Chapter Four - Oh No, It's HIM!
"Well, that was a complete waste," Hannah snorted. "I noticed you were flirting with the teacher, Lane. Isn't he hot?"
I groaned and sat down at a table in the dining room, Hannah and Tina following. All that Hannah seemed to think about was boys, boys, and boys. Did I forget to mention boys? It could be SO annoying! But hey, what could I say? She was fifteen years old and was totally gorgeous. Not that anyone but Tina and I would give her the time of day. Don't ask me why for gosh sakes! Maybe it was the way she snorted when she laughed or maybe it was because Sally hated her because Hannah had better looks. No one really knew ... or at least I didn't.
"My goodness, girl," Tina said. "Can't you think of anything of actual interest? I mean, his nose was totally off center, and you know it!"
Gack! Girls. Wait a minute, I thought. I am one! Never mind then.
"Is anyone sitting here?"
I turned around and glared at the speaker, who just turned out to be Eric Kirby. He was pointing at the fourth chair at the table that no one was occupying. Before we answered, he sat down and placed the napkin in his lap. I heard Tina whisper; "Our reputations are in enough trouble as it is. Can't he go sit somewhere else?" to Hannah and saw Eric's lips curl into a slight smile.
So I just decided to glare at him and turned to my menu. Sally, Cassy, and Kimmy were snickering at the table next to ours and I had no wish to encourage them onward.
"Hola."
I looked up and a waitress was standing by our table, holding a notepad and pen.
"Are you ready to order?" She said in a heavy accent.
"Si," I said (what? So I had taken Spanish. I could hardly remember anything though and 'si' was COMMONLY known as 'yes'). "I will have the Lacarda Mertada with extra cheese and a strawberry lemonade."
The smiling lady wrote down my order, then took everyone else's. "And how you to be paying?" She said, leaving out the 'are'.
"Oh, we're with Carley Peter Boarding School, who's staying at the hotel," Tina said. "Could you please charge it to them?"
"Si, si senorita. Si, I will." And then she walked off.
"I saw how well you did in archery," Eric said.
I think he turned to me but I was ignoring him and didn't want to look to make sure, so I said nothing.
"I hear when you get the hang of it, it's not a bad sport."
I still didn't want to answer so he, annoyingly enough, kept talking. "Heck, I would give anything to be good at it. But, I'm not. Too bad."
I raised my eyebrows. Who did this guy think he was?
"Are you giving me the silent treatment?"
I turned to him, glared at him, then turned away. I supposed that was enough of an answer.
"I guess it'll just have to be a one way conversation, then."
I turned back to him and glared as mean as I possibly could, but he only laughed. He then leaned in to whisper in my ear. "Hey, Lane, are we still cool? In private, I mean. I know you want to keep your reputation as clean as you possibly can and I understand that. But are we still friends; even if you don't want to talk to me?"
By this I was kind of hurt. I mean, I did and didn't want to be friends with him. I didn't know how to answer. It seemed close to impossible. He was a great guy and all but ... I wanted to be popular. But then again, I wasn't anyways. Why even bother to try and be? Why not just be myself?
Tina and Hannah's faces told me to say no, but Eric's ... I wasn't so sure about his face. I had a feeling that saying no would hurt him more than I could imagine; more than I could fathom.