Spring Meadow

What do I care?

Megan sighed as I finished my story. “Come on,” she said, glancing at the diamond encrusted watch on her wrist, “Practice is already over. They’ll be done changing in a bit, too.” I nodded as I followed her out the restroom door.

“You know,” she continued, “I told you I thought you had a crush on him back in elementary. You know he seemed really nice, too. He was in my class. Some of the kids would make fun of you because you sat there all the time and they thought it was weird. He would always tell them to be quiet. It’s weird, though, he didn’t talk to you after the day I became your friend, huh?”

“Yeah,” I answered, nodding. I was lying, though. I talked to him once more after that in middle school, but I was in no mood to explain what happened then. It was the sort of memory I wanted to keep to myself.

“Amber,” Megan pried, unconvinced by my lie.

I smiled. “It’s nothing, I swear.”

She pursed her lips, contemplating, but then decided to drop the subject.

“So, you told your chauffer to wait for you,” I asked, wanting to change the subject.

“Nah, I asked your parents yesterday if I could ride home with you today. Made up something about wanting to get a head start on the homework of any of the classes that we might share. Oh, and what do you know? They invited me to dinner!” She smiled cheekily at me.

I lost my balance for a minute as what she said processed in my head. “But, how?”

“Oh, come on, we’ve known each other so long, your parents consider me their second child. Your mom really doesn’t pay attention though. She started thanking me for attending the party.”

“Sounds like her,” I sighed. I could see the back of the benches to the outdoor basketball court. “So, are you taking a ride with us?”

“That’s what your mom said. Though, I think that your mom forgot about the whole making the two go to and from school together. So, I guess I’ll be the awkward third wheel, right?”

“Or my savior,” I muttered as we rounded the benches. I looked to see Michael waiting on the step second from the top, looking very much annoyed as he scrolled on his phone.

“How long have you been waiting,” I called out, catching his attention.

He looked up from his phone, his expression softened as he tried to see who had spoken. As soon as he realized it was me, however, it hardened into annoyance again. He opened his mouth, probably to spew out some smart comment, but he never got to speak.

“Not long,” Jordan answered as he walked up behind us. As we turned to face him, he continued, “We’ve only been waiting five minutes at most.”

Michael huffed walking down the bleachers. He obviously wanted to say more, but I had a feeling that Jordan gave him some sort of talk about his behavior earlier.