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Just as I got my locker open, Mandy slammed hers shut, narrowly missing my fingers. She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, frustration flashing in her eyes. Audrey and I exchanged concerned glances, wondering what could’ve happened within the span of an hour long class to make Mandy so heated. The school day was over, but apparently the drama had just begun.
“What’s up, M?” Audrey asked as she pushed her curly hair over her shoulder. “What’s with the freakout?”
“Coach Mac announced his retirement in sixth period science,” she grumbled, staring at the lockers on the opposite side of the hall. Tears formed in the corner of her eyes. “He’s not even finishing out the year. A new teacher is coming to replace him in three weeks and then he’s out. Gone. Never coming back.”
“Oh, Mandy.” I wrapped my arms around my friend and squeezed her tight. It was hard to see her cry. She was the toughest person I knew. “I’m so sorry.”
Pain lanced through my chest. The reality was that Mandy didn’t actually care about science class or who taught it. What was really causing my friend to lash out was the fact that the coach who’d spent countless hours training her in track and long distance running was leaving before the end of her last season.
She’d been counting on this year being her very best. With a talent like hers, she could get a scholarship to almost any Division I school she wanted. That was, if she had a stellar last season.
This probably felt like she was being abandoned in her hour of need. It was no wonder she was devastated. The whole thing made me frustrated.
“I know I shouldn’t be angry,” she said with a sniff into my shoulder. “His wife is sick and needs him around. But I just can’t help myself. I’m so selfish.”
“You’re allowed to feel that way,” I said, rubbing her back. Audrey hummed in agreement. “That doesn’t make you a bad person. We all know you really love Coach Mac. But even with him gone, I’m sure you’ll still have an amazing track season, because you’re an amazing athlete. And maybe you’ll get an even better coach out of the deal.”
She sighed heavily, leaning her head back against the locker she’d just slammed. “You know, sometimes I wish I was more like you. I could constantly ask myself, how would Trina see the silver lining in this situation? I should have that made into a bumper sticker. It would remind me not to suck so much as a human being.”
I laughed and tossed my history book in the bottom of my opened locker. “Um...you don’t even have a car to put a bumper sticker on and I’m pretty sure you don’t need to be more like me. You’re a wonderful human being, Mandy. One of the best, in my opinion. That’s why we’re besties.”
“Agreed,” Audrey added, before giving me a bit of side-eye. “Although, I might order one of those bumper stickers, too. Trina’s got us both beat in the sweet and innocent category by a mile.”
I shook my head. They were both nuts. “That’s not true and you know it!”
“Yes, it is.” Audrey tugged on her backpack straps and pulled them tight. “You never think bad of anyone. You’re so trusting. If a kid were to ask you for the shirt off your back right now, you’d give it to them, no questions asked. And you are incapable of squishing a spider you found inside your house because you worry they have feelings.” She shivered with disgust.
“Well, I just figure it’s kinder to catch and release,” I grumbled into my open locker.
Okay, she had me described in accurate detail, but that didn’t make it easy to swallow. And she wasn’t the first person to say something along those lines. Wasn’t Mason just accusing me of something similar two weeks ago? Naive was the word he’d used. And that was pretty much how my best friends described me. I didn’t want to be naive. I wanted to be a woman who was going to change the world.
Was that too much to ask?
“I’m just looking forward to the day when Trina Frye decides to put herself first,” Audrey continued, leaning against the wall. I could feel her gaze on the side of my face. “When she actually does what she wants for once, instead of what everyone around expects of her.”
“I don’t...I mean...”
That wasn’t fair. Occasionally, I did what I wanted. Like just this morning, when I read a chapter ahead in To Kill a Mockingbird for Lit instead of waiting for the entire class to catch up. I swung around to tell my friends just how wrong they were, but stopped cold when my eyes took in the scene happening just a little farther up the hallway.
Mason was walking in this direction, wearing the second of his new outfits: artfully distressed skinny denim with a blue flannel shirt and navy puff vest. A beanie on his head completed the look. He had his hand in his pocket and was closing in on a group of giggling girls standing in the middle of the hall.
My heartbeat stuttered when I realized that Polly was one of the girls he was fast approaching. She was standing in the middle, in her tan corduroy mini skirt and leather boots, captivating the rest of the girls with a story. From my vantage point, I could just barely see the side of her face, but it was enough to know that she’d seen Mason, too. And that the sight of him in his new outfit had knocked her momentarily speechless. He walked up to her, almost in slow motion, and pulled his hand out of his pocket to reveal a folded triangle of paper.
My stomach tilted. It was the love note! He was giving her the love note we’d worked on yesterday.
“Case in point,” Mandy said next to me, drawing my attention back to her face. Her gaze flicked to Mason and then to me. “When are you going to do what you actually want, Trina?”
I shouldered my backpack and frowned. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“I’m talking about Mason. What do you want with him?”
That was easy: to finish our research project and see him finally happy. I opened my mouth to expl
ain it to my friends again — for the hundredth time — when my attention diverted back to the scene in the hallway. Polly had opened Mason’s note and seemed to be reading it silently in front of him. With a puzzled and hesitant expression, she folded it up and handed it back to him.
Mason’s expression was stoney. Honestly, I couldn’t get a read on him to know if he was disappointed or not. It didn’t matter. I was disappointed enough for the both of us. So much for Polly melting at his feet. Apparently, I didn’t know womankind as well as I thought I did.
Polly mouthed something to Mason, too quiet for me to hear, and turned to leave with her friends. Mason stared hard at her retreating back as my heart lurched in my chest for him. What had gone wrong? Mason had put himself on the line for her and she was just going to walk away? Did she know how hard that was for him?
