Mom
Who is it?
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes like a petulant child.
Just a friend I met at school
They have horses!
Mom
Okay… let me know if you need me to pick you up.
Three dots appeared and disappeared, but after a while, nothing else came through.
Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as I triumphantly announced, “She said I could go.”
“Awesome! You’re going to love the horses and all the animals we have!” Hayden tugged on Keenan’s sleeve. “Keenan, did you hear? Sierra’s coming to hang out after school!”
Keenan groaned before his head popped up over the seat. “Aw, you’re so lucky, Sierra. My parents won’t let me go to Hayden’s during the week because they say I won’t get my homework done if I do.”
“I mean, they’re kinda right, though.” Hayden laughed. “You get distracted pretty easily.”
When the final bell rang at school, Hayden was already waiting by my locker.
“You ready?” he asked as I grabbed my things.
“Yep,” I replied, awkwardly shifting on my feet. “But aren’t we just riding the bus?”
Hayden shrugged. “My dad’s picking us up.”
A million thoughts surged through my mind, but the only thing that came out of my mouth was, “Oh.”
“Don’t worry, he’s cool.” Hayden’s phone buzzed, and he quickly glanced at his messages. “Come on, he’s out front.”
“All right.” After double-checking that I had everything, I followed Hayden outside.
A sheriff’s deputy vehicle was parked in front of the school, and I froze.
What are the cops doing here? Did something happen again?
“Hi, Dad!” Hayden called out as a man who could be his older, taller twin stepped out of the vehicle in a GCSO uniform.
Dad? His dad’s a sheriff’s deputy?
“This is my friend, Sierra.” Hayden waved me over, and I realized I was still frozen in place at the top of the steps.
Reluctantly, I descended the stairs, crossing my arms over my chest when I reached the bottom. “H-hi.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Sierra. I’m Roy.” He offered his hand, but my body instinctively shrunk back. His eyes widened a bit, but I snapped out of it to shake his hand, hoping he didn’t read into it too much.
“Thanks for having me over.” I didn’t have very many friends growing up. The few I did have never came over to my house, so more often than not, I didn’t get invited to theirs.
“Of course. I’m glad my son is making friends. Right, bud?” Mr. Watkins ruffled Hayden’s hair, and he protested, smoothing the strands back out with his hands.
Once we got into the vehicle, Hayden and his dad immediately engaged in conversation, a small mercy for me. Most parents wanted to ask their kid’s friends questions, and that was overwhelming for me. It was one of the reasons why I didn’t go out of my way to make a lot of friends.
“Do you have homework?”
