My Brother's Best Friend

Chapter Four

Fergie said that no one is riding with him to Lake Sumner this weekend, so I am going to take it upon myself to invite Tamara and Ethan. They are cool with Fergie because they always chill with him whenever all of them are over my house. I don't want to be stuck with Devin and Fergie's friends the whole weekend. I do know some of them, but they aren't my friends. I'd rather invite my friends to be more comfortable. I'm sure Fergie and Devin won't mind; they'll be happy for the simple fact that I'm coming out of the house this weekend. Anybody who knows me know that I only go to work, stay in my room, or hang out with my friends—Fergie and Devin included.

I wait until lunch to ask them if they want to come, instead of texting in our group message. I don't know if Ethan will be up to it, but I know Tamara definitely will be. Ethan likes having fun, but he can be a bit of an introvert sometimes.

I hate when I'm the first one at our usual lunch table. I always feel like everyone will think I'm a loner if I'm alone for two seconds. It seems like it takes the two of them forever to come to the table. Ethan slams his backpack on the table, causing the loud sound to boom throughout the cafeteria. Thankfully, the lunch room is loud from everyone talking and no one cares to pay him any attention.

"Dang, boy." Tamara scoffs. "What crawled up your ass and died?"

"Ha ha ha," he rolls his eyes at her, "that's it. I'm dropping out."

"Me too, I'ma be a stripper." She smirks.

"You have problems." He shakes his head at her.

"What's wrong?" I raise my eyebrows at him.

"I failed another test." He sighs.

I sorrily look at him; I don't want to say anything that will ruin his mood even more. It's like Ethan works so hard to study and he doesn't get the results he wants. I'd say his worst subject is math. He doesn't want to put his pride aside to go to tutoring. He won't graduate with us next year, if he keeps this up.

"Dang." Tamara frowns.

"You know what you need?" I ask him.

"A million dollars." He mumbles.

"No." I laugh, rolling my eyes at him. "You guys need to come with me this weekend to Lake Sumner. Fergie invited me to hang out with some of him and Devin's friends. You guys should come. Please, come."

"Hell, yeah!" She nods her head. "If I get to see Fergie's fine ass."

It's no secret that Tamara finds Fergie attractive—like every other girl in this school does. She tends to make it obvious whenever she brings his name up as the topic of discussion. I'm surprised she hasn't tried flirting with him yet. She's been over my house plenty of times while he was over there. I'm glad she hasn't made a move, though. I'd be jealous if she did. I'd probably be more jealous of the fact that she has the courage to make a move and I don't.

"They don't have football practice this weekend?" Ethan asks.

"Nope, their coach is giving them the weekend off. Starting next week, though, their practices are gonna be longer and grueling." I say, memorizing what Devin told me earlier this week.

"I would hate to be a football player." Tamara shakes her head.

"You would hate to be any kind of player." Ethan chuckles. "That's why your ass has a C in P.E. already."

"Tamara, you already have a C? Girl the year just started not too long ago." I shake my head.

"School started in August. It's October. It ain't the start of school no more." She waves me off.

"So, you never answered my question?" I turn to Ethan, ignoring Tamara. "Will you come?"

"I don't know, man." He shrugs his shoulders.

"Please." I smile extra hard.

"Yeah, man." He looks at me, chuckling.

"Yay, this is gonna be so fun!" I clap my hands. "You guys can come over my house after school on Friday. That's when we're leaving. So, make sure y'all have y'all bags ready."

"Who are we riding with?" Tamara asks.

"Fergie." I answer. Ethan groans at the same time that Tamara squeals.

"Let's go get our lunch." Ethan says to me, since Tamara brought her own.

~

Fast Wings.

I swear I hate this place. Whose idea was it to name this place Fast Wings? It's about the dumbest name I've ever heard. I always get in a bad mood whenever I come to work. I used to be excited to come to work when I first started, but now I already want to get off and I haven't even clocked in yet. I don't recommend that anyone in high school gets a job, unless they absolutely have to. They'd better enjoy their free time in high school while they can; they have their whole lives ahead of them to go to work.

Like I said before, I like having my own money. Sometimes I don't think it's worth it, though. I don't get paid to put up with customer's bullshit. The customers are not always right, no matter what they say. My mama always tell me that there are going to be rude customers no matter where I work, so I have to get used to it. I'm just ready to go to Lake Sumner. Fergie is right; it's a much needed break.

I can't wait until this weekend. I barely hang out with my brother's friends, but I feel like there's something in store for me. Maybe this weekend is just what I need to actually kick off my junior year. My junior year has been boring so far; this get together at Lake Sumner should be fun. Maybe I'm so excited because I never leave my house. Or maybe I'm excited to spend a few hours in the car with Fergie—even though Tamara and Ethan will be with us. I just need to escape from my boring life. Fergie did say I was a little uptight; it's been on my mind. Is that really what he thinks of me? I'll show him that I'm not uptight. He'll just have to wait and see.

•••

This story is already ranked #95 in interracial stories out of 1,000. It is all ranked #387 in high school stories out of 1,000. Thank you so much!