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I feel her eyes on me as I reverse out of the driveway. “Was Izzie right? You have a girl who’s a friend?”
“Yes.” No use in lying; she’ll meet Auden tomorrow.
“Tommy Deyer told me he wanted to be friends, and then he kissed me at the carnival last weekend. Is that a thing boys do?”
“Um.” I press down on the accelerator harder, eager to get to the junior high. I’ll take a speeding ticket over discussing boys and dating and kissing with Mia, who I still see as a chubby-faced toddler who ate nothing but Cheerios for a week, not a teenager. “Do you want me to talk to him? Tell him to stay away from you?”
“No.I like him. You’ll freak him out. He’s already worried you’ll beat him up.” I didn’t really realize I had a reputation for violence among the junior high set.
“Okay then.”
I pull up along the curb. “See you tonight.”
She huffs. “Yeah, whatever.”
You’re welcome.
* * *
The secondary school’s parking lot is just as empty as the junior high’s was. I sit in my car and debate how to tell Auden my mom is picking her up until Josh bangs on my window, scaring the shit out of me.
I shut my phone off and grab my backpack. I’ll just call her later. Knowing Auden, she’ll insist on taking a cab. She didn’t meet any of my family on her last visit here, and I’ve only met her aunt once—she did the team photos this year. In one of my more awkward conversations, I brought Auden up when it was my turn. It kind of makes me worried her aunt might have put together that Auden’s return trip to Canmore has more to do with me than “continuing to reconnect with her family.”
“’Sup.” I greet Josh as Luke wanders toward us from across the lot.
“How long have you been here?”
“A while.”
Josh shakes his head. “I’ll never understand your inability to sleep in like a normal teenager.”
I’ll be getting up even earlier if it means avoiding any moreI kissed a boyconversations with my sister. I shrug. “I just wake up.”
Josh makes a sound of disbelief as we head inside the school. Plenty of people call out greetings and good lucks. Next weekend’s game isn’t for the school team—that season ended months ago. It’s for the country-wide junior hockey league that most of the guys try out for. Playoffs stretch well into the spring, with the finals taking place next weekend. We lost in them last year, making this year’s faceoff an especially big deal. Big news in Canmore—in the whole country, really. Attention has ramped up now that I only have one year left before college.
The first few periods of the day pass in a haze. I’m not paying close attention to anyone or anything. Next week is the last week of school, with the finals and formal dance immediately following. Everyone seems distracted by at least one of those events. I don’t get caught empty-answered in class, despite barely registering a word.
I make plans with Johnny Sparen on the walk from English to the cafeteria to meet up for some extra attack drills this weekend then head for my usual table. For as long as I can remember, it’s always been Luke, Josh, Oliver, and me at lunch. We’re all popular, all have plenty of other friends, but we’re a tight-knit foursome to penetrate. None of our hockey teammates sit with us, or any girl we’re dating, interested in, or hooking up with.
I’m the last one to arrive.
“Didn’t she already get asked?” Lucas questions as I take a seat.
“Fuck ifIknow,” Josh replies. “Askher.”
“How many girls have asked you, Reid?”
“Huh?” I pull my lunch out and check my phone.
“To formal. Can you ask someone already?”
“Oh. I’m not going.”
Some food falls out of Luke’s mouth as he gapes at me.
I scootch as far away as the small lunch table will allow me to. “That’s disgusting, dude. Find some manners or a new table.”
“What?Why aren’t you going?” Oliver asks. “We’ll have a championship to celebrate.”
