A Mask in A Mirror

Chapter 10: One Out of Three

I left Hatchet after his revelation. I resented the sadistic pleasure it gave me to know that he would be rejected. No matter what I said my feelings for Ann hadn't changed much since the day we broke up. Hatchet was not at school the next day or the day after. Nobody said anything to me about him or Ann, so whatever had transpired between them must have happened outside of any prying eyes. On the third day of Hatchet's absence I began to worry. Skipping seemed to be a common indicator of emotional turmoil amongst my old friends.

Having finally conceded that he wasn't coming back of his own accord I approached Ann at practice. It wasn't something that I wanted to do, knowing full well that it would lead to a fight. Every time I spoke to Ann something bad happened. It was a trend between the two of us anymore. We would speak, argue and then separate for a while. She was stretching in the waiting area behind the 100m start line when I sauntered over. I flopped down and started stretching as if it were a perfectly normal thing for me to be doing.

"Sooo... uh... well... hi." I struggled to come up with a good way to open the conversation. After a couple months of deliberately ignoring each other it felt odd to directly approach her.

Ann raised her head and looked at me as if she were about to speak. Then bent her head back to the ground as she reached for her toes. She was sitting on the ground for the stretch, practically touching her forehead to her knees.

"Howdy Ann!" I tried again. She raised her head up, spread her legs, and then bent at the waist to reach for her left foot. Still, she didn't respond.

It was such an elementary thing to do, giving me the silent treatment. "Damnit Ann, we have to talk. Hatchet told me he was going to ask you out." I attempted to break through her game.

Ann didn't look up, but she did answer. "I said no." It was a curt answer.

I wasn't pleased with the short version that she provided, but at the same time, I didn't really know what I wanted from her. Of course she had said no, and of course that had to be what had Hatchet in the dumps. What else I could gleam from talking to Ann was a mystery. "You know how he is. Sensitive." I plowed ahead anyway. "Did it not occur to you that saying no might push him over the edge?"

Ann's answer came in that ditzy dumb tone that she used to address the world. She hadn't forgotten how much I hated it. "Did it ever occur to you what it would do to me when you said no?" Her question wasn't something that a stupid girl would have come up with. That didn't mean that it was an intelligent question, just a different brand of dumb.

"That was different and you know it." I didn't honor the question with a direct answer.

Ann rotated to reach for her right leg. "He should have known better." She defended herself. "Besides, it hardly seemed right for me to say yes only to turn right around and break his heart in a couple of weeks." It was a hard statement to argue.

"Should have known better? Really? He should have known that you were just being a slut when you two hooked up then?" I wasn't pulling any punches.

Ann came up out of her stretch and walked over to her starting blocks. She positioned blocks to start a sprint as she answered me. "As you said, I can screw whoever I want too." She turned to me, everything about her body language and tone was seductive. "Care to hold my blocks for me?" She smiled playfully as she bent down placing her hands just behind the starting line and stretching the thin fabric of her shorts tight as she placed her feet in the blocks.

I was tempted by her offer, but I wasn't going to let her sexuality sway me. I stood from where I was on the ground, walked up behind her, and then stepped to the side and around her. "No thanks. I've got a throwing team to coach." I could feel her eyes follow me all the way to the disc ring.