“I didn’t think we were, like...”
“No, I know, we haven’t been, but I just thought...”
I don’t finish her sentence because I don’t know what she thought.
“That we could, like, say hi for a second,” she says, looking down at her Chuck Taylors. “Since it’s been a little while.”
“Oh. Yeah. Sure. Definitely. Hi.”
“Hi.” Maggie scrunches her mouth to one side and flicks her eyebrows up, like,Well, this is kinda weird!It’s really adorable, but I try not to think about that.
“Are you here... alone?”
“No, with Shana. But she went to pee. She and Janessa are friends. The point guard?”
“Oh yeah. I know. I was there when she caught the speaker at Shana’s party.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“I don’t fully either, actually. I just have a vague memory. A speaker fell, I guess.”
Maggie awkwardly runs a hand through her hair. “Speaking of that party... You and Tatiana have reunited, huh?”
“Oh. Well.” My face goes full beet farm. “She’s just showing me how to use my camera.”
“Gotcha.”
“Yeah.” I don’t really know what the point of this conversation is. But since we’re here... “I saw you and Chord. On his profile.”
“Oh. What? Oh.” Now Maggie’s cheeks turn tomato. “That was... I told him not to post that, but he liked it. So.”
“You didn’t like it?”
“No, I was fine with it. I mean, things with Chord are going great. But I’m just more private about... I don’t know, it doesn’t matter. I’m sorry if seeing that was...”
“Seeing it was totally fine.”
“Okay. Right. Yeah.”
“Ahem.”Shana steps onto the bleachers behind me, then sidles past Maggie and sits down on her other side. “Well, hello, Carter Cohen.”
“Hey, Shana,” I say. “I was just leaving.”
“Don’t go on my account,” she says. “I just didn’t think you two were even talking.”
“We haven’t been. But Maggie waved me over.”
“It was an accident,” Maggie says, as if talking with me is a huge mistake. It pisses me off.
“Yup. Total accident,” I agree. “Incidentally, though, you might be interested to know that I finally heard back from Layla. You remember, right? Layla Banerjee?” I say the last part real sarcastically.Can’t help it, I’m so annoyed. Seeing Maggie’s face go pale is both gratifying and horrible.
“Who’s Layla Banerjee?” Shana asks, her face contorted like she’s just gotten a whiff of someone’s fart.
Maggie doesn’t tell her, so I don’t either.
“Anyway,” I say, toning down my hostility, “Layla said she’s down to talk, so I’m gonna apologize to her. Like, who really knows, but maybe that will end all... this.” I gesture to myself. “So thank you for your help.”
Maggie nods. “Yeah. You’re welcome. But...”
