Page 5 of Going the Distance
“I’m going to have to start making a list. I’m never gonna remember who’s dating who. I’m bad enough at remembering names.”
“If you yell ‘dude,’ I can almost guarantee one of us will look up,” Lee suggested.
Mr.Shane started talking again, and we fell silent; he might’ve been pretty cool as far as teachers went, but we knew he wouldn’t exactly appreciate us talking through his little speech.
When our class schedules were handed out, everyone started buzzing with conversation, comparing theirs with their friends’. I snatched up Lee’s immediately, poring over it.
“Well? What’s the damage?”
“Different classes for English lit,” I said. “And you’re in AP calculus. I’m in algebra two. Everything else looks good.”
“Phys ed?”
“Phys ed at the same time.”
“Yes.You know how much I love watching you take people out in dodgeball.”
“You know how much I love taking you out in dodgeball.”
I passed back his schedule so he could compare it with his girlfriend’s, but she was still busy comparing with Lisa. I looked up and saw Levi chewing his thumbnail, looking at all of us out of the corner of his eye—like he was too shy to join in, but he wanted to.
I leaned forward and said, “Come on, hand it over.”
Relief was evident on his face that he was being included.
We had a couple classes together, but as we talked more about our classes and teachers, Levi began to look more nervous.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
He stuck his chin out, looking defiant. “You know, I don’t want you to feel like you have to hang out with me just because I’m the new kid. I told Cam he didn’t have to carpool to school with me, but he said he didn’t mind, at least not for the first couple of days, especially while his car’s still in the shop getting repairs. But just…you know, don’t feel obligated to be nice to me, or anything.”
“You haven’t given me a reason tonotbe nice to you. Not yet at least. Besides, if we’re in the same first class together, you may as well walk with me. Right?”
His smile was nervous. “You don’t have to.”
“Why? Are you an ax murderer? On the run from the cops in Detroit?” I fake gasped. “Oh my God. I’ve got it. I bet you’re the kind of person who agrees to terms and conditions without reading them.”
He laughed, the tension and anxiety falling away from his face. “You caught me.”
The bell sounded, and I picked up my purse. “Come on, newbie. The hell on earth that is algebra awaits.”
• • •
Morning classes flew past, and my head felt like I was trying to drive a car in the wrong gear. It was like I’d forgotten how to take notes properly over the summer, and forgotten how to just sit down and learn stuff. Plus, I got distracted every time my phone buzzed, wondering if it was a text from Noah. (It never was.)
But now it was lunch, and I could breathe a sigh of relief that the day was half over.
I joined the back of the lunch line and leaned my head so it rested on Lee’s shoulder. His chin sat on top of my head.
“Mmm, smell those tacos.”
“Don’t drool on my hair,” I told him sternly. “I washed it this morning.”
Lee made a gargling noise in response and I ducked away before he didactuallydrool on me.
We were the first of our friends to the cafeteria, and once we got our food, we made our way to an empty table near the middle of the room. It was one that some of the seniors used to sit at, and now that they’d moved on to college, I guessed that made it ours. As Lee and I took seats opposite each other, he gave me his usual impish grin, and I knew he was thinking the same thing as me: being seniors wasdefinitelycool.
It didn’t take the others long to join us—Cam, Dixon, Warren, Oliver, and now Levi, too. Lisa and Rachel weren’t far behind, taking the empty spots next to their boyfriends. A couple of girls they hung out with sat at the end of the table by Lisa.
