Zenon's Game Chapter 49

Julia hopped around my bedroom, waving her pink planner, "It's your birthday this week!"

My Hamlet book was discarded on my desk, the contents of my backpack sprawled out in a mess. 

Julia skipped over to my window and peered out in hopes of catching Zenon at home. He wasn't there. "I know last year you did nothing but this year we have to throw a little party for you."

"No thanks," I declined, very sure that it was a bad idea.

"A dinner then?" she pouted, begging me to be remotely festive.

I sighed, "Who would come?"

Honestly, I might be more of a birthday person if I actually had friends who wanted to celebrate with me. There was only Julia - and that's only when she's not hanging out with the LUCKY girls.

She opened her pink planner and started to count the names on her fingers, "Me, you, your sister-"

I scoffed at that.

"LUCKY," she said, adding five fingers for each of the girls. She was already on her second hand.

"I've never spoken to any of those girls in my life," I argued.

"That doesn't matter. They want to celebrate your birthday. They're already in."

"How?" I narrowed my eyes at her.  Was this really her idea or did it come from them?

"It doesn't matter. Anyway, that's eight people already. Who am I missing? Hmmm.... let's think.... oh I know! Zenon. And Jake."

"Oh no no no no," I said, waving my hands in the air, "I've only hung out with Jake once and we've spoken like twice in class.  It'd be so weird if I invite him to this.  Please don't invite him," I begged.

Imagine having one conversation with someone and being invited to their birthday dinner?  What. The. Hell.

"Fine.  But Zenon is on the invite list, non negotiable."

"Zenon and I are going through a rough patch right now..." I tried to explain.

Not to mention that I didn't want to expose how few friends I have.  He'll tease me too much for it.  

He knows I'm not popular.  But popular guys like him don't really understand how unpopular I could be.  

"Zenon is getting an invite, otherwise what's the point of this?" Julia asked, frustrated.

"Isn't the point of this my birthday?  So it should be... me?" 

"Right."

Four days until my birthday.  I couldn't believe it was almost the end of September.  The month was already gone, and I still haven't started re-watching Game of Thrones.  

I'm so behind on my TV schedule. 

I've got to start reorganizing my priorities.  

I went to sleep with GoT on my mind and, halfway through my dream of life as the abandoned cousin to the mother of dragons, my phone buzzed.

Now I know most people put their phones on silent when they sleep.  But when no one ever contacts you, there's just no need.

I cursed and rolled over, reaching out for my phone on my nightstand.  I cracked one eye open and read the text...

Courts in 20.

I blinked once.  I blinked twice.

The text was still there.  This wasn't a dream.

"Um..." I stared at the unknown number.  Who was texting me?  And why would I obey?

I texted back, Wqo is thisd?

My fingers were clumsy since I was still half asleep.  And why didn't autocorrect correct that?

I waited for a response.  After a few seconds of counting the stripes on my duvet, the anonymous texter replied.

How many people do you owe money to?

Oh. I sighed.

Zenon.

I waited a moment.

Nailed it, Pikachu. Courts in 20.

I was in the middle of texting back, when he followed up with another message:

And take a shower.

Jackass.

Courts in 20.

And take a shower.

Zenon's charming texts fired up my phone.

And just like that, Zenon Albert disappeared from cyber space. I was in my bedroom, bed sheets tangled around me, my own alarm clock still asleep.

It was too early for this.

I sighed and saved his number - I'd forgotten that he had mine. After all the experiences we've shared together, this was the first time he's texted me.

Romantic.

I got out of bed and changed clothes. I had to. I might be one of the first people to call Zenon out on his BS, but I still owed him for that stupid laptop. Until I pay him back, I was sticking to our agreement. We'd made a deal.

And I like to keep my promises.

My car was in the driveway. Heidi didn't have a chance to steal it this morning, because I'd woken up before her. Correction; because Zenon had woken me up.

I drove along the empty streets. It was so early, no one in the neighborhood was awake. I stopped off at The Coffee Bean. It opens at 6AM so I was there exactly when they opened shop. I waited for the coffee to brew and ordered a donut to keep me occupied. On the plus side, being this early meant extra fresh coffee.

I was munching my donut when Zenon dropped his pin - which is good, since I donut know where I was going... ha, I crack myself up sometimes.

Seriously though, I had no idea where I was going.  Zenon texting 'the courts' as a location meant nothing to me. I'm glad he finally clocked that. I typed the new address into the navigation system and drove towards the courts.

It was in a rundown neighborhood on the other side of town. I parked on a side street and walked towards the courts. The boys were already there.

They played on asphalt with a hoop that had no backboard. It was an outdoor game, 3-on-3. Chalk on the ground outlined the dimensions.

None of the players were in uniform. I recognized Zenon immediately. He was in a gray sleeveless T-shirt that he was sweating through and navy shorts. He raised his hand to signal for the ball. Someone passed to him and he performed a sick layup.

There wasn't a big crowd. No surprise for 6AM, but it was a better showing than the 1 mum I was expecting. I recognized the coach's daughter (who I met at Axel's grotto), sitting next to her father. A few rows back was Axel, supportive as usual.