The Bird

                   Of all my friends in our group, the only one I didn't consider myself to be close to was Austin Hymer. He was a great kid, yes, but we weren't really close. I don't have that many fond memories of him. There is one, however, I have that will always bring a smile to my face.

                   There was a girl in our grade named Emily Bird. She was a very nice and very popular girl. As you would probably guess, she was also, and still is, very pretty. Austin had the biggest crush on her. He knew she and I were friends and asked me to talk to her a few times only to tell me at the last minute to "forget it".

                   One day in the library, it became clear to everyone around just how much Austin liked Emily. During team time, which I still had last period of the day, I would go to the library. Megan usually came with me. If no one else we knew went, the two of us spent our time on the computers, surfing the internet and chatting amiably. However, we were frequently accompanied by Zach, Mike, Brendan and Austin. When it was all six of us, we sat all the way to the back of the library and talked.

                   The library in our school wasn't the biggest ever. At the very front, we had the front desk. To both sides, there were computers and standing on shelves almost the whole way back, were the books. There was a large magazine rack in between the tables, which sat between the shelves of books. And behind the magazine rack were two groups of chairs. The four chairs on each side were arranged in a circle and there was a space in the middle. Today, Megan and I had gotten to the library first, so when the four boys showed up, they attempted to bully us out of our seats. Megan, who at the time had a crush on Zach, got up when he started pulling on her wrist. I, however, refused to budge. So Brendan finally gave up trying to move me and simply decided to sit on me. “Brendan! You’re fat! Get off of me!”

                   “Will you get out of the seat?” he asked, teasingly.

                   I sighed and pushed on his back with all of my strength, which still wasn’t enough to move him. “If I say I’ll move, will you get your fat a*s off of me?”

                   Brendan and everyone else knew I was just messing around. Out of all of us, Brendan was probably the skinniest. That’s why I called him fat most of the time. “Now, now, mom, there’s no need to swear. I’ll get up if you promise you’ll get out of my seat.”

                   “I don’t see your name on it, Iverson. You a*****e. Fine, I promise I’ll get out of your seat. Now get off me.”

                   Brendan stood, and I followed suit. However, when he took his seat and I went to walk away, he placed his arms firmly around my waist, resting his hands on my stomach and pulled me back onto his lap. “There, now you get a more comfortable seat.” Mike, Zach, Austin and Megan were all watching us with amused smiles. Zach got up to find a book, and Megan took her original seat back.

                   When Zach returned with a book that had a dog on the cover of it, he sat directly on top of Megan, not realizing she was sitting there. “What the--!” He turned around. “Oh come on! What is it with these chicks stealing seats?”

                   “You know, Zach, technically, we were sitting here first. Actually, not only that, but we were both in this school long before any of you,” I said. A loud fit of laughter erupted from the front of the library, and we all turned in unison to see who made the joyful noise. “Uh-oh.”

                   Emily Bird was playfully dancing around with her friend, a girl I didn’t recognize. We were all bracing ourselves for Austin’s reaction to seeing Emily. We watched hesitantly as he started to bounce in his seat. His eyes shut and his mouth opened slightly. “Austin… dude what are you doing?” Mike asked.

                   Austin began muttering something so softly that none of us could hear him. The words grew louder, though, and soon he was speaking at normal level. “I’m doing The Bird… I’m doing The Bird.”

                   The five of us started laughing uproariously at Austin’s actions. The laughter just began getting louder as he began to sink out of his seat and onto the floor. Within seconds, he was laying on his back, thrusting his hips in midair. He continued his chant. “I’m doing The Bird! I’m doing The Bird! I’m doing The Bird!”

                   Suddenly, we all stopped what we were doing. We stopped laughing as Emily Bird began walking down the aisle, past the books, past the magazines and straight over to where Austin was still thrusting and now near shouting. “Um… Cassi. Is your friend, uh, okay?”

                   I stifled a giggle. “Yes. He is beyond okay.”

                   “What is he doing? I mean, he’s not having a seizure or anything, is he? Because I know how to do CPR and mouth-to-mouth and stuff. And if he needs it, I can totally do that.”

                   Austin’s leg spasmodically kicked me. “Ouch! Hmm, no he’s okay. Definitely doesn’t need any mouth-to-mouth,” I said, emphasizing the last words. I kicked him back and smiled at Emily. She was grinning by now, aware of Austin’s dance.

                   “Okay, I’ll see you around!” Emily waved and walked away.

                   People were beginning to stare at us. It made us laugh even more. Finally, a teacher walked over. “Okay, students, you’ll need to calm down.” He saw Austin and stopped. “Um… should I ask?”

                   “He is doing—,” I started, but was cut off.

                   “I’m doing The Bird! I’m doing The Bird! I’m doing The Bird!” By this point, Austin was practically shouting.

                   “Well young man, you may continue doing the bird all you want, but please stop this for now and resume your little… dance after school. Now calm down, students.”

                   The moment he walked away and was out of earshot, we all burst into loud bouts of laughter. Austin finally finished his dance and stood up to sit on a chair. Realizing there were none, he debated sitting back on the floor, but Mike stood up before another dance started.

                  I was still sitting on Brendan's lap. No one else seemed to think that it was out of the ordinary. But usually, he didn't show that much physical contact with me. A kiss on the cheek maybe, but I had been sitting on his lap, practically holding his hand for the past ten minutes or so. And it didn't seem like we were about to move at all. I smiled. It was a comfortable seat. "Hey Austin," I shouted suddenly. He looked at me. "I'll kill you for kicking me earlier." We all started laughing and talking about Austin's dance of honor. The rest of the library visit, I felt happier than I'd been in quite some time.