Alone In the Middle(Ch.10)

by Dragonfly in World of Books

Author's Note:Sorry this chapter is a bit shorter than usual. But I think y'all will still like it!

Ding-Dong
I looked up. That was Mike!
I took a breath. It was no big deal. All we were gonna do was play basketball. Ann and Anna were upstairs. the monsters were still at their friends house and mom and dad would be home tonight. Mike and I could play basketball in peace.
My clothes were ready. I'd put my hair in a clip to help me deal with the California sun. I was ready.
I opened the door.
Mike looked so cute. His blue eyes were sparkling, his brown hair a bit messy. He smiled. "Hey." he said.
"Hey. You ready to play?" I gave him a playful grin.
"Yeah. Ready to lose?" he replied.
"Aww. Mike thinks he's gonna win. How cute." I shot back.
He narrowed his eyes. "Then let's get started."
After two games, both in my favor, Mike sat on our front step. He was panting. I sat next to him. I had to admit, I was glad for a rest.
"Man, it's hot out here. You wanna take a break?" he asked.
"A break from what? Your losing streak?" I teased.
He grinned. "Once it's over you will lose! But yeah, a break would be nice."
"You want something to drink?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, wait here guys aren't aloud in when my parents aren't home."
"It's cool."
"I went to the kitchen and got two ice-filled glasses of water. Then I decided some popsicles would taste great.
When I came back out, Mike was gone.
"Mike? Where are you?"
"Boo!"
"Ahh!" I let out a yelp.
"He grinned. "Gotcha. Hey, are those popsicles?" His interest immediately moved to the snacks.
I rolled my eyes. So like a boy. He always had a thing for food.
"Yes and you can't have any."
"Aw, I'm sorry I scared you. Please forgive me." He gave me a self-pitying look.
I smiled. "Gotcha back!"

After we had our popsicles, we just talked. We talked about how his family's doing, how my family's doing, grades, sports and loads more. Then school came up.
"So I hear your sisters have it out for you." he opened it up with.
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah. So the got a little jello in their hair. It was still pretty funny."
He grinned and a dimple popped up in his cheek. Why hadn't I noticed before?
"Yeah, I had a bird's eye view. That was good. It was totally hilarious. But since I could see them, I could see something else too." He leaned in.
I gulped.
"I could see you three the entire time. I knew it was you. you were watching way to closely."
So he was cute and smart.
I needed to pull myself out of this, so I said, "Well, why were you watching?"
He grinned. "You know that kid that Greg hit? The one that was behind Grace? It was Josh Evans."
Josh? Oops. I didn't know Greg had hit him. We'd been good friends for awhile.
"Well, what was Josh doing up? Was he heading to their table?" I asked.
Mike had a mischievous twinkle in his eye I had seen way too many times before. He replied, "He was going to ask out Amber."
My mouth dropped. "AMBER? You are kidding me!"
Mike nodded his head. "We tried to talk him out of it, not because Amber would say no. It was because she would say yes. And then poor Josh would be stuck with her as a girlfriend. But he wouldn't be convinced. And then he got hit in the face with mashed potatoes."
I giggled. It was just so...bizarre.
"Wow. Amber and Josh. That's hard to think about. Well you tell Josh I'm sorry he got the wrong end of the mashed potatoes."
"Oh, I will. But, you know, the guys had been trying to convince me to do some asking of myself."
My face grew hot.
Mike looked down. "I do like you, you know. And even though the Spring Fling kind of stinks, I was th-"
"Hi Mike!"
My eyes widened. I couldn't believe it. I didn't even know she knew where I lived. She's d never been invited over before.
But she was here, in the flesh.
Amber.