Root laughed at the radio host. The 2AM radio hour was her favorite; everyone was a little loopy and sometimes they let the interns run the show. The intern hosting now, Claire, was really into science and had been playing space-themed songs for almost the whole hour.
Root glanced over at Sameen. They were riding back to town now, the shower over. Root had never had someone to come back with, so she wasn't sure If she was supposed to start a conversation. Sameen seemed content to just pedal along, her ponytail streaming in the wind.
Root smiled to herself, as 'Space Travel is Boring' started playing over the radio. She reached over to where Sameen's radio hung from her bike to try and turn the radio up. It was too far of a reach and she started to tip over, but Sameen caught her shoulder and pushed her back up.
"Thanks," Root panted, pushing her hair out of her face. "I love this song."
Sameen nodded, taking her hand back. Root could see her smiling softly.
"I've been practicing wheelies!" Root announced, grinning. "Do you want to see?"
Sameen looked skeptical, but nodded. Root pedaled ahead and leaned back, lifting the front wheel. She coasted for a second before looking over her shoulder at Sameen.
"Oh, no!" Root squealed as she tilted too far back and hit the ground, her bicycle seat smacking her in the stomach. She groaned and moved her bicycle away, curling into a ball.
"Wow," Sameen said, stopping beside her, "You should practice more."
"Shut up," Root groaned, rolling onto her knees. She couldn't help smiling, despite the pain. That was the first time Sameen had teased her as a joke. Root pushed herself to her feet and dusted herself off. "I've never had an issue before. You just distracted me."
"Uh-huh," Sameen said, raising an eyebrow.
Root rolled her eyes and picked up her bike. They started down the road again, riding in comfortable silence, listening to the radio.
Fifteen minutes later, they pulled up in front of Root's house. Root hopped off her bike and looked at Sameen.
"Thanks for riding home with me," she said, smiling.
Sameen nodded, her expression unreadable. Root tried to guess what she was thinking and came up blank. She'd have to work on reading Sameen if they were going to be friends.
"Ok, well, good night!" Root said cheerily, walking the bike up onto the porch and leaning it against the wall. She pulled her bag out of the basket, deciding to leave her telescope until the morning. Pushing the door open with one hand, she glanced over her shoulder.
Sameen was still there, leaning on her handle bar, waiting for Root to go inside. Root waved at her and Sameen waved back. She watched Sameen turn her bike around and ride off before entering the house.
Snoring floated from the living room as Root took her shoes off. She sighed with relief, grateful her mother was still passed out. Root headed for the staircase before remembering that the electric bill was due in a few days. She put her bag down on the stairs and tip-toed back to the front door, taking another $40 from her mom's purse.
Root hurried to her room, grabbing her backpack on the way up. She had had fun hanging out with Sameen. They hadn't talked much, Sameen seemed to be the silent type, but still, Root hadn't hung out with anyone in a while.
Root got ready for bed, taking a quick shower to wash the outdoors off. She changed into her bunny pajamas and climbed into bed, putting her phone on her nightstand to charge. Glancing up at the ceiling, she smiled. There were still some glow-in-the-dark stars stuck up there from before Hanna moved away.
Root snuggled into her blanket, closing her eyes. She didn't have any plans this weekend, so she hadn't bothered setting an alarm. She would probably just do her homework and work on her computer project.
Hopefully, her night on the hill with Sameen would yield positive results. Now that they'd spent some time together, Sameen could see that Root wasn't that weird and they could be friends. Zoe and Joss would never believe it if Sameen was nice to Root. Staring at the ceiling, Root sighed. It was probably too much to hope for.
A glow appeared next to her as she got a message. Root sat up, confused. She never got messages. She reached for her phone, unplugging it and squinting at the bright screen.
She grinned. Sameen had sent her a friend request. She opened Facebook, accepted the request and scrolled through Sameen's profile. Sameen's picture was just a picture of her bicep and Root had to take a deep breath. Sameen wore baggy clothing to school, but apparently, she was really fit.
Root took one more look before locking her phone and plugging it back in. She laid down again and squeezed her eyes shut, determined to fall asleep quickly. Suddenly, her weekend seemed much more exciting.
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Root looked up at John's house, her hand shading her eyes from the sun. She'd only been here once before, with Hanna, but it'd been easy to find again. It was bigger than her house, unsurprisingly since it had to hold three kids and John's mom.
