Janie, Lynn, and Haley were congregated on a bench near the track before first bell. The three of them were giddy with laughter, and quickly shifted seats when I came to join them.
"So, Bree, you will never guess what happened this morning." Janie's eyes showed her calm, but her lips revealed her desire to simply explode.
"Chase asked Janie to the homecoming dance!" Haley blurted.
Janie nudged Haley hard in the ribs. "Way to spoil it!"
"Sorry."
I tried to put on my best smile, although it could really matter less to me. "Congrats, Janie, I can't wait to go dress shopping together!"
"Wait, someone asked you?" Lynn's remark sounded more like disbelief than excitement.
"No, not exactly, I figured I would just bring Nate."
"Ooh, Nate, I should have guessed." Lynn's eyes roll, but I reject her comment. Since the first day of freshman year Lynn has been giving me a rough time about my relationship with Nate, no matter how many times I use the phrase 'just friends'.
"You figured?" Janie's voice was quizzical.
"Well, yeah, I mean he's back now, and I'm sure he'd go with me." I looked around at my friends, suddenly less sure of myself.
"I'm sure he will, but you might want to ask him soon, I mean, if you don't ask him he could get another date, or maybe he's busy."
"Or maybe he doesn't want to go with you." Lynn got another jab in the ribs for that comment.
The first bell rang. All three of them had first period free, so they remained where they were but I got up to head off to World Lit. "Enjoy first period," Janie's voice rang over the bell, "I hear Mr. Huntington is giving a pop quiz."
Oh great, just the thing I need first period on a Monday morning. As predicted, we had a pop quiz on a reading that I did not do, and the rest of the class proceeded in a sluggish manner. By second period I was ready to go home.
"Morning," Nate took his seat next to me in the technology lab. Our school had put a lot of money into a new wing, and dedicated it to the advancement of technology in our school. Along with this advancement was a classroom that sat you excessively close to your fellow students. "Sorry, I never called on Saturday; I got tied up helping my brother with his Boy Scout work."
"That's alright; I went to bed early anyways." That was a lie. I only went to bed once I realized that I was literally waiting for the phone to ring. I'm not usually one of those girls, especially around Nate, but for whatever reason, I found it difficult to focus on anything else while waiting for his call.
I took a deep breath, suddenly finding it surprisingly hard to get up the guts to just ask Nate to the dance.
"So I meant …"
"I was wonder…"
We both laughed as our words overlapped the others'.
"You first," Nate said, gesturing towards me.
"No, you, mine isn't really important anyways." This was another lie, but it gave me more time to think about how I was going to word it.
"Well, my family is taking a long weekend up to Seattle, and they, and I, wanted to know if you would like to come along. I mean, my brother is bringing his friend, Tommy, and so my parents told me that I could invite anyone that I wanted."
"I'd love to," I was genuinely happy at this proposal. "But, isn't it a bit strange that your family would choose to take a vacation in a place that is always rainy." I laughed, and so did he.
"I suppose, but it's hard to find a very nice place when the place that you live in could be considered a vacation spot. I guess it is just a change of scenery."
"I guess so. But yes, I would love to, when are you going?"
"Well, see, that's the thing." His face slowly dropped. "It's in two weeks." His head was down, but he looked up at me, as if waiting for me to yell or something along those lines, but I couldn't figure out the significance of this date, so I shrugged. "You know, two weeks, the same weekend as the homecoming dance."
Oh, right. I tried not to show it, but I could feel my face drop a little as well. It's alright though, because as much as it will be sad missing my homecoming, I will be able to spend an entire weekend with Nate. "That's alright," I hope that the catch in my throat didn't show, "There's always next year to go." That probably wasn't the best response, seeing as Nate probably won't be here next year, but he let it slide.
"Great, now what were you going to say?"
"Oh, it really was nothing." I turned back towards the front of the class before my expressions could give away any more of my emotion. My ability to hide these things from Nate was lacking, but at least he didn't catch on, or if he did this time, he let it go.
The rest of the day went painfully slow, so by the dismissal bell I was nearly sprinting to my car. Mondays are the one day of the school week in which I do not have track practice; my one day of freedom. Once I arrived home, I realized that my rush was unnecessary. No one was home, my homework was mostly done, and so I plugged in my laptop and began looking for something to do.
After surfing the web for a little while, I checked my email which is, unsurprisingly, filled with new messages from Janie. She enjoys sending me emails when I am in class and she has free periods to remind me how my choice to take extra honors classes has not yet proved to be worth while. Scrawled across the page of the first email she types in about size 72 font, 'Try this, it worked wonders for Chase and me.' Directly below this there are, in a bright pink font the words 'The Ultimate Love Test'. Despite my dislike for these websites and my belief that they are fake and pointless, I enter the site, which allows you to put two names into the site, and it will provide you your 'Compatibility Report'.
Janie and Chase's compatibility report is 84 percent. For the fun of it, I throw in my name, but my hands hover over the keyboard as I consider whose name to type. After only a moment of this, however, I find myself typing N-A-T-E. For whatever reason, the seconds tick by as if they were minutes, as the loading screen remains constant on my computer. After what seems like five minutes waiting for my high-speed internet to work properly the results are displayed. 96 percent.
I close my laptop, convincing myself that there is no way that a website would be able to tell that, based on solely the names of the people. They probably give high percentages to different combinations of initials or something like that. Despite my convincing arguments, a part of me considers what the two of us would be like, as…a … couple.
I laugh this thought off, but find it hard to genuinely laugh at this thought for more than a few moments. At that moment the ring of the phone nearly knocks me over, due to the silence in the house.
"Hey, Bree." Nate's voice seems soft and relaxed.
"Oh, hey,"
"Sorry, is this a bad time?"
"No, sorry," I try to keep my voice calm, but it keeps braking, "I was just started by the phone." I try to laugh this off, but apparently it isn't that humorous.
"Well, I'm sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to know what our homework was for Web Design was, I never got a chance to write it down at the end of class.
I fumble around in my bag for my notebook, which results in two ripped pages. "Of course, we just have to read and outline section seven." There's silence on the other end of the phone. "Is there something else?" I say, trying to keep my voice even still.
"Um, nope, I guess that's it."
"Okay," I rack my brain for something else, if I had anything that I had to ask him, or tell him, but I come up blank. "Well, then I'll see you tomorrow in class."
Another pause, "Okay, bye then."
"Bye." I listen to the dial tone on the phone for a minute before placing it back on the hook. That was odd; I never have an awkward time talking to Nate, especially over a simple subject such as homework. For whatever reason, that conversation stuck in my mind the rest of the night, through dinner, and studying, and as I was lying in bed, staring up at my ceiling. Is 'just friends' really still applicable to me and Nate? Maybe my friends are right, maybe we aren't just friends. I wonder if that's how Nate feels.
With these thoughts, I let myself drift off to sleep, to a place where what I cannot face in real life, is my everyday adventure.