Game On {1}

Chapter 32

"You studied every single day over winter break and you're still worrying about finals?" David asked.

It had been a week since school had started again and finals were thankfully over. Though, the stress still lingered in some.

"You did fine, Ducky. Finals are finally over, today is Friday, and it's going to be New Years pretty soon. We should go out and celebrate," Evan suggested. "Plus, I finally have everyone's late Christmas presents and I rented the local skating rink out for three hours."

They had agreed that they'd exchange their Christmas presents once everyone had bought theirs since most of them were late. Evanee had already given a present, the Santa onesie, to Evan but she had bought another present.

As soon as Evan mentioned presents, the atmosphere had changed into one of excitement.

"Why the ice skating rink?" Evanee asked.

"Cause it's cute and I want to take some fancy ass pictures," Jonathan replied. "Plus, Evan probably wants to show off his so called 'amazing hockey skills'."

There was a second of silence. Then Tyler finally spoke up. "Okay. So we settled on the ice rink. Now let's talk food. Where are we eating?"

"There's a gumbo place that just opened up near the mall. Sounds pretty good according to the guys who sit behind me in third period," Evan replied.

Open communication was one of the best aspects of their friendship. If they didn't have that, they probably wouldn't have been friends. Maybe Evan and David since they had know each for years, but none of the rest.

The thought had occurred to Evanee a couple of times. If everyone went their own ways, how would they fit in? She immediately saw Evan as a jock with David as his best friend. David would've been a poetry or band nerd since he was very passionate in his musical background. As for Jonathan, he'd be at a skate park with his own friends every day for hours. And Tyler would be the worst. He'd be one of the people who'd stay home and play Dungeons and Dragons in his basement.

The green eyed girl was pulled out of her odd thoughts by the ring of a bell, signaling the end of their lunch.

"Meet me at my car," Evan told everyone before they all separated to go to their classes.

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"Gumbo is my new religion."

"Jonathan, as much as it pains me to say, food can not be a religion," Evanee said, finishing up her food.

The small, new gumbo restaurant was adorable in its own way. It looked like it was made of brick and looked beautiful in a way. The same way people found antiques beautiful. A small building that radiated a warm welcome and was encompassed in its own tiny bubble of the luring smell of gumbo.

The five of them were even surprised to see that the place had live music. A small jazz band with middle aged men in matching suits. They played incredibly.

After everyone finished eating, they all headed back to the car. "So are we going to everyone's houses first to pick up the gifts and change, then go back to the ice skating rink?" David asked.

"I guess so."

It took thirty minutes to drive from each house, grab the presents, wait for everyone to change, and to drive to the local ice skating rink but they finally made it.