- Brandon's POV -
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I took a deep breath. “Well, Brandon,” I whispered, “you’re either about to make a really good decision or a really bad one.”
On the spur of the moment, I had set up a meeting on Saturday with the principal of Arnold-Garrett middle school to talk about possibly teaching there during the school year. Today was Saturday. I was standing outside the principal’s office. I was terrified.
Thinking back to my high school public speaking class, I took another deep breath. “Alright. I’m good with people. I’m gonna do fine. This is gonna be fine. I’m a member of several local clubs. I have a good job. I have a lot of friends. What’s a principal gonna do to me? Nothing. I’m not in elementary school any more. It’s not a big deal.”
Without thinking, I raised my hand and knocked.
“Come in,” a female voice said from inside.
I straightened my jacket once more and opened the door.
“Brandon Pecorano?” The woman behind the desk smiled at me.
“That’s me.” I returned the smile. She was pretty, and a little young, but seemed nice enough.
“I’m Alice Robertson, principal of Arnold-Garrett. Nice to finally meet you in person.” She stood and shook my hand. “Take a seat.”
“Thank you,” I said. “To get right to the point, I’m here to ask you about something important to me.”
“I am very in favor of listening to what people are passionate about.” She leaned forward, her hands folded on the desk. “Let’s discuss.”
“I work at Neon Blue Graphic Design,” I began. “I began an internship there during my last two years of high school, and I currently work there full time. However, I’m big into being involved in the community. I’m a sponsor of the City Teens club, as well as the local chess club for young adults.”
Alice nodded. “Go on.”
“My job at Neon Blue is a dream, and I love being able to do what I love for a living. I make enough money to keep myself comfortable. But I’ve been thinking: I’d love to volunteer, assist, or teach an art class here at Arnold-Garrett. I’m not married, and have no family of my own. Investing in the future generation of artistic kids is something I’d very much enjoy. Like I said, money is not an issue, so volunteering works just fine for me. As long as I get to teach, or at least help.”
“Hmm.” The principal leaned back in her chair. “If we could put you in a position to volunteer or teach, would it interfere with your work schedule?”
“It wouldn’t,” I assured her. “My schedule is very flexible. As long as I work a certain amount of hours each day and get my projects done, events can be scheduled around.”
“Interesting.” Alice stared at me pensively. “And how old are you?”
“I’m 20 years old.”
“Hmm.”
I waited.
“Well, I’ll see what I can do. Typically we only hire teachers with education higher than high school, but since you have an internship, and since it’s art…I’ll need to talk to the board about this.”
I nodded. “That’s totally fine. Like I said, this is just an opportunity I would enjoy. I would appreciate you keeping it in mind.”
“I will.” She cocked her head to the side. “You may be just what we need. No promises, though.” Standing, she shook my hand again. “This is, obviously, the end of the school year, so if anything happens it will happen after the summer ends.”
“I understand.”
“I’ll keep in touch.”
“Thank you. And thank you for the opportunity to meet with you.”
“The pleasure is mine.” Alice smiled as I quickly exited her office.
I walked down the deserted hallways, pointedly not thinking about anything until I got in my car.
As soon as I was in my car, I allowed myself a moment of excitement. “Yesssss! It sounds like she’s going to consider it,” I confided to the passenger seat. “I bet I’ll be able to do it!”
I drove home, happy and happy to be happy. Before I arrived, I stopped by the store to grab some groceries and socks. My phone buzzed in my pocket--a text from Taylor. “Something good happen?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “Might be helping / teaching art at the middle school next semester. Fingers crossed.”
“Awesome!”
My fingers flew across the screen. “Don’t let me distract you. Knock out that studying 100%.”
“Thanks :)”
I decided to invite Aiden and Jamie over for dinner, because I felt bad about not going to that game with Aiden weeks ago. I dialed up his number as I searched through the fresh seafood.
“This is Aiden,” he answered.
“What’s up dude? It’s Brandon.”
