Bitter

ten - cal

   Lydia was staring at me from the bench on the side of the school, everyone rushing out of the double doors around her. It was like she was parting the sea without even realizing it. She was completely invisible to everyone around her, yet at the same time, every single person was aware of her because they all collectively avoided her. I could tell she thought I hadn't seen her, but it was so blatantly obvious she was watching me and my friends hanging out around my car.

   She was probably still mad about last night. When Jason, Zach, and Marco met up with me at Willy's, I finally got my sandwich and the other three ordered whatever. We had all gone outside in the empty parking lot (well, mostly empty except for a few cars), and Zach started talking about homecoming and going with this girl in one of his classes. That had me thinking about who I'd go with.

   "You could take Meg," Jason suggested, nudging me with his elbow while we sat on the curb.

   I hadn't really talked to Meg in two years. "No, that'd be too weird," I'd said, staring out into the dark lot.

   Jason shrugged and that's when I thought about Lydia. Sophomore year, I had been with Meg for about a week and Lydia would look like she was about to combust whenever she saw us together. It had made her so mad, and I thought about how without a doubt it would again. It'd definitely be a great comeback for stealing my stuff at soccer practice.

   "Never mind, I'll go with Meg," I decided, not that the others really cared. They had already moved on to a different conversation anyway. Jason was the only one who nodded and got to his feet, was balling up his paper bag and heading for the trash can.

   "Hey," Jason turned back to us, lowering his voice, "isn't that Lydia?"

   I peeked around Zach and sure enough, stepping out of the neighboring CVS, was a small figure wearing a big, oversized sweatshirt. Yes, it was Lydia Bosher. I stood up to try and see what she was doing this late at night (or this early in the morning).

   "Hey!" Zach called from his spot on the curb. We were all looking at her now. She was ignoring us, and yet she had all of our attention. Maybe she hadn't heard us?

   "Hey! Come here!" Jason yelled, which only made her start hurrying faster to her car. Marco made some joke about how she was power-walking like Principal Norris and we all laughed.

   Zach tried whistling to get Lydia to look back and that was when he and Jason had the idea of chasing after her. She didn't get to just ignore me like that after attempting to throw my backpack into the creek. She knew I was here and she was trying to get away without suffering the consequences.

"Come back!" Marco called as we all stampeded after her, our shoes loudly clapping the ground. She was unlocking her car now and she leapt into the driver's seat, shut the door quickly, and drove forward, fast, as if she were being hunted by a serial killer or a pack of wolves. I knew she hated me, but I didn't know she hated me that much.

The four of us darted to the exit of the parking lot and formed a line, blocking her escape. We watched as Lydia, in her panicked state apparently, approached us, her car's headlights finally spotting and temporarily blinding us. I shielded my eyes with my hand to see better, and when the car braked abruptly, I strolled up to the front of it. I could just barely see her and I grinned. I'd caught her.

Before I could do anything else, she honked the horn at me, and when I didn't get out of her way, her car started rolling forward and I jumped to the side, narrowly missed getting hit. She inched forward again, honked, and Jason and Zach ran off onto the grass. Marco was the last one left in the middle of the road and she swerved around him. The roar of her engine was the last thing we all heard as she took a right and raced down the street, her red taillights burning in my vision.

Now I was in the school's parking lot and Lydia was acting like she hadn't almost run over me last night. She was staring at me like I'd done something wrong. Did she really think I couldn't see her?

Meg was now walking up to me with her friends and Jason and I waved to her. Jason knew her better than I did and had invited her to come along with us. Mostly to get me and her talking again, so it wouldn't be so awkward at homecoming. I never told either of them that I was only going with her because of Lydia.

I felt a little guilty when Meg got in the car, especially when she smiled at me, like it was tenth grade again and we were still hanging out every single day. But then I remembered Lydia was probably turning into The Hulk right about now, watching Meg ride away with me, and I was able to relax.