"Hey~, Mikey~" Evan sang, floating next to me. "How's your boyfriend~?" He cackled and started poking me again.
"Hey, stop! I-..." I quickly shut my notebook, in which I was drawing multiple large heart shapes with the phrase 'M+S' inside, "We're not official yet."
"Oh, really~?" He said, pointing to the boy standing against a wall nearby. "Does French kissing not make things official?"
"WHAT?!" I shot up and looked around, wondering how many other people saw. Luckily, only one person seemed to be paying attention, and that was Sean himself-
Oh no.
"Heyyy, Sean..." I mumbled quietly, waving at the boy. He smiled and waved back, and cocked his head. I shook mine in response, and he shrugged and went back to gazing at the trees. I sighed. "Listen, Evvie—if you say a word about this to anyone, I swear to the God above I will find a way to kill you again." Evan chuckled.
"Yeah, okay," he said, floating a little bit up and away. "Just so you know, people are staring at you. Bye!" As he drifted into the trees again, I looked around to see at least two different groups of people looking at me and whispering.
Embarrassed and upset, I shrivelled back onto the bench and held my knees to my face.
"Hey, Mikey!" Called a familiar voice after a few seconds of me sitting, close to tears. "Are you okay? Who were you talking to? What was that? People were staring at you. I think they think you're crazy. What were you doing before? Can I see your notebook? That was nice, by the way, can we do it again?" He smiled broadly and tried to get real close to my face, but I pushed him back. "Oh, okay. Maybe later. Got it. What do you have for lunch today? My mom made me and my sister the same thing so I think I accidentally took her lunchbox instead of mine, haha! It's called Poutine, it's a Canadian dish made with fries and gravy and cheese, and it's super good, do you want to try a bite?"
"Not right now, Sean," I replied. "I've got my own food." I pointed to the handbag on the ground, which would be holding my food if a squirrel hadn't wrangled it out of my hands and rummaged the thing right before school. "Have you lived in Salt Lake all your life? I moved from south."
"I have! Hurricane, yeah? It must be super hot down there! How hot did it get? Why did you move, anyway? Isn't it wonderful in the south? I bet it's wonderful. Hot, though."
Once again I saw Evan's face poking through the branches at me; he liked to hide in trees, for some reason. I sighed and smiled.
Okay, so what? If I did have a crush, who would kill me for it?
My father.
My father would in an instant.
Oh no.
