All of it in an attempt to not think about how excited I was that Banner and I were now a ‘thing.’
Or, official in his words.
The microwave beeped, and I burned my tongue as I shoved the thing in my mouth and said, “Let’s go.”
He grinned and grabbed the last piece of cold pizza before catching my neck with one arm and dragging me into his body.
“What about our backpacks?” I said around a bite of crust.
“I figure I’ll just condense my shit into yours. And then start utilizing my locker,” he said.
I pointed to the backpack by the front door, and he picked it up before hitching it onto his shoulder.
“So… Perry Cat?” I asked on the way out to the bike.
He laughed. “I’ll tell it to you when we get to school. Riding isn’t really conducive with talking.”
I saw the helmet that was sitting on the seat. “Did you tell my dad I was riding with you?”
“Ummm, no.” He scrunched up his nose. “I thought you did.”
I snickered at his words and finished off the last couple of bites of my pizza before hopping onto the bike as he condensed our backpacks.
After he was ready, he handed it to me and I shouldered it before putting the helmet he handed me next onto my head.
He waited until I was comfortable before taking off his hat, stuffing it into his jacket, and then putting on his own helmet.
I licked my lips in anticipation as he started the bike and groaned into his back when he started to rumble away from the curb.
“Maybe he won’t know.” He laughed as he started to walk the bike away from the curb.
Once it was steady, he began accelerating down the length of my street.
Old Mrs. Quincy scowled at us as we drove past her walking her dog.
The dog jumped and barked, as per his usual, and Mrs. Quincy scowled even harder, raising her fist as if that was going to do something.
I couldn’t stop myself from laughing as we rode.
Sadly, just as quickly as it started, it ended, leaving us at the back of the parking lot at the school.
Titus got out of his truck a couple parking spaces down and stared at the two of us.
I ignored him and looked at all the other seniors that were staring.
I sighed.
“Are you sure about this, Ban?” I asked softly.
His hand met the heated skin of my neck, squeezing lightly before dropping his hand again. “It’ll be fine.”
I rolled my eyes and half-ass listened to Titus talking to him about the game today.
The volleyball game that he and all of the football team were going to.
Blue was just going to love that!
“What time is it?” Banner asked curiously, catching up to me and tugging my hand free of my pocket to thread his fingers through mine.
“Right after practice,” Titus answered. “Coach usually ends it a bit early so we can go. He understands the need for us to show our support.”
I snorted and turned to say something to the two of them just as an old Chevy pickup whipped into the parking spot I was cutting across, nearly hitting me head-on.
I gasped just as Banner pulled me back into his chest.
Heart pounding, I looked up over the hood of the truck to the person driving, unsurprised to see Vance sitting in the driver’s seat laughing.
The motherfucker.
Banner tugged me to the side and around the truck, offering Vance a withering glare as we moved.
“He could’ve fucking parked anywhere,” Titus muttered.
Slone caught up to us, as did Abbott.
“I don’t understand why he followed you,” Titus grumbled.
“Hey!”
I looked to the side to see Tempy running toward us.
She skipped and hopped over a few mud puddles, but missed the last one that splashed water all over her brand-new shoes.
“New shoes?” I asked curiously.
“Yes,” she sighed. “I needed some new ones last week, but Mom couldn’t afford them. Now I’m going to have to run in these tomorrow, and it’s going to suck.”
I winced.
Running in new shoes wasn’t something that I would want to do. Especially on our longest course of the year.
It was really going to suck for her.
“Maybe it’ll slow you down enough that I can catch you.”
Slone snorted, causing me to look at him with an eyebrow raise.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re not gonna catch her,” he said. “It takes a lot for us guys to catch her.”
He had a point.
And before I could say that, he walked off, joining Graham and Tatum at the front doors of the school.
Tempy watched him go, and I touched her arm to bring her attention back to me.
Her eyes flashed and she smiled at me, looking lost for a few moments.
“Sorry,” she said. “Head’s in the clouds.”
Yeah, right.
Her head wasn’t in the clouds. Her head was filled with Slone.
Big difference.
Banner caught my hand and started to lead me inside right behind Tempy, and I saw the reason why when I looked over my shoulder upon hearing a commotion and saw Vance pushing his way through the crowd of students to catch up to us.
Banner didn’t let him get a chance to get close, though.
Because instead of stopping and chatting with the rest of his friends, he hauled me straight to our first class.
When we got seated, he took my backpack from my shoulders and unpacked his bag from mine, grinning when he saw a pink pencil in the bottom of my bag and stole it. Right along with a plastic bracelet that had silver glitter floating inside of it.
Like one of those bracelets you won at an arcade.
In fact, it had been won at an arcade. Last year sometime during our junior trip to the aquarium.
I saw it every day. I just didn’t have the time or inclination to clean out my backpack.
“This is cute,” he said, trying to fit it onto his wrist.
I snorted. “It is… absolutely adorable on you. You should wear it for always.”
