(25) A Sneeze

"We can't keep doing this."

"Stop being such a goody two shoes. No one knows or cares."

For probably the fourteenth time, Makennah huffed and rested her chin in her hand, elbow propped up on her knee. She sat on an old paint can in a random closet in the back of the theater. The only light was provided by Theo's phone because Makennah's was currently hidden just outside the door in a mound of a costume with the video recording to hopefully catch Cassandra and the Coach getting it on in the theatre.

"I can't keep missing class." The otherwise silence was only broken by Makennah's complaining.

"It's your free period." Theo rolled his eyes and rested his shoulder on the door jam.

"And I have homework to do!" She whisper yelled.

Theo gave her the eye. "Do it when you get home."

"I can't. I'm staying late after practice to run some drills with the coach. We have a game tomorrow. I don't wanna be up super later doing homework."

Theo set his phone aside and leaned it against another paint can on a shelf near his shoulder so that the light shined over the closet. "Stop whining. You're acting like it's not a good thing being locked in a closet with me. You know, we could..."

"Don't even think about it," she interjected. There was no way she was letting him kiss her for the first time in a stuffy closet in the theatre. Plus, ever since her talk with Grace she officially put on hold the whole idea of a kiss until she knew more about Theo and trusted he wouldn't run away when he figured out more about her past.

Theo chuckled and peeked out of the closet briefly. "I'm telling you. One of these days this is going to work. They're gonna get all hot and bothered and sneak back here to make out like they did the first time you saw them. Then we will have proof for Matt."

"While I admire your persistence and tenacity, perhaps next time we don't have to hide in the back closet with no air conditioning or air ventilation so that when we leave we're high off old paint fumes." Makennah found an old playbill in a box on the floor scattered amongst old wooden props and fanned herself with it. However, it didn't seem to be doing much good because it only stirred up the dust and made her sneeze.

Theo sank to the floor and stretched his legs out. That particular smirk of his was driving her crazy and not in a good way. "You're kinda crabby today. It's cute."

She rolled her eyes and flicked a piece of blonde hair off her forehead. Today, some of her hair was tied back in a messy bun like how she styled it for the party. She matched her casual hair with a sleeveless black and white striped dress with a hood and converse sneakers. The warm-ish weather lasted long enough for Makennah to wear all of her skirts and shorts one last time before officially whipping out all of her jeans and leggings. It was particularly hard to fight off the urge because Carolynn surprised Makennah with an adorable pair of boyfriend jeans that fit her like a dream. She didn't recognize the brand but they felt expensive. Carolynn claimed she saw them and just couldn't let the opportunity pass up to purchase them. Makennah thought that Carolynn was enjoying having another girl in the house way too much.

"I'm not crabby," Makennah mumbled.

"You kind of are," he persisted.

"I was up late studying but I'm not crabby," she said in a tone of finality as if she wasn't discussing this anymore.

Theo tapped his fingers impatiently on his leg. "Studying for what?"

"Trig. Test today."

"How do you think you did?"

Better than Grace. "Hopefully good."

Theo narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't take this the wrong way but are you like...smart?"

That finally made Makennah crack a smile. "I guess. I try hard." She tried hard because in the past, school was the only thing to keep her sane. In a world of unpredictability, she could always depend on school and homework. Plus, she used it as an escape to sneak off to the library every night that she wasn't working so that she could avoid her mother and all of her drug addict friends.

"Are you gonna go to college?" Theo asked.

Makennah blanched. "No. Definitely not."

"Why?" Theo practically yelled. "You would love college."

She wasn't sure how he knew that but okay. "Just not." Truth was, Makennah would probably never get in. She didn't have any connections. Probably couldn't even hunt down her mom to have her fill out financial aid documents. And she wasn't about to drown herself in debt. A kid like Theo with his family and wealth would never understand. "Are you going to college?"

Theo nodded and bent one knee up, resting his arm over it. He was the picture of relaxed sex appeal. His jeans curved along ever bulky muscle in his leg and his navy blue shirt hugged his biceps nicely, accenting his chords of muscles. "Yes ma'am."

"Where?" It hit her all of a sudden that Theo would be gone next year off at some fancy rich kid college surrounded by other rich kid college girls.

"I've applied to two back up schools but I'm also being scouted for football."

Makennah raised her eyebrows. "Wowwww look at you. A fancy college football player!" She stuck her foot out and nudged his leg, making up for her complaining. And admittedly, her crabbiness.

Theo shyly smiled. "Whatever. I probably won't even get in anywhere good."

"Not true," she shook her head. "You're really good."

Theo shook his head and tried to hide his smile. "And what do you know about football?"

Makennah huffed and cocked her head to the side, finding his gaze in the darkness. "First of all it's totally sexist to assume I don't know anything about football because I'm a girl. Second, I actually know quite a bit so bite me."

His smirk returned. "Is that an invitation?" This time, she kicked his leg aggressively and he laughed. "Alright alright I'm sorry. You're right. I shouldn't assume that."

Makennah sneezed twice before responding. "Apology accepted. Anything outside?" She asked.

Theo leaned forward to ease the door open a crack. "I don't see anything."

Makennah sighed. "We need to come up with a better plan to catch them. Have you convinced Matt to talk to Cassandra about it?"

