“We’re going out for Valentine’s day,” Purity’s parents announced one morning.
“That’s nice,” Purity said.
“All of us,” they continued.
“What?” Purity said, “Not me right? I have a date.”
“A date?” Phillip, her dad, asked, “Who with?”
“The guy from the halloween dance,” Purity said.
“Are you guys dating?” David, her other dad, asked.
“Maybe,” Purity said.
“Then why don’t we know about this?” Phillip said.
Purity looked to Payton for help, but he was just pushing around his eggs on his plate probably not hearing a single thing that was happening.
“Because we only just started really dating,” Purity said. “The point is that we’re spending Valentine’s together. And what about you guys? Don’t you guys want to spend it alone?”
“We spend everyday alone,” he said, “we want to spend time with you guys.”
“But Payton probably has something to do too,” Purity said, looking at Payton again. This time Payton looked back and just shrugged.
“Payton, did you have other plans?” David asked.
Payton just shrugged and signed “not if you don’t want me to.”
“But what about DaeRi?” Purity pushed, “Won’t she be mad.”
Payton sighed and signed “when is she not mad?”
Purity’s parents looked at each other, sharing a worried look.
“Are you okay, Payton?” David asked.
Payton shrugged again.
“He’s been like this since the start of the year,” Purity said, “I don’t know why he’s still dating DaeRi if she makes him so miserable.”
“DaeRi’s a nice girl,” Phillip said.
“Sure, but she’s ‘always mad,’” Purity said, “And you should have seen the scene in the cafeteria yesterday, she totally got kicked out of the Popular table.”
“Why is that?” David asked.
Purity shrugged, “Maybe Payton knows.”
They all looked at Payton who had turned his attention back to his still full plate of eggs and bacon.
He looked up and signed “what?”
“Why was DaeRi kicked from the Popular table?” Purity asked.
“They thought she was too stuck up,” he signed.
“Funny,” Purity said.
“But she’s such a nice girl,” David said.
Payton shrugged and continued to pretend to eat his food.
“Okay, how about this?” Phillip started, “You guys spend some time with us after school, we’ll go and get ice cream or something, and then you can hang on your dates.”
Purity frowned, not exactly ideal btus he figured it was the best she could get so she nodded and said “fine.”
Hopefully Daniel won’t mind.
---
After the scene in the cafeteria Payton did what any normal boyfriend would do and went to go see how DaeRi was doing.
DaeRi had moved to an empty table in the corner and was writing in her notebook. Payton walked over and glanced over her shoulder, but she slammed the notebook shut before he could read anything.
“No snooping,” DaeRi said, glaring at him.
Payton just shrugged and sat down next to her, and gestured for her to hand him the notebook.
“You aren’t gonna read it, right?” she asked.
He shook his head and made a writing gesture.
“Oh, you want to say something,” DaeRi said. She opened the book to the last page and set it in front of Payton.
“Are you okay?” Payton wrote.
“I guess I will be,” DaeRi sighed, “she can’t be mad at me forever.”
“What happened?” Payton wrote.
“She thinks I’m stuck up,” DaeRi said, “I’m guessing it has to do with something Collin told her. She practically worships the ground that he walks on. He told her the other day to stop thinking like a Popular, can you believe that?”
Payton shrugged and wrote “maybe you should follow that advice.”
DaeRi glared at him, “I can’t. Someone needs to think like a popular out of the three of us.”
“Just a suggestion, Collin seems smart,” Payton wrote.
“I hate him,” DaeRi said, glaring across the cafeteria. “The only way I”m gonna get back there is if I start being nice, also apologise in a very public way. You can’t turn down public apologies.’
Payton couldn’t help but think that DaeRi was a lot smarter than people thought she was, it was one of the thing she liked about her. Also her determination.
Maybe that was why he wrote down what he did next, “do you still want to go to prom?”
Seeing this she turned and grinned ear to ear, “Really?”
He shrugged, already regretting it.
“Of course I do!” DaeRi said, loud enough to cause some people to look their way as she hugged him. “Thank you.”
DaeRi then gathered her stuff and after a quick peck on the lips she got up and and walked over to Tamarai, presumably telling her the “big news.”
Oh god, what have I gotten myself into, he wondered.
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