"Saturday. Eleven o'clock. Football court."
Leo dropped his backpack onto the bench like the matter was officially settled.
Jamie looked at him.
"Why eleven?"
Leo shrugged. "It's Saturday. Saturdays are lazy."
"That's your reason?"
"It's a very good reason."
Maya looked up from her sandwich.
"Actually… why is Saturday part of the weekend?"
Three faces turned towards her.
Leo closed his eyes.
"Oh no, not AGAIN."
"Yesterday you asked why pencils are yellow, and somehow we spent twenty minutes talking about graphite."
Maya shrugged. "Well, now you know."
"We're trying to plan football."
"Exactly. For the weekend. Which somebody must have invented."
Dexter pulled out his phone.
"I bet it was a kid."
Jamie laughed. "Kids did not invent weekends."
"They should have."
Leo grabbed Dexter's phone.
"Fine. Two minutes. Then back to football. PLEASE."
They had no idea that by Saturday morning, two of them wouldn't even be speaking to each other.
Maya leaned across the table while Leo searched.
"Henry Ford," he announced.
"That car guy?" said Jamie.
"Yep. Weekend invented. Done."
Maya took the phone from him.
"Wait."
Leo groaned.
"What now?"
"He didn't invent it."
People had been setting aside days for rest and worship for centuries. But when factories grew during the Industrial Revolution, lots of workers still worked six days a week.
Leo looked up.
"Six? You mean Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday?"
Jamie nodded. "Excellent counting."
Leo rolled his eyes and ignored him.
"I would not have survived."
"You can barely survive five days of school," said Jamie.
Everyone burst into laughter.
Maya looked back at the phone.
"But that's not the end of it."
Workers fought for years and finally won an extra day off. Saturday joined Sunday — and the weekend was born.
Dexter leaned over.
"What about Henry Ford?"
Maya scrolled a little further.
"His factories switched to a five-day week in 1926. He hadn't invented the weekend—he'd just joined the story."
Maya put the phone away.
"Mystery solved."
Leo grinned. "Football?"
They settled on Saturday at eleven.
"You decided eleven again," Jamie said as they left.
"We discussed it."
"You announced it."
Dexter walked behind them, listening.
A little later, Leo was still thinking about it.
"Jamie argues about everything," he said.
Dexter laughed. "He kind of does."
"I pick a time and somehow there's always a problem with it."
Leo kicked a pebble along the pavement.
Dexter said nothing.
That evening, Leo's phone buzzed.
Leo kept staring at the screen.
He read the messages again and wondered if Jamie really thought that about him.
He didn't know whether to be annoyed or just... hurt.
A few minutes later, Jamie's phone buzzed.
Jamie put down his phone.
He'd only been joking with Leo earlier.
Apparently Leo hadn't found it funny.
Jamie pulled his blanket up and stared at the ceiling.
At 10:56 the next morning, Maya arrived at the football court.
Dexter was already there.
Leo stood beside one goal.
Jamie stood beside the other.
Neither was speaking.
Maya looked between them.
"Did somebody die?"
"No," said Jamie.
"Nehh," said Leo.
Maya nodded. "Wowww. Very thrilled and cheerful for a non-funeral weekend."
"Can we play?" Leo said.
"Yes, please. Before Saturday gets any gloomier."
So they played.
Leo had an open shot and passed sideways to Dexter instead, who lost it straight into a hedge.
Jamie called a foul two minutes later. Leo played straight through it like he hadn't heard.
"That was a foul."
"It wasn't."
"It really was."
"Sure. Whatever you say."
By the third missed pass, Maya had seen enough. She caught the ball and held onto it.
"What's going on?"
"Ask him," Jamie said.
"Me?" Leo said. "You're the one who thinks I decide everything."
Jamie stared at him.
"You said I argue about everything."
"I was joking!"
"Well, Dexter didn't make it sound like a joke."
Leo frowned.
"Wait. What did he tell you?"
"He said you can't even pick a time without me making a big thing about it."
Leo looked at Dexter.
"He told me you were annoyed because I just decide everything."
Jamie looked confused.
"I said you picked eleven without asking."
"That's not the same thing."
"Exactly."
They both turned towards Dexter.
Dexter took one small step backwards.
"Okay."
"Okay what?" Maya said.
"Maybe I changed a few words."
"A few?" Jamie said.
"Some."
Leo folded his arms.
"Why?"
Dexter looked at the ground.
"You two always team up."
Leo blinked.
"So?"
"So I wanted to play with you for once."
There was a pause.
"You could've just asked," Jamie said.
Dexter made a face.
"Yeah, well. That would've been embarrassing."
Maya looked around at all four of them.
"And this isn't?"
Dexter sighed.
"It's becoming quite embarrassing."
Maya dropped the ball.
"And next time?"
Leo looked at Jamie.
"We just ask?"
Jamie shrugged. "Would've saved us a lot of time."
Leo grinned. "You do like arguing, though."
"And you're still annoying," said Jamie.
Maya smiled. "Good. Back to normal."
She passed the ball straight through Dexter's legs.
"HEY!"
Maya grinned. "Too slow."
And the game was back on.
Afterwards, they stopped for ice cream.
Halfway home, Maya said, "By the way, my birthday's next Saturday."
Leo stopped. "Party?"
"I didn't say that."
Dexter grinned. "Too late. I'm bringing a cake."
Jamie sighed. "You don't even know if she likes cake."
Dexter looked at Maya.
"You do, though. Right?"
Maya gave him a mischievous grin, took an enormous bite of her ice cream, and kept walking.
Dexter hurried after her.
"Maya?"