Wrestling Against Myself by Katie Leone

answered when he was looked upon.  “I got one maybe.”
     
    “I got one boy from my French class coming,” Tracy offered. “But I doubt he's coming for the preaching.”
     
    Carl looked at her.
     
    “Relax,” Tracy said. “He isn't coming with me and I'm still not dating. Besides, that's not what I meant. I told him we had a rock band and he was curious to see a rock band at a church.”
     
    Carl looked relieved but tried to hide it. “I wasn't saying nothing.”
     
    “Sure you weren't,” Tony returned the needling he had gotten.
     
    “Probably a good thing she isn't coming to youth group,” Tracy said before the verbal jabs went back and forth.
     
    Tony turned his attention to the girl. “How so?”
     
    “Think about how scared she is here at school.”
     
    “Yeah, so?”
     
    “Think about youth group. You know how loud and wild it gets. Pastor Bob always gets everyone into a frenzy on top of that. If she's scared at school, she might wet herself if she was at church.”
     
    Tony shrugged. “Maybe.” He looked at the front of the cafeteria and saw Courtney heading towards the first table with her tray. “Anyway, I'll leave you guys be. I'm going to try to repair a small problem.”
     
    The group watched as Tony stood up and grabbed his tray.
     
    “There he goes again,” Shannon said lightheartedly. “All he needs is a cape and a mask.”
     
    “Behave,” Tony said as he walked past the football player. “I guess I'll leave you in charge. Tell Stephanie that I said hello whenever she makes it here.”
     
    Tony walked towards the front of the cafeteria. There was a low buzz as usual, but he could only pick up only bits and pieces of words and tried to filter them out. He made his way to the table where Courtney was sitting and walked along the opposite side before putting his tray down across from her.
     
    “Mind if I join you?” Tony said just loud enough for the girl to hear him.
     
    Courtney looked up. “No, I don't mind.”
     
    “Good.” Tony smiled as he lowered himself into the bench seat. “I was going to sit down anyway,” he said as a joke.
     
    Courtney gave a faint smile and then returned to picking at her pasta.
     
    “You must like this table,” Tony continued the conversation on his own. “You might not realize it, but this is where they put guys who get into trouble.”
     
    Courtney raised her eye at the boy, but still didn't talk.
     
    “At least you'll get a head start if you want to do something bad,” Tony tried to make a joke.
     
    Courtney still didn't respond as she ate a small forkful of pasta.
     
    “Has your day gone okay?”
     
    “It's been fine.”
    Tony smiled. “So you do talk.”
     
    “Sometimes. It’s just that. Never mind.”
     
    “Come on, you can tell me. I'm a pretty nice guy, ask anyone.”
     
    Courtney found the statement amusing.
     
    “Hey, that looks good on you. You should smile more often. So, sometimes what?”
     
    “Sometimes I don't like hearing my own voice. It's not like the other girls.”
     
    “Sounds fine to me. But what do guys know, right?”
     
    “Some girls sound almost like they're singing. I sound so blah sometimes.”
     
    Antonio shrugged. “I couldn't tell the difference. I'm surprise us guys actually speak words and don't grunt all the time. Anyone bothering you today?”
     
    “Not really. I mean, no one bumped into me after you talked to Henry yesterday.”
     
    “That's good. Sometimes boys do that when they like a girl, they just don't know how to go about it.”
     
    “I doubt Henry likes me.”
     
    “So you know him?”
     
    “We went to Palm Harbor Academy together.”
     
    “I take it you two don't get along.”
     
    Tony could sense someone walking behind him. “Hey freak,” a nasty voice said behind him.
     
    The smile immediately left Courtney's face.
     
    Tony shot out from under the table and turned around sharply, almost knocking the person behind him to the ground.