“Brandon!” His voice sounded excited. “Bro, I haven’t heard from you for a couple of days. Kinda had me worried. What’s up?”
“Well,” I smiled, “I felt kinda bad about not going to that game with you awhile ago…”
“Oh, that? Don’t worry about it,” he interrupted.
“…so, I thought I’d invite you and Jamie over for dinner,” I finished. “I’m making seafood. Seared tuna with rice and roasted veggies.”
“Dude, that sounds…fancy. I didn’t know you cooked?” Aiden turned the statement into a question.
Shoot, I thought. I gave away my secret. Now I’ll never hear the end of it.
“Uh…yeah, actually. Please don’t tell anyone. I’m not like a super food geek or anything,” I lied. “I just like to make nice things…every once and awhile. Not, like, every day.” Which was true. Sometimes I had to eat the leftovers. So technically, I didn’t cook every day.
Aiden laughed. “I won’t tell. You do you, bro. We’ll be there tonight.”
“Awesome.” I felt relieved for some reason. Because you thought he’d forgotten about you, a voice whispered. Because you thought he didn’t want your friendship any more. Because you’re a worthless piece of--
I kicked the voice into a box and taped it up.
“See you then!”
“Bye,” I said, then hung up. Time to get down to business. I’m gonna make this a smashing meal.
***************
“That was…amazing.” Aiden leaned back in his chair, unbuckling his belt. Jamie smacked his hand and he grinned at her. “Just trying to make room for all that good food, babe.”
“Not at the dinner table.” She rolled her eyes. “Brandon, you really outdid yourself. To be honest, I didn’t know you could make more than a toasted pop tart.”
I chuckled. “Then my plan worked. I didn’t want anyone to know--they might have taken away my man card, forever.”
We all laughed. “Seriously though,” Aiden said. “This is just more evidence that you need a girl. You’re so lonely you learned how to cook, and really good too!”
“Well,” Jamie corrected.
“Really good well.” He put his arm around her. “Can we do this more often? I love not paying for a restaurant-rate dinner.”
“Who said you weren’t paying?” I grinned mischievously.
Aiden shared a look with Jamie. “You wouldn’t…would you?”
“I’m joking, dude.” I got up and started to clear the table. “But if you help with the dishes, I might be more inclined to invite you over more often.”
“That’s all I needed to hear.”
We made quick work with the cleanup. It was nice, having someone to laugh and joke around with. It hit me how much I’d missed hanging out with people. Thinking back, I realized I hadn’t even made it to volleyball this past Monday night. I mentally smacked myself as I stuck a plate in the dishwasher. How did you forget? I chastised myself.
Nobody even texted you to remind you, the pesky voice in my head told me. Nobody cares about you.
Shut up, I cursed at it. Aiden and Jamie care about me. They’re having dinner with me tonight, and you know that.
That’s only because you invited them, though. They’re just tolerating you. Like all your supposed friends do.
“Hey Brandon,” Aiden’s concerned voice broke into my thoughts and the voice dissipated. “Earth to Brandon. You okay?”
I shook my head to clear it. “What? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Just got caught up in my thoughts.”
“Okay.” He turned back to the trash can, where he was scraping off plates. Jamie shot me a concerned look as well, and I gave her a smile. She looked away, seemingly satisfied.
“Well guys,” I said a while later as I dried the last pot, “I wish I had some dessert for you, but I didn’t have time to bake up anything.”
“It’s totally okay, Brandon,” Jamie assured me. She and Aiden were standing together, Aiden’s arm around her shoulders. “We don’t even need dessert after such a wonderful meal.”
“We don’t?” Aiden asked innocently. She smacked him in the ribs, and he laughed.
“We should get going. I don’t want to keep you any longer. Thank you so much for the amazing food!” Jamie tugged on Aiden’s shirt. He gave me a fist bump.
“See you later, dude. Take care of yourself.”
“I will.” I grinned at them both as they walked down the hallway outside my door.
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(i hope you guys had a fantastic holiday and, well, here's to the new year! let's make 2019 better than 2018.)
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