The Shift

7

We were at one of Blake's favorite restaurants for his farewell dinner. He had an early flight to Connecticut tomorrow morning, so this was really the last time we'd all spend with him until he came back for Thanksgiving. This was the first chance I really got to dress up, and I felt comfortable enough to do it without Beth's input. I felt confident enough to make these decisions for myself, and it'd only been a week.

'So Chan, I heard you made cheer' Blake said and I nodded. 'Yeah' I said, trying to saw apart my steak. 'I'm excited' I said. 'I didn't even know you cheered' Connor said, making everyone at the table laugh. 'That's because you were barely even four by the time I stopped' I said and he shrugged. 'Well, you must be good' He said and I shrugged myself. I guess I was.

'She is' Bethany said. 'So, Blake you're playing lacrosse over at Yale?' My dad asked him and he nodded. 'Yeah, I already missed two days of training' He said before he glared at Veronica. 'He blames me for waiting too long to book his flight' She said. 'What about you Johnny, any interest in pursuing lacrosse in college?' He asked. 'Actually yeah, I already have offers for UNC and Duke' He said. Damn.

'Wow, are you the only one with offers so early?' My dad asked. 'Justin Bieber, I don't know if you've met his mom Pattie yet, well he got an offer to UNC too. And,- 'Syracuse' Blake said, with so much distaste. 'Oh my god, Blake let it go' Bethany mumbled, causing me to look at her. 'What's wrong with that?' My dad continued. 'He's just pissed because Syracuse hasn't offered anyone from our a school a scholarship since 2010. And, a lot of people want one. Justin got offered a full ride at the end of last season' Johnny said.

'Does he not deserve it?' I asked, surprised at myself for actually saying what I had been thinking. 'I mean, he does. He's good, it's just, the way he acts. It's like he doesn't really appreciate it, or get why people are so envious of him' Blake said. 'Isn't that because he picked up a stick at the beach in like eighth grade and turned out to be good?' Bethany asked. 'Basically' Johnny said.

'Don't get me wrong, the kid has love for the sport. Just doesn't have the drive a lot of us have had for a while' Blake said and I nodded. I don't know how our dinner topic became about Justin, but thanks to Connor it shifted over to baseball. 'So, I've got something to ask you' Bethany whispered to me, even though no one else at the table was paying attention to us. 'What?' I asked her.

'Wanna sneak up to Kent's beach house with me this weekend?' She asked me. 'Why do we have to sneak, it's summer' I said. 'Mom doesn't want me with Kent at a beach house unsupervised' She said. 'Oh, that sucks' I said. 'Yeah, well basically. She wouldn't willingly let me go' She said. 'So what would we tell her?' I asked her. 'Well, I just texted Johnny, and since he's going he said he'd cover for us. You know go along with our cover story' She said.

'Which is?' I asked. 'Cheer camp for the weekend. It works out because since we have a new coach, I can tell her it was some brand new idea she had since we've never done it before' She said. 'The closest parent she is to is Justin's mom and Pattie's not gonna know anything about the girls going so she wouldn't let anything slip' She continued. 'I'm gonna tell her when we get home, say we got emails. Then we say we're leaving tomorrow morning for the coach buses, but we'll just go to Kent's or something' She finished.

'Who else is coming?' I asked her. 'If I tell you Justin's coming for sure would that make you happy?' She asked and I narrowed my eyes at her. 'Fine, I'll go.' I said.

'Did you just get the email I did?' Beth asked as we entered the house. 'Um, oh wait yeah' I said, checking nothing but a DSW order confirmation. 'Cheer camp?' I asked her. 'Yeah, mom' Beth said as we walked behind Veronica. 'Yes' She said as she faced us. 'We have a camp this weekend' Beth said before she put her phone in her pocket. 'Oh do you?' She asked. 'Oh yeah, I heard Allison talking about that at Sam's earlier' Johnny said as he walked by us.