Archer

Chapter 2: First Game

Chapter 2: First Game

The moment I walked into my house, James was already at the door, waiting. He lifted me up again, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I missed you like crazy,” I told him.

I heard him breathe out in laughter. “I missed you more. You have a lot to catch me up on.”

Mom walked in the room, smiling. She took a picture of us with her phone, and I knew that it was going to be posted on her Facebook in about two minutes, with some cheesy caption, along the lines of, “Brother and sister finally reunited!”

James led me up to his room, and we sat around talking for a while. He told me about his service, and I told him about the little things he missed in the last year and half.

“Are you still friends with Luke and Ashley?” he asked, tossing a ball up in the air.

I nodded. “Yeah. We’re still close.”

He then sat up. “Hey, isn’t there a football game going on tonight?”

“Yeah. How did you know that?”

“I was talking to the football captain before the pep rally. Good kid. He was the one who pushed for this appearance to happen. Davis was asking the Student Council about it and he said he’d take care of it,” James said, shrugging his shoulder. “Do you know him?”

“Sort of,” I mumbled. “If I go to the game today, would you want to come with me?”

He smiled apologetically. “I’d love to, Miranda, but I was going to go meet some of my friends. They also don’t know that I’m back.”

I nodded and hugged him again. “It’s okay. I understand.” We were both silent for a moment. Then, I said, “I’m so glad you’re back home.”

“Yeah,” he said, understandingly. “I am too.”

He then stood up and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I’m going to leave now. I’ll probably be back when you get home.”

“Okay,” I said, letting him leave. When he was gone, I got up and went to my room, sifting through my closet, in search of some warm clothes. It was going to be a little cold out, so I was looking for typical fall clothes: sweater, a scarf, at least some boots.

While I changed, I called Ashley. “Hey,” she said.

“Hi,” I replied back, stuffing my arm through a hole. “Are you going to the game?”

“Are you?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll meet you there. I’ll see if Luke wants to come too.”