Maggie gets to school early and heads straight to class, avoiding talking to anyone in the hall.
“Hey there Maggie,” a voice says. Maggie turns around. It’s Josh. They've gone to school together their whole lives. He’s gotten really sexy lately. When they were in the third grade, he asked Maggie out on a date. Maggie was a precocious child. She told him that she didn’t want to date until high school. Now he’s back, but Maggie hasn’t really given him a chance.
“Hi,” Maggie says.
“What are you doing in class so early?” Josh asks.
“My Dad gave me a lift before work,” Maggie says. A half truth.
“That’s cool,” Josh says. “Coach let us out of rugby practice early today. Drills this morning were brutal though.”
“I can imagine,” Maggie says. She isn’t too interested by sports.
“Yeah, we had to do like thirty laps, seventy five push ups, a hundred sit ups, and then we started practicing some plays.”
Maggie notices some blood on Josh’s arm. “Are you okay?” she asks.
“Yeah,” he says. “I took a bad fall and then got a little trampled. Someone’s cleat just tore into me.”
“Can I see?” she asks. Josh pulls up the shoulder of his shirt. There’s a deep cut. Maggie reaches into her purse and pulls out a box of tissue paper and a band-aid. She is quite handy. She takes a couple pieces of tissue paper and wipes off the blood. “Hold still,” she says and sticks the band-aid on over the cut.
“Thanks,” Josh says. He rolls down his sleeve. “Can I pay you pack by buying you dinner?”
“No, thanks."
“How about coffee then?”
“Do you mean like a date?”
“Maybe, if you say yes.”
Maggie doesn’t answer right away. “I was thinking of waiting until college to start dating.”
Josh smiles. He remembers her last rejection. “I’ll wait,” he says. “Want to pencil me in for coffee for two years tomorrow?”
Maggie has to look away for a minute, her face is flush with embarrassment. She’s smiling though. She looks up at Josh again. “How about Wednesday?”
“Two years Wednesday?” he asks. “Is two years tomorrow already booked? If I would have known you were so busy, I would have made the date in second grade.”
Maggie laughs, “No, I meant two days from now, Wednesday.”
“I just wanted to make sure,” Josh says with a cautious grin. “Want to meet up in front of the school after class?”
“Sure,” Maggie says.
Maggie and Josh talk a bit. The bell rings and class starts. After class, Josh has to go get ready for gym.
Maggie sees Day in the hall. At first she pretends she doesn't see him, but once she sees that he's alone, she decides to say hi.
“Hey there,” Day says. “How are you doing?”
“I’m good,” she says. She still has a bit of that ‘I’ve just been asked out on a date by a cute boy’ glow. “How about you?”
“I’m good,” Day says. “I was wondering, have you seen Aaron? He wasn’t in class today.”
“No,” Maggie says. “You know Aaron, punctuality isn’t really his thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if he walked in halfway through second period.”
Day laughs. “Yeah, I’m starting to get that. Although, maybe I just don’t know him well enough, but he’s seemed really different the last couple days.”
“Yeah, he’s been a little off.”
“Is it me?” he asks.
“Oh god, no,” she says. “Trust me, it isn’t you. Some stuff’s going on. Just give it a day or two and hopefully he’ll be normal.”
“Thanks,” Day says. “Do you mind not saying anything to Aaron about this? I don’t want him thinking I’m super neurotic or anything.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Maggie says. She smiles, trying to conceal her own fears.
“Thanks,” Day says. “Do you want to grab lunch together? Aaron talks about you so much, I feel like I know you already.”
“I feel the same way,” Maggie says. They make a plan to meet up after the next period. Day heads to class. Maggie goes outside to make a phone call. She calls her Aunt. She needs to know more about the Sword of God.