Mike walked out to the quad clutching the draft of his Macbeth essay.
“Lined paper, and especially that which pertains to all things educational, is strictly forbidden at lunch time!”
Mike looked up and saw Adam Magana standing on their table. “It’s senior year man, put that crap away,” Adam quipped.
Adam and Mike had been good friends for years, but hard work and school were two things that Adam hated. He wasn’t a loser, but he still thought C’s were good enough, and B’s and A’s meant you were trying too hard.
Mike was frustrated, and unlike Adam he actually cared about his grades. “Mrs. Hale thinks I’m interpreting the symbols too literally. I don’t understand what the point of writing something is if nobody can understand it.”
“Right,” Adam replied. “I have no idea what you just said.”
Jackson was crossing over to their table with food piled high in his arms.
“You got me two hot pockets right?” Adam questioned. “I told you at snack I wanted two.”
“Yes, yes,” Jackson assured him. “For all this hassle I should get a fat tip.”
“Thanks man.” Mike put his Macbeth draft away and took his food from Jackson. The guys had an arrangement in place. Jackson had PE right before lunch, so earlier in the day Mike and Adam both put in orders and gave him money. The three of them were good friends, and they looked out for each other.
“Where’s Marly?” Jackson asked.
Marly was Adam’s girlfriend. It puzzled Mike that Adam had a girlfriend, but he and Jackson couldn’t even get a phone number. None of them were ugly by any means, just average looking guys, but Adam had a very strong personality. Mike decided that was just a nice way of saying he could be a jerk sometimes.
“She’s probably hanging out with her hot friends,” Adam gloated. A couple of her friends were cute Mike decided, but they were no Monica Callaway.
Jackson chewed his pizza. “I bet they’re talking about their underwear.”
“Yeah, I bet they are,” Adam agreed.
“I was being sarcastic horn dog,” but this was lost on Adam. He was still thinking about their underwear.
“So either of you fools gonna get a date for Homecoming? Marly wants another couple to double date with.”
Homecoming was three weeks away, and neither Mike nor Jackson had girlfriends, or dates for that matter. They were both nice guys, they just hadn’t found their Marly yet.
“Barring any miracles, that would be a big fat NO,” Mike said. The last girlfriend Mike had was freshmen year, and that lasted for a couple weeks. They never actually broke up, but Summer had rolled around and they just stopped talking. Mike wondered if technically they were still together.
“Neither of us have girlfriends,” Jackson pointed out. “Unless you know some girls looking for two guys like us, I think we’re out of luck.”
“You could actually try talking to a girl, that’s how it usually starts.” Ever since Marly, Adam had become a girl expert.
“We talk to girls,” Mike said, “but I doubt any of them want to go to Homecoming with us.”
“Macbeth and ions and all that boring mumbo jumbo isn’t talking. Well it is, but nobody cares. I mean really talk to a girl, ask her out, hook it up!” Adam was quite the inspirational speaker.
Mike considered this. The thought of approaching a girl that he never talked to and asking her out was frightening. The anxiety, the nervousness, and the ultimate rejection would be humiliating. Besides, there was only one girl he wanted to go with.
“You could ask Monica Callaway,” Jackson suggested. The guys knew Mike was sweet on her. That hadn’t been a secret since Junior High.
“She doesn’t even know I exist.”
“Yes she does,” Adam spoke up. “She just doesn’t care.”
“Shut up.” Jackson glared at him. He turned back to Mike, “Just because you guys don’t talk much doesn’t mean you’re invisible.”
“And what would I say to her? ‘Hey Monica, remember me? You came to my birthday in 3rd grade, and every year after that we grew farther and farther apart, and you probably don’t even know who I am now. Wanna hook up?’ Yeah, like that’s going to happen.” Mike may have been infatuated with Monica since elementary school, but he knew well enough that’s all it would ever be. She was out of his league, and he’d accepted this a long time ago.
“Or you could try sounding not like a psychopath,” Adam insisted. “‘Hey Monica, want to go to Homecoming?’ would work.”
Mike thought about it. What did he have to lose? He could ask her, she would say no, and he’d go on being a single lonely senior. At least Adam would leave him alone. But there was something comforting about not asking her. Mike had never put himself out there, and Monica had never shot him down. If he asked her though, and she said no, that thin strand of hope he was holding onto would be broken. It was easier to go on kidding himself.
“I’ll find something better to do, I hate dancing anyways,” Mike conceded. The bell rang.
Adam picked his stuff up to head to class. “OK, but if you change your mind I’ll talk to Marly. She might not be able to get you one of the really hot ones, but maybe one of the kinda hot ones. I think Sheryl just broke up with her boyfriend.”
“Thanks Adam, you’re so thoughtful.”
Mike walked to class and only thought of Monica Callaway. Her wavy blond hair and perfect smile filled his mind. He didn’t even know how to dance, but Mike decided he could suffer through it if he was dancing with her. Even she could make that experience a good one.
He plopped down in Calculus and came back to reality. If Monica’s type was average looking guys with a bookish disposition, Mike had a feeling he’d have heard that by now. Mike decided Homecoming and all things associated were overrated. He put those thoughts out of mind and took out his homework. Mike started feeling better.
Comments