“No reason. I don’t feel like it.”I shrugged as Dennissmirked.“I gotta go. I think Sean needs me.”
“No, I don’t.”Sean and Ari were both watching us, him grinning while she positively beamed.
“I need to learn how to make an old fashioned.”
“No, you don’t. You made one a few minutes ago,” Sean said. Ari turned away to hide how hard she was laughing.
“I just said I don’t wanna go out with him ‘cause,”I hesitated, then stopped talking because I couldn’t think of anything.
“‘Cause why?”Dennisasked.“Enlighten us, because I could’ve sworn you looked at me when he asked.”
I stared at him,trying to think of a comeback, but my brain wouldn’t work fast enough.“Fuck you all.I’mgoing on another break.”I spun and walked away.
“You wanna go that way.”Nate pointed in the opposite direction of where I was headed.
I followed his instructions, spinning againto walk past all the people I was mad at.“Fuck you all.Not you, Nate.I’mgoing on another break,”I said it with more conviction since I was going the right way now.
Dennis laughed and slid off the stool to rejoin Mateo. I briefly wondered if Mateo had heard too, but that question was answered when he glanced up from the girl he was flirting with. Surprisingly, it was the same one as last time. He caught my eye with a knowing smile. Great. He’d heard everything.
“Why are you still here?”
“Fuck you, I’m leaving!”I glared at Ari and went in back once and for all. I plopped on the couch, grateful to be away from everyone’s teasing. A few minutes of phone scrolling passed before the sound of footsteps came.
“Hey.”
I looked up as Nate walked in.“Hi. Are you on break, too?”
“Yeah. It’s dead, so I figured Sean can handle things for a while. How are you liking your first day?”He saton the couch, leaving a decent amount of space between us.
“I like it. It’s been fun. Minus Ari teasing and Dennis being nosy. But aside from them, everything has been great. Sean’s a really good teacher.”
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but are you and Dennis…?” Nate’s question veered off.
“Are we what?”
“You know.”He paused as I shook my head. I didn’t know. I had no clue what he was trying to ask.“Dating. Are you guys together?”
“What? No.”My nose scrunched at the horrible question.“I don’t date people. I mean, I do go on occasional dates,but only one per person and only if I’m getting something out of it. I don’t actuallydatepeople. You know what I mean?”He seemed confused. But before he could answer, I started screaming.
“What?”He bolted upright.
“Knife! Knife, I need a knife!” I leaptup, patting my pockets for a knife. I spotted one and snatched it up, then threw it across the room. I didn’t wait to see if it got the monster and sprinted for the door, where I smacked into Sean. He caught me in the doorway while I tried to squeeze past.
“What happened?”Denniswasbesidehim.
“You killed it,” Nate’s astonished voice came from behind me.“I don’t know how you did that, but it worked.”
“Spider?”Dennisguessed.
“I’m not going back in there. I need to leave the scene of the crime. That was terrifying.”I pushed past him and Sean to leave the room.
“That’s fine,” Sean said.“Your break’s over, anyway.”
“I almost fucking died!”
“You’re so dramatic.”Dennis chuckled as they followed.
“Was that you screaming?”Ari looked up from her phone as we approached.
