Page 44 of Sending Love Letters to Animals

Mr. Melvin was attempting to show everyone how to incorporate some arm movements during the number when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I spun in my seat, startled, to find Jules, Liam, Elijah, Aubrey, and Daniel sitting in the second row behind me.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked.

“We’ve been texting you for forever, bro.” Elijah groaned. “You never answered, so we came to find you.”

Frowning, I fished my phone out of my pocket. Sure enough, missed texts were piled up when I tapped the screen.

“Sorry.” I winced as I looked up at my friends. “I guess I didn’t hear it over the singing and piano?”

“Who cares?” Jules waved Elijah off before turning her attention to me. “Low-Key Café tonight? They’re doing a white flag event. We’re all going. You in?”

Before I could even consider it, Aubrey sat forward in her seat. Daniel rubbed her back with his hand idly as she stared into my eyes intensely.

“It’s not a question, really,” she said, though she was mostly playing. “We need the whole crew there, obvs.”

Liam let out a whoop.

“So?” Jules asked. “You in?”

“At the last white flag event they were charging double for all of the snacks,” I said.

“But no cover charge,” Aubrey said in a sing-song voice.

“I’ll buy you some Lomo,” Jules pleaded. “Come on.”

“Ugh,” I replied. “Fine.”

My five friends all cheered loudly. The sound drew Mr. Melvin’s attention and threw all of the eight performers off. He glared down at us from the stage. All six of us shrunk in our seats, trying not to laugh. After a moment, I raised my hand.

“Mr. Melvin?” I asked. “Since I’m not really needed here right now, mind if I head out?”

He rolled his eyes with a sigh as my friends all stood and slithered out of the second row into the aisle.

“I suppose,” he said. “Next rehearsal is next Friday. Be sure to be here.”

“Yes, sir.” I gave him a nod and joined my friends.

The six of us made a hasty exit from the auditorium as Mr. Melvin did his best to get the eight performers back on track. Outside in the main hall, my friends all busted up laughing at the look Mr. Melvin had given them for interrupting his rehearsal. I was amused, too, but I was annoyed they had made me look bad in front of Mr. Melvin.

“You guys are jerks,” I said. “Mr. Melvin is going to kill me.”

“Oh, calm down,” Liam said as we all headed to the parking lot. “He’ll get over it.”

“Mr. Melvin does not get over things,” Daniel shook his head before pushing the door open and holding it for us all. “I would check my locker for a stink bomb on Monday, dude.”

“Or fiery bags of poop on your porch in the middle of the night,” Jules said.

All of us laughed at the thought of Mr. Melvin plotting revenge over something so banal as an interrupted rehearsal. We all made our way to our cars in the lot, plotting out our night at Low-Key Café. My car was parked farthest out in the lot, so everyone in the group had splintered away by the time I reached my car. We had all agreed to meet up at Low-Key Café at eight o’clock, though, so we’d used our time walking out to our cars efficiently.

When I reached my car, and I was grabbing for the door handle, I heard Davud’s voice hollering in the distance. Turning to see what he was up to, I found him wheeling after me furiously.

“Hey!” he hollered. “Ryan!”

I laughed at him as he chased me down as though I was going to run away from him. Fortunately, Davud was an expert with his chair and managed to stop himself before he ran right into me. It was close, but no collision occurred. He was left a foot in front of me, staring up at me, puffing raggedly.

“You’re going to kill yourself going that fast in this cold air,” I said.

“I…need…a…ride,” he said between sharp gasps for air.