Change of Plans - C.L. Blackwell Page 0,14

end of the day and I started heading to my car to wait for Matt. As I passed the field, I saw a lone runner on the track. As I was putting my bag in the back seat of my car, Debbie Singer, the sophomore from study hall, approached me.

“Is Matt okay?” she sounded really worried.

What? “Okay? Why wouldn’t he be?”

“Everyone is talking about how Matt and Caleb got in a fight at football practice, I thought you had already heard.”

Oh, you have got to be kidding me. This day couldn’t get any worse. First, my temper is shooting through the roof and my hormones were going nuts. Thanks to my hormones I almost kissed Caleb today. Not once, but twice. I think I need to go to the doctor because something was definitely wrong.

Second, Caleb has to pick a fight with Matt. He probably did it just to make me mad. If he put a scratch on him, I was going to kill him.

When I saw my car across the parking lot, Matt was already standing there acting as if he hadn’t just got in a fistfight. When I approached, he gave me his usual smile and a sup nod. I crossed my arms and glared, “Oh no, don’t you dare sup nod me, Matt Peterson. What on earth were you thinking? A fistfight? With Caleb of all people? You know he just wants to get under your skin.”

“Yeah, well he succeeded. He shouldn’t be around you; I can’t stand him and neither can you! He’s just some jerk who thinks he is better than everyone.” He stood by the passenger door with his arms crossed over his chest, not budging. I knew we were attracting an audience with all of our yelling and so did he because he said in a much quieter voice, “Maybe this is a conversation to have in private.”

I agreed with a silent nod, still mad, and walked around to the other side of the car. The car ride back to my house was silent, only the purr of the engine humming quietly in the background. Based off what he said, it sounded like Matt picked the fight, but I still didn’t understand why Matt had to pick a fight with him. Caleb was a jerk, and we both knew that so what happened that he couldn’t let go? Even though Matt said Caleb shouldn’t be around me, it’s not like they fought because Caleb talked to me.

When I pulled into my driveway, I turned off the engine and sat there quietly. I turned to face Matt, but when I glanced his way he was already exiting the car with his backpack. I watched as he walked up the pathway and through the front door, leaving it open behind him. I sat for a minute, contemplating what to do. Coming up blank-minded, I got my bag and went inside.

I could hear sounds from upstairs, which meant Matt was already in my room watching a movie. I climbed the stairs and turned toward the long hallway where my room was at the end. Brody didn’t appear to be home yet, or he locked himself in his room.

The door to my room was open and I walked right in. My room was large considering it was just for one person. A queen-sized bed took up most of the space. It was held by a four-poster metal bed frame that was painted white and intertwined with sparkly Christmas lights I put up a couple of years ago. The bedspread was silver with purple designs and had enough matching pillows to cover a quarter of the bed. Opposite of the bed was a dresser with the television above it playing a comedy movie. On one side the wall was filled with a mass array of pictures, some black and white while others in colors, all of them taken by me. Under the pictures was my desk and the other side of the room had doors leading to my closet and bathroom. And there on my bed, eating a bag of chips, was Matt.

I set my bag in the chair by the door and joined Matt, stealing the bag of chips in the process. They were Cheetos. Doritos were his thing, but Cheetos were all mine. He didn’t say anything to me, only continued to watch the movie. We settled into our normal routine of watching and eating, but eventually my questions seemed to be eating at me more