Me & Mine

32. Kane's Gambit

The first signs of autumn color the leaves bright orange and red, and the shorts and skirts make way for jeans and sweaters. The breeze gets cooler and the nights shorter, the colors warmer and the trees prettier, and it feels as if nature has been saving up all its energy and beauty for this one final explosion of radiating heat before the darkness of winter would set in.

It's not just the seasons that are changing this week, Ridgeview High itself finally gets its monarchy back. I make Amory park on Cammie's old spot, we take the lunch table in the centre of the canteen, and we walk the hallways with this air of sophistication that you only see in slow motion shots of terrible teen movies. Cammie's face is stuck in this perpetual state of disgust and anger, and I don't think I've ever seen Richie happier. He thrives on drama.

Harley wears her necklace every day, and every morning I tell her how beautiful it looks on her. We spend most of the week together, Harley and me. On Monday we study together at my place for the upcoming SATs, on Tuesday Ann joins us for our weekly coffee session, and on Wednesday Harley, Richie, Max, Travis and I celebrate the middle of the week by engaging in an alcohol-fueled Mario Kart tournament. It feels normal, and I love every minute of it. Even Kane, distant and mysterious Kane, joins us for lunch every day. Although that might just be a necessity, since he would have no one else to sit with now that Travis and Max joined our little scooby gang.

On Friday Amory and Ann drive us to Weston Mills, a town some twenty minutes from Ridgeview. Our football team faces off against their Weston High Bears. It's a cold evening, and once again the air is filled with excitement and the smell of cheap alcohol. Weston High is much smaller than Ridgeview High, and the stands are quickly filling up.

I sit in between Max and Harley, Richie, Amory and Ann on her side and Kane on Max'. I zip open my backpack and hand Richie, Harley, Max and Kane a beer. I take on for myself and raise it in the air. "To a hopefully less dramatic football match than last time."

"Hear, hear," Max says, clinking bottles. Alas, I really should be careful what I wish for. The game is boring and even I can see our team kinda sucks tonight. It makes the beer go down quicker, though, and Max trades in our empty bottles for something stronger. I take a sip from the clear liquid in the water bottle and grimace. It's gin alright. I am still partially recovering from the major hangover Sunday's adventures had gotten me, and the taste of gin is an instant reminder of how sick I had felt on Monday morning.

The game ends in a tie and neither team feel particularly good about it. "Well that was shit," Max shrugs and I smirk. "Travis was kinda bad," I say, "and I don't even know what good and bad is in this game."

"Yeah," Harley breathes, "thank god for alcohol." I chuckle and nudge my shoulder against hers. We walk down the stands onto the field. The players had all retreated to their respective locker rooms and even the cheerleaders were less cheerful than usual.

"I'm gonna check on Travis real fast," Max says, planting a quick kiss on my cheek, "he didn't seem himself on the field." I nod and smile at him as he walks towards the entrance to the school. Richie clears his throat. "So..." he says, "what should we do next?"

"Well, whatever it is," Harley says, "please keep an eye on that one at all times." She points to me and I stick my tongue out.

"We could go back to Max' or ours'?" I suggest and Amory shrugs. "Yeah, we've got beer in the fridge and the pizza guy on speed dial." He wraps his arm around Ann's shoulder and she rests his head against him. My heart jumps a little.

"Sounds good," Harley smiles.

"You guys get to the car," Amory says, "I need to talk with my sister real quick."