Free Dark Blue: Color Me Lonely with Bonus Content by Melody Carlson

what do
you
think of this year’s Jackson High cheerleader squad?”
    I make a face at her then notice Edgar is getting up to leave. “Where’s he going?” I ask.
    “To pick up the pizza,” says Amy. “They’re not allowed to deliver it on school grounds. He has to go meet them in the street.”
    “Oh.”
    I reach for my backpack and wallet. “I should probably chip in.”
    “Nah,” says Amy. “Edgar really gets a jolt out of treating us girls to pizza. It’s probably the closest thing he’ll ever get to a date.”
    “Oh, don’t be hard on him,” says Felicia. “He’s really sweet.”
    Amy leans over and looks Felicia in the eye. “Sweet enough that you’d let him take you to, say, the prom?”
    Felicia shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe. I happen to have great respect for Edgar.”
    Amy laughs. “So do I. But you won’t see me going out with him anytime soon. At least not in this lifetime.”
    “For someone who’s so
forward thinking
, you can sure be pretty shallow sometimes,” says Felicia.
    I feel a sense of relief that Amy’s irritating question about cheerleaders got lost in the shuffle as the two of them banter back and forth for a while.
    “Yeah, yeah,” says Amy. My relief vanishes as she sticks her pen back in my face now. “But let’s get back to my question for Kara here. And I don’t expect you be so evasive this time. The press wants to know your opinion on this year’s cheerleaders. And is it true that you used to actually be friends with one of them?”
    Just then Edgar reappears, flopping the big pizza box down on the table and giving us all napkins. “Jump in!”
    As we’re eating pizza, Amy turns back to me. “Don’t think you’re getting off the hook that easy,” she persists, grabbing up her pen and pointing it to me again. “The press wants to know what you think of this year’s cheerleaders.”
    I roll my eyes at her then speak into her mike. “I think I know what the press is getting at, and, as a matter of fact, I used to know one of the cheerleaders personally. But she and I have parted ways.”
    Amy nods and reaches for another slice of veggie pizza. “Uhhuh. And would the fact that she’s suddenly a
popular
cheerleader and running with the, uh”—she makes a gagging sound—“
cool
kids have anything to do with this, uh, unexpected split?”
    I sigh and consider an answer as I take a bite of pizza. Which route to take here? Honesty, and risk more public humiliation? Or sarcasm, and hope for an escape from this line of questioning. I finally decide to take the safer road. I sit up straighter and try to appear somewhat intellectual. “Actually, Ms. Weatherspoon, I feel that I have outgrown the ridiculous Jordan Ferguson and her never-ending need for fans and approval. I say if girls have to jump up and down, giggling and jiggling like a bunch of bimbos, and if they have to bare their flesh and flash their smiles just to win their popularity, well, I’d rather not have anything to do with them in the first place.”
    “Here! Here!” yells Amy as she lifts up her water bottle in the form of a toast. “Way to go, girl.”
    Felicia is frowning slightly. “Sounds like you really hate your old friend.”
    I shrug. “It’s a two-way street.”
    “Ah-hah!” says Amy as if she’s finally struck the mother lode. “So she did dump you after all?”
    “Aw, come on, you guys,” says Edgar. “Let’s drop it. It’s obvious that Kara wants to move on.”
    I glance at this strange kid and feel an unexpected wave of gratitude. For a nerd, he seems pretty thoughtful. “This is good pizza, Edgar,” I tell him, eager to change the subject. “Thanks.”
    He grins. “We really didn’t invite you to join us just so that Amy could torture you. She’s just like that, you know. She gets her kicks from making other people feel uncomfortable.”
    Amy points at him now. “You should be thankful for the distraction, Eddie. I could be going after you