“Great car,” a voice called out as I opened the driver side door.

I turned to see Andy standing next to his car wearing a white polo shirt and blue jeans. He hoisted his backpack up and walked over to me.

“My parents want me to invite your family over this weekend.”

“I reckon they’re going to be expecting a wedding proposal.”

“Don’t tempt me,” I replied.

Andy rolled his eyes as we walked to the school’s front doo.

I stopped in my tracks as Mick walked out.

“How was your…walk?”

His eyes darted to the parking lot where my car was once again parked in its designated space. “What the hell?” Mick whispered.

“He had it detailed too,” Andy commented.

Mick’s facial expression went through the colors of the rainbow before he turned and stormed back into the school.

I wanted to check if the front of my pants were soaked as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath,

“He took it well,” Andy commented as he looked back to my car.

“What’s going to stop him from taking it again?” For all I knew Mick would gather the entire football team together to take my car apart like a Lego kit.

“Let him try. Let him try.”

We walked in and down the hallway to Andy’s locker.

“So, who do you have for first period?”

“Biology. Wasn’t too much of a fan of it at my last school.” Andy replied as he pulled down and removed the lock from the door. I did not see him turn the dial.

“Is it with Mrs. Smith?”

“No.”

“Mr. Greene?”

Andy nodded.

“I’ve heard his lectures can put you to sleep.”

“I could rest my eyes for an hour. Wendy was talkin’ my ears off last night.”

“About what?”

“Her new school, people she met…you.”

Andy turned to me and smiled as he talked. “There was a lot of talking about you.”

“I feel honored,” I replied.

“You should be,” he replied as he grabbed a textbook and a notebook.

We walked down the hall together. I didn’t really think that I was walking too close Andy at the time, but perhaps I was.

“See you at lunch, Greg,” Andy said as he walked into a classroom.

And with that, I hurried down the hallway to my first period class. I wanted time to go by in a snap so I could Andy again at lunch. For the second time that year, I didn’t have to sit by myself at a table in the back.

Or at least I thought.

I walked into the lunchroom at 12:05 with my brown-bagged lunch and looked around for Andy. I couldn’t see him in the sea of students, so I trudged through the crowd to my reserved table and sat down. There was a feeling of dread in my mind. The feeling that comes when you think life’s been way too positive and you are in line for it to rain on your parade.

“He’s not coming,” I thought as I looked around before looking down at my lunch bag.

“Hey!” Mick’s voice stopped my train of negative thoughts, along with my appetite for the sandwich mom packed. He leaned in close. “I don’t know how you got your piss poor little car back, but that’s not gonna happen again.”

“You ain’t got the sense God gave a rock,” a female voice said from behind Mick.

He turned around and moved to his side to reveal Anna, her red hair cascading over her white sweater.

“I’ve been looking for you, bitch.”

“Sounds like fightin’ words.”

Mick swung at her like Muhammad Ali, but Anna took a step to the side. Mick’s momentum caused him to fall to the floor.

Once again, all eyes were on us.

Mick scrambled to his feet, his eyes darting between the two of us. I stood up and backed away from the table. He reacted like a bull versus a red cape and charged at me, only to be tripped by Anna, although she was a few feet away only a moment before.

Peals of laughter and applause ran through the lunchroom as Anna grabbed my hand and moved herself between myself and Mick.

“You need to leave Greg alone,” she growled. “Get a movin’, now.”

Mick looked around the room, snarled, and then stormed back out of the room.

“He’ll be back,” I said as Anna turned to me,

“Yep, he sure will. Sorry I was late. How about lunch?”

We sat down at the table and Anna opened a bag that was not there a few seconds ago.

“I tried to make fried chicken like mama does. Not sure if I did good. Here, give it a taste.” She handed over a drumstick that looked perfect to me. “Mama said the breadin’ was too dark.”

“Looks fine to me.”

“Wendy thought I’d burn the house down. I’ll have you know I’ve never set off a smoke detector…well, once, but let’s not talk about that. Take a bite.”

I nodded as I took a bite of the chicken. It was hot, like it had cooked in the grip of my hand.

“Say it’s good. Tell me it’s good.”

“It’s very good.”

“Thank you,” she replied as she took another drumstick out of her bag.

“I have a question.” I said, followed by with a deep breath

“Pretty sure I know what you’re going to ask, so, why don’t we talk about it after school? After we go over our engagement plans, of course."