Bear Naked

Chapter Four

By Friday, Amanda had given up being mad at Erica over the "interesting smell" comment. Erica followed her out to her locker after class and even down to the front steps of the school. Jay and Courtney were waiting for Amanda there.

Amanda turned to say good bye to Erica who was "waiting for some friends," when she heard a familiar voice.

"Hey, Amanda, Jay, Courtney," Connor said as he came down the steps two at a time. To Erica, he said, "You seen the others yet?"

"What are you guys doing?" Jay asked.

"Just walking home," Connor said. "Brianna can't stand to be in one of those tin boxes with that many kids." He nodded casually at the school bus as he said it.

"Don't peg it all on me," Brianna said sourly as she came down the stairs with a boy in tow. The boy had dark hair, almost pitch-black eyes, and a brooding look about him. "None of you all can stand it any better."

"I tend to agree," Amanda said, "Jay and I haven't ridden the bus, ever. Even in elementary, and even in the middle of winter, we always walked."

"Together?" Connor asked. "Do you live close by?"

"I am just on the edge where I could take the bus, but I hate waiting, and it doesn't take me that much longer to walk than to wait," she explained.

"Where do you live?" Connor asked. She told him the address. "I thought the street dead-ended there?" he said.

"It does," Jay told him. "Her uncle's cabin is just on the edge of town, right past the dead end. You know how there's that alley and the hedgerow? It's tucked up in there."

"You can't say much," Amanda said. "You live where the sidewalk ends."

Erica snorted at Amanda's joke. "I loved that poem as a kid," she said.

Tanner approached the group and clapped the dark-haired boy on the shoulder. "Jonathan, baby," he said, "that was some awesome dodge ball in PE." The boy rolled his eyes. "What are we waiting for?" he asked.

"You," Brianna told him.

"We are all headed that way," Connor said pointing. "Mind if we walk with you guys a while?"

Courtney shrugged and said, "Suit yourself." Amanda nodded too, to be polite. She wasn't exactly sure what was up with Connor and his new group of friends, but she was still a little leery of them. Maybe they were looking for another excuse to smell her and then talk about it behind her back. Why would they do that? the rational part of her mind demanded. She shrugged it off.

"Mom says I might be able to use the Quest for school, if I do well enough and the insurance isn't too bad." Connor said.

"Awesomely cool," Tanner said.

"It would beat walking," Brianna said.

"I don't know, I like the fresh air," Erica said.

"What's the Quest?" Jay asked.

"It's a Nissan Quest," Connor explained. "It's my parent's second car. Seats eight, so I can haul a lot of friends."

"It's nice that you think of your friends." Courtney commented. The entire group walked down the road toward the middle school, where they would all presumably go their separate ways. They talked about school. Erica complimented Courtney on her fall hair colors, and Tanner pestered Jay about math, which he was struggling with.

This is how it should be, Amanda thought. No one commented on her weight or her odor. No one was giving her looks, if you discounted the occasional cold glance from Brianna. And they were all interacting with Jay and Courtney like that was no big deal either. No blunt or veiled slurs about their sexual orientation, or how it was a sinful life.