Not Yet
I see the food court is packed and I groan when I see Lindsey sitting at a table full of people. Why did she need me to come? She’s already sitting with my brother and a handful of other seniors. She’s pressed into Liam’s side and he’s stiff as a board. I want to laugh, but then Drake looks at me and my good mood fades.
“Over here!” Lindsey yells to me across the food court.
Half the people turn to look and I let out a long sigh. Great. With each step I make Drake looks more and more annoyed with me. I look away and pretend I don’t know him, because I honestly don’t. The boy who was once my best friend looks at me with so much anger and I don’t understand what happened. What we once had is gone and now he’s a stranger to me.
I can still feel his eyes on me and I’m sure he wants to tell me to get lost. He probably would, but I have a feeling Mom already texted him that I might need a ride. Mom is the only reason Drake is still somewhat nice to me or acknowledges my existence, not because he wants to.
Only a few more months, I remind myself. Then I’m out of here. I’ve been debating about living at home while I go to college, but I think it’s clear something has to change. It’s not like Drake is going anywhere. He’s always going to be a part of my life. I can just make things a little more bearable if I don’t have to see him every day.
Chapter Six
Drake
“If I have to hear any more about Homecoming I’m going to throw up,” I say to myself but loud enough for the girls next to me to hear.
“God, Drake, you’re so dramatic.” Court giggles through her nose and it gets on my nerves. But everything gets on my nerves lately.
“He’s just pissed he had extra laps today,” Kira chimes in and I scowl at her. “I was watching Josh and saw you. What’d you do to make the coach so pissed?”
“Nothing,” I say and lean back in my chair.
I didn’t want to come to the mall tonight, but Mom texted me and said Ali needed a ride. What was I supposed to do? I didn’t really have a choice at that point, so I texted Liam that we needed to make the drive. It’s only on the other side of town but there’s so many people from our school here and I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep a low profile.
Sure enough, as soon as we sat down to eat dinner, here came the wicked witches. Court, Kira, and Dakota are the co-captains of the cheerleading team. Apparently there used to be only one, but someone decided that one person on the team couldn’t have that much power so they divided it up. Personally I think the fuck-up was giving three people that much power. Now they just feed off one another but no one says anything to them. I never realized how much I hated blondes until the three of them got on the varsity team. Now every chance they get one of them is in front of me and I can’t get away.
It doesn’t help that I’m captain of the football team so I’m around them all the time when we have practice and games. After today, though, I don’t really know where I stand anymore. I got in a fight with Eric and Coach threatened to kick me off the team. We’ve got state coming up and there are going to be scouts there. If I’ve got any hope of getting picked up then I need to keep my head in the game. I clench my fists under the table and I think about hitting Eric all over again.
“Come on, Drake, tell us who you’re going with,” Dakota coos and leans forward to let me look down her shirt.
I glance beside her to Wes and see he’s got his arm draped on the back of her chair. I don’t understand their relationship. He lets her flirt openly in front of people and doesn’t seem to care that she cheats on him when we’re at away games. I also don’t understand why Dakota wants Wes for a boyfriend when he can hardly remember her name. People are so dumb.
“I’m going stag,” I mumble as I grab a French fry to occupy my mouth. I turn away from her stare.
“Ali’s almost finished trying on dresses.”
The sound of my sister’s name has my ears perking up. Liam is beside me and on the other side of him is Lindsey, Ali’s best friend. I lean in closer to try and hear what she’s saying.
“Who?” Court asks, and it sounds salty on her mouth. She knows exactly who Ali is.