For the Love of Toby.

4.

I hated Mondays. They were never good for me; bad things always happened on Mondays. School was starting at 10am instead of 8am (the usual time) because of the degree of hotness of the sun. It was 94 degrees outside and honestly speaking, we didn't have enough money for skin treatment to be acquiring sunburns so I got up at 8 to prepare for school.

"Mum!" I yelled as I stared at my empty listerine mouthwash. She strolled in and I directed her to the problem with my eyes. She put on an apologetic smile.

"Sorry honey, I used your last one this morning. I'll get you some more tomorrow," she sympathized. I sighed and we left it at that.

I had planned to wear my sweater dress but as a result of the temperature, I had to slip into my mossimo shorts which I wore with a yellow tee. I loved the shirt. It said 'I once had an open mind until my brain fell out.' Best thing I'd purchased since my infant-hood. As usual, I packed my long black hair in a ponytail; I felt that was practically the only hair style that made me look close to pretty. Besides, I didn't like my Indian-like hair to be all over the place. I put on my Steve Madden sandals (which I got from a thrift shop in downtown Washington) and I applied a little moisturizer on my thin lips.

Mum dropped me as usual in her saloon car and gave me $5 for whatever. The only class I was having that morning was anthropology and I supposed it had been moved from 9am since school didn't begin at 8am again.

I was right. Everyone's classes were shifted an hour ahead for each. That gave me an hour of free time with my friends.

Torrence spotted me at the water fountain and motioned for me to come over. I did.

"Hey Tor," I smiled at her.

"Well, I've got no basketball practice today and I'm not sure where Margaret is. Are you free?" She asked as she pushed her basketball into her locker.

"Yeah, for 30 minutes. The other 30 minutes is dedicated to the press club," I told her and she smiled.

"Great. Got any money?"

"Yeah, 5."

"So I'm texting Marg to meet us at the deli beside the school. Fine?"

"Yeah," I told her.

So we got to the deli and Torrence bought a bowl of salad with diet coke while I had a fajita with some pink lemonade. Nothing was better than fajitas. Torrence's short blonde hair bounced as we headed to our table and settled. She started talking immediately.

"Mikki, we lost. The game on Saturday with Riverton High? It was 40-26. I don't even know how the fuck that happened," Torrence struggled to tell me. I found it funny that she said 'we' because she wasn't on the male basketball team. Tor was on the female basketball team but it wasn't given as much attention as the male one. Tor had written several letters to Principal Hegner but had gotten no reply. She therefore made it her responsibility to torture and agonize the male basketball team at every game and every practice. Honestly, the reason why they kept losing to schools like Riverton was because of their egotistic player, Timmy Fell. Timmy sucked at basketball. He was a wimp who chickened out when the game got tough. Students wondered why David Hawk, captain of the team, hadn't kicked Timmy off the team yet. David was the true basketball player. He was the best player on the court and everyone just loved watching him play. He was like Tor; he was dedicated to basketball like a Christian was dedicated to God. Maybe it's because they were friends but then again, David wasn't a puss. He didn't seem like the type of person to care. Maybe he didn't. Either way, Timmy would always be on the team because of Victor Fell, his father, who sponsored not just the team but Manley High in general.

"Stupid Timmy practically passed the ball to our fucking opponents. Like who fucking does that? Fuck all of them really." Torrence swore a lot. I didn't know what to tell her so I just bit out of my fajita.

"Tor, maybe you should take one for the team. Speak up. No one will know unless someone says something," I finally told her. She shook her head.

"I can bet a $100 dollars that principal Hegner is behind all this bullshit. I am not taking one for the fucking team if it means talking to that lunatic."

Tor was being difficult so I just left it at that.

"Sorry anyway."

"Yeah," she took another spoonful of salad, "so what did you do on Saturday?"

I thought about what to tell her. Telling her I went to help Caroline was just usual news. On the other hand, including that Toby McGivins gave me a ride will elevate Tor's excitement.

"Nothing," I shook my head and bit out of my fajita. Torrence slouched.

"Honestly Mikki, a hot girl like you doing nothing on a Saturday? That's fantastic."

"Well.."

"Well what?"

Just then, I heard the door of the deli swing open. I turned to see if it was Marg but it was Toby McGivins. He strolled in with David Hawk and Timmy Fell. I turned away and focused on my fajita. I didn't want to brag about Toby to Tor because it would be totally embarrassing if Toby didn't even remember who I was, as usual. The minute I turned, Margaret was sitting on our table.

"Hey guys! Sorry I'm late. My mother," she rolled her eyes, "thought school was starting at 11am."

Tor and Marg were discussing but my attention was on Toby and his basketball friends. I wondered why Toby wasn't on the team. That was strange for someone who had as much popularity as Toby did.

Fell was looking over at our table with a smirk on his face. He turned away after a few seconds and continued talking loudly with his friends. Just then, a waitress walked over to our table and dropped a tray with a fortune cookie.

"Gentleman dere say I shood geev dis to Torins," she said with a Hungarian accent. Torrence, loving free things, seized the cookie and broke it to read what was inside.

"What does it say what does it say??" Marg asked, getting all excited. Torrence frowned.

"Fuck you Torrence. From Fell." Torrence read. I started to laugh. So did Marg.

Torrence threw the tray across their table and they all ducked.

"No Timmy! I'd rather be fucked by somebody else!" Torrence said and high-fived Margaret. It was then that my eyes met Toby's. I wasn't going to look away this time. I just stared at him like 'our friends are crazy' kind of stare and his stare was like 'I agree'. So he looked down and laughed. Then the most unexpected happened.

"Hart!" Toby called. My heart literally skipped a beat. The whole place became silent because my two friends were still trying to coming to realization that Toby McGivins who didn't talk to 11th graders except Madeleine was shouting my last name. I wanted to say 'McGivins' right back but I figured it wasn't our thing. Yet.

"Yeah?" I answered, trying not to look excited.

"Did you like it?" He asked.

"The fajita?" I asked back, confused. Then I realized what he was talking about. Stupid me.

"Oh the song! It requires a deep analysis."

"Great. You'll tell me in my car after school." Oh my God.

"Great," I smiled and he looked away. This was actually happening. Toby just told me to come to his car after school so we could talk about the song. He wanted to talk about the song with me. Suddenly, Monday became my favorite day.

"Yeah Mikki. Nothing happened on Saturday. Totally," Tor said sarcastically with a raised eyebrow while Marg just stared at me.