New York New York

Blake .. 2

I don't know what you all thought about reading from Blake's POV, so I'll do another one. Tell me if you like it or not, so I'll know if I should keep doing it...

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     "Hey Blake," a bunch of girls at a lunch table waved and smiled at me as I walked by with my tray of food. They were definitely trying to flirt, but at least they didn't do it in a pathetic way like some people did. "Coming to the party tonight?" Leah asked me.  

     I nodded. "Maybe."

     "Bring Niko with you?" another one asked.

     "I'll try," I laughed. Niko didn't go to my school. His parents were strict, and sent him to a private school a few blocks over. A lot of people here knew him though. Not just because I was basically in control of the school and he was always with me, but because he was basically in control of his school too, a school that often took trips with ours, hosted activities we were invited to, and was invited to most of ours. Two schools so close tended to do a lot together. I guess it just had to do with convenience. 

     Last time I brought Niko to a party with me, my girlfriend hit on him, not knowing he was my best friend. Niko didn't know that she was mine either, so the night ended pretty bad. After giving Niko a few good bunches, and laughing it off, we were back to our tight-knit friendship within only a few days. 

     I went back to my lunch table, and all my friends moved over to make room for me. They were all talking about who they planned on hooking up with tonight, who they were going to take home, and who was going to bring drinks to the party.  My friends and me were the life of any party, it wouldn't be a party if we weren't there. No, we weren't just the football players. Our school isn't that cliche. In my 'group', we have a lot of different kinds of people. We had a few girls in sports - cheerleading, volleyball, soccer. We had a guy and a girl that were in band. A few sporty guys, and some who couldn't even throw a ball. We had some of the smartest kids in school in this group, and even a girl with a lisp. I was captain of lacrosse, soon-to-be valedictorian, class president, and could even play guitar. In a way, I felt like I was what held everyone together. Everything I did, I had different friends for, and somehow, through me, they all came together. Maybe it was because we were all so different that we all got along so well. We didn't know, and we didn't care. 

      "I hear there's gonna be a new girl Monday," Jake spit out, obviously hoping she'd be cute.

      "Yeah, that's what Mrs. Lee told us. Said she'd be in our precalc... I hope she's cute." Of course, all my single guy friends were on the same page. "Her name's Megan," he winked. 

     "No, it's Mariah," Jake corrected. 

     "No, you guys are so dumb, it's Mackenzie!" Josh yelled.

     "Mackenzie?" I asked. "She starts Monday?"

     "That's what we were told," Jake smiled, looking at Josh as a reference. "You know her already?"

     "No, I mean-" I didn't want everyone knowing she was my new foster sister. I didn't want them to think about me as a foster kid, even. They didn't need to know the whole story. "I mean, my dad was really close to her mom, and they uh, just moved up here. We're friends, ya know." I stuttered.

    Jake, Josh, and two girls - Emily and Amy - were my closest friends of the group. They knew me better than anyone else, and all started laughing, they could tell I was lying.

     "So you guys hooked up, that's what you're saying?" Jake laughed. He was so blunt. I shook my head, no, and shoved fries in my mouth.

     "Definitely not!" I yelled after I'd swallowed. A few people from other tables stared at me. Oops, too loud. "No, no, no. She's practically a sister to me!" I tried not to yell this time. That wasn't a lie.

     "Oh sure...."

     The bell rang, saving me from the awkward conversation. I jumped up and threw away my trash, then caught up to Emily so we could go to our next class. We had almost every single one together.

     I think everyone needs a best friend of the opposite sex. It gives them someone to tlak about different things to. I can tell Emily anything, things I wouldn't ever tell Josh or Jake, becaus she - as a girl - Won't judge me, and won't think any less of me. It's hard to get into a deep or emotional conversation with my guy friends, because it's not something guys like to do. Girls do though, for some reason. So I was thankful to have Emily to talk to. And she had me.

     "So, how do you really know this girl?" She asked, hopeful.

     "She moved in on my street, her mom and my dad are close, like I said. Would I lie to you?"

     "I know you well enough to know that there's something you're leaving out. So what is it? You know you can tell me..." She hooked her arm through mine as we turned down a hallway to get to our sixth period class.

     "Her mom... was, well, with my dad." I really didn't want to explain. She looked at me, confused. And I knew there was no way for me to get out of this.

     "My dad, is her dad. She's my sister. She's living with us," I spit out.

     "Your sister? Wait, so he adopted another kid? I thought they told you they were done doing that?" A few months ago, Children Services let one of my foster siblings back with his real parents. After only a week back there, he got in a really bad accident because his dad was driving drunk, and he got killed. Liz was so upset, and said she couldn't handle taking in any more kids, and was afraid something like that could happen again. We all were hurt, and thought that it was a good idea not to get involoved with any more kids that we could lose.

     "It's not like that, Em. She's... well she's his real daughter. He never even told us he had a kid! Never! I think Liz knew though, because she didn't freak out at all." Emily still looked confused, so I started at the very beginning, and told her the whole story. Well, everything Jonah told me.

     And of course, Niko told me everything he knew too.