I Promise

8

Earth to Rynn!! Stop staring and start working!

I concentrate as hard as I can, but I don't feel into it. The words just go in my ears and on the page. I'm not actually listening.

I almost sigh loudly in relief when the bell rings, and I hurry to my locker, hoping to find Scarlett. Sure enough, she's already there, grinning at me.

"Did Mrs. Stevens go all out this class?"

"She never fails to impress," I say with a laugh.

Scarlett laughs and slams her locker shut. I almost wince at the sound; it kind of reminds me of the strike my mom took when my dad found out her secret.

"Wanna go get smoothies?" Scarlett asks.

"No practice cheat day," I answer back, and we smile at each other. We usually only get two days without soccer practice, so we make it count and splurge on junk food. If Coach Nobelton ever saw us eating junk, she'd get pissed. She makes us follow a healthy diet, and I heard she once kicked a girl off the team when she saw her splurging. So if we ever wanted to eat junk, we had to make sure it wasn't nowhere near Coach Nobelton's perimeters.

Just as we head out, Matt jogs up to us and matches pace.

"Think you could get rid of me so soon?" he asks, and Scarlett laughs. "Where are you guys headed?"

"Smoothies, wanna come?" Scarlett asks. She exchanges a look with me, only raising her eyebrows. Somehow, she knows I don't mind.

Matt shrugs, and I take it as a yes because he walks with us all the way to our usual spot.

As we order and sit for our smoothies to come, Scarlet's face lights up in joy and she runs out of our little booth. Matt looks up in questions, but I shrug.

"You'll see," I say.

"Why can't you just tell me?" he asks.

"A little mystery never hurt anyone, Holmes," I answer back.

Matt smiles and we wait. And then Scarlett comes to our booth, her arm linked with Austin, her boyfriend.

"Matt, this is Austin. Austin, Matt,"

"And who's she?" Austin asks, and Scarlett and I laugh. I've known Austin since middle school, back when Scarlett hated his guts until she changed her mind and began to date him junior year. He is your typical jock, bomber jacket and all. His messy blonde hair looks like it was never going to look neat, what with him constantly having his football helmet on.

Scarlett and him sit down at the booth, and I have to switch spots and sit next to Matt instead. Our smoothies come, and we quickly drink them up, and then we order a box of fries.

As we finish eating, I notice the orange sunset, a symbol of something else out there in the world. I wonder how many people are looking at the same thing.

I look back to the empty box of fries and see that Matt is looking at me, a smile on his face.

"I've never seen someone so engulfed in the sunlight before," he says, pursing his lips in a smile.

I shrug. "Another mystery of the world," I reply.

Scarlett raises her eyes at me, but I shrug it off, and we spend the next half hour chatting and catching up with Austin. He goes to a private school, so Scarlett stopped seeing him as often as she used to. He sometimes comes to watch her at soccer practice if he doesn't have football, and she always goes to his games, usually hauling me along for the ride.

As we leave the mini diner, I can't help but begin to wonder what happened to my dad. Where did he go? Was he okay? Did he already move out?

I brush the thoughts from my hand as Scarlet says goodbye and goes to Austin's car. They're going to catch a movie, so Matt walks me to the bus stop.

"Saving the planet one bus ride at a time?" Matt asks, smiling.

"Trying to save for a car," I say sheepishly, and he laughs. "Do you have a car?" I ask.

Matt bites his lip. "Guilty," he says. "But I don't drive to school."

I nod, knowing that he's only a few block away. I couldn't dare to imagine how big his house is; the Topmore neighborhood had ridiculously large homes. I wonder why he would need a house that big for just three people. And his dog.

I see the bus coming up and I get out my fare.

"I guess this is goodbye, Rynn Connaughy," Matt says.

I laugh. "I'll see you tomorrow, Shakespeare."

Matt chuckles as the bus stops. He puts his hand on my shoulder, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "See you."