Ever Since New York

Chapter 3

III

Everyone at the school who'd attended the party last night was hungover. And irritable. A girl in my class got so annoyed with the teacher that she snapped at him, and got sent to the Principal's office.

James was in a good mood today. Maybe he wrote something and actually liked it.

"Why are you smiling like you just saw Channing Tatum naked?" I asked during lunch. The rest of the table was quiet. They probably didn't remember much. Sophia was on her phone, and Alison and Ethan were stuffing their mouths with food.

"Because I heard gossip," he rubbed his hands in an attempt to look evil. "A lot of gossip. Did you know there was a party last night?"

"I had to pick Sophia, Ethan and Alison up from the party," I replied. "So, yeah, I did know about it."

"The cops arrested a few people last night, for underage drinking and drug use," James said. "And Jayden's parents were called back home, that guy is in deep shit."

"I drove the car like I was in GTA," I said.

James looked at me for a second, and shook his head.

"Do not use video games as your references if you haven't ever played one."

"I have something to tell you," I said, ignoring his previous comment. "Wes Griffith and Chad Michaels were also in our car, and then we went to a diner to get some food, and then I had to drive all of them back home."

"Hanging with the cool crowd now, are you?" he laughed.

I smacked his arm not so lightly.

"We didn't talk. Chad was doing all the talking."

"What did he talk about?" James was suddenly interested.

"Nothing in particular," I said. "Just about his workout regime, his hair care routine, and I stopped paying attention after that."

Chad had been the only one talking last night, and Alison. Sophia had been staring at Wes and giggling while I just ate because I didn't know what to say. I'd felt like a starstruck little girl whose favourite singer was in front of her.

"So I have been working on the script," James began, "And I think I'll have the first draft of the play in about a week."

"Period drama or modern?" I stuffed a bite of sandwich in my face. "Because getting long gown and shit is expensive and I don't know if our budget will allow it, not that I know what the budget is."

"Hey,  Ayre," a voice said from behind us. James, Alison and I looked back and saw Wes standing there, his hands in his pockets.

I swallowed my sandwich fast and said, "Hey, Wes."

I tried to sound as nonchalant as I could while my heart started hammering against my chest.

"You work at the tutoring centre, right?" He asked.

I nodded.

"Cool," he said. "I'll see you there, after school."

"You're going to be there?" James asked.

"Yeah, man. I am going to be working there for a while." Wes said and then walked away. "Just wanted to make sure I had a friend there already."

"Can I work there too?" Sophia asked, breaking the silence.