A Life Like Mine (11 page)

              Lunch is a wonderful, not to mention, memorable time during an average day. This is where most dissing, kissing, and booty kicking is done. All the action and dirt of the day can mostly be found here. People usually sit in the same spots that they did in the morning. Lunch is also one of the few times that teens get to swap information about the days latest scandals. With guys though, it’s the day’s latest story on who got the newest shiner, swirly, or “babe.” This is also the time where the infamous “mystery meat” is served by the lunch ladies who have eye patches and scars that could scare away a biker dude. (FYI-my definition of a biker dude includes the guys who are part of a motorcycle club, have tattoos that say “mom,” and wear leather pants.) The food that the lunch ladies serve is usually the only topic spoken about when talking about lunch. This is why I will barely touch the subject and talk about other stuff.

              “Ash, why won’t you talk to us?” Tina asked.

              “I’m just not in the mood to talk,” I answered.

              “There’s something, you won’t tell us,” Jack said.

              “Not true!” I protested. “I’m fine, I just don’t feel like talking.”

              “Come on, Ash. We know you. There’s something bothering you, and we want to know what it is.” Ben came up from behind me.

              “No, I don’t want to tell you.” I crossed my arms.

              “Aha! There is something,” Big Al made a face that said I’m-pure-genius.

              “No! You’re kidding,” Allie said sarcastically.

              “Shut up!” Big Al’s face went sour, “Hey! I’m a sexy genius!”

              “Ash, if you really don’t want to talk about it, then I guess we won’t talk about it,” Betty said deciding to ignore Big Al’s comment.

              “Thanks, Bet!” I smiled at her.

              “You and I’ll talk later, okay?” Betty leaned on Jack.

              “Well, I’m going to go buy a snack. Who wants to come with me?” Jack asked.

“I will.” All the guys said at the same time. It was almost as if they were one person. It’s kind of weird, isn’t it? Tad, Tom, Ben, Jack, and Big Al headed for the snack bar. And they say that only girls travel in packs.

“I have a question for you, Bet.” I sat down at the lunch table.

              “What would that be?” Betty looked over at me curiously.

              “Are you and Jack going out or what?” I asked.

              “Oh. I told you we weren’t,” Betty answered.

              “You saw how hurt Jack was, aren’t you going to talk to him about it?” Allie questioned.

              “Yeah. I should talk to him about it. I just don’t know how to, you know?” She laid her head in her hands. “It’s not fun anymore.”

              “Well, I think he wants to be more than friends,” Jennifer said.

              “When did you pick up on that?” Tina asked.

“Yeah, but do you
want
to be more than friends, Bet?” I put my hand on Betty’s arm, trying to make it apparent that Tina was out of line.

              “I don’t know,” Betty confessed.

              “You have to have some sort of idea of whether or not you want to.” Keri said.

              “I know. I really like Jack, and I really do want to go out with him…” Betty answered.

              “Well? There you have it! You’ve got your answer. You and Jack should start going out. You want it yourself.” Jennifer smiled.

              “No, I don’t though. If he could just start going out with Lena, just because he couldn’t wait anymore, why should I go out with him? I mean, what if he still likes her?” Betty inquired.

              “He doesn’t,” We all said together.

              “Well, even if he didn’t want to wait for me…Wait. Why would he have to wait for me at all? Couldn’t he have asked me out?” Betty gazed up at all of us.

              “Technically, yes,” Allie said.

              “Then why didn’t he?” Betty countered.

              “Why don’t you ask him?” I said.

              “Fine. As soon as he gets back I’m going to go talk to him. I want someone to come with me so it doesn’t look weird. Ash, will you come with and just kind of lag behind?” Betty fixed her eyes on me.

              “Do I get to listen in?” I joked.

              “Sure.” Betty grinned. “Just don’t take notes this time.”

              “No, that was Allie who did that, but okay then. As soon as he gets back I’ll ask him to come to my locker with me and then you can just tag behind us,” I said.

              “But I want to talk to him.” Betty looked confused.

              “You will as soon as we’re out of sight of the guys,” I replied.

              “Okay.”

              “Hello, ladies! We’re back with the food!” Ben yelled.

              “Great! Come over here and give me some!” Keri said, laughing.

              “Right!” Ben went over and fed Keri some nachos. She giggled the whole time. Talk about make me want to puke. Why do people have to be so public?

              “Are you guys going out or something?” I asked.

              “Hmm?” They both turned towards me.

              “Are you going out?” Jennifer asked.

              “No,” Keri said as Ben said, “yes” at the same time. Everyone at the lunch table stopped. It had suddenly gotten really awkward. No one knew what to say, or how to say it. What was with these guys? They thought they were going out with the girl, but the girl says otherwise. Odd…

              “Jack, want to come to my locker with me?” I asked.

              “Sure.” He looked relieved.

              “You too, Bet,” I said. The three of us walked to my locker. There was still absolute silence over at our table.

              “Jack, I think we need to talk,” Betty said.

              “About what?” Jack’s eyebrows went up.

              “Us,” Betty whispered.

              “Oh,” Jack looked up at me. “Did you have something to say, Ash?”

              “I’ll leave if you want me to,” I said.

              “No, it’s okay. I want you to stay. I think it would be better for Bet and me if there were someone here to make sure we’re okay.” Jack smiled.

              “All right,” I answered.

