Charlie kicked the ground as he walked through the almost empty student parking lot. He had one strap of his backpack on his shoulder and let the sway of his backpack guide him. Walking in a small zig-zag he eventually made it to his car and walked to the back of it. He stared at the trunk for a few moments. An uneasiness started in his stomach bringing with it a coldness in his fingers and annoyance.
He opened his trunk and tossed his backpack inside before joining it and burying his head in his hands. He closed his eyes and rubbed his brow slowly.
"Is everything alright?" Annie asked.
With a jolt Charlie's head shot up. He looked to his left with wide eyes and saw Annie standing there, her backpack in one arm and her swim bag in the other. She was wearing black shorts and an oversized t-shirt and looked like she had just gotten out of the shower.
Charlie pressed his lips together and pushed up his glasses, "I'm fine," he paused, "just thinking."
Annie placed her bags on the ground and sat down next to him, "A lot of people say thinking out loud helps them," now she paused, "just letting you know."
Charlie sighed and nodded his head. There wasn't anything in particular he was thinking at that moment but the uneasiness and the cold in his fingers remained.
Annie raised her eyebrows as she nudged him, "that was an invitation to talk about your thoughts you know."
Charlie nodded again.
"Have you ever decided to help someone then realized that it was a bad decision but when you try to pull out you get trapped even more."
Annie brought her hands together and started fidgeting with them, "that's why I don't help people."
"That's something I gotta learn to do, say no."
"You don't usually stay this late, are you," she trailed off, not knowing what she wanted to ask.
Charlie let out a heavy breath, "someone from a class I'm in is working on a personal project, it's more of a study really, but they want to get data on high school football players, I'm helping with that but now that I actually talked to one I realized I don't want to do it but I'm stuck-"
"Because they won't let you go?" Annie turned to look at him with a smile that said she already knew.
Charlie tilted his head and back as if he'd expected her to say what she did, "you know me too well."
"I've known you for over five years now, this much should be expected," she chuckled and Charlie chuckled in return.
They made the same noise when their small laugh ended and started laughing again before breathing together and looking up. The clouds were nowhere to be seen and the small, white, lights in the sky were present.
"I've thought this for a while now but you never act like this when we're with the others," Charlie said.
"That's because it's easier to be myself when I'm alone with someone than in a group."
Charlie remembered back to yesterday, when he saw her with her swim team friends. A flash of her smile appeared in his head, "I find that hard to believe somehow."
Annie pushed herself out of the trunk and onto her feet, "well that's enough about me, what're you going to do?"
Charlie drew another deep breath and exhaled, puffing his cheeks out slightly this time. He looked down at his hands and felt the cold getting warmer and the uneasiness in his stomach that had started to spread was shrinking, but the annoyance was still there and he knew why.
He got out from inside the trunk and pushed up his glasses before grabbing Annie's bags and placing them inside, "not really much I can do, gotta help them out."
"Or you can say no and be a little selfish."
He gave her a small smile and tossed her his keys after closing the trunk. He moved to sit in the passenger side and with a sigh Annie walked over to the drivers side. She started the car and pulled out. A jolty fifteen minutes later they arrived at Annie's home. Once there Charlie quickly moved to the trunk and pulled out her bags before hopping in the driver's seat and leaving without a word.
As Annie watched him drive off she clicked her tongue, "you could have at least said bye."
As he drove home Charlie kept eyeing his phone.
"I've already been selfish enough," he mumbled to himself as he pulled into his driveway a few minutes later.
He grabbed his phone and opened his message history with Gray and stared at it. He pressed the chat box and watched the straight line blink. His thumbs hovered over the keypad.
He pushed his phone into his pocket and got out of the car, grabbed his bag and went inside. After he had eaten and showered he fell onto his bed backfirst and stared at the ceiling.
"Love Guru," he murmured.
Charlie drew in a deep breath and pushed himself up. In the silence he could hear everything from the small bugs chirping to his neighbors laughing in their backyard. He rubbed his hair aggressively as he moved over to the window and looked down at the source of the laughter.
There he saw Mr. Scalone with a bottle of beer in his left hand and his right hand intertwined with Mrs. Scalone's who too was holding a bottle of beer. A yard away was a black dog chasing something invisible. It would stop every now and then and give the couple a wide-eyed look. Then it would make a strange noise, something halfway between a bark and a word that would send the couple into a laughing frenzy.
Charlie smiled at the sight below. He remembered a conversation his father and Mr. Scalone had while drinking a long time ago and pursed his lips. He curled his fingers into a tight ball and tapped his knuckle against the window sill.
"For them," he murmured as he stepped away and grabbed his phone that had sunken into his bed.
He opened his message history with Gray and quickly typed something and hit send before he changed his mind. Once the small text below the message read 'delivered' Charlie tossed his phone to the side along with his glasses and rubbed his eyebrows with his lower palms. With his vision gone the sounds around him grew louder. The bugs started howling and the laughter sounded as if it were coming from right in front of him. The dog's strange way of saying the word 'hello' became even more apparent. With nothing else he could do Charlie organized his belongings for tomorrow and headed off to bed.
***
For the first time the bell that dismissed him from Mr. Liev's class had become something he wasn't looking forward to. Trying to take as much time as he could, he lagged behind Nathan as they made their way to the commons.
"Bro, why're you walking so slow?" Nathan asked.
Charlie continued to keep his eyes focused on the ground as they walked, saying nothing.
"Oh, is it cause it's awkward with Chandler now, huh?" Nathan smiled mischievously as he slowed down and nudged Charlie with his elbow.
"I'm not like a certain someone here," Charlie kept his gaze low.
