Chapter Twenty:

"What do you know, Maverick?"

"I don't know anything." I answered Natasha while we waited in the cafeteria line. The special for today happens to be my favourite food. Poutine. Because who wouldn't want fries, cheese curds, and gravy? Our school rarely makes it due to concerns from parents, saying that deep-fried french fries with gravy, and cheese curds can cause cardiovascular diseases due to high cholesterol and fat.

"Don't give me crap." Nat said, sighing and crossing her arms. "Obviously, something's going on around here."

"Just, don't worry about it." I told her, pulling her by the arm so we could move pass a grade nine who's not moving in the line.

"The thing is, when you say don't worry about it, it actually means that I should totally worry about it." She replied, now looking worried. "I'm the only one who doesn't know anything. No, no, don't give me that look- I know that Dani knows what's going on as well- Stop giving me that look Maverick!"

I frowned and looked away. How could I possibly tell her?

"Okay. What about we find Dennis after lunch, and we let him explain it?" I suggested, as I inhale the delicious scent of fried potatoes. I grabbed a veggie bag, juice box, and placed it on my tray.

"Dennis is involved?" Nat asked in bewilderment, following me behind and reached for a box of chocolate milk.

I froze, narrowed my eyes, and literally face palmed. I fucked up.

"Why the heck is Dennis involved with Thomas breaking up with me?"

I bit my lip as I panicked inside. Staring at Nat, I shook my head slowly and greeted the lunch lady that I knew since freshmen year.

"'Sup Mrs. Stalwick." I said, ignoring Nat's horrifying stare.

"Maverick, don't ignore me." Nat pestered.

"Can I have extra cheese curds on my poutine?" I asked the woman in front of me. Mrs. Stalwick smiled, and nodded her head. "Sweet. Thanks Mrs. Stalwick. You're the bomb."

"Bomb? I don't want to be a bomb." She said in confusion.

"Mave." Nat called again beside me as I placed the plate of poutine on my tray. "What the hell is going on?"

"Apparently, Mrs. Stalwick doesn't want to be a bomb." Nat gave me a stern look. "I'm just kidding. Uh, and I can't talk about it." I finally told her as we moved in the line.

"Why not?"

"I just can't." I answered, and sighing as another grade nine won't move. "I'm sorry Nat, but... I really can't okay?"

"The suspense is fucking killing me." Natasha complained, and together we paid for our food. "Whatever, we'll deal with this later. I can't think properly when I'm hungry."

"Same." Was my response. Nat and I went to our usual table, and Dani was already sitting there already. She was eating a salad, and sipping on some disgusting green smoothie. "What are you eating?" I asked, as I sat down beside her.

Dani jumped at my voice, and was yet again surprised by my arrival. I raised an eyebrow, wondering why she was being so jumpy lately.

"A salad." She replied.

"What are you drinking?" I asked, as I stared at her smoothie cup curiously. "It looks poisonous."

"A matcha smoothie." Dani answered, smiling at me in amusement. "What are you eating?"

"Something that would probably make my arteries clog." I replied, and smirked at her as I boldly stabbed a cheese curd with my fork. "It's so good." I sighed dreamily and chewed the hot cheesy fat.

"Yeah, well, vegetables are good too." Dani replied, mocking me as she too, stabbed her greens and ate a mouthful.

"Disgusting." I said.

"You're disgusting!"

"You two make me sick." Spat Nat, who suddenly became grumpy as she drank her chocolate milk. "Can you guys tell me what's going on? Don't you think I deserve to know? Maverick won't tell me anything- don't give me that look, I swear to god Mave-" Nat gave a frustrated sigh, while I averted my eyes from her. "Dani. Tell me? Please?"

I could feel Dani's stare, but I was busy shoving food into my mouth, and purposely filling them so I have an excuse not to talk.

"I think it's best if you hear it from Thomas." Dani said.

"Fine. Whatever. I'm just gonna go to class then." Nat said grumpily, grabbing her chocolate milk with her and completely ditching her food with us when she walked away.

I shrugged my shoulders and took Nat's sandwich. Dani gave me a look of amusement, and shook her head in disbelief.

"Honestly, I think Nat knows what's going on." I said, frowning at the sandwich."How could she not? We did talk about the possibility of them being gay."

"Maybe she's hoping to figure out that she's wrong." Dani replied.

"I don't know. Nat's very unpredictable sometimes." I said, then Dani snorted a laugh.

"Like you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean." Dani held my gaze a little too long, and I end up breaking it before I get lost somewhere.

"You know, sometimes I just want to slap you hard and make you cry." I said, frowning at her and sipping on my juice box.

"That's a bit evil." She chuckled. "What did I do?"

I sighed and just shook my head. I don't understand myself sometimes. Just looking at Dani makes me want to hug her, but also want to beat the crap out of her.

