"Of course," she brushed her brown hair back from her deep brown eyes, it fell lightly on her shoulders, obscuring the collar on her pink shirt. She turned to the only open locker in the row and pulled a large book from the top shelf, then wrapped a thumb in the belt loop of her navy shorts, "It’s only for the freshmen isn’t it?"
He pouted momentarily; his blue eyes became clouded, "But… I’m not…"
She sighed and shook her head, "And I’m not on Link Crew. Remember, Keith?"
Keith turned his head, "There’s nothing I can do about that." He leaned back against the row of lockers and chanced to see a string of brown lying helplessly beside his leather shoe. He bent down and tied it furiously. The bottoms of his dark wash jeans obscured his fingers from successfully tying the shoe on the first attempt. He scowled as he continued to tighten his shoestrings. "Anyway…" he continued, only half focused on the conversation, "You know the tailgate party is school-wide this year, right?"
She whipped her head around to face him, "No way! It is not! We’ve never had a school-wide tailgate party!" She blinked and stuck her lip out, "Right?"
Keith shook his head as he stood up, "Don’t you listen to the announcements?"
She cocked her head, "Who listens to the announcements?"
Keith laughed and knocked her head lightly, "You really are hopeless, aren’t you Deidre?"
"So I can come then?"
Keith crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. His blue eyes were intense, even as he looked at Deidre’s smiling face. "If you don’t come willingly, I’ll kidnap you."
Deidre stepped back towards their locker and blinked, catching her breath and holding it within her arms.
Keith cracked a smile as he put his hand on top of the locker door. "Anyway… Let’s get going, lunch is almost over." He started walking toward the south hallway.
Deidre stood speechless, then managed to muster her voice. "Hey You did that just to make my heart jump didn’t you, you jerk?" Keith ignored her and continued walking down the hall. "Hey! Hey!" She slammed the locker door and ran after him. "Come back here you good for nothing I’m talking to you!!!"
