by Alicia Rades
Logan let out a light laugh. “Yeah, I’m sure I’ll do fine.”
***
Alaina and I walked together to art class. It was advanced 2D art, mostly focusing on paintings and drawings, which made it perfect for Alaina and me. Sadly, we didn’t get to do any art the first day because it was all about going through the syllabus and learning how the class would work for the semester.
“This landscape painting project should be fun.” Alaina pointed to the syllabus.
“I’m looking forward to the weekly sketches we have to do,” I told her.
She wrinkled her nose. “Think I can just paint in my sketchbook instead?”
“Probably not.”
By the time the last hour of the day—choir—rolled around, I was sick of skimming through syllabi and reviewing classroom rules, but when I walked into the music room and spotted Logan, my mood lifted.
“Maddie,” Emily called, waving me over and gesturing to a chair between her and Logan.
“Hi.” I gave an uncertain smile.
“This is the soprano section,” Emily explained. “The tenors and bases sit in the middle, and the altos sit over there.” She pointed to the other side of the semi-circle of chairs.
“Well, that’s good. Then I can sit by both of you.”
Logan smiled beside me. “You’re going to have a lot of fun. I’m sure of it.”
The room fell silent as soon as the bell rang. We spent the hour reviewing the syllabus and organizing our folders for our music. Our director, Mr. Banks, handed out a couple of booklets with music and lyrics written inside, and we took the last few minutes of class to sight read one of them. I didn’t know a lot about music and had a hard time keeping up with the notes, but it wasn’t as difficult the second time through since I’d already heard it once. Logan’s tenor voice beside me filled me with warmth.
Mr. Banks announced that the rest of the week he would be testing each student for their vocal range, and I only hoped I’d stay in the soprano section so I could sit by Emily and Logan.
***
By Friday night, I had eased back into the swing of the school year. I spent the afternoon relaxing on my back porch and working on homework before flipping my sketchbook open and drawing an image for art class. I stared out at the flowers in the backyard for several minutes, wondering what I should draw. Would it be weird if I sketched another image of Logan’s face for my teacher to see? When my eyes drifted back to my hand, I knew what to sketch.
When my parents arrived home, I closed my sketchbook and slipped Logan’s bracelet back on my wrist. I was proud of the sketch I’d drawn of it since I managed to capture the texture of each strand.
“You hungry, Maddie?” my dad asked when I stepped into the kitchen. “Mom’s warming up some soup.”
“Yeah, I could use some food.” I leaned against the counter while I spoke. “Logan is picking me up soon, though, so I should be quick.”
My mother turned from the cupboard with three bowls in her hand. “Where are you headed with him again?”
“Well, Logan has to play in the pep band for the football game tonight. Then we thought maybe we’d hang out.”
“Okay,” my mom said. “You know your Friday curfew. Be home by eleven.”
When the doorbell rang, I hopped up from the table to get it, but my dad was faster than me.
“Dad, what are you doing?”
He looked back with a teasing smile. “I want to meet this guy.”
“Dad.” I stopped him just as his fingers grazed the door knob. “Try not to embarrass me, okay?”
“I won’t,” he assured with an eye roll before opening the door and welcoming Logan inside.
Logan cleared his throat. “Uh, hello sir, uh, Mr. Rose, uh …”
“Call me Will,” he said, shaking Logan’s hand firmly.
I stood behind my father, praying he wouldn’t say much else.
My mother had followed behind me and stuck her hand toward Logan, too. “I’m Evelyn. Nice to meet you.” The look she gave me added the word she didn’t say out loud. Finally.
I grabbed my purse and hoodie from the couch, pushed past my parents before they could say anything else, and slid my arm into the crook of Logan’s elbow. “Well, we better be going. Don’t want Logan to be late for warm-ups. Bye!”
“Have fun,” my mom called the same time my dad said, “Don’t be home too late.”
“I’m sorry,” I told Logan in the car. “My parents are …” I shrugged when I couldn’t find the right words.
Logan glanced at me as he drove. “There’s nothing wrong with your parents. They love you is all.”
“Yeah, I know they do.”
It didn’t take long to reach the football field. Logan lugged his saxophone case out of the back of his car and opened it to assemble his instrument.
I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the side of his car. “So, is playing in the pep band any fun?”
It took a moment for Logan to answer since he had a reed in his mouth. “It’s a lot of fun. The songs are more upbeat than in concert band, and you get free admission to any events where the band plays.”
I’d never really been one for attending school functions. “So, are you guys any good?”
Logan let out an amused laugh and stood up straight. His assembled saxophone hung around his neck. “We’re okay, but the freshmen are still learning the songs.”
I took his hand in mine. “Well, I finally get to hear you play.”
“Keep your distance,” he warned with a warm smile that quickened my heart rate. “It’s going to get intense.”
I didn’t quite believe him until I was sitting in the stands next to him during their pre-game performance. It wasn’t just that the music was loud, but the band put a lot of movement to the music. Some of them—including Logan—even mildly danced to it.
