Shane Collins stood waiting against his locker; looking suitably bored. He was the only person in the high school corridor, everyone else had abandoned it a good hour ago. Man, this was the third time in a week Michael had asked him to wait behind while he had practise. If it had been anyone but his best friend Shane would have told them where to get off. As it was, the idea of hauling Michael out of the practise rooms was becoming more tempting as the seconds ticked by.
Shane sighed and turned off his IPod. Muse stopped mid-song and he was left standing in the silence. Or he should have been. There were faint noises coming from the gym at the end of the corridor. Shane grunted as he recognized the sound. Bloody cheerleaders with their crappy pop music. He'd already been to check them out a good half an hour ago. Some of them did merit a quick stare but Monica Morrell and the Monickettes (as Shane liked to call them) were in there, showing off and he didn't want the grief. Monica acted like she ruled the world and her cronies acted like they were in the line for the crown. High school's own It Girl, and didn't Monica know it. The word friends didn't really stretch to her lackeys, in fact Shane and Michael often asked each other if any of them knew the meaning of the word. The three of them were only together for the convenience. Everyone knew that gangs of pretty girls travelled in packs, bitching about the less fortunate girls and picking on the really unlucky ones.
"Hey, thanks for waiting man."
Shane turned around to see Michael Glass striding towards him, clutching a heavy looking guitar case in one hand and two sodas in another. He paused at his locker (two down from Shane's) to stuff a few books inside and throw one of the coke cans at Shane. He caught it effortlessly, all those hours of practising for the football team last year had clearly paid off. Not that he still played. Shane now avoided all physical forms of exercise and anything else that actually required moving around. He even ditched most of the tests and pop quizzes, not wanting to waste his time when he could be doing something much more fun.
"Took your sweet time getting here," he complained.
Michael grinned and carefully balanced his own can inside his locker and pretended to throw a punch at Shane. He allowed his best friend to duck before his fist could actually strike his face. Shane laughed and took a gulp of coke. Then he stopped and the smile fell away from his face.
"Damn," he muttered.
"Monica?" Michael asked.
Shane nodded and threw the empty soda can into his own locker. He really should have cleared it out a few months ago but he had much better things to do with his time. No wonder Eve called him a slacker.
"Can we go now?" he asked Michael hopefully.
He knew the answer before Michael even shook his head.
"Waiting for Eve," he muttered.
Shane groaned, suddenly tempted to just leave Michael standing there. But Eve was his friend too. He knew Michael had something for her but they'd never really talked about it. It was one of the most important parts of the Guy Code Of Honour. Never talk about feelings for girls.
Monica Morrell sashayed her way down the corridor as if she owned the place. Which probably, Shane thought to himself, wasn't far off the mark. Everyone knew her father was in charge of the town.