CHAPTER 37

That one stung. I could only picture my skinny self standing in the hallway as she continued. "Plus he likes weird things like Marvel movies, he knows how to fence, one of his cousins is a bartender and taught him how to mix drinks and stuff, and he's just got a way with words that makes me…"

There was a pause. "Makes you…?" I asked her.

Her blushing increased. "Never mind." She told me as she shut her locker door. She looked at me and smiled. "Thanks for talking to me. Hopefully we can do this again sometime? I enjoy having a friend like you."

Was this what the friend zone was like? Man, did it suck. "Yeah, I'd like that." I smiled. I wouldn't have minded our conversation nearly as much if it didn't center on Carson, but whatever. At least she was happy, or so I kept repeating to myself.

I checked my watch, and realized I should head for the bus soon. And prepare for my night alone. It's not like I could hang with Nicole tonight, she was apparently busy with some big class project.

Oh well, could be worse, I thought to myself as I got on the bus. After a few minutes, I could hear my phone vibrating amidst the loud humming of the bus moving. I took my phone out of my pocket to see I got a text from Megan.

hey, could u help me put up posters for the xmas spirit week tomorrow?

Putting up posters wasn't exactly a Herculean task, which led me to believe this was just Megan making some sort of excuse to hang out. Although, I reasoned with myself, I actually enjoyed hanging out with her when the 'I like Adam' tension wasn't making it weird, so I agreed.

Yeah, sure! I replied. Immediately after, I went over my contacts and found Nicole.

Hey, Megan wants me to help with some council business. Could I ask for a ride tomorrow?

I waited for a bit until the bus came to my stop. As I got off, I felt a vibration in my pocket, signaling Nicole's response. I lugged my backpack inside, eventually plopping it down on the floor, then checked my phone.

Sure thing, squirt. I've got a surprise yearbook meeting anyway. Will you be done by 4:30?

I couldn't have seen putting up posters taking more than 30 minutes. Definitely, I responded, all the while walking up to my room. I let my head hit the pillows and rest there for a few seconds before groaning and taking out my homework. At least Wednesday afternoon will be more eventful, I thought to myself.

***

Wednesday went by quickly, with nothing of real value happening during the day. Mr. Carrozza held a lab on the effects of acids and bases, Mr. Graves held his usual lesson, then went back to his desk while Carson and I talked the other half of the class away, Mrs. Jackson held a pop quiz on To Kill a Mockingbird for hopefully the final time, and Mr. Salvador had us working on doing a complete improv scene using just our faces.

It may have seemed interesting, but it all just kind of blurred together into one big homogeneous blob, otherwise known as school. I was all too happy when the final bell rang. However, it wasn't until I was halfway to the bus that I remembered I was supposed to meet up with Megan.

Luckily, when I ran back to the main hall, she was just standing there, not pissed at my lateness at all.

She waved cheerfully at me. "Hey Adam!" she called. Other people looked at her, and then at me, as they passed. Megan held up her collection of posters and two rolls of tape. "Ready to start?"

"Sure!" I answered, trying to keep my encounter with her as business-oriented as possible. I took some of the posters and a roll of tape, and started to walk down the hallway.

"Where are you going?" She asked me sweetly as I started to walk away.

I gestured to the hallway I was heading to. "I was gonna, y'know, hang posters." I replied dumbly.

"Oh." She said simply, her expression not changing. "I thought we could hang them up together."

"Well, it'll take less time to do if we cover the whole building separately, don't you think?" I asked her, thinking I knew what her true intent was.

Her smile faded. "Do you have to go soon?"

Crap. She had me there. My honest side overcame my selfish one as I admitted, "I have until 4:30."

Her smile reappeared, yet was more vibrant, like pentimento. "That should be plenty of time. I'm sure you wouldn't like to do it alone, right?"

I smiled at her, hoping it didn't seem forced. "Right." I answered. God, I hoped she would get over me soon. I actually envied Matt – she seemed like she would make a great sister or friend, and it's not like I was that annoyed with her. If anything, I kind of felt bad for her. She had her heart set on me like I did with May, and I did not fail to see my own hypocrisy there. I just didn't like her that way, and any time we shared just seemed to turn into awkwardness or her venting her romantic frustration at me, while trying (badly, if I may add) not to make it seem she knew what she was doing, and to whom. For multiple reasons, I wanted to turn back the clock and say no when she invited me to the dance. In many ways it would have made my life better.

In actuality, she was fairly quiet while we worked, seemingly concentrated on the simple task. If I had not known any better, I would have said she graduated from being awkward around me to being nervous. In a way, it was more peaceful, but in another way, it was worse, like I should feel guilty for my feelings.

Jesus… The more I thought about this situation when it happened to me, the more I realized just how right Nicole was about May. Instead of stopping myself from feeling about that way for her though, I just excused Megan. Okay, so I knew how she feels. If I were in her situation, knowing I wouldn't get the guy, I'd just want them to be friendly and wait for the feelings to wear off.

Solid. "Hey Megan…" I said after a moment of silence, turning to her. "I'm kinda glad we could hang out, even like this. You're a pretty cool friend."

Yes, I may have been getting more confident, but I still wasn't totally comfortable with my words yet, and my God, did it show. Nevertheless, Megan's response was to form a beaming smile.

I had to say, I couldn't decide whether her eyes or her smile was her best feature. I didn't like her, but I could sure tell how beautiful she was. Her brown eyes, only made bigger and more beautiful by her glasses, had a way of conveying both innocence in the cutest of ways, yet a curious playfulness that could make any guy smile. Hey smile, however, had the great ability of lighting up her face beautifully, and combined with her eyes, I couldn't help but smile myself before I knew it. Her smile was just contagious in that way.

"Really?" She asked me, her glowing white smiling showing as much glee at my remark as her eyes.

I nodded. "Yeah! It's cool that we're hanging out and chatting and stuff." Great, now I was the friend-zoner. Is this what people with friends have to deal with? I think I overheard Carson refer to it as 'drama' before, before rolling his eyes.

It looked like a weight had been lifted off of Megan's shoulders. "Yeah, really cool." She said, with this odd mix of shyness and enthusiasm.

We chatted more from that point on, making small chat. I tried to steer the conversation back to the previous topic when relationships were mentioned, which I noticed happening more than once. We worked until the last of the posters were placed, which was around the 3:45ish area.

"That's the last of them." I remarked, smoothing down the last poster. "I hope people actually notice these."

Megan shrugged. "I guess people like showing off school spirit." She said back quietly. Her enthusiasm was gone and her nervousness was back. I briefly wondered if I had said something wrong to her along the way when she broke me out of my trance.

"Oh goodness!" She said urgently. I tried to hide a smile – I think 'goodness' was the biggest swearword she had ever used since I met her. I turned to her as she continued, "I think I left my backpack in fourth period!"

I returned her look. "Well, I don't think you can get it back now – all of the classrooms are probably locked." I told her seriously.