The Roots of Our Past

Chapter Three

"Don't tell me she's coming to sit with us," Olly whines as Brandi calls out to save her a seat from the lunch line.

I set my backpack on the seat next to mine as I shoot Olly a look. "Be nice."

"Like she's been to him?" Hunter challenges.

"That was then, this is now. She's been trying to be nice."

"By ripping one of your eyebrows off?"

"It was an accident," I tell him for the millionth time.

"So, she says."

"It was," Olly chimes in. "I saw how upset she was and how badly she wanted our moms to fix it. Besides, if she did it on purpose, she'd have bragged about it and told everyone."

"That's true," Hunter relents.

"Seriously?" I scoff. "I told you that how many times, and he says it once?"

"He don't care if she likes him, and you do."

"I don't care what she thinks," I disagree. "I just like having a girl to hang out with sometimes."

Gives me something to do when you two are keeping stuff from me, I don't add, but man, do I ever want to. I confronted Hunter about what he and Olly had to talk about on the bus that first day, and he played totally dumb. He won't lie to me like Olly, but he won't answer me straight, either.

"You're not going to believe what happened in history!" Brandi says as she comes over, I move my bag, and she plops down next to me.

"What?" I ask.

"Matt Jones was about to ask me to dance, I'm sure of it," she said. "When class let up, he came over and started making small talk, and then Billy looked over at him and shook his head slowly. So, Matt got scared and left!"

"Like, why does Billy even care? He literally told me I'm on my own this year, so let me be on my own," she adds in a huff.

As predicted, Billy doesn't like her choice in me as a new friend, so now he's shunned her from hanging out with him or any of his friends.

"That sucks, Brandi," I say with a sigh. "He probably just wants to keep you from going to be a jerk."

"I know he does. No one will ask me now," she frowns. "What am I going to do? What are you doing? Are you going?"

Great, way to put me on the spot. Though I had been meaning to ask them about this.

"Um, we always went to the middle school dances as friends, the three of us--" I start to explain.

"Perfect!" Brandi exclaims. "I heard some other freshmen go in small groups instead of dates too. Should we all meet there or what?"

"I didn't say we were doing that this year..." I say feebly.

"Well, we are now," Brandi glances across the table and Hunter and Olly. "Unless you two have dates already, do you?"

Olly laughs and rolls his eyes, "What do you think?"

"Hunter?" she asks as she nudges my knee under the table. If I could kill her right now, I would, but I'm frozen as I wait for his answer.

"I was gonna skip the whole thing," he says casually.

I wasn't expecting that, but it's a better answer than him taking Mary Beth, so I'll take it.

"Well, you can't now!" Brandi says.