“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Naomi asked condescendingly.

“I don’t wanna hear it. Are you going to help Trist out with his love problems or not?”

“Hmmm. I dunno. I love Trist to death, but he has no chance of going to the dance with little miss perfect over there.”

Her words cut like a knife, but I decided not to say anything since I didn’t want to go through with Lance’s ridiculous plan anyway.

“That’s fine. All you have to do is distract Ben for a bit.”

“Oh, talk to Benny Ben? That’s all? Hmmm… well, I can do that much. We go waaaaay back, you know. Like, all the way to elementary school. So something like that should be easy enough.”

“Well, that’s great. Do you think you could like, do it sometime today? We’ve got like 5 minutes ‘til lunch is over.”

“Yeah, sure.” She got up and walked over toward where Ben was seated with less resistance than I had anticipated. I wasn’t sure why or how she was convinced so easily to go along with this, but it seemed that I wouldn’t be getting away from this scot-free.

Naomi sat at Ben’s right side, away from Zoey who was sitting on his left. Then, she leaned her cheek on her palm and poked at his shoulder playfully.

“Hey Ben! You sure got fat, huh?”

“Naomi? Why can’t you greet me like a normal person?”

“I’m just worried! If you can’t perform at the big game on Friday then the homecoming dance is gonna be depressing as hell!”

“What? We’re going against a division 2 team, okay? It’s literally a big nothing burger. Jesus. Is this what you came here to bug me about?”

“Oh please, don’t be like that. I’m sure you have some free time to spend with your old pal.”

“Not right now I don’t. Can’t you see I’m on a date with my girlfriend?”

“Girlfriend? You mean Zoey?” Naomi looked past Benjamin to take a glance at Zoey, who seemed to be ignoring their conversation to eat her lunch. “She’s letting ‘you’ take her to the dance?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Uh, she can do way better than you. Probably.”

“Are you trying to start a fight right now?”

“A fight? Oh, are you going to beat the crap out of a girl again?”

“It was only one…!!” Benjamin reflexively got defensive, but then quickly deflated into his chair.

“Oh no, Benny Ben. You’re really not going to deny it? And here I thought it was just a silly rumor.”

“It was an accident, and… look, why are we even talking about this? What exactly do you want from me?”

“Nothing, I was just bored and felt like teasing you.”

“Teasing? That’s what this is? You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re jealous.”

“Please, don’t flatter yourself. If little miss perfect over there can do better than you, then so can I.”

As their vitriolic conversation continued as planned, Lance nudged my side and prompted me to go approach Zoey. Well sure enough, the big obstacle of the situation was being distracted by Naomi, but I had no idea what to say.

“Don’t think, man,,” Lance assured me. “Just make the move. You’re a much better player when you trust your judgment.”

“Are you talking about Dota again..?”

“Maybe. But I do have a pet theory that the way people play video games says a lot about who they are in real life. You’re someone who tends to take the easy way out a lot, even against your better judgment. Trust yourself, man.”

To trust myself.

It wasn’t as simple as that. I had been thinking about this girl nonstop for the past few days. In fact, my feelings may have honestly gotten a little obsessive. It’s like, there was this heavy weight in my chest dragging me down at every moment, constantly reminding me about my feelings for her.

Lance and Naomi may call her boring or whatever, but I really do like her. So, of course I was scared to talk to her. Thoughts of messing up and ruining any shot at being together with her in the future were haunting the back of my mind. So of course I’d take the easy route to try and avoid messing up.

“Hey.” I turned towards Lance, who just called out to me. “You got this, man.”

He tapped my back lightly.

“Y-yeah…”

But at that point, I suppose I only had one choice in the matter. After taking a brief moment to steel myself, I stood up and walked over to where Zoey was seated. My heart was beating through my chest. A strange uneasiness overwhelmed my stomach. But I had to fight it. This was my one chance. I had to.

“H-hey…” I waved nervously like a lost kindergartner and took a seat next to her.

“Oh, Tristan. Hi.” She adjusted those cute glasses of hers as she faced me. “What’s up, stranger?”

“Stranger?” She said it with such a sarcastic tone of voice that I had to do a double take. And why did she know my name? Of course, she had greeted me in the morning every day, but did we actually know each other?

After being overwhelmed by my sudden silence, she peered into my eyes curiously.

“Wait, you don’t remember, do you?”

“Remember?”

“Uh, never mind. It’s probably not important then.” She looked a bit disappointed, but she decided to end it there.

