Dirt Lifter | Craig of the Creek High School AU

All I can hope for is for me to get better, 'cause all I can take is no more

(Syndrome Of Sorts In Our Bones pt. 2 on AO3)

The fries still tasted like victory, even after Craig barely got 4th place in the game. He had only been three points ahead of J.P., who threw four gutter balls in a row. His strike hadn't even gotten him on the leaderboard.

Stacks also got a strike that round, to which Jason forked up cash for her fries.

"Woah, someone's rich," J.P. said.

"What? Oh." Jason had pulled out a hundred buck's worth of 20 dollar bills. "My dad gave me it. He didn't know how much bowling was gonna cost."

"That's nice of him," J.P. replied.

It was a lie and Craig knew it. Jason would never accept money from his dad. He'd rather steal it, and would have told them about it if so. It wasn't like his distaste for his father was a secret. But why would he have so much cash in the first place? Bowling was under 20 bucks per person, so maximum he should have brought 40 dollars. Why would he lie, though? He had acted normal otherwise, the same amount of socially awkward he usually was. It was how everyone would act in a room full of people they weren't particularly close with. Maybe inviting him was a bad choice, but it was a bit late for Craig to change his mind on that. Besides, Jason was chatting with Vanessa and Stacks now, and they all seemed to be having a good time. Their group was spread out over two tables, him with what remained of the Stump Kids, and Vanessa, Stacks and Jason at another right beside it. Craig couldn't hear their conversation's content, but they seemed invested in each other's words.

J.P. cracked up at his own joke that Craig didn't catch. "Oh my God, you've gotta meet Kaitlyn, she's hilarious. And she makes a better pumpkin pie than DuckMart, I swear to God."

Craig spoke with his mouth full of now-cold fries. "Maybe someday."

J.P. has been talking about his time at college all night, and frankly Craig was getting sick of hearing about how Kaitlyn made this, and Kyle did that, and Jeffrey got chased around by evil squirrels in the park for the fifth time this month.

It wasn't jealousy, he couldn't be jealous. Even if he had to go to college, he was certainly not looking forward to it.

J.P. continued. "It's kind of annoying because classes aren't super veterinary-focused yet. They make us take an integrated science course, and it's such a nuisance! Why do I need to learn stoichiometry? Why can't I just pet dogs for an hour every Thursday? It's like, the same thing."

Kelsey laughed. "I'm so glad I'm gonna be an English major." She turned to Craig. "What are you gonna do, again?"

"Engineering, but I'm not sure what kind. Probably mechanical, but I may do civil engineering." He had said this exact phrase twenty times at this point, and he had it memorized for when anyone mentions college.

"Wow. You guys are such nerds." Kelsey pointed at J.P., then Craig. "You're gonna save lives, you're gonna invent shit, Omar's gonna teach kids how to read-" She pointed at herself lazily, "-And I'm going to be writing smut commissions until I'm thirty."

It was meant to be a dumb, self-deprecating joke, and Craig knew that, but he had been brewing in his own annoyance all night and needed an outlet. "I can't believe he bailed."

"He's busy. Leave him alone."

Kelsey had listened to him complain since they arrived at the bowling alley. Craig could tell she was sick of it, but he was still irritated. "Yeah, he's so busy, while he posts about his stupid parties online instead of texting us. He can just say he didn't want to come."

"Maybe he promised go to someo-"

Craig jumped up from his seat. "We started planning this a month ago! If he was busy before, he could have said something leading up to it. Not the night before we're all here."