Theo rolled his head back to rest on the door frame. He poked his tongue in his cheek for a second as if it pained him to think about it. "I don't know. Matt doesn't do anything he doesn't want to. I think he's afraid to bring it up and lose her."

"No one wants to stay with a cheater."

Theo shrugged. "No, but he was head over heels for her. He fell for her so hard. He doesn't wanna let go of a dream." The wistful tone in his voice made Makennah think he was hinting at something personal.

She wasn't going to say anything, but she spilled her guts to him about her ex. So it was okay if she opened up that door for him considering what she saw at the party. "Are you speaking from personal experience?"

His eyes didn't meet hers in the darkness. He licked his lips and mumbled, "Maybe."

"What's that mean?" She wasn't going to give up that easy. Again, she sneezed.

The shyness melted away and Theo smiled at her. "What are you really asking?"

She smiled like an angel. "No ulterior motive."

Instead of answering, Theo stood up and scooted over to her. He squatted in front of her as she perched on the paint can. "You sure? You sure you don't wanna know about that girl I was talking to at the party?"

Her eyes turned down and she bit her lip. "Nope. Just wondering what you meant."

"Huh." Theo sat down on the floor in front of her. She squeezed her legs together so that he couldn't peep up her dress. "I don't believe you. I'm sure your friends told you that she's my ex."

She held up her finger to point out a fact. "That's not a secret. Or anything I'd be interested in."

"Really?"

She shrugged casually, blowing it off. His smirk was really unnerving her. "Yeah. If anything I wonder why you were mad at her. But I don't care that she's your ex."

Theo just shook his head and looked at her like he didn't believe her. Without her outright asking, Theo cleared the air. "I was mad because she wasn't supposed to be there. It's an invite only part and I definitely did not invite her. In fact, she's banned from all of our parties. So I wasn't happy to see her."

"Does she still bother you?" Cause it sure sounded like it.

Theo looked gobsmacked. "Not at all." One of his hands inched forward and rubbed her ankle. Thank God she shaved. "It wasn't really her that I was bothered to see. It's her friends. They're the spawn of Satan and regularly ruin my life on her behalf."

"Does she still have feelings for you?" She asked quietly. Not that she should care.

Theo smiled gently and any worry she had passed away under his kind inspection. "Maybe a little. I don't know. I don't ask or talk to her but she acts like it."

Because he knew so much about her past relationship, she asked, "Why did you break up?"

Theo sighed. "Her friends were half the problem honestly. She was a completely different person around them. They're the meanest girls I've ever met, and she started to get nasty when she was with them. They were the main source of our fighting. Slowly but surely, she started getting mean towards me too. Would say nasty things, would fight for no reason. It's like this switch would flip and she'd chew me fo pieces for something so stupid. Near the end, I think she was cheating on me but I never asked about. I had already planned to break up with her. And I didn't have feelings for her anymore so the idea of it didn't even really hurt me."

The weight that rested on her shoulders that stayed there after the party dissipated hearing the truth from him. She appreciated his honesty more than anything. At the end of the day, it wasn't her business. But she was still happy that he didn't shut her out. "So why did it bother you to see her at the party?" Truthfully, it sounded like he was totally over her which didn't entirely explain his anger.

A sly smile morphed his face. "Because...I was looking forward to spending the night with you. I had no doubt that her friends would try to play some evil games or mess with you. I wasn't about to let that happen."

Makennah's cheeks warmed, except it didn't make her uncomfortable. If anything, it was a pleasurable experience to bask in the warmth that he gave to her, hiding away with their secrets in the back of the theatre while she was supposed to be in class. The mischievousness of it all thrilled her. Although she gave him a hard time, she would totally sneak away with him again. "Her friends would mess with me?" She asked.

Theo rolled his eyes and sighed. "Unfortunately yes. They think I dumped her for no reason. They all hold this grudge against me."

Uncharacteristic to her typical turtle-shell life from which she didn't not escape, Makennah reached out and laid her hand on his bicep. Her fingers curled around his smooth skin and squeezed gently. With a quirky smile, he flexed for her. "Well I'm glad nothing happened."

Theo cocked his head all of a sudden, craning his neck towards the door. "Do you hear that?"

"Definitely." They both stood to their feet when they heard footsteps outside of their door. Theo scrambled over to his phone and shut the flashlight off.

Silently, they pressed their ears to the door. The footsteps drew closer and closer.

An itch grew stronger in Makennah's nose. She squeezed her nostrils closed and held her breath. Theo noticed and his eyes widened. Makennah's eyes watered and her lungs gasped for air.

The sneeze came blasting out. Both of them stood there as still as a statue.

The footsteps stopped.

Slowly, very slowly, the closet door creaked open. Theo grabbed Makennah and sneaked behind the door as it opened.

Her heart beat so crazily in her chest that she feared it might jump out.

The light flicked on.

"Theodore Rose." A grumpy old voice said.

He smiled charmingly and bowed a little. "Mrs. Henderson."

The old teacher's eyes glared at them over the rim of her bifocals. "Principal's office. Now."

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What do you think? Will the secret be out now about Theo and Makennah sneaking around? Will they get in trouble? Will Matt find out?

Xoxo

W. Carolina