Taking Chances by Deanna Frances

table. We talked and ate, and we had a lot of fun. As we were finishing our meal, I saw Matt and a couple of his guy friends all walk into the restaurant.
    “Hey, Syd,” he called as they walked towards us.
    “Hi, Matt.” I smiled.
    “Who do we have here?” he asked, looking around at our table. I saw his eyes lock with Spencer’s for a second.
    “Spencer Stevenson,” Matt muttered.
    “Spencer’s my—”
    “I’m her boyfriend,” he finished for me. “And how do you know Sydney?” He took my hand under the table.
    Matt smiled. “I used to be best friends with her when she’d come visit. You should remember. We met up again a few weeks ago.”
    I smiled shyly.
    “Hey, Jacquie,” Matt said.
    “Hello,” she replied dully.
    I could see the tension between my friends and Matt, and wondered what could be going on with them.
    “Sydney, you didn’t tell me you were with Spencer, ” Matt said.
    “I didn’t know you wanted to know,” I said shyly.
    He smiled. “Yeah, you should have told me. Spencer and I used to be good friends before I moved.” He then turned to me and said, “Hey, well, call me, and we’ll hang out sometime.”
    I caught the glare Spencer threw at Matt. “Geez!” Matt held his hands up in surrender. “She’s my friend. She always has been. That’s it.”
    “Matt, come on, we’re gonna order!” One of his friends called as they sat down in a booth near ours.
    “Coming,” he replied. “See ya, Syd.” He winked at me, and walked away.
    Spencer was silent as he drove me home. I didn’t know why he was so furious about Matt, but I didn’t want to make him mad by asking, so I kept my mouth shut. Spencer didn't call me or text me on Sunday, and I was afraid Matt was the reason.
    At school the next Monday, Spencer walked up to my locker with a painful expression.
    “Sydney?” he asked as I pulled out my Biology textbook.
    “Yeah?” I murmured, closing my locker and looking at him.
    “I want to apologize for Saturday night,” he said with a sigh.
    “Why?” I asked. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I should have told you about Matt. It’s my fault—”
    “No, it’s not. I—I just don’t get along with Matt Johnson very well.” he explained. “I made a big deal out of it, and I’m sorry. If he’s your friend and you trust him.... “
    I smiled shyly. “I just started hanging out with him again. I just want to know him better.”
    Spencer smiled. I was glad that I could make him happy.
    “Hey, so what’s up with you and Matt Johnson?” Jeremy asked me during lunch.
    “He used to be friends with me when I was little, sort of like Spencer was.”
    “Oh, well, I hope he doesn’t try to—”
    “Jeremy?” Spencer cut him off. “Do we really have to talk about this?”
    “About what?” I questioned. What was going on?
    “Nothing, just…nothing,” Jeremy replied.
    Jacquie and Annie looked at me with an unfathomable expression.
    I didn’t know what they were hiding from me, but it seemed as if everyone knew but me. What had happened with Matt and Spencer?
    “Don’t worry about Jeremy. He just has the need to fill every silence,” Spencer said, as we walked to P.E.
    “I don’t mind. He’s a nice guy.”
    “Yeah. He’s always been a good friend. I met him in kindergarten. He was already friends with Jacquie, and I joined in.”
    “And what about Annie and Mike and Dean?” I asked.
    “They came in a few years later. We had some other friends in middle school, who hung out with us too, but some moved away, and some just moved on.”
    “It’s nice that you were all able to stick together,” I told him. “In Chicago, I really didn’t have any friends. I was really quiet, and no one ever talked to me.”
    Spencer took my hand in his. “You have friends here.”
    We decided to go out to DeKalb to eat the next week, just Spencer and me. It was nice to get more alone time. We ate at a nice restaurant downtown, and I tried not to say anything about