Breathe, Baby (HS)

Chapter 80

"This is his last day?" Annie says. She packed a tuna sandwich today.

"Why are your lunches always so disgusting?" I ask, looking at her sandwich.

"Not disgusting, Gracie. Healthy." She says.

"Blech. Yes today's his last day. Where's Jeremy today?" I say.

Tay and Derek come over, scooting in beside Annie.

"Yeah, Annie, where is that man of yours?" Tay says, putting her tray on the table.

"Sick I guess. He texted me this morning, said he wasn't coming today." Annie takes a big bite of her sandwich, then smiles at me.

Oh...I'm gonna be sick.

"That's just gross, Annie. What the fuck is that?" Kodi asks, sitting down beside me.

I hand him my milk and he starts to hand me his chips.

"No. Thanks to health obsessed Annie, I've lost my appetite." I say. I reach for my bottle of water and push my tray to the side.

The school's chicken sandwiches are good, but not when you're sitting across from dripping tuna.

"You should try eating healthier, Gracie. You don't want your baby to grow up addicted to pizza and coke." Annie says.

"Ha! You do know who his parents are, right?!" Kodi says, laughing. "Pax don't have a chance with Harry and Gracie." He looks at me and winks.

Well, he's not wrong.

"Pax. I really love the name Gracie. Harry picked it?" Tay asks, putting mayo on her plate and dipping her sandwich in it.

"Yeah, Baby. It's his grandparents last name." Derek says, taking a drink of his coke.

I could take him, I think. A quick punch in the throat, that coke would be mine.

"Lizzie Pax?"

"Paxton, Tay. You know, Paxton Construction." Kodi says, downing the rest of his milk.

"Oh my God! Seriously?! I didn't know Paxton Construction was Harry's grandparents business. OK, it all makes sense now. The truck, the house."

We're all just staring at her.

"Girl, how are you just putting this together now?!" Derek says, both he and Kodi are laughing.

"I don't know...Harry's last name isn't Paxton, so..." She says, trying to defend herself.

She's cute. Her face is red from embarrassment.

"Wow, Tay. You are SO DUMB." I say, laughing.

"Hey!"

"Just kidding. We've known Harry and his family since we were little, you didn't move here until later. Actually I forgot, myself. I guess, just another thing I shoved in the back of my mind. Lizzie's the greatest and Ed, although I don't really remember him well, I do remember he was always smiling, loved playing with us when we were kids. It's a perfect name for him."

"Hey, are you taking Jess to prom, Kodi?" Annie asks.

"I don't know. You think she'd wanna go? I mean, prom is kinda girly. She's not really like that." Kodi says.

"Hey, I'm going, man. I know Jess, she wants to go. Not just to prom, dude. She'd go anywhere with you. Haven't you figured that out yet?" Derek says.
"Yeah, Kodi. She wants to go. Just ask her. Annie are you and Jer going?" I say, watching everyone eat.