Light Me On Fire

“Please tell me you’re not just using, Nick,” Kelsi said, while correcting a grammatical error I had managed to make on our English worksheet.

I sighed. “I’m not using him, Kelsi.” I furrowed my brows. “Well, I mean, I guess if you want to look at it one way, I sort of am; but I really do like him.”

She looked at me. “Do you really?”

I nodded my head. “Yes, really.”

Becca chewed on the cap of her pen, staring intensely down at her worksheet. “Who’s Nick?” she asked.

Kelsi and I laughed. “He’s one of our best friends, we grew up with. His family moved to Massachusetts awhile back, though. He’s just visiting for awhile. Which brings up another point,” Kelsi said, turning to me. “What are you going to do when Nick leaves?”

I bit down on my bottom lip, staring at our desk. “I hadn’t thought of that, actually.”

“Well, since you two are official now, maybe you should discuss that.”

I sighed and put my head in my hands. “What am I getting myself into?”

“Predicament!” Becca shouted. “That’s the word!”

Kelsi laughed. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Becca pointed to the paper. “Number eleven: another word for mess.”

Kelsi looked at me with a smirk on her face. “You, my dear, have gotten yourself into quite the predicament.”

I groaned. “Fuck my life.”

___________________________________________________

“Sophie, are you listening?”

I snapped out of my daze, looking at Ellie, who I had third period with. “I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

She sighed. “I was asking you, have you thought about going out for softball? Try outs are coming up!” She wriggled her eyebrows, causing me to laugh.

“Ellie, I’m a smoker, in case you’ve forgotten.”

She shrugged and turned the page in our science textbook. “You can always quit. This could be the motivation you need.”

“That would be true, if I even liked softball. However, I don’t.”

She looked at me. “You used to play.”

“Used to, being the keywords in that sentence, Elle.”

“Well, why’d you quit?”

I fiddled with my pencil. “Softball just wasn’t fun for me, anymore. I mean, in middle school I only played because it was fun; it gave me something to do. And then high school came along, and it just became way too competitive. I’m not a competitive person.”

She grabbed my pencil, stopping me from tapping it on the table. “Just think about it, okay?”

I nodded my head. “Whatever you say, Elle.”

_________________________________________________________

Kelsi placed her tray of food on the table, before taking a seat to the right of me. “Becca’s not coming to lunch today,” she said.

I looked at her, popping a French fry into my mouth. “Why not?”

“She had to finish up some paper in the library.”

I laughed. “I think I remember her telling me about that this morning. It’s nice to know I’m not the only procrastinator around here.”

Kelsi laughed as Kennedy joined the table, sitting beside her. “Hey, babe.”

He smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Hello, beautiful.”

I rolled my eyes, and Pat, who was sitting across from me noticed. “Hey, babe,” I mocked.

He smirked and made a fish face. “Hello, beautiful,” he mocked Kennedy.

This earned me a slap from Kelsi. “I’m sure you and Nick are just as cheesy.”

“Only mildly.”

They laughed, and soon, the rest of our group was sitting at the table. Jared sat to the left of me, and Garrett sat across from me, beside Pat. John and Ellie were sitting at the end of the table, as always.

“How’s my favorite ginger doing?” I asked, slipping an arm around Jared’s shoulders.

“Pretty good. How’s my favorite jolly green giant doing?” he looked at me and smirked.

“Pretty good, myself.” I picked up another French fry. “And don’t call me that.”

He laughed and wrapped his around me, pulling me into him. “Sorry, Sophie.”

“It’s all good in the neighborhood.”

Garrett laughed. “You’re retarded.”

“This is coming from the boy who thinks zombies will one day take over,” I stated.

He pointed his fork at me. “You’ll be sorry when they’re chasing your ass, and you need me to save you.”

“Oh, yes, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.” I took a sip of my water, and placed it back on the table. “So, Garrett, is there any girl you’ve got your eye on?”

He chewed on what our school considered ‘lasagna’, before answering me. “No, why?”

I smirked. “Really? A certain brunette hasn’t caught your eye?”

His cheeks began to flush, and I knew I had caught him. “Maybe . . . why do you ask?”

“Would this brunette’s name happen to be Becca?”

He looked down at his tray of food, trying to hide his blushing. “It could be,” he mumbled.

Jared laughed. “Awe, look, he’s blushing. How cute.”

I laughed. “Don’t be embarrassed, Gare. I can assure you, she feels the same way.”

His head popped up at this. “Seriously?”

I nodded my head. “Seriously, but I have no clue why. I mean, you’re . . . Garrett.”

Jared nodded his head and laid his arm on my shoulder. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

Garrett rolled his eyes “Well fuck you guys, too.”

Jared and I shared a laugh as Pat wrapped his arm around Garrett’s neck. “I happen to think you’re wonderful.”

“Dude,” Garrett said as he poked Pat’s arm with his fork.

Kelsi nudged my arm with her elbow. “I think Ellie wants you.”

I bent forward, trying to get a look at Ellie. “Yeah?”

“I was just telling John how you’re going out for softball.”

I rolled my eyes. “I said I’d think about it, Ellie.”

John laughed. “See, I told you; there’s no way Sophia would play softball again.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why do you say that?”

He shrugged, taking a sip of his Vitamin Water. “You just haven’t played in so long. I mean, do you think you’re still any good?”

“Of course; I mean, I can always practice and get ready for try outs,” I stated.

He looked at me. “Why would you even want to play? You’re a senior, and you haven’t played since freshmen year. You’d probably be put on JV.”

“That’s what you think.”

Ellie looked at me. “Just go to try outs with me, please?”

John wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “You probably don’t even need to try out, babe. You’ll be voted captain again, anyway.”

And for some reason, John saying that really hit me. Wasn’t he supposed to be my best friend? And if so, wasn’t a best friend supposed to support you, not demean you?

“I’ll definitely be trying out, Ellie.”