Continuum by Susan Wu Page A

easily and starts eating it.
    Sam rolls his eyes and changes the subject, “You should really reconsider, Ethan.  Even if you decide to go stag.  We’re renting a party bus.” 
    Not sure if I really want to know the answer, I blurt out, “Who are you taking, Sam?”
    He shrugs and looks away, his fingers shredding a breadstick onto his plate, “No one yet.  But I have someone in mind.”
    Feeling bold, I ask, “Fallon Pierce?”
    Liam makes a choking sound into his glass of Coke and it’s a few moments before he can sputter, “Bro, please tell me you are not going down that road again.”
    Now I’m really curious, “Again?”
    Sam chews slowly on a piece of breadstick, staring thoughtfully at his plate, “Uhm, yeah.  Fallon and I, uhm, dated in the past.  But it was a million years ago.”
    Chris interjects, “Dude, don’t downplay it.  It was ugly, Ethan.  U-G-L-Y.”
    Max chimes in helpfully, “Fallon was the only girl to ever lock our boy down.  They dated for almost two years.”
    Sam interrupts him with a growl, “Can you animals keep it down?  Geez, thank you for airing my dirty laundry to everyone at Fat Tony’s.”  
    Liam frowns, crossing his arms across his chest, “That girl is bad news.”
    “One, it was in the past.  We were like 12 years old and in middle school.  And two, no I am not asking Fallon to Homecoming.”
    “God, that was a long time ago.  Remember when Fallon Pierce was the hottest girl in school?” Max says, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
    “Like hotter than Mackenzie.  Now she is just straight up weird,” adds Chris wistfully.
    “You guys have been getting pret-ty cozy during lunch,” Max says in a sing song voice.
    “She’s my partner for our big Shakespeare project.  It’s a big chunk of my grade and with practice and stuff, that’s the only time we get to work on it.  Why am I explaining myself to you knuckleheads?”
    Chris groans, “Lucky bastard, she is a total genius.”
    “No she’s not, she has like a photographic memory or something,” mutters Liam.
    “Don’t discredit her genius just cause you’re a moron.  She reads a lot,” Sam says defensively.
    In reply, he lets out a snort, “I still remember what you guys did to my locker in 7th grade.”
    Sam’s lips split into a huge grin, “Oh, man.  That was good.”
    Max plucks the question out of my head.  “What did you guys do to his locker?” 
    “When Assistant Principal Taylor was assigning our lockers, Fallon got a glance at the master list of locker combinations.  She memorized all the locker combos on that page cause her mind is like crazy good at remembering things.  We used to break into people’s lockers and stuff water balloons or smelly gym socks in there.  One time, we wrapped Liam’s entire book bag with masking tape.”
    The guys start laughing but Liam’s frown deepens and his tone is disapproving, “That isn’t funny, guys.  Don’t forget Fallon also broke Sam’s heart.  She is a straight up bit--”
    Sam interrupts Liam, his face red with annoyance, “Grow up, guys.  We’re partners for the English midterm.  Fallon and I are just friends.  End of story.”  
    “Yeah, that’s how it starts out,” Liam mutters under his breath.
    Sam reaches over and starts rubbing Liam’s forearm playfully, “Jeez Liam, as my oldest friend, I guess you’re long overdue to be my lady.”  The table dissolves into laughter and the conversation flows to the other Homecoming festivities.
    Fallon and Sam are just friends.  I wish I could believe him.
     
    Fallon
     
    It is Monday again.  My head feels much clearer after spending the weekend convincing myself I was doing the right thing.  The world almost makes sense again.  Even the weather seems to be cooperating for once.  With a spring in my step, I walk to school in the sunshine wearing only a thin, navy sweater over a white button down shirt and dark gray skinny jeans.  This is the closest to school