Page 6 of This is Me

“Alright, calm down.” Leroy chuckled. “I don’t understand why they’re having a Monday night game, though.”

“Because it got washed out on Friday, Roy,” Andy answered. Just as he did, the four of us entered the entrance of the school and found ourselves standing in a large hallway, surrounded by other students.

“Yeah, I know, but still,” Leroy mumbled, trying to find his argument. “Why not just wait until this Friday?”

“Because there’s another game this Friday. Jeez, Roy, keep up,” I chimed in, giving Leroy a slight nudge on the shoulder which warranted me a sharp glare from him.

“Whatever, it’s a stupid sport anyway.”

“Just because you suck at it, doesn’t mean it’s a stupid sport.” It was now Andy’s turn to tease Leroy and give him a slight nudge.

“You kick and throw a ball around and try to get it through some posts at the end of the field. It’s stupid.”

I glanced over at Leroy and gave him a confused look, though he didn’t acknowledge it. Leroy was usually one to be excited about the game. Hell, he was the only one in our group that played a sport.

“We’re all going, Pete,” Blaire stated, cutting Leroy off, who let out a scoff.

“I’ll drive?” I asked, already knowing what the answer was going to be.

In our friend group, I was the only one with a car. I usually drove everyone to school and back home afterward. I was the designated taxi.

“Of course!” Blaire winked.

“We couldn’t ask for a better driver—” Andy started but was cut off by Leroy.

“Shotgun!”

“Damn it, Leroy!” Andy yelled as he went to grab Leroy’s bag, but Leroy had already begun sprinting down the hallway, causing Andy to race after him.

“You good to drive?” Blaire asked, watching the other two boys dodge and duck through the crowd of students, causing quite a disturbance.

“Yeah, of course,” I responded as she looked back at me. “They’re going to get detention, aren’t they?”

“Probably, but that’s not our problem,” Blaire stated with a laugh.

“True. I could still really use a coffee,” I mumbled, pulling my phone out of my pocket and looking at the time. Blaire also looked down at my phone.

“You know… we could probably go and get coffee and be back in time for our first class.”

“You think?” I asked sceptically, stowing my phone back into my pocket.

“Eh, it’s a maybe. Shall we?” Blaire turned and extended her arm back to the door we had just walked through, and I let out a sigh.

“What about the other two?

“We’ll grab them something, too.” Blaire smiled at me, showing off a set of perfect teeth.

“You’re a bad influence, Miss Brodie.” I let out a laugh and shook my head at Blaire.

If it weren’t for the whole being gay, I probably would have asked Blaire out by now. She was stunning and had a similar sense of humour to mine. We had been friends since the first day of high school when we’d been placed together in homeroom. Ever since then, we had become quite close. Probably even more intimate than I was to Andy or Leroy—which made it even worse I was harbouring a secret from her.

Through the years of our friendship, there had been plenty of times when we were alone, and I wanted to tell her. Times when we were talking about life and things that were on our mind, and I just wanted to let it all out; to tell her everything. But I knew that if I did, it would change everything. If I told her, nothing would be the same, and I didn’t think I could handle that. I didn’t want anything to change. I didn’t want to lose anyone.

Yes, maybe I was overreacting and overthinking. Maybe nothing would change. Perhaps everything would be okay. But I didn’t want to take that chance.

“I can’t even remember what they drink. Leroy usually orders,” I said with a slight chuckle.

I should have known what they usually got since we had all been getting coffee together since I’d gotten my car, but I wasn’t the smart one in our group