In My Shoes (29 page)

“Yeah, I didn’t think about that,” Mike said,
smiling. “That still doesn’t make sense to me.”

“What doesn’t?”

“Why you said yes to going out on a date with
her.”

“I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.”

“Why didn’t you just tell her you were still
interested in Nicole…you…whatever? You know what I mean. I mean, I
know Jake still likes you, so, you could have just said that.”

“How do you know Jake still likes me?” I
asked, blushing.

“I’ve known Jake a long time. He hasn’t liked
a lot of girls, and he takes a while to decide he likes them. It
also takes him a while to decide he doesn’t like them. He liked you
last week. That wouldn’t have changed in a week.”

“He hasn’t said anything for a while,” I
said. “I just figured he didn’t.”

“He’s not stupid. If you told him you weren’t
interested, he wouldn’t keep telling you he was. Anyway, it just
seems like you could have made everything a lot easier if you would
have said you liked each other. You could have pretended to be a
couple for this whole time, and then you wouldn’t be going on a
date with Jessica tomorrow.”

“I…didn’t really think about that.” When this
whole thing started, I wouldn’t have even considered that thought.
Now that I know Jake better, it wouldn’t have been so bad to
pretend that we were a couple, to save all of the other trouble.
“You’re smarter than you look, Mike.” I said playfully.

“Yeah, the good looking guys never look
smart,” he said, playing back.

I rolled my eyes and smiled. “See you after
school.”

I took my seat in government and waited for
class to begin. I hated to admit it, but Mike was right. It would
have been so much easier on me if I had just told Jessica I was
interested in…well, me. We wouldn’t have even had to date or
anything. Just
Jake
being interested in
Nicole
would
have been enough to keep Jessica from pursuing things further.

Of course, Jake might not have liked that
idea. Mike said Jake is still interested in me, but I don’t know
that for sure. The whole thing might be a topic he would like not
to have mentioned.

Oh well, there’s no sense in worrying about
it anymore. What’s done is done and, unfortunately, I have a date
with Jessica tomorrow night. Unless we happen to change back
tonight. I need to stop thinking that. I don’t want to get hopeful
for something I don’t know is going to happen.

Government class went by slowly, and did
nothing for helping get my mind off of everything. Ms. Canterbury
played a video, but all it did was give me the opportunity to get
lost in thought. When it was done, I didn’t remember anything about
the movie. I hoped there wouldn’t be a quiz on this tomorrow.

The bell rang and I headed to calculus. One
more period, and the day would be over. I hoped Jake was doing
better in my classes. Aside from the Spanish quiz, I was trudging
through the day.

Thankfully, calculus is usually one of my
favorite classes, and the challenge usually keeps me focused. Well,
usually
everything
keeps me focused. I’m not really one to
have my mind wander in class. I would assume this was a Jake trait,
but his grades don’t indicate he has a hard time focusing in class.
It’s probably just the effect of being switched and feeling all out
of sorts.

Fortunately we were continuing our work with
matrices. I don’t know why, but matrices are fun. Sometimes, I’m
such a nerd.

It was nice to have something constructive to
occupy my time, but the final bell rang at last, and the school day
was over.

I was a little nervous about how things were
going to go after school. I had a feeling Jessica was going to
distract me a lot from my studying, and worse, she would be all
over me with questions. Hopefully, that would be the only way she
was all over me.

Not to mention Tyler. Why haven’t my parents
called with an update? It’s making me a little crazy.

Jake and Mike both met me at my locker. “Hi
guys. What’s up?” I asked.

“I just got off the phone with your mother?
Tyler is…”

“What?” I asked impatiently.

“Well, he’s…okay, but he’s in pretty bad
shape. First of all, he is being treated, and your mother says the
doctors seem hopeful for a full recovery.” I could tell he was
trying to comfort me, but it wasn’t helping.

“Recovery from what?” I pressed.

“Apparently, he has a collapsed lung, and he
was in a lot of pain. He’s sedated and the doctors are monitoring
him closely. I guess this isn’t uncommon with rib fractures.”

“I can’t believe this is happening. I should
be there.”

