Like we're the coolest new group in school, Kieran, Max and I strut out of the lunchroom together, lips pursed, eyes forward, unfazed. Twenty-five isn't cold for me, but it doesn't matter if I think so or not (familiar?). The thirty-two-degree rule has a lock on the learning class. No fresh air if the mighty thermometer deems it too chilly.
When we're out of sight of the supervisor, Max gives us the cue that it's okay to talk again.
"I can't believe that they brought him back," Max says as we climb the stairs to the balcony.
The lunch supervisor?
"That bad?" I ask.
"Dude, he's the worst." Max says. "Last year, he got so mad because some of us didn't want to listen...he kept us there for another half-hour. Like...what the heck, dude? How does blaming a group help anybody? It's not my job to babysit stupid people!"
Why does he have to be so rude?
But, again, he isn't wrong!
"Who is he?" I ask.
"Gym teacher."
"Oh."
PE? How does that work here?
"You don't want to be on his bad side."
"Oh."
You can hear the PE teacher a mile away, directing traffic, calling out the tables yet to be freed. He could keep Steven in line.
"You can't keep me locked in here! I'm telling Ms. Tudor!"
"Talk back one more time and you'll be here for all eternity!"
That's what they'd say to each other.
Probably.
When we get back to the classroom, Ms. Tudor is in the middle of her lunch, a pasta mix. Josh is here with Ash, at their desks, drawing in a notebook and talking. A couple girls are here, too. I guess I can pull out my Sudoku book. I brought the easy one.
"Dude, where are you going?"
The Sudoku book is in my pack. I want to get it, but Kieran and Max have another idea and want me to tag along.
"Never mind," I mutter.
"What?" Max asks. "Are we too good for you?"
Kieran and Max...are—
"Ever play Checkers?"
YOU ARE READING
Castling: A Novel (NaNoWriMo21)
Teen FictionIt's a slice-of-life centered around "Chase the Ace," who finds himself changing schools against his will mid-year to help make the most of that brain of his. It'll be good for him, they say. He won't be so bored. He'll get to be with an old friend...
