by Sherri Renee
Chapter 18
A cold wind teased my neck and cheeks, looking for a way to infiltrate the rest of me, but I was bundled up tight. Thankfully we had a winter cheer uniform with sweaters and thick knit pants, and Ms. Riley let us wear our coats between cheers.
I hadn’t talked to George or Matt, but George surprised me with a quick hug before the players took the field. I thought he’d be mad about the whole Matt thing, but he didn’t seem to be.
Michelle’s words ran over and over in my head like an out of control ride at the fair while I tried to focus on the game. “When you find the right guy, nothing should keep you apart. When you find the right guy, nothing should keep you apart. When you find the right guy, nothing should keep you apart.”
I flicked a quick glance at the stands, hoping to spot Matt. I wanted to see him so bad it hurt. Something had to give. There was no way I could pretend to be George’s girlfriend for the next two weeks when all I wanted was to be with Matt. I didn’t even care about being elected homecoming queen anymore.
It was funny that something I’d built up so much in my mind over the years could be reduced to less interesting than what was on next week’s lunch menu. It was like I’d overinflated a balloon and someone had poked a hole in it. There was nothing left to that dream. Not that I’d turn down the scholarship money if I did win, but the title itself no longer held the importance it did only a couple of weeks ago.
George threw a pass to Danny. He easily caught it and took off running towards the end zone. We all cheered for him, but Michelle jumped up and down and whooped so hard I knew she’d have a sore throat tomorrow. I envied her.
Danny scored the winning touchdown and the crowd went crazy. We were going to state! Our guys jumped up and down on the field as much as Michelle had. They hugged and high-fived, and a couple hoisted George and Danny into the air on their shoulders. I felt kind of bad for the other team. Their players dragged themselves off the field with heads down and shoulders hunched.
We went out on the field to congratulate the players. George scooped me into his arms and spun in a circle. I clung to his neck and laughed. “Put me down!” He set me down and dropped a sweet kiss on my nose.
“We won!” he said unnecessarily. He looked happier than I’d seen him for a long time. We were jostled about as everyone did their best to congratulate everyone else at least a few times.
I found myself smiling at George before giving him a hug. “Congratulations,” I said near his ear so he could hear me over all the yelling. He hugged me tight, and for a minute it felt good to be in his arms. “Are you riding to the party with me?”
I shook my head. Michelle always drove to parties after getting stuck at one all night when her ride forgot about her. She’d had to call her parents to come get her and while she wasn’t in trouble or anything, they weren’t thrilled. “I promised Michelle I’d keep her company. I’ll see you there, though.”
He took both my hands and squeezed. “Count on it.” His eyes held sweet promises. He turned and joined his teammates as they went to the locker room to get cleaned up.
I bit my lip and analyzed my feelings. I liked this George, but I realized I only liked him as a good friend. We’d had too much happen to ever be able to pick things up where they’d once been. I decided I had to break up with him, for good this time, and hope for the best.
I spun around and caught Laurie glaring at me. The intensity of her look stunned me. Her face was a brittle mask of anger. She covered her look with a laugh and linked arms with me as we left the field. Chattering about the game and party to come, she acted perfectly normal and I wondered if I’d imagined the look.
I hoped I had because that look was scorned woman with an ax. It majorly creeped me out. She really had no reason to dislike me. It wasn’t like I’d stolen George from her. Or anyone else for that matter. If she only knew how badly I wanted out of my relationship with him maybe it would keep her from dismembering me while I slept.
“I think I’m going to break up with George,” I confided in her as we headed towards the locker room.
“You’re going to dump him? Because of the new guy?” She gave me an incredulous look that was almost as scary as her ax-murderer face. Had I totally misread her? I thought she’d be thrilled if George and I weren’t together anymore.
“I, well, not because of Matt, exactly. Things have changed between George and me lately. I just think we’d be happier apart.” I gave Laurie a cautious look, wishing I hadn’t said anything.
“Look.” She led me out of the path of students heading for the parking lot and stopped, to face me. “You can’t break up with him now. They’re in the playoffs. Do you know how much something like you dumping him for another guy will mess with his head? He—they,” she corrected, “have to win state.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. This was not the reaction I expected. And I’d never pegged her as having so much school spirit either. Sure, we all hoped our team would claim the state championship, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they didn’t.
I took a step away from her. “I said I was thinking about breaking up with him not that I was going to for sure.”
Fear filled her eyes. She moved into the space I’d just made between us. “I don’t care what you do after state. Just don’t mess with his head before the game.”
She took another step towards me, and I jumped back. Wow! This was getting weird. I wasn’t sure what was going on so decided to try to appease her. The image of her with an ax was getting sharper by the minute.
“Um, okay.” I frowned and gave Laurie a wide berth before jogging the rest of the way to the locker room.
Laurie transferred to Forest Ridge at the beginning of this year. The only reason she was even on the squad, since tryouts had been held in the spring, is because another girl moved last minute. We had to hold a special tryout to fill her spot.
Laurie and I hadn’t been the best of friends, like me and Michelle, but we got along well. I thought I knew her, but I couldn’t begin to imagine why she was acting the way she was.
