All in the Band

“Abby! Stop right there!” a loud, goofy voice exclaimed from behind me. I recognized it as my best friend, Jaime’s. I rolled my eyes, stopping in the middle of our school’s front lawn and turning to meet him. I was greeted by his body flying into mine, bringing us both to the ground. I hit the grass with an oof, glaring up at him. He smiled apologetically down at me, standing up and yanking me to my feet.

“That wasn’t very nice, Jaime,” I scolded him playfully. He shrugged, hugging me tightly around my waist.

“I couldn’t help it; I missed you!” he shouted excitedly. My brow furrowed.

“But I had class with you last period...” I reminded him. He shrugged again, hugging me tighter before pulling away and holding me at arm’s length. I looked at his hair, biting my lip to keep from laughing.

“What?” he asked, eyeing me carefully. I shook my head, moving my arm up as though to fix his hair, but lowered it immediately after, deciding his hair situation was a lost cause.

“You look like a broom,” I informed him, a small giggle escaping from my mouth. He glared jokingly at me, placing his hands on his hips and pretending to throw his hair over his shoulder.

“Guuuurllll, you’re just jealous of my swag,” he insisted. I nodded, laughing softly.

“Yup, that’s it.”

He grinned, throwing his arm over my shoulders and continuing towards the parking lot.

“Hey, we’re all going over to this guy named Tony’s house to play pool in the basement. Do you want to come?” Jaime asked. I frowned.

“Who’s Tony?” I asked.

“He’s new this year. He’s really chill; you’ll love him. Trust me. Please?” he begged, giving me his signature puppy dog eyes. I laughed.

“Okay, I’ll come,” I agreed, succumbing to his adorable, pleading eyes. He clapped his hands excitedly.

“Yay! It’ll be loads of fun, I swear. Really. It’s always fun when we’re all there. Now, do you have a ride or do you need one?” Jaime asked happily.

“My mom dropped me off, so I need-“

“Abby, hey!”

I frowned, looking around to see where the voice had come from. I soon spotted my boyfriend’s figure approaching me. His name was Chris, and he was the quarterback of the high school football team. Why he wanted to go out with me was always a mystery to me, but I didn’t question it. He was wearing dark blue sweats with the school logo on the side, a white v-neck, and black Nike skate shoes. I sighed slightly before smiling widely at him.

“Oh, hey Chris.”

“There’s a party at my ex’s house tonight- you know Sammy Attenburg, right?” he asked. I frowned.

“Well, yeah, but I don’t really-“

“I told everyone that you’re coming, so come on, we gotta go. I think you left an outfit at my house that you can wear. Let’s go,” he said. I glanced at Jaime, who was staring down at his checkered Vans.

“Chris, I can’t. I already have plans,” I told him. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Jaime, then back at me.

“With who? What are you doing?” he asked, looking annoyed. I pursed my lips to stop myself from yelling at him.

“I’m going over to my friend Tony’s house with the rest of the guys,” I said, glaring when he snickered.

“Tony, as in Tony Perry? Why are you hanging out with that freak? Anyway, I told everyone you’d be there. Come on, you gotta go,” he insisted, grabbing my wrist. I shook my head, wriggling out of his grip.

“Chris, I’m not going! Okay? I have plans, and you just have to deal with that!” I shouted. He paused, processing the fact that I had actually stood up to him for once. He grabbed my shoulder, pulling me close to him, obviously pissed about that fact.

“We are going to have a talk about this later. Go have fun with your faggot friends, Abby.”

I sighed, looking at Jaime who silently offered me his hand. I took it gratefully, swinging it slightly as we walked to his car. I stared at the ground, feeling tears prick my eyes. I wiped at them quickly with the hand that wasn’t holding Jaime’s, hoping he wouldn’t notice. He did. He always does.

He remained silent until we were inside his mother’s black Honda Civic, seatbelts fastened and the doors locked.

“I don’t like how he treats you, Ab,” Jaime said quietly, starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot, avoiding the teenagers in our path. I sighed softly and turned to look out the window, not responding. “He’s rough with you, and he acts like he owns you. You deserve better.”

I took a deep breath and turned to face Jaime.

“I don’t. I just...I’m lucky anyone even wants to go out with me, much less Christopher Mathers,”

Jaime stopped at a red light, looking into my eyes.

“Abigail. You deserve better than that low life douchebag. You can have any guy you want, and you deserve it. You are beautiful, funny, and generally amazing. Any guy would want that,” he told me firmly, hitting the gas pedal as the light turned green.

“He doesn’t treat me that horribly...I mean, it could be a lot worse...” I told him. He shook his head.

“Just because it could be worse doesn’t mean it couldn’t be better. Loads better.”