"Nothing. I just have the tendency to snap sometimes. It feels like... I want to cry, but I can't because I'm weird like that- So it's just really frustrating because I don't know what to do about it." I blabbered on, and laid my head on her shoulder. "You said that you're good at reading people, so what do you think about that?"

"Do you still get nightmares?" She asked, her shoulders stiffening and so I pulled back, thinking that it probably made her feel uncomfortable.

"Yeah." I admitted, and nodding my head. "More often now."

"What's was the dream about?"

"Just some stupid thing."

"What was it?" Dani asked again, and I rolled me eyes.

"It's me with a bunch of people, talking to them, ya know, socializing and everything- then I would feel out of place all of a sudden. The terrifying part was when I started to feel like I couldn't breathe, almost drowning. Then, I would wake up, crying."

I stared at Dani, expecting her to laugh at me. But she didn't. She was giving me a sympathetic look, and offered a small smile.

"It keeps me up at night." I told her. "I can't really stop thinking about it."

"Didn't I tell you that you could call me anytime?" Dani said. "At least that way I could make you feel a little better... I mean, that is- if you want to?"

"I don't want to annoy you, though. It's always in the middle of the night."

"I don't mind." She said.

"You're so nice." I said, and can't help but grin. "Why are you so nice?"

"Because I am." Dani replied.

"Are you always this nice to people all the time?" I asked.

"Only to people I like." She replied, shrugging and busied herself while eating her salad.

I was going to ask what kind of people she liked, and what kind of people she hates just to know out of curiosity, but Gina sat across from us and held a paper infront of us.

"Well, it's official. Dani made the team."

"Oh, cool!" I said, grinning as I took the paper and held it for Dani and I to look at.

Gina's name was on there, as well as mine, and Dani's. But what scared the shit out of me was the label right next to my name.

"No." I said. "No. This is not acceptable." I was now shaking my head, and gripping the sheet in confusion, wrinkling it.

"You're our team captain this season." Gina said happily. "I'm very happy about that."

"Why can't someone else be team captain?" I complained, and completely gave the sheet to Dani. "I don't think I'm ready for that kind of responsibility."

"What's so wrong about being the captain?" Dani asked, staring at my name in awe. "I think this is great." Gina agreed with her.

"But Florence was supposed to be captain-"

"Mave, Florence graduated." Gina interrupted, and laughing at me now. "Face it. This is really happening."

"The girls would hate me." I complained. "Can I quit?"

"You're being ridiculous." Dani said, and smacking my arm.

"Girls are mean." I argued, and smacked her arm back. "Wanna fight, bitch?"

"Says the mean one." Dani said, chuckling.

"The girls are mean, but you're a savage." Gina said, grinning. "I totally get why Mrs. Cantin picked you. Oh man, this season is going to be so fun! I can't wait to see you on your full sass mode on the court."

"Really? She gets sassy?" Dani asked, giving me an incredulous look. I frowned at her.

"Last year, some girl was stupid enough to pull on Mave's hair while she was going for a layup."

"I remember that!" I said, and burst out laughing.

"What happened?" Dani asked.

"I punched her boobs. It was an accident. I was aiming for her face, but Gina stopped me so I end up punching her boobs. Then, Mrs. Cantin sat me down and wouldn't let me play." I chuckled at the memory.

"We lost the game." Gina said. "And the girls on our team got so mad because Mrs. Cantin wouldn't let Mave play."

"She was teaching me discipline though." I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"But do you remember what you did?" Gina asked, now grinning. I shook my head at her in confusion.

"You cheered us on. You literally gave pointers from the bench. Even though we lost, you were optimistic and that comforted us."

"Awe, that's cute." Dani said, nudging me with her elbow.

"Shuddup." I mumbled.

"I wasn't surprised that you're captain, Mave." Gina said, now grinning.

"Well, I am." Dani said. "This is so weird. So do I follow orders from you now?"

"Only on court." I said, now laughing.

James walked by our table with his football friends, and he waved at me. I ignored him and his friends oohed.

"When is he going to leave me alone?" I asked, sighing and feeling disgusted.

"Never." Gina snickered.

"Was that the James guy?" Dani asked, staring at their direction.

"Unfortunately, yes." I answered with a nod.

"Want me to beat him up for you?" She asked all of a sudden. I laughed, but Dani's face remained serious, so I laughed harder.

"No, it's fine. I don't want you getting hurt." I said. I believe that Dani could really beat James up, but I don't want to start another conflict, so it's better to just ignore James as much as possible.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

*

When the bell rang to end the day, I texted Dani if she wanted to work on our English assignment at my house. She immediately texted back and said,

Okie 😄 can I catch a ride with you though? I don't have a car.

I typed,

Sure. Meet me by my locker.

Then, she replied with another,

Okie.

