Shadows of Yesterday

Chapter 7: Emotional and Literal Whiplash: A Memoir

"You know, when you said you were going to cheer me up after school, I didn't think 'you' would include the entire water polo team," I remarked from the backseat of Mat's overstuffed car.

His teammates, Liam included, had all arrived at his car after school at the same time we did and had immediately started making plans like they'd always been invited. To his credit, Mat had looked extremely confused and tried to protest, but his friends had all seemed convinced they'd been invited. As a result, me, Kat, and Mat were all crammed into his ancient Honda Civic along with four other people. Everyone else had gone with Liam in his car.

Mat scowled at the car behind him through his rearview mirror. "Yes, well, you can thank Kat for that. I didn't count on her inviting them all out to our very private hangout."

"Hey!" Kat exclaimed indignantly, "How was I supposed to know that when Grayson asked me about hanging out with us earlier, he meant right now? He sounded like you'd already made plans; I thought you had a party with your teammates tonight or something!"

Mat sped around a corner way faster than necessary, and all six of the other very un-seatbelted people in the car had to hold on for dear life and pray as he straightened out again. "What party?! In what world do you think either of us would be allowed to go to something like that, let alone during the first week of school?!"

The four guys sitting next to me had the decency to look embarrassed. One of them, a white-faced blond who was gripping the overhead grab handle like it was a lifeline, awkwardly said, "hey, man, we can just... go... if you want... We really didn't know you already had plans..."

"It's too late for that, Gray," he snapped back, zooming around another corner like he was auditioning for the next "Fast and the Furious" movie. Grayson's face smashed into the window from the force of the boy next to him ramming into his side. I saw my life flash in front of my eyes as Mat continued, "I hope you know you're all paying for yourselves."

He braked hard as he pulled into the parking lot of Mirton Marvels. My head slammed forward into the headrest of Kat's seat, and Grayson's did the same to Mat's. We both cursed and reached forward to smack him. "Geez, try harder to kill us next time, Mori, would you?" I said sarcastically.

"Whatever."

We all clambered out of the car, some looking sicker than others. One of the boys, a redhead I didn't recognize, stumbled off to the side and leaned over with his hands on his knees, groaning. Across the parking lot, I could see the rest of the team also climbing out of Liam's car, but judging by the casual, carefree way they all seemed to exit the vehicle, their ride must have been significantly smoother than ours. I couldn't tell whether my stomach was turning from jealousy or fear for my life.

My knees trembled slightly as I walked up to the diner's entrance. "Remind me to only get in your car when Kat is driving," I grumbled to Mat.

He just yanked open the door with a sarcastic smile and a dramatic arm flourish, to which I rolled my eyes and continued inside. He could be such a hothead sometimes.

As soon as our group poured into the quiet diner, the faces of every employee working behind the counter fell in dismay. If I had been the one to invite everyone out this afternoon, I would've felt bad for them. The poor woman taking orders looked over to Liam like she was going to cry, clearly blaming her boss' son for the current situation. He shrugged with a sympathetic expression on his face. Clearly, we had interrupted what had been a blissfully slow workday. 

"Together or separate?" she sighed. 

At the same time that Mat said "separate, definitely separate," all of his teammates loudly exclaimed, "Together!"