"Tucker."
I sat up in my seat drowsily. It was pretty easy to fall asleep during school assemblies, as Danny had shown by falling asleep about two seconds after the show started. He was probably tired from trying to fend off some ghost last night, but I wouldn't know. Lately, he's been acting like his whole super-hero alter-ego is no big deal, and he knows that it pisses me off that he's acting like it's not worth mentioning. Ever since that stupid Desiree showed up, things have been weird between us.
Sam took it upon herself to be the buffer of our group. She was sitting between us, and she had been lazily sketching in the margins of her biology notes when I drifted off. Now she held out her fist to me, thumb up, with a grin on her face. "Epic thumb war," she said. "Right now."
Ever since we were young, most of our serious decisions were made through thumb war victories. You'd think that would change since we're nearly sixteen, but nope. It's still our favorite way to kill some time in school. Even though there wasn't anything to decide, it was practically the law that you could not turn down an epic thumb war.
I leaned forward, pulling my hat down and grabbing her hand. "It's so on," I said.
"Alright," Sam said, tugging our fists towards her so we were centered. "One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war!"
As soon as the countdown finished, we both started tugging our fists back, trying to get enough leverage to pin each other's thumb. Danny says this is completely breaking the rules, but Sam and I say that anything goes. We leaned forward, taking advantage of our hidden location in the back of the auditorium to get fully into the game. Suddenly Sam pinned my thumb, and I lurched forward as she did, trying to tug out of her grasp in time.
Our faces were suddenly an inch apart, and for a second we just stared at each other, until I ducked my eyes and murmured, "Sorry."
Instead of moving back, Sam closed her eyes and leaned forward the last inch to kiss me.
Energy jolted through me, and I closed my eyes. This was Sam. Danny's girlfriend. My friend since childhood. Why didn't this feel awkward?
Her left hand rested on my knee, and without thinking I covered it with my own. After a moment, we pulled apart, and a smile crept across Sam's face. I probably just looked startled.
She looked down at our right hands, with her thumb still pinning mine. "I win, then," she said softly.
"I guess you did?" I whispered.
Danny stirred behind her, and instantly we tugged apart and sat back in our seats, not daring to even share the armrest. He yawned loudly, and stretched his legs out. "Assemblies are so boring," he mumbled, barely coherent.
I would disagree.
I think things just got a little more complicated.
