How’s Life, Amy?

by: alicecullengirl

As promised, I’m back with a sequel and so are Amy and Lee… and Spencer as of late. I have so many more ideas for this story than I had for Hello, Amy, so I’ll def have chapters out more frequently (so you can breathe now *knows how much you all hated waiting 8 months for a chapter*) See you on the flipside. (oh, and the chapter title is sooo stolen but I love it anyway ^^)

-ACG

1. Life Sucks, And Then You Die

Lee Harris was wearing Ray-Bans. He would never admit it, but the last two times he’d worn them was to make me laugh when I was stuck in one of my moods. I’d caught onto the pattern pretty quick. I ought to laugh at least once, if only to make him feel a bit useful as we sat in his new car instead of eating lunch.

Lee lowered his sunglasses, interest piqued or well annoyed, I couldn’t tell. He raised an eyebrow. “Not reading today?” he asked when he noticed I was empty-handed today, not even making progress in my English book. I was surprised he would care about my habits. What an inconvenient time to start. “I thought you and lit were like this,” he crossed two fingers on his right hand.

After re-reading every letter Scratchy – Spencer, I forced myself to think – had ever written me, apart from that first one tucked away in my copy of Twilight at home, I didn’t feel much like reading anything else. I was surprised Lee hadn’t seen the red letters of UNDECIDED on my forehead and slapped me yet.

I realized that the guilt I felt was kind of like the feeling you get after finishing a book you can only read once. It lasts and depresses you until you find something else to obsess over.

I decided to take my own advice. Why drown myself in Spencer-Come-Lately when I had Lee to divert my focus? I didn’t even ask. I carefully pulled the ridiculously expensive shades from Lee’s face and kissed him, dropping them on the dash. He didn’t push me away, which I was grateful for. At least he didn’t know… yet. I could swear he bought Dentyne in bulk at Costco. He was never without a bit in his mouth, an oral fixation I had only just gotten used to. He kissed me without complaint for a long moment, and then narrowed his eyes.

“Amy, you can tell me if you’re bipolar. Out of it one minute and into me the next. You look like you shot a dog or something.”

I made a scared sound between Huh and Eh, but reeled myself in. He doesn’t know, he doesn’t know, he doesn’t know… “Have it your way, then,” I smirked, pretending to zip shut my lips and throw away the key. I may be dangerously close to busted, but I could still keep Lee in line by withholding kisses. If I didn’t, he’d definitely know something was up.

Nothing’s up. You don’t even like Spencer Keens. He doesn’t know... the reassurances played in a continuous loop in my head

A large group of girls were walking inside with their books, so lunch must be ending. Lee picked up his keys, I got out and retrieved our book bags from the trunk where we’d left them, and we walked to English holding hands.

--

“You’re thinking about something,” Lee noted, irked more than his words conveyed. “You hardly ever do, but I can tell when you are.” I couldn’t tell if he was jerking me around or just being a jerk.

I shrugged noncommittally.

“Who are you thinking about?” he asked like he didn’t care, but his hand suddenly held mine too tightly.

I looked meaningfully down at my compressed fingers. He let my hand drop and chuckled, but the sound was a bit off. “Jesus, you’re tense today.” He dropped the subject, but I didn’t miss how his eyes narrowed when a tall senior boy apologized for bumping into me on his way by, as if he and I were secretly hooking up behind his back and he had viable proof of it.

It didn’t even click that this was my Scratchy class until my hands reached automatically under the desk, and the new letter gave me a papercut. I had to admit I was stunned. Spencer hadn’t said a word to me since he’d come clean about his letter-writing, secret-keeping escapades, and yet four hours later it was like nothing had changed.

And yet it had. I unfolded the lined paper, but not before taking a few calming breaths:

How’s life, Amy? --

I may have lost my mystery, but I doubt it’d be smart to call you when your boyfriend’s … well he’s Lee Harris, you know him, need I say more? I could live without a broken nose, haha. So letters it remains. Mr. Maynard’s out again (the despair, it’s crushing), and I’m not even sure who our sub is, seeing as they haven’t shown up yet and class started three minutes ago.

I looked up. Mr. Maynard’s desk was empty, and most of the classroom was still abuzz with chatter. No one had showed up yet this period either.

If we have Ms. Wendell again, I might just go Columbine on all our asses. Scratch that, I don’t really feel up to flipping out and strangling people with my iPod headphones. Forget it. So, a little bird on Facebook told me your birthday is coming up, and I’ll marry this horrible woman (yes, Ms. Wendell just walked in) before I forget to give you just a little hell about it. And no, I’m not going to tell you what it is. You can have my name, but you can never have my intricate plans! –Scratchy (Heh, I guess old habits die hard.)

Ms. Wendell walked in, still finishing a green apple from lunch, and I slipped the note in with my English notes.

I was happy that things weren’t so drastically different between Scratchy-damn-it-Spencer and I. The letters were nice, but they weren't the same. It wasn’t like I had an imaginary friend anymore. I had an admirer who seemed a bit less like a opinionated onlooker and more like a voyeur. I wondered if he was watching me right now. Okay, maybe I didn’t, but it seemed like a possibility now.

Spencer Keens. Lee Harris. I was tempted to draw a Venn diagram to compare the two, but that wasn’t what I really wanted. I really wanted to clone myself so I could be happy with who I chose and so Lee would only have a fifty percent chance of beating the right version of me to death when he found out.

What a mess this was.

Lee flicked me in the back of the head when Ms. Wendell wasn’t looking. My sigh was quiet and yet a bit hysterical as the sound of his chuckle drained me of hope, as something I remembered him say when this first started gave me an uncomfortable chill.

Unlike you, I can do anything I like … so you really don’t have a choice…

I hoped to God it wasn’t still that way.

Surely things had changed since then. Surely I’d gained a few freedoms as Lee’s legit girlfriend. I could choose who I wanted to be with, right?

I swallowed.

I’m going to die, he’s going to kill me. I’m going to die, he’s going to kill me… The loop in my head didn’t sound so reassuring anymore.

Okay, so chapter one’s done and… well, it seems like Lee and Amy might be right back where they started. Scary… R&R, I’ll be back in a bit! -ACG