9 : Monday

Step Nine: Don't bite off more than you can chew. If you have three tests on one day, don't offer to hang out the day before! You are the most important person in your life, and you should be the top priority. Also, he might get upset if you have to cancel on him.

"Hey Jason, wanna hang out later?"

I watch, sullen, as Sarah Hicks sits down at our lunch table. Jason frowns and looks at Russell. "Sorry, Sarah. I can't; I'm busy."

She shrugs, pouts, and leans her head on his shoulder. I think there's steam coming out of my ears. "Please? For me?" Jason shrugs her off and repeats what he said. "Well then, Russell, are you free?"

Russell raises an eyebrow. "Do I look free?"

She smiles coyly and moves to sit beside him, casually flicking Barbie-blonde hair over her shoulder. I refrain from screaming. Just then, Blake arrives. He sits down next to me and assesses the situation. "Sarah, would you mind? I want to kiss my boyfriend."

Sarah rips her hand away from Russell and jumps a good five feet backwards. Russell freezes in place, an expression of shock on his face. His eyes fill with hurt as Sarah whips her head back and forth, trying to make sense of the situation. "You...?"

"Yeah, do you have a problem with that?" Blake asks. The deadliness of his voice is enough to make her eyes go wide.

She shakes her head quickly. "No, it's, uh, I, um, uh..." I shoo her away with my hand.

Blake tries to sit down next to Russell, who puts a hand out to stop him. His gaze remains fixated on the table.

He waits a long moment before raising his eyes and staring at Blake. I can feel cold emanating from him, and I want nothing more than to run away from here. This is not good. "Who the hell do you think you are? What gives you the right? That's my business. If I want people to know, it's on my terms, when I want to say it." His voice is deadly, angry tears pushing at the back of his eyes. Russell blinks quickly to rid himself of them, but we all notice it. "I thought I could trust you."

Blake staggers one step back, regret written all over his face.

"Blake." Russell seems to remember that Jason and I are here. He looks at us, and I want the floor to swallow me up. My eyes flicker between Russell's icy expression and Blake's guilty one, trying to judge whether there will be punches thrown or not. Russell clenches and unclenches his fists, waiting for Blake to make the next move.

"Can we talk about this later? In private?" Blake asks. Russell hesitates before nodding once, curtly, and Blake quietly comes back to sit next to me. He leaves his old seat next to Russell vacant. I rub his back sympathetically and he slumps down. We pick at our food, which is basically inedible sawdust, in silence.

I don't know how my brain is able to shift away from such a tremendous moment so quickly, flagging my thoughts as 'unread' so I can revisit them later, but I've managed to travel eons back to the part where Jason told Sarah that he's busy. I guess that means I can't do much about today's step, which encourages hanging out during free time.

The bell rings after the most tense lunch period I've ever gone through, and we're off to our next classes. My stomach grumbles a bit; I guess the incident spoiled my appetite.

~~~~~~~~

"Kids," Mr. Walker begins his FROG lesson, "today we're going to play a game. As a, you know, a kind of icebreaker. Given that it's only our second time meeting, I'm sure you haven't had many opportunities to chat it up with one another."

Amanda raises her hand. "Yes, Amanda?" Mr. Walker says, uninterested.

"Well, uh, it almost February. I think we all know each other."

Mr. Walker smiles suddenly, almost like he was waiting for that. "That's not necessarily true. We're going to play a game."

He has us sit in a circle. We have to push the chairs and tables out of the way to make room. When everyone's seated, Mr. Walker claps his hands.

I sigh.

What goes down next is sort of like a screenplay, so that's how I'll choose to recall it.

~~~~~~~~

The Duck and The Goose - A Game of FROG

Five boys are sitting on the floor of a small classroom. A teacher stands off to the side, instructing them. ZOE MILLER, the youngest person present in the room, is standing awkwardly between RUSSELL and FELIX.

MR. WALKER: This is a variation of "Duck, Duck, Goose."

BLAKE: Aw, come on! That's a five year old game.

FELIX: We literally played this a few weeks ago in your room.

BLAKE: Shut up.

MR. WALKER clears his throat.

MR. WALKER: What we will do is, as we tap each other's heads, we will say something that reminds us of them. For example, someone could say "toilet bowl," if they wanted to be rude. Just try to be nice, okay? Okay. When you want to pick someone to chase you, say their actual name. Then they chase you around the circle and you have to get to their seat before they tag you... yada yada yada. Go ahead, Zoe.

ZOE looks around and begins going clockwise in a circle. She would tap the other kids' heads in this order: RUSSELL, JASON, AMANDA, BLAKE, FELIX.

ZOE: Cat. A, uh, a knife. A... errr....... Amanda!

ZOE and AMANDA run around, and ZOE sits down in AMANDA's spot.

The cycle repeats similarly until FELIX's turn.

FELIX: Squirrel. Dimples. Uh, chin.

JASON [rising]: What did you call me?

FELIX: Uh........

JASON: Thank you. My chin is amazing.

FELIX [blushing]: Um, yeah. I like your chin.

FELIX internally smacks himself on the forehead as JASON sits down.

AMANDA [to JASON and FELIX]: Stop flirting and just keep playing.

FELIX: Um, okay, moving on. Chicken.

RUSSELL [squaring up to fight]: You wanna fight? How do I remind you of a chicken?

FELIX: I, uh, I don't know. It was the first thing I thought of.

ZOE: I know how Russell looks like a chicken.

RUSSELL turns to ZOE, seeming murderous.

ZOE: It's because he's skinny, beautiful, and graceful, just like a chicken.

RUSSELL: I- uh- wow. Thanks?

ZOE: Oh, it's all good. I may or may not have an obsession with chickens that are in music videos.

MR. WALKER: What are you kids on these days, oh my goodness.

AMANDA: Candy canes because Christmas.

JASON: But in the book it's January.

FELIX: What... uh... what book? Who's writing a book? I don't know about any books.

ZOE: Maybe someone has a diary 👀

AMANDA: What was that!?!?!?!?

ZOE: ?

RUSSELL: This kid... oh my God. She's speaking with emojis.

ZOE: 😂😂 that's impossible!

AMANDA: Oh, holy cow. She is.

BLAKE: How—

FELIX: 💲👌 I 😴😋 DON'T 🐳 KNOW 🧀🌈 !

RUSSELL: 🎂🤷‍♀️ IS 😎 THAT 🥀 RAINBOW 🏳‍🌈 CHEESE? ⬅💬 I WANT 🤳 SOME 🎈💡

FELIX: ✨😜 NO! 🥨⛄ IT'S 🏳‍🌈 ALL 🚲 MINE! 💙

JASON: 👄 WHAT IF 💪💃 I ALSO 💅 WANT🌒 RAINBOW 🥇CHEESE 🪐?

FELIX: um. i don't know.

AMANDA: what is going on?

BLAKE: ksjhdfjhzjkdhfksjd

ZOE: WHY DID I HEAR THAT?

MR. WALKER: For my last brain cell's sake, I should've quit teaching last year.