You'll Be Okay

Chapter 4

Kayley popped open her soda and took a sip. "Oh, look. Tyler's coming this way."

I shushed her, leaning over my lunch to hide my face from view. My nose almost touched my sandwich and I squeezed my eyes shut, praying that Tyler wouldn't notice me. At this point, the sight of his face would push me over the edge. I was afraid that I might murder him.

"I've apologized at least fifty times," Tyler began matter-of-factly as he sat himself down on our table. "What else do you want from me?"

I glared at him for a good minute before speaking. "There is nothing you can do to make up for six months of community service."

"Six months is a ridiculous punishment for skipping class." Kayley piped up as she drizzled the dressing over her salad. "I can't believe it."

"Thank you." Tyler looked at her gratefully. "I'm Tyler, by the way."

"I don't care," she replied.

Tyler shot her a glare, turning around in his seat to wave his friends over. Kayley and I shared a look but while she was unimpressed by Tyler, I tried to bite back my annoyance as Jarred and Dennis arrived. Jarred didn't notice but Dennis hesitated, glancing to me.

"Hey, bro." Jarred made himself comfortable beside Kayley, fist-bumping Tyler. "So Leah Song was all over me today. It was hot - but in a scary way."

"Hell yeah." Tyler waggled his eyebrows, momentarily forgetting about Kayley and I. "You should hit her up. I think I still have her number, if you want it."

Jarred shook his head, shovelling pasta into his mouth like his life depended on it. "Delete it, bro. You're a taken man."

"Just keeping my options open."

"Not cool, Ty."

While the two of them continued discussing Leah Song, Dennis smiled apologetically.

"Sorry," he said. "We didn't mean to intrude."

"Intrude?" I smiled sweetly. "Not at all."

Kayley stifled her laughter and I was immediately guilty when Dennis frowned.

"Hey, where's Reid?" Tyler asked suddenly, looking around the table. I half expected for him to do a head-count, just to be sure. "Don't tell me he's meeting with Coach again."

"He's getting drafted," Jarred said like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "So, yeah. He's not just meeting with Coach nowadays."

Tyler shrugged, giving the rest of us a moment of much-needed silence. As he munched on his pizza and slurped his protein shake thoughtfully, it took him a moment to remember what he was doing here in the first place.

"Oh yeah." He helped himself to the other half of my sandwich. "I think we can safely say that it was Reid's fault for the community service. If it weren't for his dad, we would've gotten away with a couple of weeks instead of six months. So... can we all just blame him instead?"

"It won't be that bad," Jarred added cheerfully. He had finished his food in a matter of minutes and grinned at me. "Mr Creed is super chill."

Before I could express my doubts, Bree Richardson sashayed over, tossing her Louis Vuitton purse onto the table. She sat down on Tyler's lap, looping her arms around his neck and planting a loud kiss on his lips. Jarred gagged as Dennis took it as a cue to put in his headphones and block out the rest of the world. When the make-out session lasted a little too long, Kayley cleared her throat and they finally pulled away from each other.

"Oops." Bree smiled, wiping the lipstick off Tyler's mouth. "Hey, guys."

"Babe, what are you doing here?" Tyler shifted a little, eyes darting to Jarred and Dennis as if sending them a warning look. "Don't you have... cheer practice?"