Adrian Gonzalez knows the painful truth about liking someone you have no chance with-they never like you back and you're left heartbroken. Ever wonder why it's called a 'crush?'
But when the hopeless crush he has is on Parker Thompson-nonbinary scho...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The sun had dipped further into the sky by the time Micky pulled up at my house. I was beat, my limbs hardly cooperating as I sat up and rubbed a hand over my face. Micky, though, seemed upbeat as ever. He was bopping his head along to a song from Recalled Ramen Noodles—a harsh reminder that brought up thoughts of Samantha again. And it was the last thing I wanted to think about.
“You okay?” Micky looked over at me, while his hands kept drumming a beat on the steering wheel.
“I’m fine,” I sighed. “It’s just, I don’t think you’re a right fit for the Northwood Journal.”
“And why’s that?”
“You’re... really asking me that?”
“Yes. I’ve been on board for over a week, and none of them have said I’m not a ‘right fit.’ But then you come along and tell me this, so I wanna know why.”
I faced him, counting off the points on my fingers as I made them. “First, you abandoned me to do God knows what. We discussed what both of us were to do, and I ended up doing all of them. You never took photos like you were supposed to—which was the sole reason you were provided the camera.” I gestured at the glove department, where he had dumped the device when we entered the car. “Honestly, I don’t know why I’m wasting my time talking to you about this. You probably just tagged along to look for ways to cheat and sabotage their team.”
His expression went from a smug smile to utter shock. Immediately, he turned off the music. “What? No!” he yelled in disbelief. “I wouldn’t do that. Aside from that being a bad idea, it’s also a fucking stupid one, because the next competition is in our school, not West Dale. All I did was watch. That’s it.” Micky shrugged, frowning.
“Then why did you keep disappearing? You could still watch from where we sat.”
Now, he sighed like he was tired of me. “Because Coach Martin was there, and I didn’t want him to see me. Since the summer of our sophomore year, he and Coach Rivera banned Northwood athletes from going to games at West Dale, because it always ends in some sort of clash. But I wasn’t there as an athlete, I was there as a journalist.”
“Some journaling you did.” I rolled my eyes.
“Parker, don’t be like this. I didn’t cause no trouble; you can’t kick me off just like that. Honestly, all I did was watch the competition to see what the team is up against.” Micky’s lips drew into a thin line as he rubbed at his forehead. “We never really hear stuff about our games, because Coach likes to surprise us and ‘keep us on our toes.’ The newsroom gets all the information before we do. It’s why I went.”
“How is that my problem? You’re literally telling me you joined just to use us for your benefit.”
“Shit. Okay, I know it sounds bad, but I don’t have any bad motives. I’m sorry for not being helpful. But please, Parker, I need this.” He licked his lips, face turning solemn. “I didn’t lie about... needing a boost with the academic side of things. And a recommendation letter from Mr Dimas would be just that.”
