Not Another Love Song by Olivia Wildenstein

Author:Olivia Wildenstein [Wildenstein, Olivia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250224637
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Published: 2020-07-06T18:30:00+00:00

32

A Knight in Moisture-Wicking Armor

I spend the rest of the morning thinking about my dad, Nev, and Ten. But mostly about Nev. At lunchtime, instead of eating with Rae, I decide to head over to the middle school to check up on her.

The campus isn’t huge, but walking would take me at least ten minutes, so I cycle over. Granted, I could run, but then I’d be sweaty, and I don’t feel like having my shirt plastered to my skin. It’s humid enough out—a remnant of yesterday’s never-ending storm. The grass is slick, and the ground sticky with mud. Although the grayness has dispersed, the sky is scratched up like the DVDs Mom refuses to part with even though we no longer own the equipment to play them.

Unlike our yellow lockers, the ones in the middle school are powder blue and coated in stickers—skulls and bones, hearts, unicorns, monsters. I run my fingertips over the crisp edges of a glittery rainbow. My last year of junior high, I had a matching one on my locker. I also had a bunch of musical notes arranged to match the lyrics of Mona Stone’s “Rainbow Road.”

I lower my hand and wade down the vibrant ocean of lockers. I wonder which one is Nev’s. What sort of stickers would she paste? One locker is bare, and I think it might be hers, but I could be wrong. Hers could be the one next to it that’s covered in glow-in-the-dark stars.

Fording the school hallway is like a trip down memory lane. I see the tiny dent in the white-plastered wall where Brad shoved a boy who called Brad’s mom a MILF. I see the water fountain we used as a sprinkler when the weather hit the nineties. I see the girls’ bathroom sign, which Rae and I switched with the boys’ to confuse the new sixth graders. Somehow Jasper got in trouble for it and never told on us. I was never sure why he took the blame, but I suspected it was either because he was a stand-up guy or because his popularity skyrocketed after the incident.

The cafeteria hasn’t changed an iota. The white rectangular tables are arranged in neat rows that reach the cement wall inlaid with three horizontal windows that look out onto a huge sports field hedged by a tight fence of flamboyant myrtles and tall poplars. And no, I’m not some tree-hugging devotee. Tennessean flora and fauna made up a huge chunk of our seventh-grade syllabus.

I scan the loud space for a skinny girl sitting next to an antisocial boy. I locate them during my first sweep—their table is the only one occupied by just two people. As I make my way toward it, I pass a gaggle of eighth-grade girls sporting pink lip gloss, elaborate hairdos, neon nail polish, and uniforms altered to display more skin than allowed.

The popular table.

The one Rae spent all junior high ogling while I worked extra hard to keep her entertained. I’d been so afraid she’d grow out of our friendship, but more loyal than Rae doesn’t exist.

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