If Heaven Had Cheese Fries by Stephanie Staudinger

Author:Stephanie Staudinger [Staudinger, Stephanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781790941537
Published: 2018-12-12T13:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

“I’m giving you one last chance.” Alyssa wagged her finger at Matt, who was dangerously close to her. “Get the damn camera out of my face, okay?”

Matt spun quickly, suddenly pointing the camera at me as I approached. “What do we have here?” he asked.

Matt took me off guard. My water bottle, which was already wobbling precariously, tipped over and rolled under the table, landing under Noah’s feet. He made no effort to retrieve it for me.

“What are you doing, Matthew?” I squinted right into the camera lens as Matt backed up a step.

“Working on my final project for Nash’s class. He said we can do anything, so we’re doing a group documentary.” He gestured towards the CC’s, who were standing behind him. Great, the project was in full force.

“Don’t engage him.” Alyssa turned to me. “It’ll just make him stick around us longer.”

“Speaking of sticking...” Matt slid onto the bench next to Noah, putting his camera dangerously close to Alyssa’s face again. “You’ve got some cheese stuck right there.” He rubbed his left hand on his chin, holding the camera in his right.

Before anyone had a moment to react, Alyssa shoved the camera hard. “I said, get that damn camera out of my face.”

“Woah!” Matt was able to grab the camera with both hands before she could knock it to the ground. “What the hell is your problem?”

“You’re my problem,” Alyssa hissed. “Go away.”

“Fine.” To my surprise, Matt stood up. He made a shooing gesture towards the CC’s, who sauntered off, their expressions unreadable. Before Matt left, he turned to me. “Coming?”

I felt something bump against my ankle. Noah had kicked the water bottle out from under the table. He raised his eyebrows, the tiniest bit of a smile creeping up on the corners of his mouth. He was testing me.

“I’ll catch you later,” I told Matt as I sat down next to Noah. “You okay?” I asked Alyssa, noticing tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.

“Fine,” she said, a bitter edge to her voice. A moment later she got up, tossed her mostly uneaten pizza in the garbage, and walked towards the exit without so much as a backward glance

I didn’t know what to say. I looked over at Noah, who looked down and stabbed a fork through his mostaccioli, examining the noodle before throwing fork and noodle back down on his tray.

“That guy has been making her life hell ever since he started with the fat jokes in grade school. Real piece of work.”

I nodded. “Miserable people lead miserable lives, and they take that out on other people.”

“Yeah?” Noah was standing up now. “I gotta go after her. You want?” He pointed down at his pasta as I shook my head no and watched him run after her.

There was one thing that could be said for high school. No matter how rough it got, or how awful other people tried to make your life, it was also heartwarming to see friends protect each other.

I, however, had never felt so alone.

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