Friends Advice
In his AP English class, Austin drummed his fingers on his desk. Usually, he had no problem paying attention, but he couldn't get the conversation he had with Sam out of his head. How come Shelby and his other friends constantly made fun of her? She was attractive, sweet, and nice. There was no reason to treat her so coldly. Man, I really need someone to talk to, he thought to himself. But who? Shelby was definitely out. There was no way she'd understand. Neither would David. That just left Ryan. Though he could be a bit dense at times, out of all of his friends, Ryan was the one he felt the closest to. Yeah, I could talk to Ryan, Austin thought to himself.
"Mr. Ames?" the teacher queried.
"Yes, Ms. Coldweather?" Austin asked.
"Are you paying attention?" Ms. Coldweather demanded.
"No, Ma'am. I drifted. Sorry," he apologized. The woman let it go since Austin was usually an attentive student and seemed honestly contrite. Austin opened his notebook and began taking notes. Then, before he knew it, the class was over, and he headed over to his next class, which was a history class. Meanwhile, Sam had finished her chemistry class and was now in a history class. Wow. I can't believe that Austin was so cool to me, she thought to herself.
"Everyone remember who your partners are?" the teacher, Mr. Willis, asked suddenly.
"Yes," the class acknowledged. Sam gathered up her things and walked to where Astrid, a girl who dressed kind of grunge, was sitting.
"Hi," Sam greeted.
"'Sup'?" Astrid acknowledged.
"So-and I'm not trying to be nagging but-have you given any thought to our project?" Sam wondered.
"I always thought the 1929 Stock Market Crash was kinda cool," Astrid answered. Hope she doesn't think I'm weird, she thought to herself. She normally didn't care what people thought of her, but besides being nice, Sam was Carter's best friend, and the boy was so cute!
"Yeah, that sounds cool," Sam agreed. Astrid smiled and they began talking indistinctly, writing down notes and plotting out outlines. The next thing they knew, the bell had rung.
"Wow. I think we have a good start here," Sam commented in pride as they gathered up their things.
"Yeah," Astrid agreed. "You need help?"
"No, I've got it. Thanks." Then, "You?"
"Naw, I'm cool." The two girls said their goodbyes, and then parted ways. Sam grinned as Carter came up.
"Hey, what's up?" he asked.
"Well, Astrid and I decided on a topic for our history class," she replied.
"Oh, yeah, what?"
"1929 Stock Market Crash and how it led to the Great Depression." Meanwhile, Austin had left his own class and was unusually quiet.
"Hey Bro, what's wrong?" Ryan questioned. "Your dad giving you a hard time about your writing again?" he continued.
"No, it's not that," Austin answered with a sigh. "It's just-do you know Sam Montgomery?" Ryan looked at him in confusion and shook his head. "A little shorter than Shelby, shoulder-length hair, very pretty," he continued.
"Oh, right! She works at Fiona's Diner," Ryan said with a snap of his fingers.
"Right," Austin confirmed.
"So, what about her?" Ryan asked.
"Well, we got to talking earlier, and get this: she's taking AP Chemistry," Austin said.
"Really?" Ryan asked.
"Yeah, she understands my passion, she gets my jokes and actually listens to me," Austin continued.
"She sounds really cool, but what about Shelby?" Ryan wondered. Austin sighed.
"I don't know, man. Honestly, I'm not really happy with her. And that's not really fair to her, you know?"
"Yeah. I suppose you should do whatever makes you happy, bro. I mean, Shelby, isn't exactly the nicest girl in the world." Austin and Ryan continued to talk as they approached the lockers. As they did so, Austin looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Sam with her friend-Chris, Cader-he frowned, trying to think of the name. Man, what's his name? he wondered. Feeling someone's gaze upon her, Sam turned to look to see who it was. Huh. I guess I made a bigger impression than I thought, she thought to herself. She was so busy looking at Carter, she didn't even notice that the boy next to her had his locker open. Suddenly, she ran into the locker, shutting it.
"Ow," she said.
"Ooooh," Ryan and Austin winced. That had to hurt, Austin thought to himself.
"Thanks," the boy said gratefully. I was wondering how to close that with my arms full, he thought. Austin and Ryan walked up to her.
"You okay?" Austin asked.
"Ow," Sam said again. He must think I'm an idiot!
"Here, let me take a look," Austin said, gently cupping her chin and turning it so that he was looking at the injured cheek. Man, her skin feels so soft... "Well, it doesn't look so bad, but we should probably get a nurse to take a look at it," he continued.
"I agree," Carter agreed.
"And I'll run interference," Ryan offered. Confused, Austin turned to Ryan who pointed. Austin nodded in understanding when he saw Shelby. Then, he and Carter headed for the nurse's station as Ryan went to intercept Shelby.
"Shelby, what's happening?" Ryan asked.
"Where's Austin?" Shelby demanded.
"Well, you seeā¦" As they walked towards the nurse's station, Carter glanced at Austin.
"I'm Carter by the way," he said.
"That's it!" the other boy exclaimed with a snap of his fingers. "No offense man, but I was blanking."
"None taken." Once they reached the nurse's station, they explained what had happened and the woman took a look at the cheek, perusing it and gently feeling it.
"Well, I don't see or feel any bruising, but I'd suggest you keep an eye on it just in case," she said. They nodded and then walked back to their classes. After school, Carter and Sam went to Fiona's Diner where she told them about her day as she worked. One of the regulars, Chuck, half listened as he ate.
"Well, it sounds like somebody's smitten," Rhonda teased.
"Rhonda, it's not like that," Sam protested. "It was just-nice to see that he isn't a big of a jerk as his girlfriend," she continued. Then, "And speaking of girlfriends, Carter, I've been noticing Astrid looking at you."
"Oh, she's okay. But she's no Shelby." Sam let out a frustrated groan.
"Carter, trust me. You can do so much better than Shelby Cummings."
"And you think Astrid is better?"
"At least she treats people like they're actually human beings!" The door opened and Austin, Shelby, Ryan, Mandy, David, and Karen walked in and sat down. As the others looked at the menu, Austin glanced at Sam, who was talking with some of the other workers and a customer. She caught his glance and smiled in his direction, a gesture that he returned.
"Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to get a zone meal here?" Shelby complained.
"I already ate," Mandy announced.
"Mandy, a rice cake and a saltine, do not count," David told her. Austin and Ryan hid a laugh.
"You're so bad," Karen chided. Ryan looked at his own menu and then made a face.
"Ew. Sushi and doughnuts? Who does that?" he asked.
"I guess it works if you can't decide between protein and a sugar rush," Austin quipped. Ryan laughed as the others just stared at them in confusion. Austin took the chance to smile at Sam. Shelby loudly snapped her fingers.
"Waitress! Waitress!" she called, repeating the actions.
"Uh, Shelby. That's not going to make her come any faster, and that's really annoying," Ryan told her. Geez. Maybe, Austin, was right about her.
"Shut up, Ryan," Shelby snapped. "Waitress! Hello! We're ready to order now!" she called. Sam rolled her eyes.
"Duty calls," she sighed and walked up to their table, pencil poised above her order pad.
