We had talked about Monday…and we dreaded we would need to stay as far away from each other as we could. Tony said it was because he wasn’t strong enough to come out and make it all public at our school. We could snuggle and kiss each other all over at places except the hallowed ground of Roosevelt High School. I wanted to pout about it. I did pout, in fact, but I agreed it was for the best to be incognito during the day and watch each other from afar.

At least, that’s what I did. I sat on a bench in the hall and look to Tony over the cover of the book that I had no intent on reading until years later. Sorry, Anna Karenina. Did I feel a little jealous as another Anna, Anna Burke, hung onto his arm like he was a giant teddy bear prize one wins at a golf course because someone was able to make a miraculous shot that was caught by the owner of the course.
Not that I’m bragging for Tony, of course.
I wanted to go and slap Anna across the face…Multiple times…with something heavy, but again I sat with Leo as my ignored companion. It was when she reached up to his face to kiss him and he turned to her and accepted it. I hoped he was wondering how much mouthwash he would need to get taste of her tongue off of his tongue. I also wondered how many times they had done that before that day. How many times did he do it keep up appearances? When would the acting end? Or was he really acting with me?

The thought of being the after-hours side chick was humiliating and I felt a little angry as Anna snugged up close to him, trying to move his immovable hand behind her back.
“You’re in the middle of the damn hall,” I whispered to no one.
“Hey, Chris.” Dan appeared beside me and I closed the book.
“Danny, hey, I’m sorry about the weekend.”
“Your mom told me you were on a date on Saturday night when I called. How’d it go?”
“She just flat out told you that?”
“Well, no, I had called to see if you wanted to go and catch a movie, but she said you were gone. I assumed it was a date, because you don’t like going places by yourself. So, she doesn’t go to a local school?”
“No, no she doesn’t, and it was kind of a one-time thing. I met her on Friday.”
“Ah-ha! So you did meet a girl at work. Can I get an application?”
“We’re not hiring at the moment,” I replied as the bell rang.
“How about her phone number then?”
“Never got one.” I had to remind myself to ask for Tony’s number.

I took a short glance back at Tony and Anna and shook my head. It was going to be very hard to ignore him as the say went on.
I wanted to delve right into my schoolwork during first period. I didn’t have any classes with Tony and up until a few days ago I preferred it that way. Hearing him say that it was all an act and that he ceased to want to pummel Dan and myself some time ago made me want to transfer to one of his classes. However the idle chatter in front of me caught my attention as three guys and two girls crowded around the table.
“Tony was getting some deep action Saturday night.”
“Anna?” One of the girls asked.
“No, some short-haired chick.”
I refused to look up and continued to appear like I oblivious to the conversation.
“Where?” Asked one of the guys.
“Behind the third hole.” The first guy responded.
I could feel a cold sweat coming over me.
“Looks like he got a hole in one.” The third guy said.
“What hole?” Came the retort form guy number two.
“Gross,” said the other girl.
“Hey, I’m just the messenger.”
Was my hair really that short? I had always through it was longer most guys. Perhaps compared to Anna, my tresses must have made me a match for Shinead o’Connor. Who in the hell from our school was there? Was there really a school paparazzi that chased Tony around? Would we have to pass fake study notes in order to switch out cars and meet up somewhere?
Dan met up with me in the hall, he had a slight grin on his face.
“I am going to do it. I’m going to send a bouquet of flowers to Anna. And have them delivered during fifth period.”
“Nice romantic thought.”
“I mean she’s going to be either pissed or saddened by what happened on Saturday night.”
“What happened Saturday night?”
We walked down the hallway, dodging other students, at least I was dodging them. Dan walked in a straight line and never wavered.
“Someone was having some fun at the family fun center.”
“And not with Anna?”
“No, not with Anna at all…some short-haired chick wearing a green hoodie. Man, I don’t know either to think of him as a hero or a cruel son of a bitch. He can be both, right?”
I decided my favorite hoodie needed to be burned.
We looked down the hall to see the fireworks of Anna and Tony arguing. It was like watching an R-rated version of Shakespeare in the Park with Anna as Katherina. They had a small crowd, all that was missing was the popcorn maybe a soda and a libretto to help follow the dialogue, such as it was. It was mostly Anna slapping Tony on the arm and trying to hit him, but he kept stepping back. She threw every form of an f-bomb the English language allowed, and a few in Italian.
Dan walked closer to the fireworks, but I kept my distance, fearing I would take my math book and cold clock Anna across the face. The fight would degrade into hair pulling challenge and I was pretty sure I could win at that. If I was strong enough in my heart I would have done that, but I feared the aftermath. Tony kept Anna at bay as she appeared to start spitting as she screamed. She eventually got the attention of the principal to called both of them to the office.
“I still think it could work,” Dan called back to me.