Adventures in Funeral Crashing by Milda Harris Page A

tense silence. I knew what they were really
asking, but Ethan didn’t seem to care or maybe he didn’t
notice.
    “Nah. I have some stuff to talk to Kait
about. Catch you guys in Spanish, though,” Ethan said.
    Dave and Mike nodded and quickly walked away
without looking at me. I wondered what they were thinking. The
whole school was going to be talking about me and Ethan having
lunch now. They were all going to be wondering at his sudden
interest in me. I mean, he rejected his best friends for me. I was
the only one at our table who seemed to be thinking about this,
though. Ethan didn’t seem to care. He was eating his lunch like
there was nothing out of the ordinary in having lunch with me, even
though I was a total social pariah. They probably thought he had
made a bet or something. Like in She’s All That . That would
be okay with me. That movie had a happy ending anyway. Geeky Laney
Boggs got the popular guy. I could only hope for that outcome in my
dreams. I didn’t think Ethan would badmouth me or anything, though.
He was turning out to be the real deal – popular, good looking,
smart, and a nice guy. I almost wished that he wasn’t.
    So, let the school talk about me. It’s not
like I hadn’t been there before. I didn’t like it, but they weren’t
my friends anyway. And, it’s not like our peers were ever going to
guess what we were really doing. That would really give them
something to talk about.
    Just when I thought I was home free for the
day on the Ariel front, she found me. I was at my locker gathering
my things before I met Ethan at his car to go to Vanessa’s wake and
Ariel walked up to me demanding, “Did you and Ethan Ripley have
lunch together today fifth period?”
    The gossip train had worked fast. I put my
Chemistry book into my backpack before I looked up at her. Ariel
was standing there, hands on her hips, trying to look haughty in
her designer, way too expensive for a school day outfit. I didn’t
have time for this today. Especially not when I was keeping Ethan
waiting at his car. Okay, I had read The Rules (for fun’s
sake only, I swear), so maybe it was good for him to wait a little.
Still, that didn’t mean I wanted Ethan to wait because I was being
forced to talk to Ariel.
    I decided to answer simply, “Yes, we
did.”
    “Why is Ethan Ripley having lunch with you?”
Ariel demanded. “Are you helping him with math or something?”
    Ethan was smarter than I was at school. It
was a funny statement and I felt a smile forming on my lips,
“Because he wanted to have lunch with me.”
    “What? Why would he want to have lunch with
you?” Ariel demanded, putting particular emphasis on the word “you”
to emphasize her distaste.
    With that, I slammed my locker shut despite
the fact that I was supposed to bring my history book home to study
for a quiz, grabbed my backpack, and left Ariel staring after me
with her jaw open. At least, I hope her jaw was open. I was going
for effect after all and it would only be worth flunking my history
quiz if I really got to her. I think I did. At least I’m pretty
sure, since she didn’t even have the energy to follow me and ask me
more questions.
    Ethan was waiting for me outside next to his
Honda Civic Hybrid. It was more blue than silver during the day. I
liked that he was environmentally conscious, what with the hybrid
and all. Okay, I’ll admit it, I was looking more at Ethan than his
car.
    Ethan just always looked so good and yet, he
looked even better in the suit he was now wearing. He had changed
sometime after lunch into funeral garb, black pants and a white
button down, although I could see a black jacket lying in the back
seat of the car. It would be awesome if he started wearing suits to
school every day. He looked really sexy in them.
    I looked down at myself, hoping he was having
an inkling of a similar thought about me. I was wearing a black
skirt and form fitting black lacy shirt that I had changed into
before last period. I had