They Call It Heart

Chapter 13, The Does She Like Him?

Talan

I lift my pizza and take a bite, glancing across the table at Amalia beside Kade, thinking about how he pulled her chair out for her. She didn't blink a surprised eye—actually, nobody did. I wonder if he always behaves that way toward her. Maybe he does, but it's just now standing out and bothering me.

While everyone talks and eats, Amalia reads a newspaper she took from a stack on the counter as we passed. It's the last time I saw her all over again. She hardly speaks and won't look at me, and I can't concentrate on everyone else's words. It seems like she's mad at me again. It's that, or she is leaning toward Kade from the looks of it.

"You okay, Talan?" Jasmine asks. "You're so quiet."

My eyes roam around the table, and everyone stares at me, including Amalia, who pops up from her paper. I notice it's a trading post. "Sure. I'm just tired from the long, early trip."

They all go back to their conversations. Jaxon and Mateo talk about a football game between their favorite NFL teams they watched last night. I glimpse over at Kade and Erik. Erik is telling Kade about a Civil War documentary he had watched on The History Channel, and Kinsley is paying deep attention to whatever Erik says.

I'm not hungry, but I lift another slice of pizza. I don't know why everyone feels like they need to feed me.

"Talan, do they have a state-of-the-art gym on campus? I can tell you made some gains." Jaxon stretches, positioning his arms into a loose double bicep pose. "But you're still not as big as me."

Oh, oh, here we go! I finally have a reason to smile.

Jaxon has a classic football player build, and like Mateo, he lifts weights constantly and looks larger than he did last fall. I'll give him that. He always wears those damn preppy dress-up sweaters, though. I reach over and poke the front of his shoulder, insinuating he's soft and possibly padded. "Dude. How many sweaters are you wearing under there?"

Jaxon's face twists in insult. "I'm not wearing another sweater!"

Kade and Erik laugh. It takes Mateo, Jasmine, and Kinsley a second to catch on. Amalia pays no attention.

"One point for Talan," Erik says, holding up his index finger. That's a game we played a lot when we were younger. We scored our verbal jabs at each other by how funny we thought they were. All it did was egg us on and sometimes piss us off.

Jaxon laughs under his breath. "Okay, you got me."

Amalia lifts her head and almost smiles.

"For real, though, Talan. What's your new boxing club like?" Jaxon asks.

"It's good." Everyone's gazing at me, so I elaborate. "It's a good-sized team, a smorgasbord of new fighters to practice with, but I hoped it was better. A lot of the guys have been boxing for a long time, like me. But, as far as worthy sparring competition my age goes, just like our club, few are my class."

I feel the joke coming with the grin that splits Jaxon's face. "That's because you don't have any."

I snicker and say, "Yeah, I walked straight into that one."

Erik put his thumb down as Kade says, "Five points."

I flick my crumpled napkin at Kade's face and continue. "That being said. I'm moving up now, so I'm lifting, eating, eating, and lifting."

Mateo offers me some tips and then reminds Jasmine about his last Pac-Man high score, making me remember their infatuation with Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man and their obsession with outscoring one another.