Ned Gets Stood Up

Chapter Fourteen

NED

Ned must look worse than he thought.

Out of all the places he imagined Sam Hayes choosing to go after the fight of the century, Hobgood Park was last on that list. actually, it wasn't even on Ned's list. It was on a post-it that missed the bottom of the garbage can. Hobgood was a smallish park with a great sidewalk for walking and a little playground for kids to release as much energy as possible, but it was really meant for the two baseball fields on either side. One for little league and the other for bigger kids.

But today, for the holidays, it was Santa Land.

A snowy wonderland was caged inside one of the fields, complete with little elf houses and a long line of people twisting around the North Pole as they waited anxiously to meet Saint Nicholas himself. The other field was labeled Santa's Workshop but was really a bunch of tents for activities kids could do and the rest of the park was littered by vendors and people asking for church donations.

Any other day, Ned might be running around like an idiot, convincing his friends to get their faces painted with him or betting he could eat his weight in funnel cake. He might even be manning a booth or two.

Real life got in the way of this joy. The reality of his fight with Lena was churning his stomach like a mixer turned on too high and his mix of anxiety and guilt was splattering the walls of his body. His phone was also still vibrating in his pocket. The weight of The Gregor in his hands growing.

A girl with a ponytail noticeably very high was staring at him.

She was texting, but still looking at him.

Glancing at The Gregor too.

"You have to relax," Sam said with two hot chocolates he just bought. It was cold enough now that Ned could see Sam's puffs of breath as he spoke, "You're not going to make any good decisions freaking out."

"I don't think that's physically possible, Sam," Ned insisted, looking at his mother's caller ID again and then, the girl who definitely just took a picture of him. He put his hand on Sam's cold shoulder and started steering him away. "Everything's going wrong so fast."

"I mean, yeah, but it's not like life or death. Just drink some of this," Sam handed him a hot chocolate before he convulsed a little. Ned's chest tightened. He took both hot chocolates and sat them down on the nearest bench.

"I'm pretty sure that girl over there was chipmunk cheerleader and my mom won't stop calling me and usually, I'd ask Lena to talk to her for me, but Lena hates me now." As he rattled on, Ned slipped off his coat and handed it to Sam, but he recalled the little wrapped present and pulled it back . "Take this, but uh don't look through the pockets."

Sam shook his head. "Lena doesn't hate you and I'm fine."

Ned draped the jacket over Sam's shoulder. "I'm wearing a sweater. I'm the one who'll be fine. Okay, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Actually, let's say that for everything."

Giving up, Sam slipped on the jacket and it hung a little loosely around his shoulders and slipped a little too far around his wrists. "Lena shouldn't have to talk to your mom for you anyways. And you should answer the phone before she calls the FBI."

Sitting on the bench, Sam pulled Ned's jacket tightly around him like a blanket. "Let's just start with what you don't want to happen, you're good at that."

"I mean, I don't wanna lose Lena and I don't wanna talk to my mom. And Chad's also right. I don't wanna let my school keep failing. Everyone should have a fair chance with this..." Need motioned to The Gregor. "Him giving one school the upper hand, it's not fair. People should do well based on their own merit. Not from lawn gnome magic."