“So, what’s up? What brings you over to my little corner of the world?”

She refocused her attention on her salad as she spoke to me. To be honest, I wanted to press her on what it was that she thinks I had forgotten, but I was too terrified of being judged harshly for it.

“Well, I guess I was just surprised to see you suddenly dating someone. That’s all.”

“Really? I think it’s about time.”

“Yeah, I’m sure lots of people would agree with you there.”

She certainly didn’t sound regretful, much to my dismay.

“Yep. And what do you think?”

“Huh?”

“Oh, come on Tristan. You’re surprised to see me dating someone? What does that really mean? Go on, let’s hear it. Everyone else has shared their grand opinions with me, so what’s one more?”

She smiled playfully, as if she were enjoying the moment. It sounded like she’s had to deal with a lot since the news broke, but she seemed to be taking it in stride. That’s about all you could ask for, I guess.

As for my opinion… well, I didn’t have much of one beyond being sad about it earlier today. The girl of my dreams was snatched away by a varsity basketball player. What an utterly boring cliché. But Lance somehow got it into my head that something was off about their relationship, and slowly, I started seeing it too.

The fact that I was talking to her at all was such a desperate reach that it made me sick to my stomach. I was imposing my own repressed feelings onto her like those guys in her text messages were. The thought of being just another guy like that made me hate myself. If I had to choose between being ignored by her or having her feel disgusted by me, then the choice was obvious.

“My opinion doesn’t matter,” I said.

“Don’t be silly, of course it does.”

“Does it really? I barely have any idea of what’s going on in my own life.”

“Oh yeah? Are you sure you’re not just saying that to dodge the question?”

“Not at all. I really am a hot mess. I mean, the other day I was so tired that I fell asleep during a trig class. Then when I woke up, I was suddenly in the middle of pre-calc.”

She giggled. “Wow, seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously. I’m not even taking pre-calc this year. Why did no one tell me to get out of there when they saw some random guy napping in their class? It was so embarrassing. And the worst part? I was already half-way into the period, so I felt too guilty to tell anyone that I didn’t belong there.”

“Guilty? Really? So, you just sat through the whole thing because of that?”

“Yeah, well... sometimes you just wake up into a mess that you had nothing to do with, I guess. I shouldn’t have to suffer in silence just to keep other people happy, but I did. I kept telling myself that it was only for half an hour, but the more I think about it, that’s half an hour of my life that I’ll never get back. All over a situation I got into while I was asleep.”

Before I realized it, she was staring daggers into every inch of my body. As if to peel off each individual layer of skin, meticulously. Her inspecting gaze made me so anxious that it felt like my head was going to explode.

“Uh… Zoey?”

“Hm?” She caught herself staring and leaned her cheek on her propped-up hand. “Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just… you sure have a way with words, don’t you Tristan?”

“I do?”

“Hey, what’re you whispering about over there?”

Benjamin turned around and addressed me after noticing my presence next to Zoey. I was caught red-handed. I felt a sudden chill pass through my body.

“We’re in the same world history class. He wanted some advice on a paper,” she said.

“Yeah, right. Go pedal your bullshit to someone who’s buying.” He turned to face me. “What’s your name anyway?”

“Uhm, it’s Tristan.”

“Sounds like a lame name.”

“Just drop it already. He really was just asking about the paper,” said Zoey.

“No one asked you.”

After uttering those words, he got out of his chair then circled over toward me. His daunting, 6’2 basketball player figure towered over me as I sat in the chair.

“Hey loser, how about you just fuck off already, huh?” He snorted as he said the words, almost as if I wasn’t worth saying them to. As painful as it is for me to admit, I could only avert my eyes in response. The confrontation made my heart pound like crazy. It felt impossible to think straight.

In fact, I was almost tempted to bolt right out of the cafeteria and pretend that none of this had ever happened.

If there was a reason I hadn’t moved yet, it was probably because I caught a glimpse of Zoey’s face. A complex concoction of anger, sadness, and resignation colored her expression. It was an expression that only further convinced me that this relationship was something she hadn’t wished for.

I realized that it was entirely possible that I was imagining it. But the only thing I could think was this: what if I wasn’t? I mean, Benjamin Otto of all people? The thought of the girl I like being stuck dealing with an annoying guy’s unwanted advances forced me to recall my dad’s words earlier that day. The words he left me with of how he managed to win mom over. A right hook to the face of the bad guy. That’s all it took for her to fall in love with him. Isn’t that what the situation calls for now? Or am I just going to take the easy way out again?

