Page 13 of One More Chapter
I sigh, staring at the floor. “Yeah, Mom. We’ll talk later.”
I end the call and put my hands on my hips, gathering the courage to ruin Penelope Barker’s life once again.
“They turned your room into a gym already, didn’t they?”
“Yep,” I say to the floor.
“We’re going to be roommates, aren’t we?”
“’Fraid so.”
I wince. I’m about to apologize until the cows come home, put the savings I’ve been stock piling for this dream homereno into a hotel for the foreseeable future, when she mumbles something incoherent.
“Sorry, I didn’t catch that?”
I lean in, and have to cover my amusement. Penelope huffs, like all of her anger has melted away, and she’s just frustrated by something. Kind of like that night we spent on the beach, when she’d had a little too much to drink, and couldn’t get her strappy sandals to stay on her feet.
God, she’s cute.
“Isaid… When itrains, itpours. I was just hyping myself up toteachwith you, and now I have tolivewith you too?”
“Come again?”
She eyes me incredulously. When I stare at her in anticipation, her eyes go wide with amusement.
“Oh. Oh, you don’tknow, do you?”
“Don’t know…” My neck kinks from the weird angle of trying to get her to justspill the damn beans already.
“Your school has a shitty foundation? Unteachable conditions? You are literally being scattered with your students for the year?”
“I…what?!”
“Seriously, Ant, do you not check your emails?”
“Not during the summer!” I exclaim, already yanking my phone out of my back pocket. I fire off a text to the one friend I made during my time at Meadow Ridge Middle School, then login to my school email account. Sure enough, my inbox is littered with messages about changes to the upcoming school year. Sitting right on top is one that readsSchool Assignments. It doesn’t take long for me to find my name parked in the column with River Valley.
I will admit that my heart does a little flip when I see my name matched up next to Penelope Barker’s.
Then again, I feel guilty as fuck. I know it isn’t my fault, but I’ve already upended her life once. I don’t need to keep doing it over and over again.
six
penelope
I cannot live with him.I cannot.
We have lived together for less than twenty-four hours, and his shit is already all over the place—and not in your typical, “move-in day” sense of the word.
After finding out that Ant and I would be sharing this place, at least for the next few months, I took myself out of the house and ran a few errands. Target not only provided me with a few essentials, but also told me I deserved a little treat for the hell I’m in. Pushing in through the garage door, I notice the trails.
There are little Anthony Ellis breadcrumbseverywhere, starting in the laundry room, and ending down the hallway that branches off the living area to the left and leads to his bedroom. Luckily, the layout of this house is absolutely perfect. The main living areas of kitchen, dining room, and living room separate it down the middle. We each essentially have a side of the house to ourselves. Save for the sunroom that I claimed as an office that resides on his side—and set up before I unpacked anything else—we can keep to our own sides for as long as we’re living together.
Unless of course you’re Anthony Ellis.
It’s funny how easily I can trace his train of thought. Starting in the laundry room, there’s an abandoned duffel bag.
Clothes that he brought over from his hamper. Leave them here, and he’ll remember to wash them.