While they played, I spotted Aaron on the field warming up. His eyes scanned the bleachers until they fell on me. For a split second, I thought that maybe he was just looking at the band, but somehow, I could feel his eyes on me. I gave him a shy wave to acknowledge him, hoping it was friendly enough to show I didn’t want to completely write him off from my life. I really did want to try being friends with him—as long as he was no longer interested in getting me to change my mind about Logan.
By the time the band finished playing their fifth or sixth song, Logan was laughing with his buddies. I couldn’t help but giggle along, simply because I enjoyed seeing him so happy. The band settled down a few minutes before the start of the game. They all turned to a new sheet of music, and I watched as the small team of cheerleaders assembled themselves in a formation on the sidelines. A new tune broke out from the band, and I recognized it as our school song. The cheerleaders danced along with a simple routine and ended in what looked to be an even easier stunt. To be fair, it didn’t look like they had enough girls to do much more than an elevator and a thigh stand.
I spoke quietly to Logan as announcements rang out over the loudspeaker. “Was that it? Are you done playing?”
He slid closer to me, the side of my body growing hot at each point he touched it. “No,” he whispered back in an equally quiet voice. His thumb ran along the backside of my hand he was holding. “We still have to play the national anthem. Then we have to play during half time. We can leave after that if you want, or we can stick around and watch the rest of the game.”
“We’ll see,” I answered.
I stood and placed my hand over my heart when the Star Spangled Banner played. I could have sworn that for a second Aaron looked my way again from his position on the field, but by the time I could really process his moving eyes, they had already passed me.
When the national anthem ended, I sat and nestled close to Logan for the first half of the game, not really paying attention to what was happening on the field. Instead, I focused on the warmth of Logan’s leg against my own. His touch was so comforting that I barely noticed the chilly
night air between us. I ran my thumb over the rough callouses at the ends of his fingers, earned from his years of guitar playing.
People cheered all around me, but even when I was watching the game, I wasn’t really seeing what was going on. That is, until Aaron prepared to kick a field goal. I held my breath for him, wishing him luck. His eyes scanned the bleachers one last time, finding me in them. I didn’t know what else to do but give him a thumbs up in encouragement. I slowly let out a breath as the ball sailed through the air, but my wishing did no good. He missed the field goal.
“Dang,” Logan said, but I didn’t spot any sincerity in his comment.
Aaron’s shoulders slumped as he returned to the sidelines. I had the sudden urge to comfort him once I had the chance. You can’t, Maddie. You’re not his girlfriend, I reminded myself. At this point, I wasn’t even sure we were friends.
“So, do you want to stay and finish watching the game or head out?” Logan asked at the end of half time.
I gazed out onto the field at Aaron. He was the only thing besides Logan keeping me here, and honestly, Aaron didn’t really need me.
I turned to Logan and put a smile on my face. “Let’s go.”
***
We had enough time for a movie, and luckily there was a decent one playing at the dollar theatre shortly after we arrived.
“Want popcorn or anything?” Logan asked.
“I guess so,” I answered, diving into my purse to pull out the few dollars I had.
“Don’t worry about it. I can get it.”
I shifted uncomfortably at the snack counter. I didn’t have a job and therefore didn’t have much money, but I didn’t like the idea of Logan paying for everything. Then again, he was my boyfriend, and that was the typical way things went. I knew he had some money he made from tutoring some middle school kids, but since he hadn’t tutored much over the summer, I wondered how much he had. I didn’t want him to drain his savings for me, especially when he was saving up for his guitar.
“Logan,” I pulled at him before he had a chance to reach the counter. “I don’t need any popcorn. I had dinner, so I’m not very hungry.”
He shrugged. “I’ll get two for me, then. If a bag of popcorn happens into your lap, it wasn’t my fault.”
I smiled back at him, appreciative of his kind gesture. With no one around who would scold us, I pulled him into a hug and planted a kiss on his lips right there.
CHAPTER 8
AARON
I woke up the first day of school mildly excited, not so much for classes, but because I enjoyed the time I could spend with my friends. I was also eager to get back to my art classes that I’d missed so much throughout the summer. I rode my bike to school and found Aaron at his locker. My friends gathered nearby comparing their class schedules. I still wasn’t sure if Logan would be comfortable with me around, so I waved and smiled but mostly steered clear.
“There’s my angel,” Aaron said in a low voice when I approached. He closed his locker and leaned against it, brushing a strand of dark hair out of my eyes. “How was your weekend?”
I smiled up at him. “Filled with a lot of practicing cheers in my backyard. Thank goodness I have a fence so I didn’t freak out the neighbors. They probably would have thought I was having a seizure otherwise.”
Aaron stared down at his fingers and grazed them across mine. “Oh, come on. You can’t be that bad.”
I laughed. “Well, they let me on the team, so I guess I’m not.”
He looked back up at me. “How’d you get to school? Did you walk?”
“I rode my bike. Why?”
Aaron licked his lower lip and stared into my eyes like I was the only girl in the world. “Leave it at home tomorrow. I’ll pick you up. Besides, I said I’d drive you home from practice. How can I do that when you have to get your bike back home?”
More time with Aaron? Sign me up!
“That sounds like a fantastic idea.” I leaned into him as if magnetized. At the same time, I noticed my group of friends separate and head to their homerooms. “Give me a sec, will you?” I quickly caught up with Alaina and called her name.
