Masked Risks

Chapter 7

"We need to talk about the next two weeks,” I announced to the lunch table on Monday once everyone was sitting down.

Chad shrugged. “What about it?” He took a bite of his pizza, bite meaning half of the slice in his hand.

I raised my eyebrows and gestured wildly to my ankle, wrapped in an ace-bandage.

“Oh, right,” he mumbled. Everyone else laughed at his stupidity.

“Anyway, so I was thinking that this week will work out like last week. I’ll watch you guys through it and made verbal changes. We can still film it because this routine works out fine with only four people. We’ll adjust the partnering parts I was in,” I explained. Everyone seemed to be in agreement.

It wasn’t that big of a deal. It’s not like we’re professionals, but it was something I always looked forward to and now that I was physically incapable of even being in the video, I needed to strategize, or else I’d go crazy. My friends seemed to understand that, so they let me go through these crazy antics.

“Hey, guys,” a voice said from the end of our table.

I looked up to see Erik. “Oh, hey Erik,” I greeted him.

“I was wondering if I could sit with you guys,” he asked shyly. Even though I saw him more out of school, Lindsay still tried to keep a hold on him in school. It was just her controlling behavior. I looked over at her usual table and saw that she wasn’t there, so she was probably absent today.

“Of course,” I gestured to the empty space next to me.

He sat down and there seemed to be an awkward silence that followed.

He cleared his throat. “So, what were you guys talking about?”

We looked at each other. “Nothing, really,” Pepper told him. “Just making plans for the weekend.”

“Already?” He asked incredulously. “It’s only Monday.”

“It’s always good to plan early,” Kevin pointed at him with a French fry before he dipped it in the pool of barbecue sauce on his plate. (Delicious combination, by the way.)

“True.”

There was another awkward pause. I decided to break it with honesty. “Why does this feel awkward? We’re all friends here. We’ve hung out altogether before, it shouldn’t be so quiet.”

This seemed to relieve whatever tension was in the air surrounding us.

“Some kid at my cousin’s school is having a party on Saturday,” Avery randomly announced. “Do you guys want to go?”

We all stared at her. Avery was never one to suggest going to parties, and she was never one to actually bring up party invitations, so this was out of character for her. Kids at our school threw parties all the time, and we didn’t go to many for the main reason that we don’t like seeing these people in uniforms in school, so why would we want to see them drunk and half naked, making out with each other outside of school?

Then I realized that this was her plan to show off for Chad in a different setting. When she came over on Sunday, we decided that she had to make a move soon. She couldn’t keep crushing on him forever. I guess she found out about this party from her cousin and decided it would be a good opportunity to make a move. Plus, they would both be out of their element, and she would be comfortable if all of us were there, too.

I smirked at her to let her know that I saw what she was doing. She looked down to hide her blushing face with her long brown hair.

“Yeah, I think it’d be fun. We haven’t gone to a party all together in a while,” Kevin commented.