Page 50 of Soul So Dark
“I’ll pick up you and Carter and Trey’s getting Shelby and Maddie.”
“Wait, is Trey your cousin?” I whip around to Shelby. “What’s the deal with that?”
Shelby’s eyes shoot up from her mustard packet right before it finally detonates all over her sandwich as well as her phone sitting next to it. She lets out a frustrated huff but quickly recovers once she hears my question.
“No deal yet,” she says with a tight-lipped smile, “still in negotiations.”
“Should I ride with you all instead?” Maddie asks Austin through hooded eyes. “I think I should ride with you all.”
Before I can hear the finer details of the Shelby-Trey drama, I realize I still have one more task to complete before lunch is over. I reach into my bag and pull the case with Alex’s glasses inside, turning it over in my hands while searching the cafeteria for him. I finally see him sitting at his usual table—or what I assume is his usual table. I’ve never actually noticed or cared until now.
But as soon as I see Aiden next to him, I realize there’s no way I can go over there. I just have to hope that they all don’t walk out together, lest I elicit more than a few questions from his friends about whyIhave his glasses.But while I’m gazing at their table, Alex catches me staring at them like a creep. I quickly avert my eyes, only to look up again and give the glasses case a quick shake at chest-level. He arches his brow when he sees it and pauses for a moment before turning back to his friends.
The bell finally rings, prompting a cacophony of scraping chairs.
“When should we get there?” Shelby asks as she crumples up the remnants of her mustard-smeared lunch.
“Be ready at six,” Austin replies, “I don’t know when they’ll start, but we need to make sure we can even get in.”
“Text me when you’re on your way,” I say to Austin as I sling my bag over my shoulder and hurry across the cafeteria to the far wall.
If Alex is heading toward the same door we left through the other day, he’ll be walking this way. Then again, he was walking me to class, so I don’t know where he usually goes. But, to my relief, I see him approach while I’m lingering next to the water fountain and it doesn’t look like he’s walking with anyone.
“You have something of mine?” he asks with a coy smile.
“Colson saw them on my table,” I smile back, handing him the case.
Alex’s face falls. “Shit, what’d he say?”
“Nothing. I put them on and acted like they were mine. I can actually see in them, so we have almost the exact same prescription.”
“Really?” he snickers, “I’m so sorry you’re blind, too.”
The cafeteria continues to empty, leaving us behind. Once everyone passes, we head for the doors.
Alex pulls the door open for me. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep in your room. To be fair, those Skooshmallow things are really comfortable.”
“Squishmallows,” I smile.
“My mistake. Maybe I’ll borrow one next time.”
Next time…
“Yeah, you didn’t even get to playTomb Raiderlast night.”
He follows me up the stairs to the second floor and we continue down the hall to Coach Wheeler’s classroom. I still don’t know where he’s supposed to be or why it seems like he’s never in a hurry to get there.
We stop about 10 feet from the classroom door. “Then I’ll come back tonight. Will you be around?”
“Yeah,” but then I remember Shapeshift, “wait—no! I mean, I just found out my favorite band might be at the Starliner, so I’m going to see them.”
“Which one?”
“Shapeshift. Adam Casey—” I’m about to tell Alex how I “know” they’ll be there, and then think better of it, “he heard they’re giving a pop-up show, so a few of us are going to check it out.”
Alex nods. “How about tomorrow?”
I pause to think for a moment. “Yeah, tomorrow’s good.”
