The Fill - In Boyfriend
Episode 11

“Hai, Bec. Hi, Nate, ”kataku as it approaches. It took me two yearbooks and an hour and a half to figure out Nate's name, but I made it. He was not impressed with my efforts. He just waved the half-eaten apple at me as a greeting. Bec didn't even look up from his game.

I raised that note. “I hope you give this to. . . ” I stopped, praying that Bec or Nate would give me a name.

Bec just looked up and said, "My sister?"

"good. Will you give this to him for me? ”

He filled X on the board on the ground. "No."

"Please."

“Oh, fine, because you asked for it well. . . no."

Friends laughing. “Oh, look, this is Gia Montgomery. You tell our friend that his band sucks and he has to start a new hobby. "

I jerked. "I'm not."

"Oh that's right. Your friend Jules did it and you laughed. Same difference."

I remember that. It was the end of a very long day of bands trying to play prom. They were the fifth band in a row and my head was pounding. Jules, who volunteered as one of the judges and has done a pretty good job by being nice, could not hold back her comments any longer. I laugh. We all laughed. Shouldn't have. This is probably the "greater breach" I have committed, which Bec had mentioned the day before.

“Ya. . Sorry about that. I have a headache. "

“Don't apologize to me. It's not my dream you've ruined. " He looked at Nate as if waiting for him to say something. Maybe he wants her to be mad at me too. He didn't do it.

"Yes," I said. That hand, still holding the note I had ignored, fell to my side.

Bec drew a new blank board on the ground, ignoring more than just my notes. Nate bit his apple again and smiled at me, but then shrugged as if to say, "You're out of luck."

See you in class tomorrow, then. I slipped the note into my jeans and went to the sound of laughter again. I guess it's okay when they're the ones doing the taunts.

“Can I bring the car to school tomorrow?”

My mother's hand stopped where she grabbed a glass in the closet. "Why?" He grabbed the glass and turned to face me.

“I need to do something after school.” That might include following someone home like a creepy stalker. "I don't want to make Claire drive me."

He thought as he filled his glass with water from the fridge door. He is a real estate agent and if he has a lot of appointments tomorrow it will not work. But he's usually not too busy on weekdays. Weekends are when people need to look around the twelfth house that they will not buy or that they have seen twelve times. “It should be fine. I can borrow Dad's car if I need it, but this won't be the norm, will it? You and Claire didn't fight or what? I told you about Bradley. "

His development of thought made no sense to me. Did he say that because I had a fight with Bradley, I had to fight with everyone I knew? No, we're fine. We. . .just like we used to be. " Everything in my life is the same as before. I may feel bad, but everything around me is exactly the same.

“Uh. . . Thanks Mom."

She laughs. "You know what I mean."

I know what he means and he's right, I don't want that to happen. Why would I lie to Claire? "Yes you're right. But we didn't fight. " At least not yet. I saw him drinking his water and thought to ask his opinion on what the result of lying to my friends was. Maybe he has insight. But I didn't ask.

"Thank you for letting me use the car" I said, then left the kitchen.

I dialed Claire's number as I walked towards the hall to my room. I fell back into my bed. “Hai, Claire,” I said as she replied.

"Hey."

“So tomorrow I don't need a ride to school. I used my mother's car. "

"Why?" That's a fair question. We have been driving to school together since we got the SIM and my parents have made an executive decision that I don't need my own car. I blame my brother for the three accidents he had before he was eighteen. The only time I didn't drive with Claire was when one of us got sick.

"I have to do some chores for my mother." The lies are endless at this point and it sucks. I sucked.

"Are you angry with me?"

"Of course not."

"Only, you've been acting weird ever since prom."

I felt strange since the prom, like maybe for the first time I really evaluated my life and found that I was lacking. Starting with the fact that Bec was right — I was a coward. I was afraid to tell the truth to my friends. What if Claire doesn't want to room with me in college? What if he hates me? I know, I'm sorry.

"No problem." He breathed a little.

I steer the conversation back to safer topics. Are you sure we're going to graduate?

I know, high school seems to take a long time and is now getting faster.

I turned the tip of my sheet around my finger repeatedly and listened to him talk about how fun college would be. Yeah, finding Bradley stuffing is the key. He has done this to me and I want it cancelled.

So far everything has gone according to plan. I was able to secretly find Bec after school where he climbed into the passenger seat of a car that didn't belong to his brother. Well, it could be, but he's not driving it. We'll turn right two and go through three red lights. He said he lived only six blocks from school, so I imagined we were approaching their house. My palms started to sweat, so I wiped them on my jeans, constantly staring at the taillights in front of me. I can't lose them. Their car flickers are on and so are my lights. Then they turn to the 7-Eleven parking lot. I hesitated, not wanting to lose them, but the parking lot was small. Bec will see me.

I started passing but at the last second decided not to do it and turned the wheel, causing the tires to scream. I grimaced, sure they heard, but no problem, they got out of their car and Bec was standing there waiting for me.

I took a breath and parked beside them.