Free Time After Time by Tamara Ireland Stone Page B

were Sam and Lindsey. I gave her endless amounts of grief for blushing so hard that night.
    She twists her pasta around her fork and looks at me out of the corner of her eye. “So tell me everything. I barely got to see you this summer. How was it? What did you do?”
    “It was fine.” I can’t think of anything interesting to tell her outside of the concerts I went to with Brooke or my trips to visit Anna in La Paz, so I leave it at that and ask her what she did. She tells me she spent most of the summer driving back and forth to beach volleyball tournaments in Southern California.
    It reminds me that it’s been a long time since I saw her play. “When’s your first game?” I ask.
    “A week from Saturday,” she says. “You should come. Sam will be there.” She elbows him and gives him a half smile. “He’ll be the one wearing a hat.”
    Sam ignores her comment and leans forward on the table, resting his chin in his hand. “What are you doing after school today?” he asks me.
    “Homework.” I think about the mountain of assignments that have been doled out over the last four classes, and the sad fact that I still have three more to go.
    “That’s it?” Lindsey asks.
    “I don’t know. I guess I was thinking about heading over to the climbing gym.” I look at Sam. “Want to come?”
    “Sure. But it’ll have to be on the late side. I’m tutoring tonight.”
    Since when does Sam tutor? “You’re tutoring?”
    He shrugs. “I must’ve told you. I started at the end of last year, but this year I’m running the sixth grade math program, so it’s a lot more intense.” He takes a big sip of his drink. “It’s fun. You should do it. It’ll look good on your college apps.”
    I haven’t even thought about college applications. “Are the kids cool?”
    Sam shakes his head. “Hell, no. They’re a bunch of spoiled brats with some serious entitlement issues.”
    I laugh. “Way to sell it.”
    “I’m kidding. There are, like, two cool ones. But seriously, you’d be good at it,” he says to me. “You’re good with kids and stuff.”
    “Yeah,” I say sarcastically, “I’m super patient. Especially with the spoiled ones with entitlement issues.” I give him a wide smile and two overly enthusiastic thumbs-up.
    I reach for my water, suddenly realizing what Lindsey meant by her That’s it? question. Everyone’s afternoons are filled with sports, clubs, and community service projects that look good to a college admissions staff. I haven’t even thought about what I’m doing next year, let alone boosting my application.
    The bell rings and everyone dumps their trash in the bins before taking off in their separate directions. Lindsey gives Sam one more eye roll before she pushes his head in my direction. “Watch him,” she says with a wink. I laugh, thinking how much Lindsey and Anna would like each other. The four of us would have fun together.
    I’m glad Sam and I are going the same way, because I didn’t even look at the room number before I stuffed my schedule back into my pocket. As we walk through the halls toward our lockers, my mind drifts back to Anna again, and I start piecing together her schedule, wondering what she’d be doing back in 1995 Evanston. Would she still be in class, or out on the track? Would it be her day to work at the bookstore? Did she, Emma, and Danielle talk about me over lunch? Did Anna tell them that I’m coming back? Did Emma lose it when she found out?
    Sam comes to a stop.
    “What?”
    He points at a row of lockers. “Don’t you need your stuff?”
    “Huh? Oh, yeah.…” It suddenly dawns on me that we’re standing in front of my locker.
    Sam shakes his head and gives me a pitying look. “I swear, man, it’s like you’re back but you’re not.”
    I avoid his eyes as I spin the combination dial.
    I couldn’t have said it better myself.

After an hour at the climbing gym with Sam and a rushed dinner with my parents, I head upstairs to start on