Until we got to the party.
Chapter 19
Laurie, Jules, and Kara rode to the party with Michelle too, so while I was dying to talk to Michelle about how strange Laurie was acting, I didn’t get a chance. I sat in the front seat and chewed on my nails, looking out the window and ignoring the loud music and conversation filling the car. I’d halfway made up my mind to break up with George tonight and just deal with whatever repercussions might come.
My stomach was a ball of angry hornets by the time we pulled up in front of Tony’s two-story house. It was white with black shutters on the windows. A wide covered porch extended all the way around it.
I always thought of old plantation houses when I saw it. It wasn’t exactly in the middle of nowhere, but his family owned about twenty acres of land surrounding it so the house was set far off the main road and was secluded.
It looked like the entire school had turned up for the party based on the number of cars there. Michelle parked in between two pickups, and we all piled out. I’d changed into jeans, and a cute pale pink top paired with suede half-boots, but my coat covered most of my outfit. If it wasn’t a lot warmer in the house than it was out here no one was going to see my shirt because I wouldn’t be taking my coat off. It was freezing.
Jules and Michelle and I headed straight for the house. I glanced back and noticed Laurie following us at a distance. She appeared to be deep in thought. I hoped she wasn’t thinking about how she was going to murder me. I shrugged off a chill along with the dramatic thought. Sure she was acting strange but she was my friend. She wasn’t a killer.
I hoped.
Michelle linked arms with me and Jules and started doing a shuffle/trot towards the front door. Our breath came out in a trio of white puffs. “Hurry up,” Michelle called over her shoulder to Laurie. “It’s freezing out here.”
Every window in the house was lit. I could hear musi
c blaring all the way from here. My guess was Tony’s parents were either super-duper good sports, or more likely, they weren’t home. The open ice chest filled with beer by the front door made me think they probably weren’t home.
I pushed open the door as soon as I reached it without bothering to knock. I mean it was a party and seriously with the music as loud as it was, who would hear me anyway?
“Ah,” I let out a loud sigh as warmth hit my frigid cheeks and nose. Maybe I would be able to take off my coat at some point tonight, but not just yet.
A blast of cold air hit me from behind as Laurie reopened the door and came in after us. Her eyes met mine. I couldn’t describe what I saw in that look. Fear? Determination? I wanted to know what was going through her mind and especially how it affected me. I decided to ask her straight out.
“I’m getting a drink,” Laurie said and disappeared into the crowd before I could say anything.
I couldn’t decide if I should follow her and push her for answers or not. Michelle was already moving to the music and grabbed me and Jules by the wrists, dragging us to the center of the living room that had been converted into the official dance floor. I decided my questions for Laurie could wait.
I joined Michelle and probably fifty other kids in the crowded space, losing myself to the music and letting it guide me. Michelle was a great dancer, but other than at the pep rally today, so was I.
Jules moved with us, and I gave her a high five, but it was Michelle and I that people started clearing space for so they could watch as we danced. It didn’t take long to heat up. I tossed my coat on the couch and prayed it would be there when I went to look for it later.
My eyes closed, and I moved to the beat. I wasn’t dancing for the crowd. Just for me. The music seeped down to my soul, relaxing, refreshing. The freedom of the movement gave me a release for all my confused feelings, and I took full advantage of it, spinning and twisting, my arms overhead.
I opened my eyes and found Matt watching me with a hungry look from the edge of the crowd. I kept my eyes on his and suddenly I was dancing for him, wishing I was dancing with him. There was no one else in the room just him and me. His look smoldered. I lifted my arms again and let my body sway as the song ended.
Familiar upbeat music flooded the room. Michelle let out a whoop and started dancing the routine we’d performed to that song in the fall. It took me a second to break eye contact with Matt.
“Come on, Kristen!” Michelle yelled. I laughed at her exuberance and jumped into the routine beside her.
Soon the other cheerleaders found us on the floor as we did the routine together. All of them but Laurie, I noticed, but didn’t really think about it. We finished with a cheer that got the crowd roaring. The claps and yells that followed were a slight balm to the sting of today’s pep rally.
When the dance was over, I quickly searched for Matt, but he was gone. “I’m going to get a drink,” I breathlessly told Michelle.
She grabbed my hand and pleaded with me. “You can’t leave now,” she yelled still moving with the music. “Who will I dance with?”
I looked around at the room full of gyrating bodies and grinned. “I think you’ll find someone.”
I pulled away with a smile and made my way through the throngs of people, searching for a drink, but with an eye out for Matt. I stopped a few times to talk to people I knew but finally made it back to the open kitchen. The music wasn’t quite as loud here.
I scanned the counters. There were large bottles of soft drinks sitting by a bucket of ice. Two glass punch bowls, one filled with something bright pink and the other lime green, drew a line of girls with plastic cups.
One rule my mom had pounded in my head since before I was old enough to go to these kinds of parties was to never drink from an open container because you had no way of knowing if anything dangerous had been slipped into it.
So even though I was really thirsty by now, and the punch looked tempting, I side-stepped the waiting line and opened the ice chest on the floor by the refrigerator. Yes! I pulled out a bottle of cold water and unscrewed the cap, downing half of it while I glanced around the room to see who I knew.
