I'm In Love With The Football Player

7. Meeting Families

It's finally November! You know what that means? Thanksgiving is soon. It's actually this week. I'm still not sure if I want to invite Bree. She may have plans with her family anyways.

Andrew comes up to me. "How's Bree?"

"She's okay," I said. "Don't you have 3rd hour with her?"

Bree had changed most of her classes due to her high grades and a good attitude. She got into honored classes with Andrew and some enriched on 1st, 2nd and 4th hour. We still had 7th hour together though.

"Yeah, but I didn't see her today." Says Andrew. "Wait. No. I didn't pay attention."

I close my locker and we both start walking to 4th hour. Algebra III.

"Has Bree helped you yet?" He asks.

"No, but I'm hoping this lesson is the easiest of the year." I say.

"Well, you hope wrong." He says. "They made an announcement yesterday that they are giving free tutoring classes on Algebra III."

"So?" I ask not seeing the point.

"So, the school never does that." He says. "That means that the Algebra classes are getting harder this semester."

"Let's just hope for the best," I say entering the classroom.

We both sit down at our usual places at the very back. So we don't get called on.

I look at my binder and find a note sticking out at the bottom. I take it out and it reads:
Meet me at the fountain near the entrance of the school on your Free period :)

I smile at the note and put it in my back pocket. Free period isn't until next hour which is after lunch.

The tardy bell rings and Mr. Nash comes in. "Clears your desks, everyone." He says laying a stack of papers on his desk. "Pop quiz."

Oh gosh.
. . .
We get out of Algebra and Andrew and I walk to the lunch tables in the middle of the school.

"So where did you go yesterday?" Andrew asked curiously.

"I went to see Bree," I said proudly. "I was worried about her."

"You know she isn't your real girlfriend, right?"

"I know," I say. "But that doesn't mean that I can't love her equally."

We both eat our lunch. Andrew was checking out all the chicks that passed by for the whole 25 minutes. I, on the contrary, was looking for Bree the whole time. She always sits with us at lunch. And by always I meant one time. Although it still counts.

The lunch bell rings and Andrew and I go our separate ways. He follows Nancy Miller (one of the hottest girls in school) while I walk straight to the fountain next to the entrance.
I get there and lean against the fountain while looking around for Bree. I feel a tap on my right shoulder and I look over.

"Hey, Zac." She says.

"Hey, Bree." I say pulling her into a hug.

"Woah. Careful." Bree says. "I kind of hurt my knee while practicing all morning."

That's why no one saw her all morning. She was practicing. But why now?

"Why are you practicing during school hours?" I ask.

"Coach wanted me to do my football examination." She explains. "I was supposed to do it the day I got sent home, but you know... I got sent home."

"Oh, okay," I say. "So, what did you want to talk to me about."

"Right," she says remembering her main topic. "I was wondering what you were doing this Thursday?"

"It's Thanksgiving," I remind her. "All my family is coming over."

"Oh." She says disappointedly.

"What did u have in mind?" I ask.

"I was going to invite you to our family reunion." She says. "It's not really a family reunion. It's just me, my dad, Charlie, and Biscuit."

"Umm, I mean, I guess I could miss my family reunion," I say.

"I'm just gonna warn you. My dad isn't the best cook. Last year he burned the turkey." She laughs. "And I mean burned the turkey. It was charcoal black."

We laugh in unison.

"Well, why don't you come to mine then?" I offer. "All my family comes and everyone brings a different type of food. And my mom makes this delicious turkey that-"

I look at Bree and see that she looks at me as if she was jealous of something I had that she didn't. Maybe because I did have something she didn't. A mom.

"I'm-I'm sorry," I say. "It wasn't my intention to make you sad."

"No no no." She says. "It's fine. I understand why you want to talk about your mom. It's Thanksgiving. You're thankful for your mom."

"Yeah," I say. "So, are you up for it?"

She thinks about it for a while, but she nods. "Yeah. I mean how bad could it be?"
. . .
I stand in front of the window that shows the driveway. It's Thanksgiving and everything is set. All my family is here but they barely pay attention to me. They're so busy talking about the accomplishments their kids have made and how thankful they are for them.

I finally see a black Camaro park in front of the house. Bree. She gets off wearing this beautiful mini black dress and silver high heels. She looks at me observing her from the window and waves at me. I wave back and smile at her. She twirls to show me her whole outfit and I nod in approval. She smiles and walks to the door. I run to the front door before she gets to knock. All my family looks over at me and goes back to their own business.

I open the door. "Hey, Bree."

"Hey." She says pulling in for a hug. "Is this ok?"

"It's perfect," I say observing her.

We stare at each other for a while.

"Oh! There's someone I want you to meet." I say pulling her to the kitchen.

She waves at all the people we pass by introducing herself.

"Hi, I'm Bree." "Hello, I'm Linda." "Hi, I'm John."

We finally get to the kitchen and I see my mom checking the turkey and getting everything in place in the dining room.

"Mom, this is Bree," I say.

She stops everything she does and looks up at me. I wait for her approval. She smiles and I definitely know she approves her.

"So this is the wonderful girl my son is dating." She takes off her cooking mittens and cleans her hand on her apron.

"Mom, she's-"

"Yes, I'm Bree." Bree smiles boldly and greets my mom.

I turn to her and she turns to me. Her smile is contagious and I feel myself smile, too.

"Hi, Bree. I'm Lisa." She introduces herself.

"Nice to meet you." She says. "Man, that turkey smells delicious. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Actually, there is. Here." She hands her the spoons, knives, and forks. "Could you please put them on the table."

I take the cutlery away from her. "Mom she didn't really mean it."

Bree laughs taking the cutlery for me. "Don't worry, Zac. I've set the table many times before."

I roll my eyes and follow Bree to the table. So far, so good. Hopefully, it stays like this all night.