I smiled at it, because it was adorable.

I went to my locker, and placed a few books in my book bag and looked at my palm to look at written notes on my skin for homework. As soon as I got everything I needed, I put on my jacket and pulled out my car keys. Dani appeared beside me, and smiled shyly.

"Hi." She greeted.

"Hey, wanna get snacks before we head home? I'm hungry." I said this while eating one of Nat's granola bars in my locker. Dani looked at me oddly and was trying really hard not to laugh.

"You ate a lot at lunch. And now you're still eating." She said.

"Do I sense judgement?" I asked. "Fight me."

"Nevermind." Dani laughed.

Dani and I saw Natasha getting in to her car, and totally ignored us. She drove pass us and Dani said,

"Don't worry about it, it's not our problem."

"We were a part of it at some point." I said, and unlocking my car for us to get in. "Anyways, I wanna ask you something."

"Go ahead."

"So, you're really gay?" I asked, while putting on my seat belt. Dani stared at me, raised an eyebrow, and nodded. "Like, you're a lesbian?"

Dani nodded again.

"You really like girls?"

"Yeah, I like kissing them too." She said, grinning.

"Oh." My stupid self blurted out, and my face warming up. "That's cool."

"You look so uncomfortable." She said, now laughing at me. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna kiss you."

"Oh. Okay."

"You sound dissapointed." Dani smirked.

"Shut up. No I'm not." I argued, hitting her arm and laughing with her.

I drove us to Safeway, and when we got in, we immediately went to the snacks aisle. There, we saw my mom pushing a shopping cart and getting goldfish crackers (probably for me).

"Hi woman!" I greeted and hugged her, then kissed her cheek.

"You are not my daughter." She said. I literally gasped, not believing my own mother could say such a thing. I looked at Dani, and she was laughing while my mom's facade quivered and she end up grinning at me. "Just kidding, hi hon. What are you doing here?"

"Me and Dani wanted snacks... well, mostly me- Oh mom, this is Dani by the way. She's coming over, so we could work on our assignment later." I said, and took hold on Dani's arm so she could come closer to introduce herself.

My mom smiled at her, while Dani nodded in greeting.

"Hi Mrs. Bridge."

"Hi. Are you Peter's kid?" My mom asked, staring at Dani closely.

"Mom." I warned.

"Uh, yeah. How did you know?" Dani said, looking worried a little.

"I dated your dad!" My mom exclaimed, laughing. "How is he?"

"Mom. This is awkward." I said.

"If your dad didn't move to Québec, he would've been my husband."

"Oh my god." I mumbled in complaint, and tugged on Dani's arm. Dani looked a bit conflicted, wondering if she should laugh or not. "Okay, bye mom!" I said, pulling Dani beside me.

"Take the garbage out when you get home!" My mom called out.

"Your mom is as weird as you." Dani said, grinning. "I like it."

"You like weird people?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"How weird are we talking about?"

"Weird enough to make them interesting as an individual." Dani said, smiling wide.

"Wow. My mind is so dirty right now, and all I could think of is how you must have a weird fetish." I said, snickering and getting punched on my arm by Dani.

"You're a sick fuck." She said.

"I bet you're into that, eh?"

I couldn't take it. I guffawed so loud, that I must've looked crazy.

"Oh my god, I do not know you." Dani said, shaking her head and chuckling as she walked further into the aisle.

"Wait, no, comeback!" I said, still laughing and having a hard time to breathe as I follow behind. "Don't leave thou maiden behind you rude shit!"

"I do not know that person." Dani said to a Safeway worker who we passed by.

"Dani, come back!" I dramatically called out, still catching up to her.

Dani stopped, and I bumped into her back. She crossed her arms, and let her hip rest on one side.

"Are we done with the weirdness?"

"You're very contradicting. I thought you said that you like weird people?" I challenged. "You know what, let's just go." I said, and grabbed a random bag of chips. Dani grabbed one too and said,

"Sometimes, I wonder if I should like you or not."

"Hm? What was that?" I grabbed more chips.

"Nothing, I was talking to the chips."

"How normal of you."

I work at Booster Juice (a smoothie place) and there's this really cute girl earlier at work who walked in, then before I took her order, I asked her what her name was (like what Starbucks barristas do. We don't do it at Booster Juice often, but I thought she was really attractive and because why the hell not?) and she gave me this grin and said, "Hayley Williams" (of course she's not Hayley Williams, but I thought it was cool that she thought of the artist)

I lost it. I gaped at her and spontaneously said,

"Oh my god, I love you." And she giggled and of course, I made her smoothie. I was tempted to write on her cup, but thought against it because it would be awkward. Then nothing. What's the point of this author's note? I don't freakin' know. xoxo -Jean

Unedited.

P.S. Hayley Williams is bae.