A girl from my English class waved at me, and I waved back. Then I spotted a familiar face standing in the corner. George was in deep conversation with a girl who had her back to me. He didn’t look particularly happy, so I wasn’t worried he was hitting on her. Of course, if he had been, that could have been my excuse to break up with him.
It looked like he and the girl might be arguing. My stomach tensed. I reflexively started picking up discarded cups on the countertop. I kept one eye on George and the girl while dumping the colorful remains from the cups in the sink before tossing the whole stack of them in the garbage can.
I grabbed a wad of paper towels and took a half-hearted stab at wiping the sticky island. My body turned to cleaning as a defense mood. As a way to calm myself, but my mind was fully on the conversation across the room.
Throwing the mess of towels in the heaping trash on top of the precariously stacked cups, I started to make my way across the room to find out what was going on. Before I got to them the girl suddenly turned so I could see her face. Laurie! She walked out of the kitchen, leaving George standing alone.
How strange.
“Hey.” I stopped in front of him. He jumped.
“Oh, hey!” His face lit, and he reached for my hand. I let him take it. “I didn’t know you were here yet.”
“Yeah.” He tugged me closer, and I could smell beer on his breath. I wrinkled my nose. “What were you and Laurie talking about?”
His brows knit, and his eyes darted to the floor. He was hiding something. I narrowed my eyes.
“Nothing really.” He glanced at me before looking at the hall she’d gone down. “I was asking if she knew where you were.”
He was lying. I didn’t know why, but it wasn’t hard to tell. It didn’t look like he was hitting on Laurie or vice versa, so what else would be so important he’d feel he had to hide it from me?
“I didn’t know you two were friends.” I probed, trying to find a way to get more information out of him.
“I never said we were.” His answer was short and surprisingly sharp.
I was curious if they’d been talking about me. Laurie had acted so strange after the game. Maybe she’d told him I was going to break up with him. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. I couldn’t read his expression, but he wasn’t happy.
“Do you want to go somewhere quieter so we can talk?”
I thought about that for a second. That was typically code for “so we can go make out,” and making out with him was the last thing I wanted to do, but I did want to talk. “Sure,” I told him, letting him lead me back through the crowded living room towards the stairs.
We were stopped every few steps by someone or other wanted to congratulate George on the game or talk about their chances at state. I smiled and nodded, but I wasn’t my normal chatty self. I was ready to end this charade with George and be free to give Matt an honest chance. I wondered where he’d disappeared to.
As if thinking about him made him appear, the front door opened and there Matt stood. He scanned the room before closing the door behind him, giving me a chance to stare my fill at him. His cheeks were red from the cold and his hair looked tousled, probably from the wind. He looked even better than he usually did. I wondered why he’d gone outside. It was so cold.
As if he felt my look, his eyes shot to mine, finding me in the crowd. A slow smile lit his face. He gave me a nod, and I smiled back. A ball of warmth filled me.
He started walking my way, and I swallowed hard. He had to see I was with George. As much as I would have liked to talk to him, I knew talking to him now would only make George mad.
I tried not to panic as he got closer. A hundred excuses I’d give George for talking to him flitted through my mind. Suddenly a blond girl stepped in between us and blocked his path. He gave her a surprised look
, and they talked for a second. It didn’t take me long to recognize her since I’d just studied her from behind for over five minutes in the kitchen.
It was Laurie. She took Matt’s hand and smiled up at him, leading him to the middle of the dancing crowd. He didn’t look happy about it, but after a quick glance at me, he followed her until I lost sight of them.
I frowned in their direction, hoping for another glance. Were they talking? Dancing? Had Laurie wanted to introduce him to someone? What was that girl up to? First she corners my real boyfriend then makes off with my wanna-be-boyfriend? I didn’t think I was too far off base to think whatever she was doing somehow involved me. But how could it? Why would it? I barely knew her.
Chapter 20
George was in deep conversation with Maurice Wilson, a tall, heavy set guy who was on the varsity team with George even though I was pretty sure he was a sophomore. I figured they were talking about football because it seemed that was all anyone was talking about tonight after our big win—except maybe Laurie.
Ignoring them I stood on my tiptoes, trying to look over the sea of bobbing heads to find Matt’s dark hair but didn’t see him.
Suddenly Maurice raised his voice enough for me to hear him over the music. “Un-uh. I’m not doing it anymore. Do you know what will happen if we’re caught?” Maurice stood with his hands on his hips and murder on his face.
George dropped my hand and put both his hands on Maurice’s shoulders and leaned in close to his ear. I couldn’t hear what he said, but the color drained from Maurice’s dusky skin. Maurice nodded once, and George clapped him on the shoulder before Maurice slunk off, disappearing into the crowd.
George stared after him with a contemplative look before turning back to me. “Ready?” he asked, a smile replacing his serious expression as if nothing was wrong. It felt like there was something important going on around me that I should know about only I didn’t.
But George did.
Oh, yeah. I was ready. Ready to get some answers. I bobbed my head in a nod, knowing he wouldn’t hear me if I tried to talk over the noise. George led the way up the stairs.