“If you were there,” Jake offered, “you would
just be sitting there watching him with your parents. He’s not
saying or doing anything right now. He’ll be okay.”

“You don’t know that for sure, Jake.”

“No, I don’t. But your mother seemed to be
handling it okay. Would she be calm if she thought your brother
wasn’t going to be okay?”

“I don’t know. No, probably not. I just hate
that I’m not there.”

“I know. I’d want to be there, too.”

We were all silent as we started walking down
the hall in the direction of the parking lot.

After a few minutes, Mike finally spoke up.
“Are…we still going to my house, or did you guys want to
cancel?”

I knew Mike was looking forward to getting
together, and I’m sure Jake was too. It was killing me, but there
wasn’t really anything I could do for Tyler. “We can still go to
your house. Did you hear Mike invited Jessica?” I said, turning to
Jake.

“No. How’s that going to work?” he said,
looking at Mike.

“Well,” I said, “I’m still planning on
studying while you guys play. We told Jessica that Mike challenged
you to play video games. She knows that I don’t play video games,
though, so you are going to have to be careful not to play too
well.”

“Great! That’s no fun,” Jake said, obviously
disappointed.

“Yeah,” Mike said to Jake, “it’s no fun
beating you if you aren’t trying.”

“Well, we could all study first and maybe
she’ll get bored and leave,” I said.

“Yeah, maybe we should,” Mike agreed.

Jake and I both looked at him, stunned.

“What?” he asked.

“Are you feeling okay?” Jake asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“Since when have you ever agreed to studying
first, last or ever?”

“I study,” Mike said defensively.

“When?”

“Dude, I study.”

“We’ve been friends for ten years, and we
never study together.”

“That’s because you don’t want to study with
me.”

“That’s because you don’t study, and you want
to play games.”

“He’s trying to turn over a new leaf, right
Mike?” I interrupted.

“Yeah…right.”

Jake looked back and forth between us. “Okay,
great! Let’s study. What if she doesn’t leave?”

“We’ll deal with that when it comes. At some
point she’ll leave. If we get done studying and she’s still there,
we’ll figure it out. You guys can play. Jake,” I said, turning to
look at him, “you just start out asking a lot of obvious questions
about how to play. Start out bad, and get gradually better.”

“Guys,” Mike interjected, “don’t you think we
are worrying a little bit much about this? I mean, is she really
going to care that much about how we play games? She’s probably
going to be looking at Jake…well, Nicole…the whole time. She
probably isn’t going to even be paying attention to us.”

“True,” I said, disappointed. Unfortunately,
Mike was probably right. “Jessica is waiting in the parking lot.
Let’s go find her.”

As we exited the building, Mike confirmed, “I
study.”

We walked out to the parking lot, and Jessica
was standing next to my car waiting for us. She smiled when she saw
us coming her way.

“Hi guys, are you ready to go?”

“Sure,” I said. “Why don’t you two follow
Mike and me in your cars. We’ll see you in a bit.”

We all got in our cars and headed to Mike’s
house. As we were driving, I had a bad thought. “Your mom isn’t
going to be there, is she?” I asked.

“I don’t think so, why?”

“It would just make for additional problems.
She knows Jake pretty well, right?”

“Oh…yeah, she does. No, I don’t think she’ll
be there. I think she’s working tonight.”

“You don’t know? What does she do?”

“She’s a waitress. Her schedule changes every
week, so I don’t really know. I think she said she was working
tonight, though.”

“Tonight, or today?” I asked.

“Well, she usually works the two to ten shift
on the days she’s scheduled, so…”

“Good, because we haven’t even kind of
prepared for having a conversation with your mom, and I don’t know
anything about her except her name.”

“Has anyone ever told you you worry a lot?”
Mike asked.

“I don’t worry a lot,” I said defensively.
“You may think this is easy, but being in someone else’s body is
very difficult. You have to not only learn everything about how the
other person does things, but you have to know everyone they know,
and learn how to perform with all of their mannerisms. The whole
time you’re afraid you’re going to make some huge mistake that’s
going to screw up their whole life. I don’t think I am worrying too
much, Mike.”

