Crossed Paths

III - Getting to Know Keri

On Monday, I was almost late because I overslept, but I had enough time to get the names onto the noticeboard. There was a whole swarm of people, and it wasn't just the soccer girls.
I got to the board and got a pin off someone and pinned the piece of paper:

Soccer Team
- Cindy Thornton
- Charli Murphy
- Eleanor Chapman
- Arie Kelly
- Riley Ferguson
- Dharia Richardson
- Keandra Collins
- Emarald Morgan
- Lenecia Murray
- Camella Hart
- Amara Little
- Dazzline Bennet
- Sasha Reid

Then I quickly got out of there before I got killed by the mob of girls. I rushed to my homeroom where I was met by Cindy. "You're late." She deadpanned. I nodded and told her she got on the team. She was really happy and hugged me. I didn't put her on my team because she's my best friend, but because she's genuinely a good defender.

The teacher walked in and proceeded with the registration. After the bell rang, everyone rushed out to their next lessons.

~~~

At lunch, I waited in line to get my food. As I was waiting, I scanned the canteen to find where my friends were sitting, but instead I spotted Keri sitting on her own, staring at her cheese sandwich. She looked sad.

After that I was impatiently waiting for my food because I wanted to join Keri. Finally I got a packet of crisps and mini bottle of water. I speed walked to Keri's table and sat down opposite her.

She lifted up her head. She looked like she'd been crying but messily fixed her makeup after. We didn't say anything, we just looked at each other for a couple of minutes. "Hey." I meekly said. She didn't say anything, she took her sandwich in her hand and took a bite.

"You want to talk about it?" I gently said.

"Eat." She almost whispered.

"What?"

"Just eat your food." She rudely stated and continued eating. I opened my crisps and took out one and ate it.

"Would you like one?" I held out the packet in front of her, she hesitantly took one and smiled softly. I watched her expression as she put it in her mouth. She clearly didn't like the flavour. It was really cute how she scrunched her nose in disgust. "You don't like it?" I laughed.

"No." She giggled, putting a hand over her mouth. I laughed a little more and that encouraged her a little but calmed down a bit. We followed by another silence as we ate.

I finished first, so whilst Keri was finishing her sandwich, I was lowkey staring at her. She finished and put her drink in her bag and stood up, "You wanna come to the library with me?" She asked me as I stood up as well.

"How much time do we have left?"

"Plenty!" She giggled, and discreetly checked her phone, "Half an hour, come on!" She grabbed my wrist and we almost ran to the library. My heart was beating ferociously, and it wasn't because we were running.

We signed in and chose two computers. "You seem really happy." I smiled as we logged in. She looked at me, her grin slowly disappearing. "It's just, ever since Marina became cheer captain, all my friends have just ditched me. You're the only one that's spoken to me since they announced the new captain."

"Well, then, they're not really your friends are they." I patted her back.

"Apparently they didn't want me to be captain because they don't like me anymore. I'm still on the squad though." She said the last sentence with an optimistic tone.

"You wanna play the scary maze game to get your mind off things?" I asked evilly.

"Scary maze game? What's that?"

"Oh you're missing out." I typed it into her browser and got the game up for her. "You can't touch this part." I pointed. She passed the first two levels easily. As soon as the picture popped up, Keri shrieked and fell off her chair. I laughed and helped her stand up. She frowned but laughed soon after. She straightened out her white dress with a pink rose pattern.

Then we got kicked out for being too loud.

We grabbed our bags and walked out as fast as we could, trying to hold in our laughter. We went outside and the arid air hit us like a truck with spikes on it.

"Ooh! It's boiling!" Keri giggled, taking off her plain, pastel pink cardigan. "Aren't you hot in that?" She pointed to my jacket.

"Well yeah but I never take it off!" I laughed, taking it off anyway. I tied it around my waist. "Are you free after school?"

"No, I'm quite expensive, sorry." She said very seriously but then we burst out laughing. "But in all seriousness, no. I have cheer practise."

"Oh. Right, yeah, I forgot I have soccer practise." I said, trying to hide my disappointment. "Well, let's go to the dance studio!" I suggested and Keri agreed.

We walked to the dance studio which wasn't far away from the library. Luckily, only one of the studios was occupied, so we went into the other.

I dropped my bag and jacket next to the door and Keri put hers next to mine. I started prancing around the studio, humming a random tune, whilst Keri just laughed at me. She soon joined in and we were skipping and dancing (sort of) and singing really loudly.

Then I tripped over my own feet and fell. My arms weakened the fall and I pretended I was doing press-ups. The cheerleader laughed at me and skidded into a kneeling position next to me. "You're so silly!" She giggled as she rubbed her knees and I sat down, supporting myself with my arms.

"That was pointless!" I laughed, panting.

"What was?"

"The running around!" I moved my arms in a huge circular motion. "It was fun though." I smiled. Then I lied down onto my back, with my arms spread out. Keri looked at me and then lied down as well, onto my arm.