That One Moment...

Chapter 31

Day 116 - Valentine's Week

Sarah had found a new normal over the past 3 weeks or so. After her mom was discharged from the hospital, there had been a truce in her house. Sarah continued to work and practice, along with school, while her parents acted like she was barely alive. This worked well for her. As long as she kept a low profile, didn't talk too much, and did her pretty long list of chores, peace was maintained.

School was going well. Sarah had been keeping solid As, with a few Bs sneaking into English and Spanish classes sometimes, so her parents could not complain. She had also been doing better at interacting with her new friend group. This included sitting at the more popular lunch tables with the rest of the basketball team, as well as getting back into a routine of working with Chris some nights on homework before she had to work or go to practice. The normalcy was helping her anxiety and depression. She didn't feel like she was spinning out of control anymore.

Glancing around the loud lunchroom, Sarah noticed the decorations for this week's dance. The spring semi-formal lined up with Valentine's Day and was also going to be a celebration of sorts for the boys basketball team making it to states. The series was Thursday through Saturday in Detroit, so the dance wouldn't be held until Sunday afternoon. Sarah had been talked into getting the day off of work to attend with the rest of the girls team as a group. Everyone had decided to go stag and just enjoy the party without worrying about dates...at least that was Sarah's take. She also thought there had been a bad break up with one of the other team members and everyone was supporting her as well. Sarah didn't mind. She had been playing rather regularly during games, even if she wasn't a starter. Abby thought she could be bumped up next year when a few of the seniors graduated. They actually had home games both Wednesday and Thursday this week, so practice was lighter and Sarah would need to work Friday and Saturday instead.

Sarah was daydreaming when she was brought back to the conversation by a stilted laugh. One of her teammates that Sarah wasn't that close to, Bev, was talking with Anna about the latest gossip. Bev was arguing that Ryan and Lindsey were hooking up. That she had overheard Lindsey in the bathroom dishing about Ryan's prowess to some of the other cheerleaders. Abby was nearby and Sarah could see she was looking at her with concern. Giving an easy smile back to reassure her, Sarah looked over towards where Bev and Anna were staring - Ryan, Leo, and Dylan were seated together with the cheerleader group draped around. There were a few other guys from the basketball and football teams crowded in as well. It looked like they were watching something on a phone and laughing.

After the night where Ryan had come to her place and Sarah had bared her soul before falling asleep on him, their friendship had regrown and melded into something new, but still familiar. Ryan was regularly picking her up for school and driving her to work or home from practice again. They would spend the time either talking about school and life, or in complete silence when Sarah needed it. Ryan was trying to encourage her to open up and talk through issues, instead of bottling them up. It was easier to do this when her life was not a crazy mess. The latest issue has been her concern for her sister Kathy. She had come home two weekends ago and looked so skinny it was scary. From what Sarah could gather, Kathy was pretty much living off of whiskey and not really eating because her boyfriend was a jerk and called her fat all the time. Kathy wouldn't listen to anything Sarah had to say and ended up heading back to campus and giving Sarah the silent treatment. Sarah had relayed the latest lack of communication to Ryan just this morning while he mumbled about how their parents really did a number on them...Sarah agreed with the statement.

As if he sensed her thinking about him, Ryan looked over towards their table and caught her eyes. Sarah gave him a weak smile, since she had been caught staring at him. Although, a chunk of her table was all looking over in the same direction, he had narrowed in on her of course. When he winked, the table erupted in giggles. Sarah could tell that Abby was the only one that might have sensed the wink was not for the group, since she was looking at Sarah when she broke eye contact with Ryan.

Leaning over, Abby whispered "What is going on between you two? I see you hanging around each other regularly again. It doesn't have the same vibe, but Ryan has also been attending way more basketball games then he ever did before."

Sarah sighed. She had been trying not to really think too hard into their friendship really. They were friends, yes, but it also seemed like more at times. Even though the concept of dating had not been brought up and they had steered clear of talking about being anything more, the tension was there and it seemed to be building more every day they saw (or didn't see) each other. Sarah wasn't sure what she wanted. Her mind was at war with itself really, and her heart was starting to get caught up in the mess.

"We're just friends. Don't read too much into it."

Abby laughed quietly at that. "Of course I am going to read into it. Ryan and Sarah, sitting in a tree..." she trailed off and laughed some more, enough to get people turning to look at them as Sarah swatted at her shoulder and Abby hummed the nursery rhyme more enthusiastically. Sarah couldn't help to laugh with her since it was infectious.

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Sarah's good mood lasted through history and even into Spanish, until they delved into conjugations again. That had her and Jeremy struggling to keep up and feeling totally lost by the end of the hour.

"I don't know how it keeps getting harder. I swear that it can't get worse, and then she adds in some other tense I didn't even know existed." Sarah snorted with laughter as Jeremy complained when they were leaving the classroom. She was startled slightly to see piercing green eyes staring at her from across the hall. Jeremy saw her Greek God at about the same time and laughed even harder, "That's my cue to run off to art. It looks like someone wants to chat with you."

"See you later." Sarah waved Jeremy off and turned to Ryan. "What's up?"

"Just walking you to gym. I got pulled from class to meet with the coach about states and didn't feel like going back to class for like 5 minutes, so I decided to find you instead."

"I feel so honored to be placed above econ." Sarah snorted, knowing that he found the class too basic and boring. "Do you think the rumors are true and we might be done with sex ed?"

"That's what is sounds like. Not a moment too soon though. Coach was a weird combination of too familiar with the stuff and awkward when he realized what he was saying could be too much."

"You know that is way better than Mrs. Martin though."

"True." Ryan agreed as they closed in on the locker rooms. "Her giggling and almost flirting seem to be getting worse. Do you think she is regretting the divorce? Rumor claims it was her that wanted to get with other people."

Sarah sighed. "That is not something I really want to think about honestly."

Ryan laughed at her discomfort. Seeing a sign on the girl's locker door, they both paused to read that they were to get changed for running, PE was back on.

Ryan gave a fairly loud 'woot' that gained more attention than was necessary. Then randomly hugged her, kissed the top or her head, and jogged down to the boy's locker room...leaving her standing there slightly confused with the interaction. Looking around, she could see other students staring as well...WTF?