Knight

17

Mason Maloney

"Can anybody find me somebody to–"

The song was cut off by Nathan abruptly switching the station. I gave him a dirty look out of the corner of my eye, but didn't say anything. Three days ago, I wouldn't have given the song much thought, but it had come to remind me of Sam and the way he looked the other night when he drove me home, devilishly and effortlessly handsome.

A random rap song started blaring through the speakers, causing Nathan to bob his head to the beat. I couldn't help myself from reaching for the radio to turn the music down. It was too early in the morning to have to listen to anything that loud.

"Quit it, Mase," Nathan said, batting my hand away from the radio and returning it to its obnoxious volume.

I decided it would be best not to argue with him. I rested my head against the window and closed my eyes, feeling the vibration from the bass shaking my skull and rattling my brain.

When we arrived at school, I was eager to get out of the car to be free from Nathan's awful taste in music. He quickly zoomed by me to go find his friends, people greeting him as he walked by. As I entered the school, I was quickly found by Bella who started walking beside me, talking about a dream she had last night.

"So my room was, like, infested with bees," Bella continued her story. "And when I walked in they all started swarming me."

"That sounds more like a nightmare," I pointed out as we stopped at my locker.

Bella nodded dramatically. "It gets worse."

I nodded, motioning for her to go on as I sifted through my locker to find what I needed for my first few classes.

"So I freaked out, obviously, and tried to run away but they attached themselves to me," Bella said with a slight shudder.

"Gross," I commented blandly.

"And then–"

"Shut up, Bella. No one cares," Pete cut her off rudely as he walked up to us with Ross beside him.

Bella's face instantly turned sour as she turned to Pete to shoot him a glare. "I was talking to Mason."

Pete shrugged. "And I'm sure he doesn't care."

I tried to cut in, but Bella beat me to it. "Well, since none of you care, I'm just going to go." And with that she angrily stomped off.

I glared at Pete who had a look of innocence on his face. Ross mirrored my expression, causing Pete to hold his hands up in defense.

"Would it kill you to be nice to her?" I asked seriously.

"It might," Pete replied seriously. "She's so dramatic."

"And you're insanely rude to her," Ross added pointedly to which I nodded in agreement.

"Stop ganging up on me," Pete whined, throwing his head back in annoyance.

Ross ignored Pete's complaints and turned to me. "Anyway, I wanted to ask if you wanted to go for a quick run after work today."

The two of us hadn't gone running in a while, so I knew in order to keep improving I had to keep practicing.

I sighed, closing my locker and leaning against it. "I guess."

Ross smirked. "Perfect, I'll pick you up."

"As long as Pete's not invited," I said, glancing at Pete to see his reaction.

"Hey!" Pete exclaimed, offended.