Dancing Around // peter parker

22

After practice, everyone kept patting my shoulder on our way to the locker room. I had made eye contact with Adelaide as she left the locker room but she only looked away. I wasn't expecting her praise but I had wished she would have a least nodded her head or something. Just a small gesture as a thank you. I shook my head, turning to look into my locker. She didn't need to thank me.

The only thing I had left to put on were my earrings.

Cindy took a seat after she finished changing in the same spot as before. I looked at her, waiting for her to say something, but she just kept quiet. She smiled at me as if she were waiting before pulling out a book from her bag. She placed all her attention on it as the locker room became less noisy. Was she waiting for me?

I grabbed my earrings and used the mirror's help to put them on. When I shut it with my bag resting heavily on my shoulders, I turned to her as if I was almost saying I was ready. She closed her book, but instead of standing up, she patted the space next to her.

I looked around to see that it was just us and one another person across the room. I sat next to her and leaned against the locker behind me. Were we going to constantly have deep emotional talks about our feelings? I would never tell her but it honestly seemed too exhausting. How did she do it?

"I honestly didn't know what you were going to do," she told me. "I was hoping that you wouldn't wear your earring, but I honestly had no idea. I'm glad that you didn't."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I didn't want Adelaide to make my life a living hell."

"Is that really the only reason?"

Why was it so difficult to say the things I was thinking? I was a pretty bold person and usually told people how I felt but when I thought about it, I realized it was all just exterior things. I would only mention the good parts about myself to try to impress and never anything that would make me think too hard. Nothing that would make the other person question my character. Saying something like 'I was selfish' was really hard for me. Some part of me still didn't believe it. Excuses kept popping into my head. It was hard to make them stop.

"It's okay. You don't have to say it," Cindy said. I looked at her in wonderment.

It was like she was reading my mind. I never thought someone could read me so easily... or maybe I wasn't easy to read and Cindy was just excellent at reading people. I thought back to that conversation we had the night of the party. The busy cars sped past us as she told me about how distant her mom was. Her mom kept her feelings to herself but something told me that it didn't matter. Cindy probably already knew everything her mom felt even if it wasn't shared vocally.

Was I just like her mom? Was she this understanding towards her mom too?

I couldn't say the words like 'I'm selfish' out loud, but I could say something else. "I want to be your friend even if that means you're going to challenge me. No, wait, especially if it means you're going to challenge me."

She smiled at me. "Cool. Then as your friend, I think we should take down Coach Gawson."

I pulled my face back in surprise. "What?"

"I saw the way he looked at you when you showed up without your earrings. He was too proud of himself. It bugged me. Truthfully, he's been bugging me since last year. I can't keep overlooking the way he treats us. Now that it looks like you've given in he is going to think that he can get away with anything. Even if we survive this year, what about next year? What about the people after us? What do you say?"

Her eyes were pure. She wasn't joking. She really did want to get our Coach fired. I've done a lot of things to stick it to people but I never got a teacher fired before. I did say I was going to get back at him though. I nodded my head. "Okay. Let's do it."