Unafraid

all those games.”

How this one was related to Ronan and Ciaran, Nakano had no idea. She actually had a sense of humor. “Don’t get too comfortable wearing the tic-tac-toe tiara,” Kano replied. “That was only the warm up.”

How this one could be one of Them, Saoirse had no idea. He actually was fun to be around. “Bring it on, Kanosan! I’ll even give you a handicap. You can start with an extra ‘o’.”

“I don’t need charity,” Kano said. “But if you fancy being a loser, I accept.”

“Perfect! The tic-tac-toe tournament will resume in St. Martha’s at three o’clock today,” Saoirse announced. “Oh bollocks! Don’t you have swim team practice for the big meet?”

Biting his tongue, Nakano made a decision to go against his nature and be upfront, tell the truth. “I think I’m bagging the swim team.”

“Won’t that be a little redundant?” Saoirse asked, as gently as she could. “You already quit once before.”

Nakano felt weird, not because Saoirse had added an even deeper level of honesty to their conversation, but because he didn’t feel the urge to run from her or to lash out. He really just wanted to talk. “Ever since I got bumped to the B team, Blakeley hardly knows I’m alive,” he explained. “The swim team used to be fun and always a challenge to try and be as good as Ronan.”

“And now?”

“It’s turned into a couple hours waiting around for my turn to swim a lap or two,” Kano admitted, surprised that it was so easy to be honest. “I guess part of it’s not being on the A team, but the main thing is that I just want to have some fun again. And swim team isn’t doing it.”

Boy, did Saoirse know how that felt. Well, not the stuff about the swim team, but the wanting to have some fun. As they were about to leave St. Sebastian’s, Saoirse saw two of her St. Anne’s classmates, and she actually saw a lightbulb appear in a cute little thought bubble in front of her very eyes. It was a stroke of inspiration, and she couldn’t wait to share it with her new friend. “You want to have some fun, Kanosan?” she asked rhetorically. “Then follow me.”

Ronan was convinced he was not going to have fun, but he still followed Michael into the movie theatre. He really didn’t have any other choice; Fritz and Ruby were waiting for them, and Fritz especially was looking forward to his large popcorn and soda. Ronan knew that if he snuck out the side entrance he would never hear the end of it from Fritz. Sometimes you just had to suck it up and like Saoirse said, grow up.

“Thanks, Ro,” Fritz said, grabbing the tray from him. “Did you make sure they sprinkled it with three layers of butter and didn’t just smother it on top?”

“Yes, Fritz.”

“Did you watch them do it? Because they don’t like special orders,” Fritz revealed. “They’re not the bloomin’ Burger King.”

“Yes, Fritz, I supervised.”

“And did you make sure they only used a half a cup of ice in the sodas?”

“I measured it myself,” Ronan replied tersely.

“No need to get snarky, mate,” Fritz scoffed, though he softened his attitude when he saw Ruby was laughing at their exchange. “It’s a dodgy practice, Rube, a trick they like to play on their customers.”

“And what trick would that be, Fritz,” she asked, sounding remarkably as if she actually wanted to know the answer.

“You see, what they do is they fill the cup to the rim with ice—sometimes the cubes stick out like a tiny replica of the bloody Arctic Circle—just so they can shortchange you on the soda,” he explained.

“Well, if I’m paying for a full cup of soda, I want a full cup of soda!”

“Well, you didn’t bloody pay for it, Fritz,” Ronan corrected, “so be happy with your Arctic Circle!”

“Boys, boys, you’re both pretty,” Michael joked. He held onto Ronan’s arm tightly, not because he was afraid he was going to punch Fritz, but because he was afraid he was going to try and leave. “But Ruby and I are prettier, so we demand you stifle it.”

Smiling at Michael, Ruby agreed. “Which translates to ‘shut up, mates’ because the previews are starting.”

At that very second the lights in the theatre dimmed, and the first preview was projected onto the screen. “How did you know they were going to start?” Michael asked.

Leaning her head closer to Michael, Ruby whispered, “You know us blind girls; we have a sixth sense for these things.”

Michael had no idea if the preview was for a foreign language art house movie or an animated cartoon. He was too shocked by Ruby’s comment. “Did you hear her, Ronan?!” Michael asked. “She just admitted she’s got a sixth sense!”

“Easy love, it’s a figure of speech,” Ronan replied. “Now if she said she had six toes on one foot, that I would find interesting.”

Luckily the darkness of the theatre concealed Michael’s smile, so he could continue to act as if he was annoyed with Ronan. “I’ve said it before, Glynn-Rowley, you’ve got no sense of humor.”

Ronan’s hand found Michael’s and their matching rings clinked in the darkness as he replied, “Which is why I have you.”

Fritz had given himself a goal: He was going to kiss Ruby by the time the previews ended. But the third one had started, and he still had not made a move. Maybe this double date thing wasn’t a good idea after all; there was so much added pressure. If he made a fool out of himself when he was alone with Ruby, she wasn’t going to tell anyone, but if he did something stupid in front of Michael and Ronan, they might tell everyone. Then again, Ronan really didn’t gossip and Michael was his friend, but Michael could slip when he was talking to Saoirse, and she had the biggest mouth of anyone he had ever met. Oh God, why was he thinking about Michael and Ronan and Saoirse when he was sitting in a darkened movie theatre holding hands with his girlfriend? Just stop thinking and kiss her.

“That was nice, Fritz,” Ruby whispered, the taste of butter still on her lips.

“Yeah, it was,” he replied, his voice a bit gruff.

“I wouldn’t mind if you did it again.”

Sassy! Fritz Ulrich had found himself a sassy girlfriend, and he couldn’t have been happier. The feeling, however, wasn’t universal.

In the middle of their second kiss, there was a huge explosion of sound, and for a second Fritz thought he was hearing the buzzing in his head, some sort of residual effect of a really hot kiss. But it was quickly evident that the sound was real. Someone had pulled the fire alarm because the theatre was filling up with smoke.

Curl after curl of gray, smoky fog filled the theatre, rolling in from somewhere within the bones of the building. It entered the theatre defiantly, determined, as if it were on a mission, the smoke rolling, rolling, rolling, devouring everything in its path, and soon it was impossible to see the movie screen.

Gray tendrils split apart from the huge cloud of smoke that hung in the air in the front of the theatre and began to slip in and out of the seats, wrap themselves around the legs of the moviegoers who were desperately trying to get out of the theatre, and swirl around their faces, making them cough and their eyes burn.

Piercing through the frightened screams of the patrons, a voice boomed from a loudspeaker and instructed everyone to follow the ushers and quickly, but calmly, evacuate the premises. “Don’t let go of my hand, Ruby,” Fritz ordered, bravely keeping his fear to himself.

“I won’t.” And true to her word she didn’t, not even when she turned around to face Michael, not even when her eyes turned into two orbs of solid white, and not even when she hissed through lips that never parted, “This is all because of your friend.”

Stunned, but not really surprised, Michael watched Fritz lead Ruby out the side exit, his arm around the girl’s slender shoulders, protecting her from the swarm of people bumping into them. For a second Michael breathed in deeply and listened intently. He neither smelled nor heard the crackle of fire, and he knew there was nothing natural about this interruption. Still, he instinctively reached back to grab Ronan’s hand and make sure he was right behind him. He wasn’t, but another familiar face was.