He sat down in his seat and worked the bracelet over his big hand, moving it in such small increments that I was worried it’d get stuck or break.
It didn’t do either and eventually made its way over his big ass hand and onto his big ass wrist.
“You’re never going to get that back off,” I teased.
He winked at me, holding it up for me to inspect.
“I can have it on in football,” he said. “It can’t dangle. That’s the only rule.”
“Well, it makes you look super sharp,” I teased.
He pulled out his textbook and a pencil, then stuck the pencil behind his ear and watched me curiously.
“What?” I asked as I pulled out notebook paper to write notes on.
“Why do you take notes in here?” he asked.
“Why do you not?” I countered.
Before he could answer, the rest of the class started pouring in, leaving us without another opportunity to really talk.
Thankfully, Vance didn’t have this class.
Also thankfully, we had a substitute that didn’t have a fuckin’ clue what we were doing, meaning we got to jack around and read or do our homework for the period.
Which worked out well for me because I hadn’t gotten much studying done the day before. Not when all I could think about was the guy sitting beside me.
Chapter 12
Is your ass jealous of all that shit coming out of your mouth?
-Banner’s secret thoughts
Banner
The day, so far, had been quite pleasant. Which was weird, because I thought with Vance being here, he would totally find a way to fuck my life up around every turn. But surprisingly, he bided his time.
It also didn’t hurt that every time Vance approached, Titus, Abbott, Slone, Graham or Tatum would be there to provide any distraction that I might need.
Or just act as a buffer.
Honestly, it was kind of nice to have, because at our old school, every single kid was in Vance’s pocket, stroking his cock and his ego every chance they got.
Boy or girl, they all bowed down to him.
Here? Not so much.
He was a nobody here. He didn’t rule the school. Nobody ruled the school.
Sure, there were bullies. Sure, there were assholes around every corner. But ultimately, Vance didn’t have anybody to rely on like he did back in Benton.
Here, he was just another student.
Daddy’s money hadn’t bought him favors here. Daddy’s money was not an issue here.
Because Daddy was dead, and his stepmother had taken the money and left, leaving Vance high and dry with nothing to his name but his daddy’s house, a promise to pay the taxes, and an allowance enough to get him through the next year until he was graduated.
Honestly, it was quite comical seeing him struggle to find a foothold in this school.
Sadly, today was also the day I wouldn’t get to share my lunch with Perry, meaning that I didn’t get to give her a hug or tell her good luck before her game.
I’d sent her a text, but that had gone unanswered, too.
Which led to now, hours later, us finishing up practice.
“All right, boys!” Coach Beasley yelled. “It’s time for me to go support my wife, and y’all to go support your fellow students. I want you at the game. I don’t care if you want to go home. You’re there because I allowed you to be there by letting you out of practice early. If you can’t be there, you better have a damn fine excuse.”
I chuckled as I made my way to the locker rooms, my helmet in my hand and Titus and Abbott by my side.
The others had already left earlier due to them being considered ‘special teams.’ Meaning they were already showered and waiting for us when we arrived.
“Give us ten to get dressed,” Titus muttered.
“I’m showering,” I said. “I don’t want to go in there smelling like shit. I’m gonna need fifteen.”
There was a chorus of grunts in acquiesce and we made our way inside.
I stopped by my locker and stripped, finding my towel and my bodywash in the next second.
“Damn, son,” Titus said, holding his hand up in front of his face. “You don’t have to go around flashing that at us.”
A dorky sophomore flushed bright red and covered up.
“You do realize that you’re naked, too, right?” I murmured as we made our way into the showers.
Titus chuckled.
“I do,” he said. “But I also notice that you didn’t say that in front of him.”
I snorted. “I’m okay with the light hazing that y’all give these younger kids. But get any meaner and I might.”
Titus rolled his eyes. “We’re not that kind of football team. We’re tight. All of us. If that little kid back there got his ass handed to him on the field, I would be there just as much as the rest of the team to offer the other team an example as to why you don’t mess with Kilgore High.”
I liked that.
Something else Benton High didn’t have.
“Good,” I said as I found the first showerhead that was open and went to it.
After showering, I walked out of the shower area with a towel wrapped around my waist and my hair dripping down my no-longer-dry back.
I found Abbott already there, slipping on his jeans.
The sophomore was nowhere to be found, leaving it just us seniors when the rest of us finally arrived.
“You got a girl, Abbott?” I asked casually as I slid into my underwear.
He glanced at me over his shoulder and shook his head. “Nah.”
“Ol’ Abbie has a thing for Flo,” Titus said as he came around the corner. “Abbie won’t go after Flo, though, because Flo wants nothing to do with him. Their parents are rivals here.”
“Why?” I asked, looking from Titus to Abbott.
Abbott sighed. “Flo’s mom is a lawyer and Flo’s dad is a cop. My dad is a fucking drug dealer currently serving fifteen years in the pen. My mother is a drugged-out coke whore who doesn’t even acknowledge that I’m alive.”
