Page 99 of This is Me

“I mean, not that I care or anything,” Cooper mumbled, hiding his face as crimson crept onto it.

“Mhm, of course not.”

I was thankful for how quickly we had gotten back to normal after my overstepping before. I knew I shouldn’t have said anything, and now I know better. It’s none of my business, and I was going to respect that. All I had to do now was get rid of the worry in my head—which was easier said than done.

“It’ll be awesome if they come. It’ll be just like the movies! A group of friends getting ready for a dance together!”

“I’ve never seen a movie where that happens,” I admitted with a laugh as we both began to walk into the school.

Lunch still wasn’t over yet, so I wasn’t sure what we were doing, but I was just following Cooper.

“You’ve just been watching all the wrong movies then.”

“Clearly,” I said with a smile before asking a question I should have asked ages ago. “Have you seen Trent?”

“Blaire said something about him doing something for the ball,” Cooper answered as we walked into the school’s main hall.

It held quite a few students. Usually, it was almost vacant during lunch, but a lot of students were helping to set up for the ball. Hanging banners, ribbons, and balloons around the school, along with giant posters boasting bright colours asking, ‘Who will be Peer of the Year?’

It didn’t surprise me that so much effort went into the ball each year, as it was pretty much the only thing the school did that wasn’t crap. The jury was still out on the Peer of the Year, though.

“Oh… I have more than one question,” I said softly, wrapping my head around Cooper’s words as we continued to walk down the hall. “When did Blaire tell you this, and how does she know? Does it have to do with her helping to set the dance up?”

Suddenly, Cooper turned into a classroom filled with a few students, all waiting in line in front of the teacher's desk where a large box sat with a sign reading, ‘Peer of the Year Votes!’ in bright colours.

“It sure does. I also found out she’s the reason there’s going to be fireworks,” Cooper explained, and we slowly moved up the line toward the teacher's desk. “And we text each other.”

“Oh… fair enough,” I said slowly, looking at the bright box at the front of the classroom. “I can’t believe you lured me in here to vote.”

“I didn’t lure you. You just followed me. But you do really need to put a vote in.”

“Yeah, true.”

“I mean, we all know who you’re going to vote for, but you gotta make it official,” Cooper said with a smile, nudging me.

“You’re trying to get me to vote for you, aren’t you?” I asked with a chuckle, and Cooper beamed.

“I would love that!” Cooper almost yelled, causing a few people to turn around and look at us. “But what about Andy, though? Or Blaire?”

“The votes don’t matter anyway, Coop. One of the popular kids is gonna win,” I said, shaking my head and moving forward in the line.

“Yeah, but still… where is Andy anyway?” Cooper asked, moving forward to the teacher’s desk and grabbing a pen and piece of paper that sat in front of the voting box.

“Oh, Blaire dragged him along with her,” I said with a chuckle, moving away from the desk and walking out of the classroom.

“But she didn’t get you?”

“Oh, she asked, but I said no. Something Andy and Leroy have trouble with doing.”

I spoke without thinking, and Leroy’s name came out of my mouth before I had time to stop it. It sounded so casual and normal. Like nothing had happened, and the pit of my stomach dropped, and for the first time since I had decided to let him go, I missed him.

Shaking the feeling away, I heard Cooper speak.

“Why’s that?” Cooper asked without missing a beat, knowing better than to focus on Leroy’s name.

“Because she’s terrifying. Why are you looking at me like that? I need to pee,” I added as Cooper continued to look at me weird.

“Oh, sorry. Fair enough. I need to pee as well,” Cooper said and pushed past me into the toilet.