Without making eye contact, I stood up. I realized already that, since he was so much taller than me, I probably wouldn’t put up much of a fight. “Yeah?”

He grinned, seemingly amused.

But maybe if I got a good shot in at the beginning, I could carry the momentum and overwhelm him completely. My eyes were still pointed down at the floor, but I could tell that the other students had turned to look at us. The sounds of distant murmurs filled my ears as the pressure of the situation began seeping in.

Throwing a punch in a situation like that felt like it was tantamount to suicide. With so many witnesses around, against someone that much bigger and stronger than me, I would have to be an idiot to do something like that.

My chest tightened.

The thought of Zoey, a girl I’ve only for the first time had a real conversation with two minutes ago, suffering under this cruel man’s wings was the only reason I hadn’t crumpled under the pressure yet.

I might be an idiot. But my clenched fist felt genuine. The burning passion in my chest was propelling me forward against my better judgment. I was beginning to think that Lance was right. Maybe I am a better person when I trust in myself.

With these feelings as my guide…

I was stopped. It was the sudden ringing of the bell that signaled the end of our lunch period. The sound seemed to last all but an eternity. I decided that I’d throw the punch when it ended.

But just as it finally ceased…

“Sorry about him. He’s been dead weight on this paper, so I pressured him to get help from someone.”

As the words were uttered, I felt a hand clamp down on my shoulder. It was none other than Lance. He had used the moment to hop in an attempt to defuse the situation. I looked up at Benjamin, and found exhaustion over the situation quickly creep over his expression.

“Oh, it’s you. God, whatever. Just leave already. I don’t even care anymore.”

For whatever reason, the sight of Lance disturbed him to the point where he decided to drop it.

“Sure. Let’s go, Trist.” Lance walked off. I took a moment to stare at Benjamin one last time before I followed my friend.

As I stepped through the door, I turned my head to look over at Zoey one more time. She appeared to be caught in a conversation with Benjamin.

Naomi caught up and walked alongside Lance as soon as we left the cafeteria, and the three of us wordlessly continued toward our classes for a while. Once we came to a split in the hall, Lance finally broke the silence.

“Okay, I guess a deal’s a deal.”

“Yaay! We did it!” Naomi hugged him for a moment, then took off in the direction of her class. “I’ll see you later!”

She waved at the two of us until finally, she disappeared behind a corner in the hallway. The whole thing was so out of the blue that I couldn’t hide my curiosity.

“What was that all about?” I finally asked.

“Just ignore it. You’re not going to get anywhere trying to make sense out of her.”

“Uh, well if you say so.”

The silence returned, and we both allowed ourselves to bathe in its emptiness. It was so empty that, eventually, Lance felt compelled to break it by spilling the beans.

“Let’s just say I’m going to the dance on Friday.”

“Wait seriously? Just like that?”

“What?”

“I mean, I thought you guys weren’t a thing anymore. What happened to ‘just being friends’?”

“Yeah well, it’s not that I’m not into her or anything. But relationships are… complicated.”

“Ah, sure… still, it’s nice that it worked out that way. She looks happy about it.”

“Yeah…”

The silence continued. In a way, it felt comforting that he wasn’t asking about what happened with Zoey. I’m sure he was curious about it to some degree. But there was also a part of me that was uncomfortable with that unspoken tension.

“Aren’t you going to ask?”

“How’d it go with Zoey?” he asked without hesitation. I glance over and him, and he was wearing a playful smile as if he were waiting for my permission the entire time.

“To be honest, I don’t know. But it was nice to talk to her for once.”

“I see.”

The two of us continued walking in silence.

“How do you feel, Trist?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Well? How do you feel now that you got it off your chest.”

“Got what off my chest? I didn’t confess to her or anything.”

“No, but I think your feelings were communicated well enough.”

I was confused by his remark. The only thing I communicated was the fact that I’m the weirdo who naps during classes. I didn’t know if anything would change because of our conversation at all, but it did help me sort through my feelings. In fact, it felt like a weight I’d been carrying in my heart for a long time was finally lifted.

“Thanks Lance.”

He grinned. “Hey, if you wanna pay me back then you can start by bringing my MMR back up. I won’t be able to play on Friday because of you.”

“Did you really do all of this because I ruined your games yesterday?”

“Well I’m definitely not doing it because I think you have a shot in hell with her or anything.”

“Oh, shut up.”

I laughed to myself. This is the Lance I know. Thoughtful and caring, but he only showed it in the most self-centered ways imaginable.