Page 3 of Saving the Halfback

“They don’t really care about you.” Ed’s voice echoed in the bathroom. I peeked between the gap in the stall door. He stared back at me as he leaned against the sink. I wiped the tears away, afraid to let him see.“They use you, Bailey.” He shook his head. “I’ve told you this time and time again—if you have nothing for them, they want nothing to do with you. Why do you think I took care of you all those years?”

I closed my eyes. “No,” I whispered. “It’s not real, you’re not here. It’s not real, you’re not here.” I tried to think of something else, anything else, to get rid of the apparition before me, but all I could see was the hatred behind Chase’s eyes, and it felt so wrong. Never in my life had he looked at me that way. I’d kept my distance these last few years, but whenever I’d seen him in the halls and in class, he’d never looked at me with such animosity.

I squeezed my eyelids as tightly as possible, forgetting everything else around me, and I tried to remember the last time we had been together.

“Twenty-four hours.” Those grey eyes looked at me with laughter in them.

I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Eat every flavor of ice cream in an ice cream shop,” I answered. “What would you do…if you had twenty-four hours before the world ended?”

“Dude, the only obvious thing. I would bunk up at the nearest warehouse. Cement walls. And I would have everything. Food, ammo, guns, all of it,” Chase said with a boyish grin.

I thought about it. “Meh, I still want ice cream.”

“Fine, I’ll get some ice cream for you too. The warehouse would be big enough for freezers."

“If the world was ending, there would be no power for the freezers, and the ice cream would melt,” I pointed out.

“We could have solar panels. Plus, the ice cream would melt in the ice cream shop, anyway.”

“Exactly.” I grinned. “That’s why we have to eat as much as we can as fast as we can.”

Chase laughed, then released a heavy sigh, as if it was such a burden to put up with my antics.

“Every time we play this game, I’m running around skydiving and white-water rafting, and you’re just running around, trying to lock us up,” I pointed out.

“You have no sense of self-preservation. Go ahead and jump in the river, Bails. I’m just going to drag you, Lach, and Eth back and save you from the impending zombie apocalypse.”

“Who says the world is going to end in a zombie apocalypse?”

“It’salwaysa zombie apocalypse…or aliens.”

Things had been so much simpler when we were thirteen. My muscles slowly relaxed, and I found myself opening my eyes.Lifehad been simpler when we were thirteen. I couldn’t hold it against Chase for not waiting.

I took a deep, steadying breath before gathering the courage to keep going. When I walked out of the stall, there was no sign of Ed.

2

Bailey

Mrs. Cleaver had been my English teacher back in grade ten, and I was excited when I got her again this year because, as long as you did the work, she was an easygoing teacher. The warning bell rang just as I entered class. Since I was the first one in, even before her, I walked to the middle seat in the farthest row, like usual.

I busied myself by pulling out my notebook and pen as students began arriving and filling the class. Just before the final bell rang, Chase and Hadley walked into the room, hand in hand. Though I tried not to stare, it was difficult to curb the urge. Despite never speaking to them, I’d never broken my habit of watching the guys. I wasn’t stalking them or anything. When you’re so familiar with someone, it’s easy to pick them out in a crowd, to be drawn to them.

Unfortunately for the happy couple, the only two seats left in the class were separated, one of which was right beside me.

I held my breath and started humming in my head, pulling my cap down a bit to hide my face. Everyone continued chattering until Mrs. Cleaver entered the room. I ignored the movement beside me and peeked up at the teacher. As usual,she was wearing a long dress in a vibrant floral pattern, with a cardigan over the top. Her glasses hung from a beaded necklace, so she wouldn’t lose them. She gave off the hippy vibe very well, and I found that comforting.

“Welcome, seniors!” she said. “I recognize most of you, and a few new faces, that’s good. Is everyone excited for their final year? Yes? No?” A few students answered, and she smiled. “Yes and no, I see. Bailey, hat, please. I want to see your beautiful face.”

Damn it. I pulled my cap off as my cheeks burned red.

“All right, senior year, let’s dive right in.” Mrs. Cleaver began going over the reading list and how it would be our responsibility to keep up with our own timelines, since she was preparing us for post-secondary schooling.

I zoned out part way through her lecture. That feeling I was being watched slithered up my spine, and I risked a peek at Hadley. To my surprise, it was Chase who sat next to me, across the aisle. He wasn’t staring at me, though; he was looking at the cap on my desk, where I had placed it.

I did exactly what I told myself I wouldn’t do. I fell back into the routine of being a ghost and ignored it. I wasn’t ignoring him; I was ignoring the flurry of emotions and the desire to reach out to him. To shake him. Maybe punch his arm and ask him what the heck happened to us, all of us. It was what I would’ve done years ago, but now…it wasn’t the same. If I started asking questions, I feared he might do the same, and I wasn’t sure I could provide answers. So, I ignored it all.

The end of class couldn’t come soon enough. When the bell rang, I jumped out of my seat, grabbing my bag and rushing out.

---