The lunchroom was alive with a clatter of trays and dishes, the crinkle of paper bags, and excited teenage voices. Jael looked around the sea of faces and backs of kids already taking up seats at the picnic style tables and spotted Brianna’s blonde head in the far corner, surrounded as usual by a strange assortment of tagalongs. Two jocks from the basketball team, a couple of girls from the volleyball team, one kid that was such a computer nerd he probably thought Bill Gates was cool, and the girl who was president of the science club, surrounded Brianna in mutual love and adoration.
Jael carried her lunch sack to the table. “Hey, Bree. Got room for one more?”
Brianna smiled and moved the book bag she’d placed beside her to save the seat, onto the floor. “Don’t I always?” She tipped her head at Jael’s lunch sack. “Pay up.”
Jael slipped her legs over the seat and sat down. She shook her head. “I can’t believe your mom doesn’t know how to cook.”
“Simple things are complicated for smart people. I’ve come to accept my mother’s shortcomings in the homemaker department. It doesn’t mean I love her less. Now give me the cookies,” she said grabbing the clear plastic bag that contained her mom’s sweet and chewy Oatmeal raisin cookies.
“You are so deprived,” she laughed and took a bite of her sandwich. Leftover roast beef with mustard and mayo filled the honey oat bread and made her mouth water with happiness. Her mom was an awesome cook.
Brianna inhaled the first cookie then sat back and licked her lips, looking as satisfied as a kitten with a bowl of pure cream. “If I lived at your house I would probably be four hundred pounds,” she stated blissfully.
“I doubt it. My dad would have you working out three hours a day like he does me.”
“Three hours a day?” Toby laughed. He puffed out his chest as though someone had accused him of being less than a girl. He was built like an ox and was known to plow through an opposing team’s defenses just as thoroughly. “What does he have you do – lift cookie sheets?”
The other kids laughed, but Brianna rolled her eyes. “She could probably bench press you, Toby.”
“Yeah, right,” he scoffed. He swallowed down the last of his third carton of chocolate milk and burped.
His teammate, a senior named Shad, short for Shadow, punched him in the shoulder. “Dude, that’s nasty!” He caught her eye across the table and winked. “She can bench press me anytime she likes.”
Jael frowned. Since when did guys flirt with her? Especially tall, dark, and handsome older guys. She’d lived here four years and was still surprised when one of them even remembered her name. She stuffed the rest of her uneaten sandwich back in the bag. She wasn’t very hungry anyway. In fact, she felt a little queasy.
Brianna got up and reached for her book bag. She tugged on Jael’s shirtsleeve. “Come on, we need to talk.”
Jael grabbed up her things and followed. The hallway was deserted except for a couple by the lockers kissing. They pulled apart when they heard the lunchroom door swing closed. Jael and Brianna hurried past them and slipped into the now empty Science lab. The windows let in enough sunshine that they didn’t need to turn on the overhead lights. A baseball diamond and soccer field stretched behind the school, separating the high school building from the junior high.
“What’s up?” asked Jael.
Brianna leaned against the edge of the teacher’s desk facing her, and crossed her arms. She worried her bottom lip as though unsure how to begin. Finally she blurted out, “Somebody started a rumor about you.”
“Let me guess. I live in a commune?”
“How did you know?” Brianna’s eyes widened. “Is that why you’ve been missing school? Because I promise you, if I find out who started it…”
“Whoa! That’s not why I missed school. You don’t have to beat anyone up for me. Besides, I can take care of myself. I’m the one who can bench press a two hundred pound jock, remember?” She grinned, but Brianna didn’t look convinced. “Why would they think I live in a commune anyway?”
Brianna shook her head and glanced out the window. “You know how people are. They just make stuff up when they don’t understand something.”
“You mean like global warming?”
“No, like a girl who lives way out of town and is never allowed to go to school functions or hang out with other kids, who wears out-of-fashion clothes, and whose mom drives a twenty-year-old Suburban…the vehicle of choice, by the way, for large families and/or sister wives to haul their many children to town to buy shoes at the local Wal-Mart.”
She raised her brows. “Quite an imagination you have there. You really think I’m an only child in a multiple wife home? Doesn’t say much for my dad’s charisma, does it?”
“Not me. I think your dad has lots of charisma. He’s pretty cute actually. I just find it strange that he won’t let us go bowling or to the movies without him tagging along.” She put up her hands. “But hey, I’m fine with it. The other kids don’t know you like I do, that’s all.”
“So they made up a crazy story about a commune. That makes total sense.” Jael pulled at one earlobe, thinking. “Bree, I think Lyle likes me.”
Brianna slid off the desk, mouth open. “Really? How do you know?”
“He asked if I was coming to the game tonight and invited me to go along with him and some others to get burgers afterward.” She frowned. “I thought games were always on Friday nights.”
“They are, but this isn’t a real game. Coach set it up so the team could know what it felt like to play against a 3A Division school. He thought it would motivate them to excel.” She rolled her eyes.
Jael had no clue what division the Tumbleweeds were in and really didn’t care. “Whatever. So, getting a burger…that’s sort of a date, right?”
“It’s as close to a date as you can get without technically being asked on a date.”
“Without technically saying yes, I sort of said yes.” She smiled overly bright.
“You what?”
“Bree, you’ve got to help me!” She grabbed her friend’s hands and pleaded. “My parents will never let me go. You know that. But I have to! I want this more than anything.”
“What can I do?” Brianna shrugged. “They wouldn’t even let me come to your house for a sleepover.”
“I can get out of the house undetected. That part’s not hard. What I can’t do without them noticing, is drive our truck to town.” She gave her a twisted grin. “Besides, the other sister moms might need it.”
Brianna laughed and shook her head. “Are you asking me for a ride?”
“Yes. Can you pick me up?”
“Does Lyle look hot in basketball shorts?”
“I hope that’s a rhetorical question. I’ve yet to see him in basketball shorts.”
Brianna pulled away and grabbed her bag. “What time shall I pick you up?”