“Flo’s mom put Abbott’s dad away for his crimes,” Titus said. “She’s a prosecutor. And they think that Abbott doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
I looked over at him. “You do drugs?”
He shook his head.
“You live at home?”
Again, he shook his head.
“Flo won’t talk to you, will she?” I guessed.
He shot me a grin. “She’s gonna one day.”
I had no doubt about that at all.
In fact, I had a feeling that one day soon, she’d be doing a lot more than talking.
“So you and Blue, huh?” I said to Titus. “Y’all got a thing for volleyball players?”
“Ummm, correct me if I’m wrong, but you have a thing for them, too,” Abbott pointed out.
I snorted. “It’s the shorts.”
Okay, it wasn’t only the shorts. But they were definitely a big reason I paid so much attention to her that first day.
“Tempy doesn’t play volleyball. She only runs cross-country and track.”
That was from Slone.
I looked up at him, but it was Titus who said, “And it was right around the time that you got Abilene pregnant with your kid that she quit volleyball, wasn’t it?”
My brows rose in surprise.
The drama.
“Yeah.” Slone sighed. “Fuck. You’re right.”
I knew he was right, too.
That would be a surefire way to get her to back away. Get another chick pregnant.
“Why are we even talking about this?” Graham asked.
“Because we can, dipshit.” Abbott jumped and caught Graham around the neck and messed up his hair.
Graham pushed him away with a laugh, and we all walked side by side into the gym.
I blinked at the sheer amount of people that were already there.
“Wow,” I said. “Volleyball is a big sport here, I take it?”
“You have no idea,” Slone said. “Kilgore High School is competing for their fourth straight state title. If they win, the seniors will have won it four straight years.”
“Wow,” I said as I finally took notice of the banners on the walls. “This place is hyped.”
The band was even there.
And the cheerleaders.
I grinned when I saw Symphony standing there, waving her pom-poms around with less than enthusiastic excitement.
“We normally sit down behind the team,” Slone said as he made his way. “I gotta go find my mom, though. I have to take Briley so she can go to work.”
I watched him leave and waited until Titus made his way down the bleachers before following myself.
I grinned when I saw my girl warming up in the middle of the court.
She looked fucking hot in her tiny black, tight as fuck shorts and her red sleeveless shirt. That was tight, too, molding to her body as if it was made specifically for her.
I paused when I saw her parents and then gestured at Titus. “I’ll be there in a minute. Gonna go say hi to Perry’s parents.”
Titus gave me a chin lift and made his way to a seat. I went back up a few rows and crossed over to where I could see Dawson sitting next to Autumn.
I grinned and dropped down next to Autumn.
“Hello,” I said, offering Dawson my hand.
He took it, his eyes lit with humor.
“I was wondering if you were going to make it over,” he said. “Perry said that you’ve never watched a volleyball game before.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I can’t say that I have. I mean, I’ve seen
them, but I honestly have no fuc—freakin’ clue what they’re about.”
Autumn gave me a disapproving look.
“Sorry,” I said.
She rolled her eyes. “Uh-huh.”
“You can stay here and watch with me,” Autumn said. “But I can’t say that I know much more than you do. Titus will be able to help.”
My brows rose. “You know Titus?”
She nodded. “I work here, remember?”
I grinned. “I do. Thank you for the extra mashed potatoes today at lunch.”
She winked at me. “You’re a growing boy.”
I was.
“I hear that you took my girl on your motorcycle,” Dawson said.
I opened my mouth to say that I did, but he rolled his eyes. “Just don’t tell me. And be fucking safe.”
“Language,” Autumn ordered.
Dawson winked. “Better get to your seat, kid. Game’s about to start.”
I did as I was told, but made a mental note to come back later to see them more.
When I got to Titus, he was staring at the court where a certain girl named Blue was warming up.
She was bent over almost in half, stretching her calves and glutes.
I looked over at Titus and said, “You should take a picture.”
“He already did,” Slone said as he bounced his kid on his lap.
I reached over and touched her toe, causing her to giggle.
Slone grinned but didn’t take his eyes off the court.
And when I looked in the direction that he was staring, I found him staring at Tempy, who was trying to look anywhere but at him. She was on the sideline passing out bottles of water.
I rolled my eyes and returned my gaze to Perry to see her staring at me.
I grinned at her and gave her a chin tilt, causing her to smile.
That was when Vance plopped his happy ass down across the gym from me, close enough that he was able to talk to Perry if he wanted.
When he said something, Perry didn’t even acknowledge him. She turned away and gave him her back before returning the ball she was using to the ball cart.
“This is a district game,” Abbott murmured. “If they win this one, they’ve cinched their spot in the playoffs.”
“It’s a little early for that, isn’t it?” I asked curiously.
“It would be if they weren’t playing the second-place team,” Titus murmured.
Somethin' About That Boy Page 9