flies right over his head like
a free bird. He swipes
at it like a desperate cat
but it's way out of his reach.
I laugh as his face distorts
with frustration. It reminds me
of my favorite Sunday
cartoon: Tweety Bird and Sylvester.
The ball becomes tight
around the pole. I hold up
five fingers triumphantly
in the air. Henry's shoulders sag.
"Want a rematch?" I ask.
"I think it's time for lunch" he starts
walking toward the school, and I see
he's right. Other kids are doing the same.
I run to catch up with him.
"Are you angry at me?"
"No. I'm just hungry, that's all."
"Me too." I agree.
We begin lining up to
go into the torture house.
It's where they make us do stupid
work and treat us with no respect.
But it's lunch time so everything is good
for about thirty minutes.
Jessica runs over
to where Henry and I are sitting.
She sets her tuna fish sandwich
down next to Henry to save her seat.
Her sandwich waits alone
wrapped in aluminum foil,
sending harsh aromas
into the air around it.
She walks back from the lunch line,
sets her stolen chocolate milk carton down.
Jessica slides in next to us, bringing
out her unfinished homework sheet.
"Sooo..." she says,
"What did you get for number 1?"
Chewing on the back of the
pencil that suddenly appeared in her hand.
I look at Henry who's taking out
his sandwich from his lunch bag.
His bright eyes lock on mine
for a second. We look at Jessica
slurping chocolate milk from
the side of her mouth.
Thick hair falling in different
lengths down her back and
around her face.
"I -" Henry cut me off,
"Don't give her the answers!" Taking
a bite of his AB+J
(we're not allowed peanut butter because of allergies)
"I wasn't going to." I snap, defensive.
"Then what were you going to say?"
I'm silent.
What was I going to say?
"That's what I thought."
"Well I thought you said you weren't angry."
I countered, slurping
ramen noodles.
"I'm just going to solve these for myself."
Jess started scribbling down random answers.
"Fine," I said.
"Fine," He said.
YOU ARE READING
Carly's Friends
Mystery / ThrillerThe Haines family has never been perfect, and the neighbors in their tightly knit community know this. It's common knowledge that Mr. Haines is a workaholic, and that Mrs. Haines can be over dramatic. They know that their oldest daughter, Hannah, do...