              “So what about us did you want to talk about?” Jack asked Betty.

              “What are we doing?” Betty gazed at Jack seriously.

              “Excuse me?” Jack squinted his eyes, perplexed.

              “What are we doing? I mean…do you like me? Do you want to go out with me?” Betty asked frankly.

              “Yes,” He answered.

              “Yes to what?”

              “Yes I want to go out with you, and yes, I do like you a lot.”  Jack grinned.

              “Okay. I’m not sure if I want to go out with you. I really like you and all, but I’m not sure that you want to,” Betty said.

              “What do you mean?” Jack’s voice got a little edgy. “I just said that I want to go out with you and that I like you. Why don’t you want to go out with me?”

              “Do you still like Lena?” Betty asked.

              “No!” Jack’s voice got a little loud. “Jeez! I told you this already. I was sick of waiting for you, so I went for someone that I thought liked me too. I don’t like her. I never will, and I’m not sure that I did!”

              “Well, if you liked me then why could you just throw yourself at someone else when you have something for me?” Betty put her arms up in anger.

              “Because I didn’t want to wait around for you.”

              “Why do you have to wait around for me? Why didn’t you just ask me out? Why do I have to initiate everything?” Betty was really angry now. I’d never seen her get angry before in my life. This had to be the first time. I was searching my mind for a joke to break the tension, but all I could come up with was a bunch of booger jokes.

              “I was scared you’d say no,” Jack said.

              “Oh, so just because you’re a wuss that means that I have to do all the hard stuff because you’re too scared to?”

              Okay, I’ll pause it for a second. I know that you’re probably thinking that this whole story turned into a soap opera. Well, that’s not true.  All right! So it’s partially true, it’s still interesting isn’t it?  Whatever, there’s more to this chapter than you think. I’m just going to let you think what you want. I’ll let you get back to where you were.

              “You called me a wuss! I can’t believe I ever liked you! Why are you acting like this? Why are we even talking? We should just never get together and let that be the end of it!” Jack roared.

              “Whoa! Wait a second. You guys have liked each other for as long as I can remember. I’m not going to let you guys get into a huge fight over some little comment. Now apologize to each other. Think of what you can say to each other that will help the situation, not hurt it!” I said to them.

              “I’m sorry, Bet. I just don’t think that we can go out with each other. You and I are such different people,” Jack apologized.

              “I agree that we’re different people, but why don’t we try it? If it doesn’t work we can always go back to just being friends, right? We’ve never had a problem just going back to being friends.” Betty offered. “I was being stupid, you’re right. Let’s go out sometime.

              “You’re right about us going out, but you’re not stupid. Do you want to go out with me on Saturday?” Jack asked.

              “Sure.” Betty smiled, “Maybe we could go with Ben and Keri.”

              “Okay.” Jack took Betty’s hand and they left me all alone. Is it just me or was that way too easy? These people make no sense! Maybe we should be on
Days of Our Lives
, but then things on that show aren’t solved so easily. They’re so weird! I don’t get it at all, but that’s how it actually happened.

              “Bet!” I called after Betty.

              “What?” She turned back and let Jack go on back to the table.

              “I think we should talk. I need to talk to somebody and Keri’s a little too into what she’s doing.” I said.

              “I’m not as good at being a listener as Keri is though. I’ll go get her, okay?” Betty went over to get Keri. Sure enough, Keri came over.

              “What’s going on?” Keri asked.

              “I should be asking you the same thing! Why does Ben think that you two are going out?”

              “Oh! That’s no big deal. He and I are just friends. I mean, I like him, but we’re not that close. I don’t know why he said that. He’s probably just joking around or something, because he and I are not going out.” Keri smiled.

              “I have to talk to you about Adam.” I got very serious.

              “Is it bad?” Keri was concerned.

              “I don’t know. He asked me to go with him to turn himself in, but when I did they made me leave, and then I couldn’t go there so I went out to…”

              “Hold it. Rewind. Why would he be turning himself in, and to whom would he do that?” Keri asked in funny voice.

              “This isn’t a joke, Ker. It’s big. I can’t tell anyone what he did,” I answered.

              “Can you tell me what he did without telling me?” Keri said. I think she even confused herself because she crossed her eyes at me.

              “He stole money and is turning himself into the police. I can’t tell you how much he took, but it was a lot,” I blurted.             

              “A lot?” Keri asked.

              “Yeah. A ton. Let’s just say it was so much I fell out of my chair when he told me, and I got yelled at by Mr. Backs,” I explained.

              “What’s been up with Mr. Backs lately? He’s been so rough on everyone you’d think he was pregnant,” Keri joked.

              “Gross, Keri. That’s not cool.” I scolded. “Let me tell you what happened when I went with him to the police. I don’t know what to think now because I haven’t spoken to him since.”

              (Now, here comes the juice. This is where I’m going to tell you exactly what happened when I went with Adam.)

              “So…are you ready?” I asked Adam.

              “Not really, but if you’re there I’ll feel better,” He replied.

              “Awwww! That’s so sweet.” I blushed. “Stop being so mushy!”

              “I know. That’s what’s so great about me, Ash! You’ve got yourself a catch,” He joked. “I am a Brad Pitt look-a-like!

              “I don’t have anything. We’re simply friends, Adam, that’s all there is to it,” I said matter-of-factly. “And do you have to keep bringing up my Brad Pitt comment?”