Not So Bad - A.M.

6. Another Job

The next day, at school, I was yelled at all day for ditching.

"You left us." Jordan yelled, playfully.

"We were looking all over for you." Naomi said.

"Sorry, guys. I just, uh, had to leave early. I wasn't feeling well." I lied.

I didn't want them to know where I had really gone. Austin isn't exactly a "safe person to be around" in their eyes.

We started towards the cafeteria, since it was now lunch, and on the way there, I saw Austin. He nodded his head at me when his eyes met mine. I just smiled slightly as we walked past him.

"What was that?" Jordan questioned.

"What was what?" I asked, trying to seem clueless.

"Oh, don't act dumb." Naomi said, slapping my shoulder. "He nodded at you and you smiled."

"Yeah, what's up with you two?" Jordan asked.

"Nothing is up with us. You two are crazy." I said.

I walked ahead of them and entered the cafeteria.

"Wait." Jordan said, grabbing my wrist and spinning me around. "I just remembered something."

Confused, I asked, "What?"

"I noticed that Austin wasn't here most of the day yesterday."

"So?" I asked. "How do you even know that?"

"He's in most of my classes, but he wasn't there for some of them." Jordan put a finger on her chin, and looked off into the distance. "You said you left after first period, right?"

"Right." I confirmed.

"Well, Austin wasn't there second. Or the rest of the day for that matter."

I shook my head. "I'm not seeing the connection here."

"I'm not done." She held up a finger. "You were gone, he was gone. Maybe you two left together?" She asked.

"What? Why would I go anywhere with him?" I asked nervously.

"You ditched class, didn't you?" Jordan asked.

I caved in. "Okay, fine. Yes, I ditched."

Suddenly, Naomi gasped. "Please tell me you didn't ditch with Austin."

"I-I didn't." I stuttered.

"You're lying." Jordan laughed.

"No I'm not." I defended.

"Ava, I know you two ditched together. I heard." She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow playfully.

"If you already knew then why were you asking me all those questions?" I asked.

"Wait, so you really did ditch? I didn't know until right now." Naomi butted in.

"I wanted to see if you'd tell us." Jordan said to me.

"Well, I eventually would have."

"You know he's bad news right?" Jordan questioned.

I groaned. "Don't start that, okay. We aren't even friends. I just wanted to prove that I wasn't too good to ditch. That's all. Can we just eat lunch, now?" I pleaded.

They both chuckled.

"Yeah, let's go." Naomi said.

***

School was finally over and I was more than happy to be leaving. Being forced to stay in this place 7 hours a day isn't exactly my favorite thing.

I went out to the parking lot where I knew my mom was waiting. I was casually walking along when I almost got ran over.