"We're going shopping tonight," Brad announces as we walk into school together. My dad had dropped me off today, so Brad met me at the car park.
"Are we? What for?"
He gives me a strange look. "For Christmas, what else for?"
"Right," I say, nodding. "I forgot about Christmas presents. What do you want?"
"You don't have to get me anything," he says and I roll my eyes at him. Of course I have to get him something, it's one of my responsibilities of being a best friend.
"I'm still gonna get you something, you're just making my decision harder."
"Jamie," he says my name sternly and I look up at him, tilting my head. "Don't get me anything. I don't want—or need—anything."
"Fine, you can't get me anything then."
He throws me a look as though I'm being ridiculous. "Of course I have to get you something."
"And I've got to get you something," I tell him, looking around the hallway and my eyes land on the boys from yesterday. I hold my breath and look away, edging closer towards Brad.
He notices and frowns, putting his arm over my shoulder protectively. "What's up?" His eyes flicker around us and before I can answer, he spots the boys. "Don't worry, Jamie, they're not gonna do anything. I've made sure of it."
"Yeah," I say quietly, playing with the straps on my shoulders before letting out a soft sigh. "So, Christmas shopping—when?"
"Tonight," he reminds me. "It's not gonna be as busy and I've got to go to the tracks this weekend, too."
I nod. "That's fine, my dad shouldn't mind."
"I'll take you home," Brad says. "So that your dad doesn't worry."
Brad and my dad have only met once briefly a couple of weeks ago. It was awkward since I didn't know he was going to be back from work that day and my dad didn't know I had a friend 'round—never mind a boy. Long story short, my dad ended up interrogating Brad until he made my friend promise to 'protect me always', which was embarrassing and awkward for me.
I smile gratefully. "I feel bad that you're always chauffeuring me around. Maybe I'll just buy you a petrol station for Christmas so that you can fill up you car for free."
"I don't mind taking you everywhere," Brad assures me, "and like I said, don't get me a present."
"I'm getting you a present."
+
I still had no idea what I was going to get Brad for Christmas. I had messaged James during lunch asking what Brad would want by James said don't bother because Brad's difficult to buy for. He was no help.
"You okay?" Brad asks as we walk down the hallway. We were on our way to our last lesson of the day—Phys Ed.
"I'm fine," I tell him. "I'm just thinking about what to get you for Christmas."
He rolls his eyes at me. "Don't bother, I don't need anything."
"I don't care," I say. "I'll buy you something, whether you like it or not. What about a new watch? Or tickets to a football game? Or—?"
"Jamie," he quickly stops us from walking and stands in front of me, his hands lightly on my arms. "Don't get my anything for Christmas, okay? I don't need anything."
"I'll find something to get you," I tell him stubbornly. "It's gonna be great, mark my words."
"Jamie," he warns me with his eyebrows raised. "Don't get me any—,"
"Come on, you two," a teacher calls from behind us. "Time to get to class."
Brad lets out a sigh and drops his hands from my arms before looking down at me. "Come on, lets go before Coach yells at us."
We make it to class before coach ends up telling us off and he announces that we're going to be playing rugby outside.
Brad and I pair up to do some running and throwing and practice making runs for the goals. When we get into teams, Brad and I are separated.
"I hope you get the ball so that I can rugby tackle you," I say to Brad, pushing him slightly as he grabs a pink bib from the floor to put on.
"What else are you gonna do? Football tackle me?" He teases me and I roll my eyes, walking over to my team and we sort out positions. When we begin the game, Brad has the ball first and is throwing it in the air and catching it with ease.
As the whistle blows, the attackers run forward to get the ball while I stay back to defend. When I get passed the ball, I run forward with it, dodging people quickly with ease—one good thing about being small.
As Brad follows close behind, I hear him chuckling from the side as I roll on the floor to avoid someone's body, throwing it back towards a teammate.
Brad accidentally falls on top of me and I wheeze out at the contact. "Get your fat ass off of me, Simpson!"
"You think I'm fat?" He mocks offence and I try to push him off but he doesn't budge. "I've been going to the gym for you, Jamie. I thought I was finally losing weight."
"You two!" Coach yells at us. "Get off of the floor and play!" Brad pushes himself off of me and I take his outstretched hand as I get up off of the floor.
When the lesson has finished and Brad and I are changed, we walk towards his car, laughing about the multiple times Brad decided to tackle me or lift me over his shoulder to distract my team.
"You're a cheat," I tell Brad. "And a sore winner." He had been bragging about winning ever since the game ended—turns out that we're both really competitive.
"Cheat? I'm not a cheat!" Brad says playfully as we climb into his car and begin our way into town for shopping. "Your team was just bad."
"No! You kept tackling me when I didn't have the ball so that your team could get past our defence," I scowl at him and he chuckles, turning on some music.
When we're in town, Brad parks up at the shopping centre and we walk towards the entrance. Even though it's just past four, it's already getting dark since the clocks went back a couple months ago for daylight saving.
"Where are we going first?" Brad asks, linking our arms together. It was still really busy, even for a Tuesday night.
"I wanna get some clothes for my dad," I say. "Do you know any good shops?"
"Yeah, they're this way," Brad says, taking us up to Selfridges on the second floor. We look around and Brad pulls out a few, cheaper shirts for me to buy.
Once they're in my basket, we end up looking around to find stuff for his family and I end up throwing some socks in my basket for Brad, too.
"This is nice," Brad says, grabbing my attention. We had been looking at clothes for half an hour, finding stuff for him to wear at the party.
In his hands was a baby pink, strapless dress that would probably end mid thigh and he wasn't wrong, it does look nice. "I didn't know you liked wearing dresses."
"Not for me," Brad rolls his eyes at me. "For you, for the party." I step closer to him, looking at the price tag before shaking my head.
"It's too expensive to buy for one occasion," I tell him. "There's no point getting it for myself."
He narrows his eyes for a moment before nodding and hanging it back up. "Alright. Have you got everything?"
I nod and we make our way to the checkout. I pay first and then Brad does and I'm thankful he doesn't notice the small items of clothing I bought for him. I don't know what big present to get for him but I know that he would appreciate some small stuff, too.
I text my dad and let him know that I've finished shopping and I'm on my way back with Brad, and he tells me that he's out at work until tomorrow. I'm not surprised at this point.
As we pull up to my house half an hour after leaving, Brad walks me up to the door with a small smile. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Of course," I say, wrapping my arms around his torso. "And I'll see you tomorrow, too."
"I'll pick you up at eight," he says, rubbing my back as he rests his head on my shoulder. Brad gives really good hugs.
"I might still be asleep."
"You probably will be."
edited.