Root walked backwards into the street so she could peek into the second-floor windows to guess which one was Sameen's room. She spotted a short shadow cross the top right window and grinned. Quickly crossing the yard, she leaned her bike against the porch and hiked her bag up on her shoulders. She climbed onto railing, reaching up to grab the overhang. Thankfully, she'd had a growth spurt recently.
She struggled to pull herself up onto the roof, her legs pedaling in the air, but she managed to hook her knee over the edge and roll herself onto the shingles. Laying there for a second, she caught her breath, her bag digging into her side. Maybe Sameen would help her work on upper body strength so it'd be easier to sneak into her bedroom.
Root shook her head and carefully climbed to her feet, walking up to Sameen's window. She knocked on the glass. After a moment, Sameen's blinds raised. Root grinned, waving at Sameen's surprised face. She mimed opening the window.
Sameen blinked and slid the window up, moving out of the way so Root could climb in.
"Hey!" Root greeted, taking her backpack off and throwing it onto Sameen's bed. "Wow, your room is really nice."
Root looked around at the large room. Sameen had a television on her dresser, hooked up to a couple gaming systems Root couldn't name. There was strip of chalkboard paint on one wall. Sameen had written out an outline for the science test on Monday. She had two giant bookshelves and a huge, unmade bed.
"Let me guess," Root joked, ignoring Sameen's confusion, "You got the big bedroom and the boys have to share."
Sameen nodded, wiping her forehead. Root realized that Sameen was in the middle of exercising, her sports bra dark with sweat. The room seemed to get warmer and Root turned away.
"Don't let me stop you from doing your thing!" Root laughed as she hopped onto the bed and started untying her sneakers. "I brought the New York Times crossword, so I can do that. Do you like crosswords?"
Sameen stared at her for a moment before shrugging.
"Cool, you can help me. Saturday is always hard." Root unzipped her bag and pulled the newspaper out. She pulled out a bag of pretzels and fished around the bottom of the bag before realizing she had nothing to write with. "Can I borrow a pencil?"
Sameen moved to her large desk and picked up a pencil, tossing it to Root. She watched Root stretch out on her stomach and scratched her head. Root squinted at the paper.
"Ok, 'Like a Drumhead'," Root said, thoughtfully, watching Sameen kneel to the ground and assume the push-up position. "What do you think?"
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A few hours later, they'd abandoned the crossword puzzle in favor of looking over Sameen's bookshelf. Most of her books were about fighting, Root discovered. Biographies of female martial artists, philosophies of violence, and a book about first aid.
Root stretched up onto her toes to try and see the books on the top shelf. She heard metal click and turned around. Sameen was carrying over a step stool. She put it next to Root.
"Thanks," Root said, stepping up. "Must be hard to be so short, huh?"
Sameen rolled her eyes. "Fuck off."
"I'm just teasing, Sameen," Root laughed, looking at the rest of Sameen's books. There were medical books up here. Sameen tried to put on a tough front, but she was a smart girl.
"Do you believe in aliens, Sameen?" Root asked, stepping down to the floor.
Sameen sat on the bed, crossing her legs. She reached into the almost empty bag of pretzels and shrugged. "Maybe."
"Yeah? I was thinking of starting a club for believers." Root shrugged. "Not at school, like a town meet-up thing."
Sameen nodded, shoving a fist full of pretzels into her mouth.
Root nodded back, satisfied. "Cool. Wanna go to Corpus Christi tomorrow and look at books? The Library here is crap."
Sameen nodded again. There was a knock on the door and Mrs. Reese stuck her head in.
"Oh, Sam, I didn't know you were here." Mrs. Reese said, surprised.
"It's Root," Sameen corrected her. "Her name is Root."
"Oh," Mrs. Reese smiled apologetically at Root. "I'll remember that. When did you get here?"
Root shrugged. "A while ago."
"I see." Mrs. Reese smiled between Root and Sameen. "Do you want to stay for dinner?"
"Yes," Sameen answered for Root.
"Ok, I'm just ordering pizza. It'll be here soon." She closed the door behind her.
Root pumped her fists. "I love pizza. We should get pizza tomorrow!"
Sameen shook her head. "Sandwiches."
Root laughed and threw herself onto the bed.
30 minutes later, Mrs. Reese yelled up the stairs that dinner was ready. Root watched Sameen shoot out of the room and raced after her. She had to stop and press herself against the wall when John and Lionel ran passed her. The boys and Sameen pounded down the stairs into the kitchen like a herd of elephants.
"No!" Root heard Mrs. Reese scold from the kitchen. "We have a guest! She gets to eat first!"
