We Have Each Other

Part 17: Past Secrets

Monday, October 18, 67 days
3:35 P.M.

"67 days!" Lana shrieked. Some passing students turned their heads toward her direction. Josh gave them a tight-lipped smile and moved his head up in a 'SUP' kind of way. The students shook their heads and continued walking.

Lana must of realized her outburst because her next words were quieter. "That's less than two months! We haven't even written a melody yet, let alone the lyrics!"

Josh nodded calmly, although he was just as freaked out as she was. "I know. When I got the email, I swear my heart skipped a beat."

Lana ran her fingers through her hair and itched her scalp; it was a nervous habit Josh noticed she had.

"We could work on writing our song at lunch," Josh suggested hopefully. But Lana shook her head as she brought her hand away from her hair and shook off the newly-detached hair strands wrapped around her fingers.

Josh couldn't say he was surprised. In fact, he expected the rejection. Lana had been skipping out on him at lunch for the past two weeks. She was maybe there five times. And that was being generous. But at least she was there more than Tristan. He hadn't been there at all within the past couple weeks.

Josh didn't know if he was upset or grateful about the fact that he was left to be a loner at lunch. On one hand, being alone made him vulnerable to Lance and his goons. But, on the other, more appealing hand, being alone meant that his friends wouldn't see him being actively bullied by three people with a cumulative IQ of less than 100.

Without much thought, Josh decided the latter was the option he liked better. He didn't need Tristan and Lana, especially Lana, knowing the extent of his bullies' bullying. Still, Lana's rejection stung.

"So, I take that as a no?" Josh asked casually, masking any hurt or irritation that he felt.

"More of an 'I can't be there'," Lana responded. She covered her mouth to block a yawn before continuing. "Tristan and I are still working on our home ec project. And my mom would kill me if I let the competition get in the way of my GPA."

Josh nodded. He had forgotten about the home ec project. At least he now knew why they were both ditching him at lunch and that it's wasn't because they were having some secret affair. Josh almost laughed out loud at the thought. But instead, he nodded.

"I understand," he said. "I can imagine that maintaining straight A's and being an after school tutor to students that have basically two brain cells left at the end of the school day would leave you tired."

"Don't forget about being a kick-ass dancer," Tristan added as he walked toward Josh's locker, earning a smile from Lana.

Tristan held her gaze for a few seconds. Josh looked between the two. Tristan was looking at Lana with an intent expression that Josh couldn't exactly name. It was almost like they were speaking telepathically. After a few more seconds of uncomfortable silence, in Josh's opinion at least, he coughed just loud enough to break everyone out of the trance.

"So," Tristan said, as he shifted from one leg to the other. "Why are we talking about Lana's many talents?"

Josh grabbed his phone from his back jeans pocket and pulled up the email about the competition. He handed the phone to Tristan. "The competition date is sneaking up on us," he said.

As Tristan skimmed the words on the screen, his eyes went wide. "The competition is between San Francisco, San Jose, and Santa Rosa?"

"Yeah," Josh said with a shrug. "It's hosted in San Francisco, but it's open to a lot of surrounding cities, like us in Oakland. Why?"