Prove It

Chapter IV

It's too hot and humid to do anything. My thighs are sticking to the seat and I can practically hear my hair frying in this weather.

"I'm leaving" Lexi announces.

"No you're not" Emily says. "Why would you do that?"

"Because I don't want to be here. I't s not like my parents are there to scold me" she shrugs her shoulders and types away on her phone.

I roll my eyes at her. I know, Lexi knows, and everyone at the table knows that even if her parents were there to scold her they wouldn't. Mr. and Mrs. Kane are pushovers when it comes to their little girls.

"What about cheer? You're the co-captain, you have to be there" I tell her. I'm not taking shit from Miligan if she doesn't show up.

"Can't you just tell her I went home sick?"

"You'd have to go to the nurses and be sent home for her to believe that" I tell her in my most condescending tone.

"Well then make something up for me" she demands.

"There is no way I'm lying to her and risking my captain position" I argue. Especially not for you.

"I'll think of something" Alica pipes up. Sofia and I look at each other and roll our eyes. Of course she will.

"Aww, thanks Leesh!" she squeals.

"There's no way Alicia is going to think of something before the end of the day" Sofia whispers to me.

I only snort and shake my head. That's all I can do. This isn't the first time someone has asked Alicia to back them up, and I'm surprised Lexi is allowing Alicia to cover for her.

"Hey Amanda" I hear someone from the right talking to me.

"Oh, hi Marcus" I say back. I hate being so awkward around him. I wish I didn't know how he feels about me, then I wouldn't sound so stupid around him.

"You're going to the game on Sunday, right?" he asks.

"Well, yeah. I have to be there" I say. "It probably wouldn't look good if the captain didn't show up for the first game of the season".

"Oh right. That means you're going to Emily's after, right?"

"I might come for an hour or two, but I don't want to get hom too late" I tell him.

"But Holden said he's saying late" he says.

"I know, but I'm an old woman and I need my sleep" I argue, getting quite sick of this conversation. I'll go if I want to go and leave when I want to leave.

"That's fine. I was thinking of doing the same thing" he says in a tone that makes me think that he was thinking anything but.

"Okay, guess I'll see you there, then" I mumble and turn back to Sofia.

"We're talking about this later" she whispers to me and I groan. Now that she's heard what we've just said, there's nothing she won't do to make me stay for him.

God there may have been only ten minutes left in lunch, but that was the longest ten minutes I've lived through. I couldn't tell if I was paranoid or if he was really staring at me that whole time, but I felt like I was under observation that whole time. I just kept checking my phone, looking for any distraction away from the awkwardness between us.

******

"Amanda please coming with me!" Sofia begs over speaker.

"Sofia I have to stay . I'm sorry" I say. "We can go tomorrow. We don't have school and we have more time to go to get our nails done, and go out to lunch or something, alright?" I bargin.