“No. Guess not.”

We arrived at Mike’s house and everyone went
inside.

It wasn’t difficult to get everybody geared
for studying. Everyone but Jessica was already aware of the plan.
So when we all sat down to start studying, she went out to her car
and grabbed her books. Jessica isn’t a straight A student, but
she’s a good student none-the-less. She wouldn’t be one to balk at
studying, especially since
Jake
was doing it. I had counted
on that.

After about two hours of mostly studying,
Mike put his books away. Because he didn’t have a lot of
accelerated classes, he didn’t have as much homework as Jake and I
had.

“So, anyone up for some video games?” he
asked.

“Not me. I’ve got more homework,” I said.

“Me too,” said Jake.

“I’ll play if you want,” Jessica said. “I’m
not any good,” she quickly added.

“Cool,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

Jake and I looked at each other, smiled and
went back to studying. Hopefully that would keep them busy for a
while.

Unfortunately, Mike and Jessica playing made
it difficult to study. After another hour, Jake gave up and decided
to join in. He let Mike pretend to show him how to hold the
controller, which buttons made the players jump and shoot, and what
the object of the game was. They started playing and Jake let Mike
easily defeat him.

Jessica giggled. “Wow, Nicole. I figured you
would have done better than me.”

Jake blushed. “I’ll get better,” he said.
“Just give me a minute.”

Over the next few games, Jake did get better.
I could tell he was trying to hold back, but I could also tell he
was progressing much faster than most people would. Especially
me.

After another half hour, I gave up on
studying, too. Between thinking about Tyler, and the noise these
guys were making, I was having trouble focusing. I packed up my
things and watched from the table.

“So, do you and Jake play video games a lot?”
Jessica wondered.

“Usually we do, but not lately,” Mike
said.

“How come?”

“I…I’ve been pretty busy lately,” I said,
grasping. Thanks Mike.

“Hmmm…so I bet you’re pretty good, huh
Jake?”

“Uhh…it depends on the game. Mike’s much
better than I am.” I’m sure Jake wasn’t thrilled I just said that,
but I knew where this was headed.

“So, do you want to play me?”

Yep. I knew it. “No, you guys go ahead.
Nicole and Mike are having their big competition, anyway.” When
Jessica wasn’t looking, I gave them both a glare that said ‘don’t
you dare mess this up.’

“Oh, come on. I’m sure they don’t mind if we
play one game. Do you guys?”

“Uhh…” Mike didn’t know what to say. I think
he was afraid to say anything.

“I’ll play you Jess,” Jake offered.

“What, are you guys afraid to have Jake play
me?” she said as she turned toward me. “You’re not afraid, are you
Jake?” she said playfully.

Great. This wasn’t going to go well.

“Okay,” I said, trying not to sound
disappointed, “but I’ve never played this game, so take it easy on
me.”

“I thought you said you played this with Mike
a lot,” she countered.

“Mike and I do play a lot, but not this.”

“Well, let’s play something you’ve played
before.”

Goodness, Jess! “That wouldn’t make it very
fair, would it? This one’s fine. Let’s just play it.”

“Okay,” she agreed. Finally.

I’m not big on video games. I’ve rarely
played any, and I’ve never used this system. So, how do I look like
I’ve done this before, when I don’t even know how to hold the
controller? I mean, it seems like a simple thing, but I don’t
know.

“Is anyone getting hungry?” I asked,
stalling.

“Yeah, I am,” Jake helped.

“Mike, could you get us some snacks?” I said,
subtly motioning toward Jessica, hoping he would get what I was
saying.

“Sure. Jessica, you wanna help?”

“Okay,” she said as she followed him into the
kitchen, looking behind her at me and Jake.

Once they were in the kitchen, Jake quietly
gave me the quick rundown. I didn’t know much, but at least I could
now hold the controller and move and shoot. This was going to be
interesting.

Mike and Jessica brought snacks back into the
room. I thanked them and Jessica went right to the other
controller.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

“As I’ll ever be,” I said, grabbing a quick
snack.

We didn’t get very far before Jessica paused
the game. “Are you giving me chances?”