Ecie & Esme II: Another Day Like This

Two

'How is she?' Sara asked.

'She's okay,' Esme replied opening her locker. 'She's got therapy on Monday's and Thursday's.'

'She's so lucky she doesn't have to come to school anymore,' Sara replied. 'This place is always so dull near the summer.'

'Yeah,' Esme nodded. 'It does suck.'

'How was your weekend?' Sara asked as Esme closed her locker and they walked down the corridor.

'It was okay,' Esme replied. 'Taylor stayed at the house and we just hung out with Ecie. I don't think she liked it too much.'

Sara nodded. 'What does she even do these days?'

'She's got back into surfing,' Esme replied. 'You can't keep that girl away from the sea for too long. She also went back to work, but mom and dad aren't happy about that.'

'Have your parents gone back to work?'

'Yeah,' Esme replied. 'It was hard for them, but they had to. Things were beginning to pile up.'

'So what about Eric?' Sara asked. 'Has he been hanging around lately?'

'Oh yeah,' Esme nodded. 'It's like he won't let my mom out of his sight. He stayed over this weekend and we all went out to dinner at his restaurant. Me and E had to pretend that we hadn't been there before; it was actually kind of funny.'

'So things are getting serious,' Sara said as they neared the cafeteria.

'Mom won't let things get too serious,' Esme replied. 'The only thing she'll commit to is a long-term partner.'

They went to the food counter and got some food before finding an empty table and sitting down.

'The food here is so bad,' Sara said looking down at her tray. 'What do they call this?'

'It's chili,' Esme laughed. 'Or at least that's what I think it's supposed to be.'

Sara laughed and Verde came to join them.

'Hey guys,' he said sitting down with his tray.

'Oh Verd,' Sara smiled. 'The only guy on the planet who likes school meals.'

'I'm great Sara,' he joked. 'How are you today?'

'I'm good,' Sara replied. 'What have you been up to this weekend?'

'I had to work on my truck,' he replied. 'Some guy drove into me and left a massive dent. My dad was not happy when he saw how much it would cost to get it repaired.'

'So do you not have a car?' Esme asked.

'Nope,' Verde replied. 'My mom had to drive me to school.'

Esme laughed. 'Did she kiss you on the cheek again and tell you to have a good day?'

'Oh yeah,' Verde said. 'It was totally embarrassing.'

Sara and Esme laughed.

'How's E?' Verde asked. 'Ed and I are going to come round after school if that's alright.'

'She's doing well,' Esme replied. 'It'll be good if you guys come over. I think E's getting bored of hanging out with me and Taylor all the time.'