Sameen walked back into the hallway downstairs, glaring up at Root. She gestured sharply for her to come down. Root laughed at the grumpy look on her face and hurried down to the kitchen.
John and Lionel were seated at the table with Mrs. Reese. Root followed Sameen, sitting down next to her.
"Go ahead, sweetie," Mrs. Reese smiled at her, "Take as much as you want."
"Thanks," Root said, feeling awkward as Sameen and the boys stared at her impatiently. She grabbed two slices of pepperoni and nodded.
The table exploded with motion. Root thought she saw Sameen elbow John in the face as they grabbed as much food as they could, as fast as they could. Root looked at Mrs. Reese.
"Is it always like this?" She asked, wide-eyed.
"Unfortunately," Mrs. Reese sighed. "John could always eat his own weight in food, but Lionel and Sameen give him a run for his money."
Root didn't have any siblings, so she wasn't sure if every family was like this, but it seemed normal enough. Teenage boys were known for being bottomless pits and Sameen worked out a lot, so she probably needed the calories.
Root laughed as Sameen stacked two pieces of pizza on top of each other, shoving as much into her mouth as possible. Sameen caught her looking and scowled, her mouth bulging around the pizza.
Taking a bite, the hot food making her mouth water, Root realized this was probably the perfect time to snoop.
"So, how long have Sameen and Lionel been with you?" Root asked. She heard Sameen choke.
"Lionel has been with use for about four months now and Sameen for about two," Mrs. Reese replied, cutting her pizza into pieces with a knife.
"Cool," Root said, smiling when Sameen dragged a thumb across her throat, trying to look threatening. "I didn't realize Sameen moved here so soon before school started."
Mrs. Reese glanced between them, trying to figure out what was going on. She swallowed her mouthful. "Yes, she had a quick turnaround. Luckily, we got the paper work done before the school year started and she had a week or so to adjust to the new time zone."
"Ok," Sameen said, wiping her mouth. "That's enough."
Root and the boys laughed at Sameen's angry face. Lionel peered across the table at Root.
"Since when have you two been friends?" he asked. "Shortstack here doesn't have any friends."
"Only for a few days," Root answered. "We cemented our bond on a hillside during last night's meteor shower. Sameen was kind enough to let me listen to her radio."
Everyone stared at Root with an odd expression on their face. She just took a bit of pizza, savoring the hot meal.
"Huh," Lionel snorted. "I don't know what that means, but at least Small Stuff has learned some basic social skills."
Sameen threw her crust at him.
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After dinner, Root and Sameen went back to Sameen's bedroom. Root started packing her things away, getting ready to go home.
"Thanks for letting me hang out today."
Sameen nodded, fiddling with something on her desk. She scratched her nose.
"I'll text you tomorrow about going into the city?" Root asked, zipping her bag shut.
"Sleep over," Sameen muttered, still staring at her desk.
Root stepped towards her. "What?"
Sameen crossed her arms, rolling her eyes. "Want to sleep over?"
"Hell yeah!" Root cheered running across the room and hugging Sameen. Sameen tensed and Root pulled away. "This is so exciting!" She ran back to the bed, pulling her radio out again. She paused. "Oh, should we ask your mom?"
Sameen nodded and walked out of the room. "Wait here."
Root watched her walk out of the room before turning back to her bag and pulling her laptop out. If they were going to have a sleepover, they were going to watch the X-Files. Sameen could grumble all she wanted, but Root hadn't had a sleepover in months and this was going to be perfect.
When Sameen came back into the room, she shut the door behind her. She quickly crossed the room and climbed into bed beside Root, looking at her laptop.
"Have you ever watched X-Files?" Root asked from her spot leaning against the headboard.
Sameen shook her head.
"Wanna watch it with me? It's about aliens and the FBI. Scully is really pretty. I wanna be just like her."
Root waited for Sameen to nod and started the first episode.
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Root blinked against the bright light of the room. She must have fallen asleep at some point. She realized she was leaning on Sameen's shoulder and sat up quickly.
Sameen was asleep, too, her head tilted back against the headboard. Root pulled her phone out of her pocket and took a picture, grinning as Sameen snored. She reached out to shake her shoulder.
Sameen's head snapped forward and she rubbed her eyes. Blinking at Root, she frowned and slid out of bed. Root worried that she was going to leave, but she just turned the lights off and came back, crawling under the blankets.
Sameen waited until Root put her laptop on the floor before closing her eyes again.
"Good night," she mumbled, snoring almost immediately.
Root smiled and dropped her head onto the pillow. "Good night, Sameen."