Reliving Yesterday ✔

Chapter 6.

I stuck my tongue out at him.

He smiled, but then looked thoughtful. "You know what?" he said, looking down at the pill bottle he had discarded, "I'm going to keep one of these with myself. What if I can't find yours?"

I looked at him and pulled him in for a hug. "You're my best friend, Parker."

He sighed, sounding triumphant. "I know." He laughed.

My dad came over and put his hand on my shoulder. "Honey, I'm just going to be in the kitchen. Tell me if you need anything, OK? It's a good thing Parker knew about the bananas. Eat it."

He left and I turned to Parker. "How'd you know about the bananas?" I asked him. I knew only because the doctor who told me all about it told me and told me to tell dad, but I forgot.

Parker shrugged. "When it happened a few months ago, you fell near me and it scared me way too much, so I looked it up," he said, which was amazing since he made me do all the looking up possible, "And I found out about the bananas."

I bit my lip, trying to hold back tears. "You did that for me?"

"Sure, I did," he said, rolling his eyes and pulling me in by the shoulder, "You're my best friend."

I shook my head, trying to shake my memories of him.

"OK, people, let's hit the showers. We'll pick this up tomorrow," Coach said - not yell - and blew his whistle.

Everyone scattered, except for the people right by me.

"You sure you're OK?" Blake asked me, furrowing his brows.

"Sure," I shrugged, "Thanks."

He nodded, smiled and walked off. I turned to Hanna.

"Oh, God. I swear I thought you were going to die," she said, holding my shoulders, "I've never actually been there when that happened to you even though you've told me it had. You told me where to get your pills, but it's never really happened. I never thought it would."

That's because only one person has actually been there when it ever happened. Parker.

"It's OK, Han," I soothed her, getting off the table, "I'm fine. It's just low blood pressure, that's all."

She nodded and grabbed my hand. "Let's just shower and get to lunch. See you, Jackson."

As she pulled me, I saw a bunch of bananas sitting on a chair. "Why'd you get those?" I asked, intrigued. Was there someone who actually paid attention in health class?

"Oh, weirdest thing," she said, like it was nothing, "When you fell, the first thing Parker did was say 'Get bananas' and then, suddenly, like he'd been electrocuted, went back to brooding and the people who fall over themselves to please him, meaning the cheerleaders, headed by Chanel, fell over themselves to get the hopeless guys in our class to get them and the hopeless guys in our class, except Jackson and Stephen and Blake and some other person I noted, fell over themselves to get bananas for the girls, so all in all, you got bananas."

I was stunned. It was a habit of Parker's. I smiled, bitterly.

Old habits die hard.

Like mine of looking over at his window whenever I passed mine to see if he was there and if I could see him.

"It was really nice of Blake to carry you over, though," she said.

"Blake carried me?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said, a sly smile crossing her face. She came back to me because I hadn't realized that I stopped. "Romeo carried you away; bridal style."

"Shut up."

*

The only time the school field was peaceful was when school and after school practise was over. I sat there, lacing my sneakers, when I heard footsteps come up to me.

"Didn't faint again, did you?"

I turned to see Blake, smiling down at me, squinting in the evening sun.

"Uh, hey, Blake," I said, giving a weak laugh, "No. No, I didn't."

"Good, because the basketball court is a little too far away from the track you all run to get there in time," he said, sitting down next to me, putting his backpack on the ground next to him.

I widened my eyes at him and then laughed. "Oh, yeah. Thanks for that," I said, "Hanna told me you got stuck carrying me."

He smiled at me. "No big," he shook his head, "You're not heavy anyway."

I nodded at him and got up. "Going home?" I asked him, looking over at the basketball court, trying to avoid running into the rest of the football team.

He shook his head. "I think I'll catch the subway. My car kind of," he sheepishly scratched the back of his neck, "Yeah, well. Let's just say that I won't get it for another week or so."

I laughed. "Grounded?"

"Pretty much."

"Well, uh, let me give you a ride," I offered, "Since you pretty much saved my life."

"Ah." He waved a dismissive hand.

"No, really, come on," I said, "It's not far from my place."

He looked up at me and smiled. "Yeah, thanks." He got up and followed me to my car. And for the first time since school started, a guy was actually nice to me instead of being a jerk.