"You're talking about yourself right?"
"I'm talking about you!"
Nathan broke out into a loud laugh making it hard forcing Charlie's smile to leak out as well.
"You two look cheerful today," Jack commented when the two had made it to the commons.
"Why're you looking down, Charlie?" Chloe asked.
"Not looking down, just not looking forward to the next five minutes," Charlie turned his back to the center of the commons.
***
"Does anyone know which class Charlie Sites comes from?" Gray asked his large group in the middle of the commons.
When she heard that name Chandler turned her head towards Gray, drowning out everything except for what he was saying.
"I dunno," said most of the group as they suddenly started looking around the commons.
It was then that another student, a head shorter than Gray with jet black hair, hazel eyes, a sharp chin and a small beard, slapped Gray on the shoulder as he went to stand next to him.
He looked at the group in front of him as they swiveled their heads looking around the commons, "what's happening here?"
"Do you know which class Charlie Sites comes from, Bryce?" asked one of the people in the group.
"The guy with brown bangs and owl glasses?" Bryce asked.
"Yea."
"Yea, I just had Mr. Liev's class with him," Bryce said as he joined the others in looking around the commons, "he left with Nathan so," he trailed off as he turned his head to his left, "ah, he's there," he pointed to his left.
"Why're ya'll looking for-" Bryce was cut off by Gray who walked in front of him.
As Gray walked towards Nathan, the people in front moved out of his way, mumbling as they watched him go by.
Bryce brought his hand to his face and rubbed one of his eyes, "ah looks like I shouldn't have said that."
"Charlie!" Gray's voice boomed from behind Charlie, making him jump a little.
He turned around slowly, "yea."
Gray pulled out his phone and pushed the screen into Charlie's face. Charlie put his hand in front of the screen and pushed it away.
Gray tried again but Charlie pushed it away still, "what do you mean by this?" he finally asked.
Charlie looked up at him. His brown eyes were shining and on his face was a small smile, "I mean it's true, a quarterback can't be complete unless he has a girlfriend, right Bryce?"
Bryce slowly walked up behind Gray, he rubbed his neck awkwardly as he went to stand next to him, "well, I don't know about complete but a quarterback without one does look a bit weird," he added.
"I told you before and I'm saying it again," Gray put the phone away, "I. Don't. Need. One," he said each word slowly and carefully.
The students around them had started to draw interest in the conversation as more and more of them turned to look at them. Charlie watched the faces of the students around him carefully. Many of the girls had their eyes low to the ground, their lips pressed together tightly and their head dropping. He heard the guys whispering in upbeat voices and through a slight gap in the students he saw Chandler.
Unlike the others her gaze was strong and her head held high. To her left was a teacher who was approaching him with urgency.
He leaned in slightly, "why don't we talk about this more after school."
As Charlie finished his sentence the teacher burst into their small open circle.
"The bell already rang, passing periods over," she said loudly shooing the kids away before turning to Charlie and Gray.
"Come on boys, we're more mature than this," she said.
Charlie and Gray nodded, "yes ma'am," they said in unison as they both walked past each other.
"What just happened?" Nathan asked Chloe, Jack and Annie.
The four of them had watched the exchange from start to finish and now stared at Charlie as he walked away from them.
"Well, what're you waiting for, go," the teacher shooed the four of them.
"We need to meet," Annie said as she was walking away, the other three nodded and the clump that had formed in the corner of the common area had now fully dispersed.
***
When Annie entered the small, glass room in the library she dropped her bag in a corner and crossed her arms. In front of her was a beige desk made of a thick piece of wood and around it were plastic chairs of different colors. She was standing at the head of the table, staring into the center of it when the sliding door to the room opened and three individuals entered.
The three did what Annie did and dropped their bags off before finding seats around the table.
"So, why'd you wanna meet today?" Nathan asked as he leaned back, placing his hands behind his head.
"He's doing it again," Annie said bluntly.
Chloe leaned in and turned to face Annie, "What's your evidence?"
"I met him a few days ago and he started talking about helping someone, then when I met him yesterday he started talking about not being able to say no and that he's helping someone with a project right now and most obviously there's what happened today," she explained.
Jack placed his elbows on the table and moved his hands beneath his chin. As he held his head there he looked to Nathan who was still sitting relaxed. "A quarterback can't be complete unless he has a girlfriend," Jack repeated what Charlie had said to Gray.
"It does sound like he's working again but right now we have nothing to go on except for a few words and suspicion," Jack continued.
"I don't want to doubt him, he's the one that took it the hardest when we found out," Chloe added.
"If we don't do anything now it's going to be a repeat of three years ago," Annie shouted as she slammed her hands onto the table.
Jack sat straight and crossed his hands across his chest in response. He shouted back, "and if we do something now we'll lose Charlie forever."
"You all can forgive him cause you've already found other things to chase, but for me," Annie paused, "Unless that shitty thing gets cleared off my record, no one will pick me up."
Chloe scoffed. She raised her eyebrows and made a disgusted face. "That's rich coming from someone who'd straddle him if she ever got the chance," Chloe added.
"Annie," Nathan said.
All three heads turned towards him. His arms were still behind his head and he was still leaning backwards but now he rocked himself slowly.
"Find concrete evidence that he's back," Nathan then looked to Jack and Chloe, "Charlie is a good friend and he did take it the hardest but he should do a better job vetting his clients don't you think?"
Jack and Chloe went to argue but stopped themselves.
"If he really is working again then we report him for something expellable and save ourselves," Nathan said, "before something like last time happens again."
He straightened himself out in a stretch before sitting straight and knocking on the table, "good talk guys."
He grabbed his bag and left.