Free A Different Kind by Lauryn April

either.”
    My lips fell into a sad smile. Weakly I said, “Yeah,” but it was at that moment I realized I didn’t really know what kinds of things Logan liked. I had no idea if I would like any of the things he did.
    “Well, I guess I’ll see you around then,” Logan said, his chin tilting downward, shoulders slumping. He stepped away, then turned and walked across the street.
    For a moment I watched him go and wondered if I’d made the right choice, but then again what choice was there really to make? Our worlds were just too different.
     
    F riday, Logan was back to pretending like I didn’t exist. It was as if nothing had ever happened between us. When I left for school he was walking down his front steps. He didn’t wave. He ignored me in English. We didn’t make eye contact in the hall. It was exactly how I’d thought things would be, and I noticed every time things weren’t different.
    Throughout the day he snuck into my thoughts. I remembered how black his eye had been when I’d cornered him in the bathroom. I remembered how he’d made the fence shake and unlocked it with his mind. I remembered his expression as he’d told me about the Greys and how he came to earth. I shook the thoughts away, shook the guilt away. Eventually, I’d pushed all thoughts of Logan out of my mind.
    The rest of the night I focused on my squad and my routine. There was an away game that night. We left directly from school via the bus to make it from Robert E. Lee to Central on time. It would be a late night, but with only a week until the Homecoming game, everyone was excited.
     I lead chants on the bus and wore my best smile at the game. I did my best to convince myself that telling Logan there wasn’t any way we could be friends was the right thing to do. I wanted to think about anything other than our talks of aliens, or how Logan had been nothing but nice to me when I’d been a total bitch to him. I tried to convince myself I didn’t regret the things I’d said to him. So that night I went with Hailey to Jared Hoffman’s after party and convinced Jo to come with us.
    “You sure you wanna come?” I asked Jo as we piled into Hailey’s SUV with the other girls from our squad.
    Jo nodded. “Yeah, I mean I’ll probably be in no mood to go running tomorrow, but I could use a drink.”
    “Everything alright?”
    “Fine, just nervous about tomorrow.”
    “What? Not about my meeting Nik?” I said in a lower tone.
    Jo shrugged. “Kinda. But I know it’ll be fine. Let’s not talk about that right now; let’s just have fun tonight.”
    I smiled. “I think I can handle that.”
    Jared’s house was packed tight. A couple of girls stumbled into the front yard. They clung to one another as if their ankles had been tied together for a drunken three-legged race. A red plastic cup crunched beneath the broken heel of the girl on the right. We parked down the road and followed the music to the door. As we stepped into the living room, a group of guys pushed past us and wedged through the crowd.
    Hailey left us when she spotted Darren hovering by the keg. After noticing Jared standing next to him, Jo and I decided to let her go off on her own. Jared turned to us. He winked at me from across the room.
    Jo rolled her eyes. “Maybe we should have found a different party. I’m sick of the way that creep treats you.”
    I shrugged. “There really aren’t any other parties going on; everyone’s here. It’s fine. I can handle Jared.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yeah.” Through the crowed I saw broad shoulders and blond hair pushing people aside. “Especially with Ian here.”
    I smiled and Jo turned just in time to see my potential future boyfriend walk up. His hair screamed hat-head, but considering we’d all just come from a game, I couldn’t complain. His smile, however, was absolutely perfect.
    “Payton, I’m glad you made it,” Ian said.
    “Yeah me too – this place is crowded though.”
    “Should we get the