Dean & Simone Pt 2

So, Simone has a problem. A guy, Lucas, that she was nice to, because no one else was, has now developed feelings for her and doesn’t take a hint. She doesn’t want to hurt his feelings because she’s not the kind of person to do that. She’d much rather avoid the problem. But, he’s one of those socially awkward guys who doesn’t understand boundaries.

High school is hard, socially. Preston, Dean and Rax have each other, although Rax has graduated at this point (two years early) and started college. Simone has Blaine and Deidra, which is good, but she feels perpetually awkward.

Simone dropped her binder on the table opposite of Preston and Dean and slouched with a sigh when she sat. She pulled out her bento box of crackers, cheese, and fruit scowling.

“Everything okay, sis?” Preston asked, plopping a pepperoni from his pizza into his mouth. He chewed a couple of times then gulped the bite down. “I mean, you don’t normally eat with us.”

“Dean invited me.”

She shook her head and looked through her crackers wanting a perfect one. Why did her brother, and Dean, have to be so easy to talk to? At least they were as easy as Rax, but thankfully, he’d been so busy with college, she hadn’t seen him. “This guy won’t leave me alone. He’s creepy but he won’t bother me with most of the football team here.”

“That’s why Preston sits here, too,” Dean said, the glint of humor shining in his green eyes. “Creepy guys hit on him a lot.”

“I send them to Rax,” Preston said, picking another piece of pepperoni off and eating it.

Dean took a sip of an energy drink. “So, what’s this guy doing?”

She sighed and fingered her grapes, aware that her brother watched to make certain she ate something. If she’d known anorexia would mean everyone scoping out her every meal, she would have hid it better. But Lucas Reynolds wasn’t worth becoming an active anorexic again after three years of eating. She selected a grape and ate it before answering.

“Follows me around, he’s asked me out. Texts me all the time and last night, he sent me a picture of his junk.”

Preston’s eyes narrowed. “What? Who is this moron?”

“Lucas Reynolds. He’s a sophomore, I think.”

“Is that what was bothering you this morning?” Dean demanded.

She looked up into Dean’s eyes and found an uncommon anger in them.

“No. He sent it last night, but I didn’t open it until science class this morning.”

She pulled out her phone and after tapping the screen handed it to Preston while Dean looked over his arm to see. Dean’s eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened.

“Yeah, I see in your texts you told him to leave you alone,” Preston said. “Have you talked to the counselor?”

She shrugged. “No. What are they going to do? Then I look like a snitch.”

Dean put his pizza down. “So, you’ve told him to back off and he’s still doing this?”

She nodded and finally selected a grape to eat, it’s sweet almost cotton candy taste made her forget the problem for a millisecond. The sharp cheese perfected the flavor on her tongue.

“I’ll help you,” Preston said.

Dean laughed.

Preston straightened, but sounded unbothered when he spoke. “I can be imposing.”

“To a box of donuts.”

Simone chuckled, enjoying their banter. Dean could be imposing, tall and athletic, muscular and she was thankful for the offer. Her brother could be imposing with how quickly he shut down his fun personality and got downright serious. But, he was more of a negotiator.

“That him?”

Simone turned, following Dean’s gaze to a tall, wiry boy with greasy black hair and pimples. Just seeing him watching her sank a piece of her. “Yeah.”

Dean looked over at a few of the football players who had been listening in on the conversation and she realized they could have an entire conversation and come up with a complete plan without saying a word, a skill they honed and practiced every Friday night. Then Simone felt his eyes on her, studying her, but she didn’t look up. Why had she let it out that Lucas was bothering her? She could handle her own problems. Couldn’t she?

“We’ll take care of it, Si. I’ll walk you to class?”

Squeezing through the freshman hallway became a lot easier with Dean by her side. The sea of students parted and she wondered if she felt the way Moses did when the Red Sea parted. Of course, with the star wide receiver by her side earned them a lot of curious looks and space. Seniors generally didn’t grace the freshman hallway and varsity football players typically only associated with the JV players or freshmen cheerleaders, not the “crazy horse girl.” She guessed most people knew Dean moved in with her family after his mother died unexpectedly in the summer. Or maybe not. The football team knew, because they came over most Saturdays to hang out around the firepit. They had even camped in one of the empty fields a few times, but Simone hadn’t been allowed to join them.

“Right here,” she said as they approached her ELA class.

“Oh? Mrs. Bradley? She terrified me. And those pants. . .”

Simone chuckled, trying to picture Dean terrified of anything, except the miniature horse who bit his butt when he first moved to the farm.

“I like her. But I enjoy ELA. You enjoy business and math.”

“It’s where the money is. Listen, why don’t you wait and ride with me and Preston after practice instead of riding the bus?”

“I have lessons to give today,” she said. “They start right after school.”

“Can Toddy or your mom pick you up?”

“I can just ride the bus. If there is a problem, I’ll let you know.”

He didn’t look convinced, but nodded. “I gotta run.”

“Thanks, Dean.”

She watched him leave and walked into class and for the first time, she really didn’t pay attention because the walk to her class with Dean elbowed its way into her mind. Sure, he always helped with morning stables, but five-thirty mornings didn’t lend themselves to a lot of conversation or closeness. Still, he had a girlfriend. A junior named Mallory, who was everything Simone wasn’t. She doubted Mallory ever wore cowboy boots or jeans or ever had a bad hair day.

The bell rang and her stomach tightened. She needed to walk to the connections hall for art and Lucas was always somewhere on the route. Thrusting the last of her books into her backpack, she waited until everyone else was out to step out.

“Are you Simone?”

She looked up to a black student, about her size wearing a football jersey. Certainly wasn’t Lucas. One of the JV players?

“Yeah?”

“I’m Leon. Dean told me to walk you to your next class.”

She smiled, then laughed. “Well, okay. It’s art. Is that one your way?”

“Yeah, I have media art. I think it’s next door.” They began to walk, moving through the throngs of students.

“Oh? Is it fun?”

“Yeah,” Leon said. “We’re making a video game for our class project. Low-budget, but I think the graphics are coming together.”

“Sounds great!” She paused. “Did Dean make you do this?”

Leon’s coffee eyes studied like he was confused. “No. He asked. Said some guy was giving you trouble, but he’d get it taken care of after school. Trenton’s a good guy, so I don’t mind doing him a solid.”