The Player Game

Chapter 5

“Where are you going?”

“Outside.”  I look at Micky with a duh expression.

Balancing my burger and coke bottle in one arm, I attempt to zip up my purse and put it in my pocket.  As you can tell, I’m an incredibly healthy person.  By some miracle, I manage to get my purse safely in my jeans pocket without dropping anything.  I should become a circus juggler.  It’s not easy mastering the art of paying and holding food at the same time.  Re-juggling the food to an easier position - one in each hand-  I notice that Micky is staring at me.

“What?”

He’s seriously beginning to worry me with all this staring.

He swiftly pays for his hotdog, showing up my juggling skills before following me to the exit.  I ignore the group of girls waving at Micky as we pass.  I roll my eyes, looking back at him to comment on his popularity.

My mouth drops open a centimetre as I catch him winking at the table.  Immediately a few girls gasp, others squealing and looking as though they’re about to faint.

For God’s sake.  Does he not know the effect he can have on girls?

I slow down, grabbing his hand and rolling my eyes at his flirty behaviour.  I drag him by the hand to the exit, ignoring his complaints the whole way.  When I reach the door, I practically push him through before continuing down the corridor.

His hazel eyes look at me with a mix confusion and anger. “What was that for?”

“What was that for?” I snort, repeating his question.  “You do realize that you have a girlfriend now?”

“Yeah…”

I take in his blank expression.

“And you think I’m naïve,” I sigh, clucking my tongue as though telling off a naughty schoolboy.  “Number one rule of dating a girl.” I raise my finger importantly.  “Never flirt with other girls, especially those that are preppy or cheerleaders.  It’s not nice or cool.”

“I wasn’t flirting.  I only-”

“Winking counts as flirting,” I interrupt, pushing open another set of doors and stepping outside.

I squint against the bright sun, my eyes travelling over the football pitch.  A group of guys in black football shirts are already sprinting across the field, throwing the ball from one to another.

I can tell which one is Aaron just by looking.  It’s obvious that he’s the one at the edge, showing off for the group of cheerleaders sat on the slope.  Typical him.

“Are we going on that slope?”  Micky looks skeptically at the cheerleaders shrieking as someone’s soda explodes all over them.

“Yeah.”  It seems like I’m persuading myself rather than him.  “It’s a.. nice sunny spot.”

Am I kidding myself?

Ignoring his doubtful expression, I start trudging across the overgrown green.  They really should cut this grass.  It’s a danger hazard.  For all I know, it could be infested with a deadly type of venomous snake.

I can imagine it now; innocent schoolgirl eaten by foreign lethal snake.  Now that would be a killer headline.  Killer, hah!  What a clever pun, I congratulate myself, chuckling at my own wit.

“Emily!”

My thoughts are interrupted, moving from poisonous snakes to reality as I look around for the source of noise.

The voice is too far away… too low for Micky…

Then I spot the figure on the football pitch.  A guy in a black jersey is waving eccentrically in my direction, shouting my name.