face but he could tell she was breathing hard, staring down at his feet with her arms crossed over her chest. He could practically feel the words keep out radiating off of her.

  They stood there, silent. Alex, despite agonizing all day over when he could talk to her again, couldn’t think of a thing to say. Kelsey had nothing to say, or maybe she had too much to say? She felt as if her skin was on too tight, suffocated and trapped by a paralyzing anxiety of which she couldn’t identify the source.

  “What do you want?” She mumbled after a moment, still not looking at him and he sighed.

  “We need to talk.” He watched her wince, head whipping to look out at the ocean, arms tightening over her chest.

  “No, we really don’t. I get it. Don’t worry about it.” Her words came out in a harried jumble that he almost couldn’t comprehend and while it processed she tried to turn away again to head off to Building Two.

  “No.” He reached for her again. “Kelsey, we really do.”

  This time she didn’t shake him off, just let her arm go limp in his grasp and looked up at the sky as if she were waiting for some kind of final blow. Alex’s brows creased with concern and confusion.