Page 19 of My Fake Date With My Childhood Friend
“And the order is in,” Alexander announced with a dramatic click of a button.
“How long until it gets delivered?” I asked. I peered over his shoulder to get a look at the screen. The order page said it would be here in about half an hour. “We only have ten minutes until the end of lunch. Even if it gets here early, we won’t have time to eat.”
“Looks like we’ll have to skip our next class,” Alexander said. He looked toward me with a grin. “What a shame.”
“Well, I suppose we do have to eat,” I said with a matching grin.
“Can’t learn on an empty stomach.”
“Exactly.”
“As fun as that sounds, I have a suspicion that I'm going to have a pop quiz in my next class,” Liv said. She dropped her head on the table. “I forgot how short lunch is.”
“What teacher?” I asked.
“Mr. Chase.”
“Ask to go to the bathroom after the quiz and come meet us,” I said. “Mr. Chase never notices people missing.”
I had him for history last year, and there was one class where we started with everyone there and ended with only five people left. He didn't say a word about it and never even thought to make us take a hall pass or anything.
“Where will you be?”
Alexander and I exchanged a look. Neither of us had thought that far ahead.
“Outside is too cold,” I said since I knew that would be the obvious suggestion. “But maybe we could go to the library?”
“No food allowed,” Alexander said. “And the librarian's always on top of that.”
“There's nowhere else inside to really hide,” I said with a frown. “Except maybe the change rooms or something, but I am not eating in there.”
“The equipment shed,” Alexander said suddenly.
I made a disgusted face. The equipment shed was attached to the school but only easily accessible from outside. It was a large square room with high ceilings designed to hold equipment for the sports teams, although most of their stuff was kept in the storage room by the gyms during the winter. As such, it was a pretty good and secluded hiding spot. But even though I knew that was why he suggested it, it didn't sound very appealing. I'd never actually been inside, but if it was anything like the gym storage room, it would be constantly cold, smelled disgusting, and covered in dust. If change rooms were off-limits, I didn't know why he thought the equipment shed was any better.
“Oh, don't look at me like that, Penny!” Alexander said. “It's not as gross as you think, and it's surprisingly warm.”
“Okay, fine,” I said with a resigned sigh. “But if it's anything like the gym storage room, I'm leaving.”
“And going where?” Alexander asked teasingly.
“Just leaving,” I said with a shake of my head. “Anywhere. Home.”
“Just giving up on the last period, are we?” He said.
I shrugged. “If I'm already skipping one class, skipping a second one isn't a big deal.”
“What about your parents?” Liv asked. “The school calls if you miss attendance. Won't they find it weird if you miss a half day?”
“You think that would be more suspicious than missing one class?” Alexander asked. “They would get the call, anyway.”
“You can lie and say you missed attendance in one class,” Liv said. She rolled her eyes like Alexander was an idiot for even asking. “A bit harder to use that excuse for multiple classes a day.”
“It doesn't matter, anyway. I'm not skipping my last class,” I said. “But even if I was, my parents have six kids. They don't care what I do.”
Liv choked on her drink and stared at me in horror.
“Six?” She exclaimed.
