on the map//spencer 'spider' white

4

"Shit," Darren says.

"Shit," I repeat. "Shit. Shit. Shit."

"Do we tell Amerie?" Quinni asks.

Darren shakes their head. "No way."

"She'll kill Harper," I warn. "I'm sure no one else even knows."

Amerie, Darren, Quinni, and I are in the library. We're people watching.

"Fuck you, Spider. I want a slap band," Amerie whispers.

"I still have to give her pen back," Quinni says.

"So, give her the pen back," I tell her.

"Oh. She totally wants to give her more than a pen, don't you?" Darren says.

"You like Sasha?" Amerie asks.

Quinni shushes her.

"She's had a wide-on for her since the cemetery party," Darren tells Amerie and me. "So go talk to her."

"And say what?" Quinni asks.

"Say, 'Hey, I think you're hot. Wanna scissor?'" Darren offers.

"I can't say that!" Quinni insists.

"Why not?" Darren asks.

"Because..." Quinni starts.

"Just be chill," I tell her. "'Here's your pen. Wanna hang?'"

"No, I can't say that either," Quinni insists.

"You really, really can," Amerie assures her.

"Go, go, go. I believe in you," Darren says.

"Now?" Quinni asks. "Like now now?"

"Now now," Amerie tells her.

Quinni goes to walk towards Sasha but chickens out. "I told you I couldn't do it. What if she doesn't like me or I'm not her type? What if she thinks I'm weird? I can't do that. What if she's still into Missy?"

I stand with Amerie and Quinni outside during PE. Darren is supposed to be playing with the boys but their just standing around.

"Spider will never sell me one," Amerie says. "He's cockblocking me from getting to Dusty."

"Oi, ball!" Spider shouts at Darren.

"Yeah, he's an asshole," Quinni says. She looks over towards Sasha. "How do you make someone like you?"

Darren walks over towards us. "I hate this game."

"I have an idea," Amerie tells us. "Run with me."

"I'm not running anywhere," Darren says.

"I agree," I state.

"Quinni, say something funny," Amerie instructs her.

"Uh..." Quinni starts.

Amerie laughs loudly.

"Why are we laughing?" Quinni asks.

"Not working. Kiss me," Amerie says.

"What?" Quinni asks.

"Maybe not," Darren says.

"To make her jealous," Amerie explains.

"Why do that?" Quinni asks. Darren tries to pull Amerie away from her. "I don't want to!"

"Stop this performative lesbianism," Darren tells Amerie.

"Act like you want it," Amerie tells Quinni.

Quinni walks over to Sasha. "Hi."

"Hi," Sasha greets.

"I like you," Quinni tells her. "You're smart and you're funny and you're really pretty. You're really, really beautiful. Um, and... You like the sound of your own voice too much.

I don't like how your Twitter bio says 'Empath.'"

"Cool. No. Okay, noted," Sasha says. "Um... Would you wanna hang out this weekend?"

"I'd like that. A lot, yeah," Quinni tells her.

"Yeah? Okay," Sasha says.

"Let's hang out," Quinni states.

"Cool," Sasha says.

"Okay, good. Enjoy the game. Have fun," Quinni says as she starts to walk away. Suddenly she turns and walks back to Sasha. "Hi, sorry, me again. Um... When you say hang out,

do you mean "hang out," or do you mean, like, um... Do you mean, like, go on a... Do you mean go on a date?"

"Like a date," Sasha tells her.

Quinni smiles widely and giggles. "Cool! Okay, good. I'm glad we cleared that up. That's good."

"Me too," Sasha says.

Quinn starts to walk away again but turns around like last time. "Um..."

"Are you back again?" Sasha says with a laugh.

"I'm back again. It's me." Quinni holds out Sasha's pen. "Um, this is... yours. Um, this is yours. It says Sasha on it. I took it from you... You gave it to me, and I forgot to give it back. But I know..."

Sasha takes the pen from her. "Thank you."

"Good. There's your pen. We're going on a date. Okay," Quinni says. She comes back towards us and squeals in excitement. "I'm going on a date! I'm going on a date!"