A Little Bit Pyro

11: Sweaty Pizza and a Heimliched Burrito

Dedicated to XxSummer-LeafxX because she's awesome enough to vote and leave super cool comments on every chapter. : )

Also, thanks to GummyXBearLove for that cute banner on the side. Thanks!

Chapter 11: Sweaty Pizza and a Heimliched Burrito

“Did you find anything?” I ask setting my food tray next to George W. at the back corner of the courtyard.

Ajay catches my eye and holds his hands out in the “What the heck are you doing?” gesture.  He’s surrounded by his soccer buddies already, but he saved the seat next to him for me. I signal to wait a minute before turning back to Georgie.

If the troublesome trio told me a true story this morning, George W. will probably want to stay as far from me as possible. In fact, if I was a good friend, I would probably steer clear of Kenz and Jay too—at least until all this blows over.

“Ahem.” George clears his throat, but can’t seem to get any other sound to come out. That’s when I notice how nervous he looks with sweat beads along his hairline. The little bit of lunch that he’s eaten looks like it is trying to reclaim its place in the outside world.

Finally he mutters a sentence, but shakes his head as he does so. “What have you gotten yourself into?” He swipes at the sweat along his forehead with his hands, and his eyes look A.D.D. darting everywhere in the room, and never staying anywhere for more than a moment. He picks up his pizza with the same hand he used to wipe his sweaty brow, but doesn’t take a bite. Note to self: do not steal George’s pizza today.

“I was hoping you could tell me.”

He puts down his pizza, with his gaze still everywhere and nowhere at once. “Get out. Whatever it is you are up to, you don’t want to be involved with those people.”

“What did you find on them?” I ask, finishing my hamburger.

He opens his mouth to speak, but his eyes widen at something over my shoulder. Half hoping that it’s a certain Brunette with a penchant for attracting the men in large quantities I turn my head, only to find Ashleigh instead. She directs a confused smile at George, probably trying to figure out why I’m with him, before talking.

“Hey Ref,” she pauses to grin at me. “Just wanted to let you know what we’ve decided.”

I haven’t had any communication with them since our peace agreement yesterday, so whatever they’ve been discussing is a mystery to me. When I don’t say anything she tucks a piece of hair behind her ear and continues.

“Well, Daddy thinks it would be worth fifteen hundred dollars, and a graduation party to keep me from having a second kiss.”

She says this with a wide smile, and claps at the end like I should be excited that I’m going to have to fork up five-hundred dollars for that one fateful moment of panic. Five-hundred sounds way better than two-grand, but she’s not done.

“And we’ve thought up the perfect way for you to get those five-hundred dollars.”

Exuberance fuels the mad hand clapping and bouncing that she has going on at the moment. Judging by the visible surface area of her teeth as her smile stretches even wider, I fear that Ashleigh isn’t far from breaking out the spirit fingers, or back flips. Midday is too early for that level of mania.

“We’ll pay you to tutor us in Chemistry! Kenz told us you’re, like, a mad scientist and you got, like, a five on your AP chemistry exam last year. She is already sending around a sign up list, so you don’t have to worry about that, and we’ll pay you ten bucks an hour. She says you even have your own lab that you could tutor us in.”