"hey, are you ready for lunch?" dan asked as he appeared beside zoe's locker. it took him a moment to notice the rapid way in which her chest was rising and falling, the stunned look on her face.
"what's wrong?"
she turned to face him slowly. "i've been chosen as captain for the competition."
"what competition?"
"the spell bowl championship. it's in less than three weeks, and i've been chosen as captain." her face was pale, eyes distant.
"but isn't that a good thing?" dan tried, reaching a hand toward zoe's.
"no," she said miserably, slumping against the lockers behind them. "everyone's going to be counting on me. and if our team ties with another, the tie-breaker question will automatically go to me."
"as it should," dan said brightly. "you're the best on the team."
"how would you know?" zoe asked, smiling slightly in spite of herself.
"because i believe in you," dan said simply. zoe rolled her eyes at his cheesiness, and he added, "the sheer number of times you've corrected mr. levine's spelling more than qualifies you for the job."
zoe laughed then, eyes crinkling at the edges. dan smiled and squeezed her hand tightly. he wished things could always be this simple, wished they could just be dan and zoe, no last names to connect them to the webs of hurt they called families.
a tall boy in a blue shirt approached them, waving.
"hey, phil," dan greeted him.
"hey. you guys ready for lunch?"
"lunch?" zoe asked. "you're going to eat with us?"
phil's smile faltered. "is that not alright?" he said, already backing away into the crowd of students that filtered through the hall.
"no!" zoe said quickly. "of course it is! you've just always declined the offer when we've invited you before, so-"
"sorry," phil apologized. "i was afraid you were only inviting me because you felt like you had to. i didn't want to impose..."
zoe grinned and looped an arm through his. "we invited you because you're our friend, phil."
the trio shared a smile then, and phil fell in love with the way his chest warmed at that word:
friend.