“Yeah,” he said, chuckling as he turned sideways to block another guy from cutting down the stairs to where I was. At the top, we angled toward the wall and that meant I walked along the lockers and he took the outside line. “Anyway, win or lose, we go over the game. What we did right, what we did wrong, then we run the stuff we did wrong and get it right.”
“Nice.” I really didn’t get sports. “Is he allergic to just sayinggood job, apparently what we did last week worked, let’s do more this week?”
Bubba’s grin stretched. “Sure, he could. Doubt it’d be as motivatingas get off your butts, boys…”
I laughed. Second week and class got serious. Homework would start coming hot and heavy. My phone buzzed a third of the way through class, but I couldn’t look at it, not and take notes at the same time. I was pretty sure I understood the processes and equations we were going over, but I’d rather be sure than just think I might be.
Right toward the end of class, the teacher told us to go ahead and start on our homework if we wanted. Five minutes to go. I glanced at Bubba who made a face and I grinned. “You’ll be fine,” I mouthed, and he mimed hanging. Rolling my eyes, I added, “Call me later if you run into trouble.”
“Can do.” Bubba said. “We’re still getting together after school, right?”
“I planned on it, but Archie’s not here.”
“He’s not?” Bubba frowned. Oh, that was right, they hadn’t been there for coffee, either.
“Nope, just me and Coop in the cafeteria earlier.” I slipped out my phone and glanced at the screen.
Dessert Options:I confess, I ate opera cake for breakfast.
Grinning, I typed in,Happy birthday. See you in five.
I tabbedover to Archie’s message. He hadn’t replied, and he hadn’t read my message. After I set it down, I caught Bubba glance away toward his desk. Before I could ask, the bell rang.
“So,” Bubba said, falling into step with me. “I’ll send a text to Archie, but I figured we’d go off campus for lunch today.”
“Yeah? Um…” What did I have on my to do list? I had some reading for government, problems for calculus, and my French project was now mostly done. “Not pizza?” Cause sure, why not?
“Not pizza,” Bubba promised. “Subs, maybe?”
“Oh, that does sound good, actually.” We were almost to French class when I realized Bubba walked me all the way and Mathieu approached from the other direction.
Crap.
“Bon anniversaire, Mathieu.”
“Merci,” he said with that open grin of his. My stomach did that little flip flop because Bubba actually eyed him.
“So this is Matthew. I’m Ian,” Bubba introduced himself.
“Hello, Ian,” Mathieu greeted him. “Un autre petit ami, oui?”
Bubba frowned as he studied Mathieu, and I touched his arm. Anything to distract. “I’ll see you at lunch?”
He gave Mathieu a look then me. “Yeah, lunch. I gotta go.” Then he jogged down the hall, because I’d been right, he’d gone out of his way to walk me to French.
Mathieu gave him a speculative look, then glanced at me. “Il est jaloux.”
No, Bubba wasn’t jealous. He was my friend.
“Il est mon ami.” I flicked my fingers at him and slid into class before the bell rang.
“Si tu le dis,” he murmured as he followed me inside. Smartass. If I say so…yes, I said so. Still, Mathieu was funny, and class flew by, and it was fun. We ended up playing a game show in French, and Mathieu made a great host. Even better, a couple of the girls kept trying to flirt with him, but he didn’t respond. After class, he waited for me outside.
“You are busy for lunch today, yes?”
“Yeah, I’m gonna go grab subs with the guys.” I’d invite him, but honestly, I really didn’t want to deal with them.
“Tomorrow, too?”