She turned to me with a smile.
“Hey, how’s Logan?” I asked. “Better?”
Her stick-straight hair bobbed over her shoulder when she nodded. “Yeah, he’s fine.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. He still won’t answer my texts, though. It won’t be weird if we sit together at lunch?”
“No, Maddie.” Alaina twisted her face into an expression that said I was being ridiculous. “It’ll be like old times. We’re all still friends, whether you and Logan are a thing or not. Don’t worry about it. He’ll be able to handle it.”
“Okay,” I said uncertainly. “I’ll see you in art.”
She waved. “See ya.”
“Sorry about that,” I told Aaron once I returned.
“No problem.” He clicked his locker shut and followed me to mine.
“What’s your schedule like?” I asked as I double checked my combination on my class schedule. After twisting in the numbers, I hung my bag inside and quickly pulled out a notebook and pencil for first period.
“I have Saunders first period and …” He paused to pull his schedule from his pocket. “And then I have math, English …”
I glanced at the paper in his hands. “Oh, I think we’re together for English. Other than that, I don’t think we have any classes together. You didn’t happen to enroll in 2D art, did you?”
The look on his face told me he wouldn’t be caught dead taking an art class.
“I’m kidding, Aaron. I’ll see you in English.” I almost leaned in to kiss him goodbye before realizing we were in school where PDA wasn’t tolerated. Instead, I simply waved while I retreated from him. It almost felt like a little piece of my heart stayed with him as he walked in the opposite direction. I reached to my chest to feel his necklace, and I knew that at the very least, a piece of him stayed with me.
***
In English, Aaron and I found a spot together near the back of the class. I noticed Dani from across the room. She caught my eye and waved at me, and I smiled back. It was nice to be welcomed so quickly into her circle. Turns out she was super nice to everyone, so it no longer felt strange that she’d been so nice to me my first day of practice.
“Another year with Mrs. Gates.” Aaron pulled my attention back to him and wiggled his eyebrows at me. “This should be fun.”
It was no secret that most students weren’t a big fan of Mrs. Gates because she gave out a lot of homework, but I rather enjoyed her writing assignments.
“Can’t handle a little creative writing homework?” I teased, scooting my chair an inch closer to him. I still felt too far away.
The bell rang, and a silence settled over the room. Mrs. Gates went over the normal first day routine by handing out our syllabus and getting us settled into assigned seats near members of our first project group. I hated assigned seats and randomly selected groups because it meant Aaron and I wouldn’t be sitting next to each other, though that was probably a good thing. I doubt I’d be able to concentrate on schoolwork with his dimpled smile distracting me every two seconds. At the very least, Mrs. Gates had assigned Dani and me to the same group, so we ended up sitting next to each other. Still, I found my gaze constantly drifting across the room to the back of Aaron’s head. I wished we’d been assigned to the same group.
“Having English class together does us no good if we don’t get to sit by each other,” I complained to him in the lunch line later that day.
He shrugged. “I know. It sucks. But it’s not like we’re stuck in these groups for the whole semester. It’s just a couple weeks, and then we get new groups. We might end up next to each other eventually.” His optimism helped melt my disappointment.
Aaron tore his eyes off me and smiled toward some of his friends seated at a table across the cafeteria. And that’s when it hit me. We were going to have to choose between my t
able and his. I hadn’t even considered how he’d feel about sitting with my group of friends.
“Aaron,” I asked with uncertainty, “where are we going to sit?”
His gaze flickered between his table and mine. “Oh, uh, I thought we’d sit at my table. I mean, Logan still isn’t taking your texts, is he?”
I inched to the front of the cafeteria as the line moved. “No, he’s not. Alaina says he’s fine, but I’m not sure he actually still wants to be friends.”
“Hey, my friends are going to love you.” His touched my fingers lightly, sending a surge of electricity throughout my body. “I promise.”
I gave my friends a smile as we passed by their table with our trays. The girls all waved back with a look in their eyes that said they understood my choice, but none of the guys seemed to notice. Aaron’s table was filled with a couple of football players and their girlfriends. Luckily, I knew one girl well enough that I didn’t feel completely out of my element. I slid into a seat beside Dani, who was dating Aaron’s friend, Brandon. She was the only other cheerleader at the table.
Conversations broke into small groups of two or three. I held onto Aaron’s hand under the table but spent most of my time talking to Dani about cheers, stunts, and her ideas for the team apparel we were going to order this year. She wanted to know my opinion on whether we should get t-shirts or hoodies, sweat pants or shorts, or all of them. I voted for the hoodies. As I was dumping my tray, I realized what it meant for Dani to consider my opinion. For the first time since I met the cheerleaders on the football field, I really felt like a part of the team.
***
In art class, I finally had a chance to talk to Alaina. “Hey, you don’t think anyone is mad at me for sitting with Aaron at lunch, do you?”
She shrugged and spoke in a soft voice, her eyes locked on the pencil she was twirling around in her fingers. “I understand. He’s your boyfriend now. You know there’s always a spot open for you at our table, though, right? And for Aaron.”