Page 50 of Before We're More Than Friends
Ow? What was he, a baby? I glared back at him and keptwalking. After what happened on Saturday, I was not in the mood to get into another fight.
I went downstairs and left the building, my teeth chattering as the chilly air hit me square in the face. It seemed like years before I made it to the next building and found my class. I was able to step in as soon as the first-period bell rang.
The teacher, a woman with red hair wrapped in a bun, sat up from the desk as if she’d been waiting for me. “You must be Dallas Friar.” She smiled. “I’m Mrs. Huff. Hayden has been saving your seat.”
Hayden raised his hand and flashed a smile at me. I smiled back, relieved that he had me covered.
“Everyone, this is Dallas Friar,” Mrs. Huff announced to the class. “Anything you want to share, Dallas?”
Great, I thought teachers only asked that in elementary school. I mustered a smile for the class, but I avoided eye contact and only focused on Hayden. “Well, um, I’m from Dallas, Texas?—”
“Dallas from Dallas?” a guy with dark hair, who looked like he was still on the first chapter of puberty, asked. “Is that really your name?”
I swallowed. “My parents thought it would be funny at family events.”
“So you’re a family joke?”
A few of the students laughed.
Can someone chuck me out the window already?
“Oh, shut up, Zane,” Hayden grumbled. “Dallas, come over here so we can start the class already.” He smiled as I walked to the desk behind him, every pair of eyes beating down on me. “I’m a sucker for literature.”
“Me too,” I said, putting my backpack next to my chair.
He gave me a fist bump before turning toward the front. “Start the class, ma’am!”
“Thank you, Hayden.” Mrs. Huff gritted her teeth, irritation flicking on her face.
The majority of the class was a recap of things I’d already learned at my old school. During the last twenty minutes, she handed out worksheets for us to turn in by the end of class.
Hayden turned around and faced me. “Do you have any plans for lunch today?”
“No.” I doubted that sitting by yourself and eating the sandwiches your mom made for you counted as lunch plans. “I haven’t been in the cafeteria yet.”
“Oh, the cafeteria is horrible. I’m positive dead bodies are hidden under the tables. Eating with the guys outside is much better.” He grinned. “You’re more than welcome to join us.”
“Thank you.” I beamed. This day wouldn’t be as bad as I thought.
When Hayden had said eating outside was better than eating inside, I didn’t know his ideal lunch spot was in the school’s back lot, near the dumpsters.
“I know you guys are weird,” I said to Hayden as he sat on the ground with Caleb and Oliver. “But you’re actually able to eat here? And keep it down?”
“We never promised to keep food down,” Caleb said as he opened his lunch box.
Hayden twisted his juice cap open. “Come on, this is a great spot.”
I looked around us, the stench of the trash across from us burning my nose hairs. “It’s the back lot . . . With literal trash. There are probably more dead bodies in there than under the tables in the cafeteria.”
“There aren’t dead bodies,” Oliver promised. “In a video mymom showed me, a bear jumped out at a school principal who was opening the dumpster.”
Caleb groaned. “Great, now he really won’t be convinced.”
“It doesn’t matter what he thinks now,” Hayden said, waving a hand. “He’ll soon figure out that he’s wrong.”
“I don’t think I will.” Scrunching my face, I sat beside Hayden. “What’s so great about sitting back here anyway, other than being away from the crowd?”
“That’s it,” Hayden said, pointing at me with his sandwich. “Being away from the ruckus and absorbing the ambiance of traffic.”
