Chapter 4
“Hey Mike! Pizza! You comin’?” Will yelled down the hall through the rush out of the building at the end of the day.
“Nah, I gotta go do the stage set up.”
“The what?” Eric asked as the group met up by their lockers.
“For the play, stupid.” He said slowly, explaining further when Eric still looked confused. “That thing that you’re skipping…”
“Oh, that.” Michael was surprised by how dense Eric could be. He should have been used to it by then, they had been friends since third grade. “Why are you going to it?” Eric asked.
“Cause it’s punishment?” Michael rolled his eyes, Eric had never been a fan of doing as he was told, but Michael had learned at an early age to obey when an adult asked you to do something.
“You’re weird.”
“Yeah, thanks.” Michael replied dryly and walked off before he could get into more trouble.
~
He arrived at the gym a little late and Mrs. Dennis was already assigning tasks to the groups. He looked around to find Sydney and didn’t see her.
“Um… Mrs. Dennis?” He asked as he approached her. “Sydney isn’t here.”
“Ok, Michael. You can work with Claire and Daniel.” She pointed out a group on the opposite side of the gym.
“Ok.” Michael began walking to the group and heard loud snorts of laughter coming from them. Here goes nothing, he thought.
~
In the end, Michael had a tremendous headache and was feeling like he wanted to shoot himself he was so bored.
All Claire and Daniel talked about was math and science. He had no idea what they were talking about and they found it funny. He hated being laughed at, even more so when they were such geeks.
He found himself missing Sydney. There was something about her that was so intriguing. She didn’t care what other people thought about her and that made her special. All the girls he had ever dated had been stupid blonde cheerleaders who were only with him cause they thought he was hot. They knew nothing about him. Maybe if Sydney put a little more confidence into her actions and ideas that she would be even more beautiful. He didn’t even know her that well, but he intended to find out more.
TBC...