Dirt Lifter | Craig of the Creek High School AU

Jason and Vanessa eat lunch together (part 2 featuring Stacks)

Stacks had a free block during Jason and Vanessa's lunch period every Tuesday, so they had settled into a routine of eating with her in the library on those days.

At first, Stacks seemed like any other shy underclassman to Jason. She had the same asocial personality the other two had, although not quite as chronic. But she came out of her shell when she was comfortable enough. She was very opinionated, too; Jason's last conversation with her had been twenty minutes talking about the intricacies of some indie rock album that really was not as good as she claimed it to be. It was fun to argue with people without stakes, so Jason welcomed it.

She was also still obsessed with stories, whether fiction or not, so when Vanessa asked "Are either of you going to that school dance?" she just had to pry.

"Are you going to ask someone out?" Stacks asked with all the subtlety of any 15-year-old gossip.

Vanessa gave her an odd look, not used to being interrogated so... obviously. "Why, are you asking some-" she stopped herself. "Oh wait, duh. Kelsey."

"Yep. Anyway, are you going with anyone?"

"Uh, yeah." She leaned back on her chair, tipping it an inch up. "Actually, Aiden asked me out."

Aiden was another junior, with a penchant for rule breaking and defying authority. This only included societal rules and authority, and not the laws of nature (being an ex-Horse Girl probably caused both of these things). They'd had this mutual respect-slash-argumentative fervor for each other ever since they got in a fight about distribution of land one geography class, so it made sense why he asked Vanessa out.

"Ooh, do you like him?"

"I guess? I mean, he's cool, but I don't know if I should say yes. School dances are usually..." she waved her right hand in a circle, looking for a word. "Boring. What do you think?"

"Sure, do it."

"I was asking Jason."

"Oh." Her voice wavered with awkwardness. "Okay."

"Hm?" Jason did not realize he was a part of this conversation, and had only been half-listening. "Oh, do whatever you want. He probably won't go if you say no, so it'll leave your opinions open."

"I want to go with him, not in general, 'cause school dances are boring. Are you going?"

He shook his head no. "Not really my scene."

"Because they're boring!"

"It won't be boring if Mr. Cowboy is there, right?" he said before taking a bite out of his taco salad, leftover from the dinner he made last night.

Vanessa thought that over. "Yeah, I guess you're right. You'd go if Craig asked you out."

"What?" he tried to say with a mouthful of ground beef. The choking noise he ended up making embodied his emotions more than any words could.

"Oh!" Stacks exclaimed. "Do you like him?"

He took another bite of his lunch instead of responding.

"He does."

"Vanessa!" he said, again with his mouth full, so it sounded more like "Vghekhga!"

'Vghekhga' put her hands up. "I'm proving your point! If you bring someone you like, it's fun. Calm down. And stop talking while you eat, jeez. It's like you were raised by wolves."

He complied, even if it was Miss "Raised By Wolves" herself telling him how to be polite. As long as they didn't start talking about-

"¿Qué pasa con él?" Stacks whispered to Vanessa.