He's A Keeper

2

The next day, I had apparently slept in a little too much, because Daniel told me I was almost late to school as he shook me awake.

I nearly had a panic attack. I had a geometry test first period and I couldn't miss it.

I quickly shoved all my homework into my bag and threw on jeans and my new hoodie and hat.

I slid into my converse, brushed my hair and ran downstairs.

Making sure I had my phone, I ran to the kitchen and threw two poptarts into the toaster, tapping my nails on the counter.

Daniel came downstairs in sweatpants and a black shirt, with his blue LA hat on and sunglasses.

"Are you driving me?" I asked.

"You missed the bus." He says in an obvious tone.

"Oh, right." I reminded myself.

He put on his shoes and I grabbed my poptarts and unplugged the toaster and followed Daniel to his car.

Aunt Emma was already at work, sadly.

I didn't see her at all yesterday.

"What time did you go to sleep last night?" Daniel asks as we make our way to the highschool.

"Uh.. around midnight?" I say, it coming out as more of a question.

He sighs and shakes his head.

"I'm sorry- I was crammimg for a geometry test I have today, and my biology project." I sighed, stressing.

"It's okay, I understand. College is hard to ya know." He laughs and bumps my shoulder.

"So about the dating thing?" He asks.

"I told Piper I'd give it a try," I said. "Oh, can I go to the arcade tonight?"

"Yeah, it's fine with me." He says, pulling into the school parking lot.

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"Daniel said it's cool if I go to the arcade later," I say to Piper as we head into spanish class.

"Okay, I'll meet you there." She says as we make our way to our different seats.

Spanish was boring, as always.

But then again, what class wasn't?

Halfway through the spanish quiz, I feel a paper hit my back.

I turned around, furrowing my eyebrows.

I shrugged it off and turned back around, continuing the quiz.

□■□■□■□■□■

"Piper! I've played this with you three times, can we please just go play the motorcycle racing game?" I asked Piper, pointing to the game I love.

"Ugh, fine." She agrees and follows me over there.

We put our coins in the machine and then start the race, leaning all over the place and yelling from excitement.

I ended up winning, like most of the time.

"Do you wanna play again?" I asked.

"No, I'm going to get a funnel cake we can share and then look for guys." She said as she headed off towards the food.

I sighed, looking around for another person to possibly play the game with me again.

Sighing, I was about to get off until someone tapped my shoulder, making me jump in surprise.

"Uh, hey, do you mind if I join you in a round?" The guy asks.

I turned fully around and looked him over.

"Hey.. I've seen you around school before," I say, thinking.

"Oh," He smiles. "I play basketball."

I shook my head, "No, I think I've just seen you in the hallway a few times. I don't go to sports games." I laughed.

He laughed too, "What's your name?"

"Brynn Carter, hi."

"I'm James Fields, nice to meet you." He says as he took a seat on the motorcycle beside me.

After we put in our coins I said, "Not to brag, but I'll probably win."

He laughed at me, "Oh, you'd be surprised at how good I am."

"Oh you think you're so good? Okay," I laughed.

He beat me. Twice.

"How did you win?" I asked, flabbergasted.

"I don't know, maybe because you let me." He laughs.

I stuck my tongue out at him while we got sodas.

We went and played ski ball, giant connect four, apples to apples, and a bunch of other games.

I sighed in relief as we took a seat to rest.

"You're really funny," I laughed as James made a joke.

"I get thst a lot." He said, looking at me.

I looked around, Piper was nowhere to be found.

"Hey do you want nachos?" He asked.

"Oh yea sure." I replied.

I pulled out my phone to find four messages from Piper.

She had left a little while ago after she saw me with James, because she wanted me to have fun.

I sighed, that mean't I had no ride home now.

I wasn't going to ask James, I just met him.

So, I texted Daniel and asked if he could pick me up and he said if was fine.

I already had my learner's permit, I was going to get my license soon.

"Here ya go," James said, putting a container of nachos in front me, then one for himself.

"Thanks," I said, eating a cheesy tortilla chip.

"We should hangout again, can I get your number?" He asked.

"Yeah." I said as we exchanged phones and put our numbers in.

After that, we got talking and realized we had a similar home life, him losing his dad just like I did.

"Yeah, my parents uh- they got hit by a drunk driver and their car got pushed off a bridge." I said quietly.

"Wow.. thats horrible." He says a few moments later.

"My dad, he was in a motorcycle accident fourteen years ago, I don't really remember him, but it's really sad." He said, looking down at the tortilla chip in his hand.

For some reason, I felt really connected to him.

I had never had related to anyone before about my parents dying, and I just did with James.

We talked some more about school and life and other stuff, until the arcade door opened and Daniel walked inside.

"Oh, hey." I said to Daniel.

"Hi," He said as he waited for me to get my things.

I threw the empty nacho container away and told James bye.

Just as I was about to leave, I turned around and gave James a hug, letting it linger for a few moments until I finally followed Daniel to the car.