Adam’s jaw dropped. “No way.” Bas shrugged in response. Adam pulled out his phone and pounded out a text. “You’re still planning on going to Stanford, right?”
“Been accepted, just have to figure out the financials. I may lose my scholarship because of this valedictorian thing.”
Adam texted for another minute without saying anything.
“Miss lover boy already?” Bas had to ask.
“Yeah, no. He’s cooking with Dane, so I’m not bothering him. Sending an article idea to Ryan. Sometimes when the adults won’t listen to us, we have to play the media to make them listen.”
Bas blinked at his friend who, six months ago, would never have dared to raise his voice. “What are you doing?”
Adam got up and rounded the table to hug Bas. “Returning a favor. You’re meeting us for lunch, right?”
“Um, yeah. If I’m not expelled by then.”
Adam laughed. “O’Brien wouldn’t dare open that can of worms. Later, then.”
He left, and Bas couldn’t do anything but stare into the distance at the doorway where his friend had vanished. The first warning bell rang, leaving him to scramble for his books and get to class. Being tardy would not endear him to O’Brien.
He got through his morning classes by sheer willpower. No snarky replies and he didn’t try to answer any questions. What was the point? He wasn’t going to be standing in front of his peers in two months telling them about facing the world. He would likely be listening to someone else who would go on about partying in college. No one else seemed to care where they went after high school, which meant most were going nowhere. It made him so mad.
He’d seen the exact same look in Adam’s eyes a few months ago. One of the herd, shuffling along, faking it until they made it, only it would become their entire lives. Yeah, Bas had pushed him to find a focus. And now the kid was on par to be next year’s valedictorian and probably write a best seller.
Bas sighed. Maybe he needed to get his own focus back. Stanford had sounded like a good idea at the time. But that was before his gran had died and his family turned against him.
When the bell rang for lunch, he couldn’t have been more relieved to escape the campus. Adam waited for him by the main entrance. “Ru says they’re in the rotunda at the college. And they have Dimitri’s pizza. So just a quick walk across the parking lot through the cold….”
Bas smiled. Would Dane really eat pizza for the first time? Would he try hot food? He had eaten the chili he had made, but nothing else warm so far. Bas followed Adam across the lot and into the adjacent college library, then down to the big area filled with seats and vending machines. Dane and Ru had blocked off three soft chairs and a short table. Two big pizza boxes sat on the table. Bas’s mouth watered.
“I could use some comfort food today.”
Dane grabbed one of the boxes and opened it. It wasn’t as perfectly round as Dimitri’s pizzas, but topped with diced Roma tomatoes, pineapple, and extra cheese. Bas nearly fell over himself getting to the box.
“Can I eat this?” he asked Dane before taking a piece. Dane nodded.
Ru handed him a plate and a plastic knife and fork.
“Dimitri told Dane that it’s best when eaten with a fork. So he added a ton of toppings.”
Bas sat on the floor at Dane’s feet and put his pizza on the plate before cutting off a chunk and shoving it in his mouth.
“Oh my sweet God, this is amazing,” he said. “You made this?”
“Crust, sauce, and all. Dimitri showed me how to chop the tomato and the pineapple too. Had this neat umbrella-shaped thing that takes the core out of the pineapple and peels it easy as cutting butter.”
Bas cut off a smaller piece and held it out for Dane. “You tried it yet?”
Dane hesitated another moment before opening his mouth to accept the bite. Bas studied his expression, watching it change several times until Dane finally swallowed the piece.
“That’s what pizza tastes like?”
“That’s whatgoodpizza tastes like.”
“We have all veggies on ours if you want to try a bite,” Adam told Dane. Bas knew Ru must have done it just for Dane, because normally he and Adam had three kinds of meat on their pizza.
Dane took a bite of theirs too and chewed thoughtfully before he swallowed. “I like Bas’s, but I like the peppers too. No olives. I don’t think I like olives.” He looked at the green and black olives on Ru’s pizza. “They’re too salty.”
Ru took one off the pizza and popped it into his mouth. “I love olives because they’re so salty.”
Adam picked the ones off his piece and put them on Ru’s plate. “They’re okay. The peppers are better. You should try it with pepperoncini on your pizza. It’s spicy and sweet. It would go great with your tomato/pineapple thing.” He plucked a few slices off their pizza and put them on a slice of Bas’s for Dane. “Bet you’ll like this.”
Dane took the pizza and carefully cut a piece to try. After a moment chewing and a quick swallow, he picked up the slice and took a big bite.
“This is good,” he said around a mouth full of food.
Bas grinned at Adam, who grabbed Ru’s hand and squeezed.
“We’ll have to add that to our fav list at Dimitri’s.” He was pretty sure they all shared the same thought.
There was hope.
