Best Friends Since Kindergarten

Lunch

AMY

Math. I hate math. I wasn’t bad at math, but god did I hate it. I tapped my pencil against my book, looking at the clock every few seconds. The sooner this class was over, the sooner it would be lunch, the sooner I would see Ryan, the sooner I would go home with Ryan. School was always the worst, but now that I actually had something I really wanted to get home to, it was insufferable. Susan reached over from her desk and grabbed hold of my pencil, forcing me to stop my tapping. I whispered a quick “sorry” and tried to turn my attention back to the board. Andres, sitting behind me, bumped his foot against the book tray under my chair. I could hear people playing on their phones and clicking their pens up and down. Looking around, everyone was fidgeting with something. I wished Ryan was in this class. It would be significantly less boring if he was here, though he’d probably be getting suspended. He had never been very good at sitting still. I sighed heavily.

“Miss Blake, do you have something to add?” my teacher said sharply.

“No, Mrs. Warberger. Sorry.” She gave me a dirty look and went back to explaining sin and cosin for the thousandth time.

I felt like my brain was goo that would drip out of my head through my nose. I tilted my head back a little as if to keep the goo in. Andres grabbed a strand of my hair and tugged as it touched down on his desk. I quickly snapped my head back and moved forward, ignoring his chuckle. When the bell finally rang, I leapt out of my seat like a spring. Mrs. Warberger whipped around. “Miss Blake, the bell doesn’t dismiss you, I do.” I grimaced and sat back down. When she finally finished her lecture and let us go, I practically ran into the hallway, bumping immediately into a hard chest. I looked up at Ryan’s face. I hugged him tightly, excited to see him so early.

“Came to walk you to your next class,” he said. The rest of the class started to pour out of the room, so we quickly stepped to the side.

“Okay- we need to wait for Susan though. She’s in the same class as me and I don’t want to ditch her.” Ryan sighed, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. Susan finally popped out, almost stumbling into me and Ryan.

“Oof!” she squeaked. “Ryan! Hey! What are you doing here?” Andres followed her out of the classroom. Ryan’s grip on my shoulders became vicelike.

“I have been sworn to protect you, madame,” he said dramatically to Susan, who laughed.

“We have an escort to class?” she asked me. I nodded, rolling my eyes at Ryan.

“Morning,” Andres said to Ryan, who shot him a nasty look.

“Do not talk to me if you value your teeth,” Ryan said sharply. Susan and I exchanged worried glances as Andres visibly bristled.

“We’re going to be late to class!” I said, tugging on Ryan’s arm. He broke eye contact and followed me down the hall with Susan. Andres waved bye to me and Susan as he popped into his French classroom. Ryan relaxed his grip on my shoulders and was much more cheerful throughout the rest of the walk to the art room. He even came inside with us to say hi to Miss Ophelia. While they chatted, Susan and I grabbed our art boards and settled down in front of our still life. Ryan waved us a quick goodbye after Miss O had provided him with a chocolate chip cookie. How he managed to get these things out of her I’d never know. The next few classes went by slowly. Luckily for Andres, Ryan didn’t show up to walk me anywhere else before lunch.

I scanned the cafeteria for Ryan as Susan and I sat down, but didn’t see him anywhere. Andres plopped into the empty seat next to me. “You might not want to sit there,” I warned him.

He raised an eyebrow at me. “What? Worried your ‘best friend’ will beat me up?”

“Worried my boyfriend will beat you up,” I corrected. Andres’s eyes widened. “He’s not exactly your biggest fan right now.”

“What’s up with him?” Andres asked as he took a bite of his apple. “He was more ornery than usual this morning. I thought we were fine after the party.”

“Probably shouldn’t have kissed me if you wanted things to be fine with him,” I said in a low voice, not wanting to announce it to the table. Susan, sitting on my other side, definitely heard though, based on the sound of her suddenly choking.

“Ah,” Andres said. “I’m not scared of him. He’s undisciplined and reckless.”

Annoyed, I turned back to my food. “Your funeral.” Susan aggressively whipped out her phone and started texting. My phone buzzed as she looked up at me angrily. I sighed and opened the message.

11:43am

SUSAN: Why don’t you tell me these things????

AMY: It wasn’t exactly consensual. I didn’t want to talk about it.

SUSAN: What????? Amy that’s fucked

AMY: Not wrong

SUSAN: I’ll kick his ass for you

AMY: I’ll tell you the same thing I told R- don’t

SUSAN: R knows? And A is still standing?

AMY: It wasn’t easy.

SUSAN: (typing)

Before Susan could finish her message, a loud thump shocked me. I turned, looking up at Ryan. He was facing away from me, hand down on the table, leering over Andres. Oh no.

“Scoot,” Ryan said. Andres glowered at him.

“No thanks, I’m comfy here,” he said flatly. I winced.

“One last chance,” Ryan threatened.

“Since when do you give out chances? You scared of me?” Andres taunted. Ryan scowled.                  

“I always give out chances. You’re not special, Blondie.” The cafeteria had gone oddly silent. Even my table, normally so boisterous, was quiet. The tension in the air was thick. “Is that your final word?” Ryan asked.