by Shana Norris
We raced each other back to my house, with Greg winning by two seconds. I scowled at the smug grin he gave me when we both had skidded to a stop in front of my house.
“Just a bike race,” I said, panting a little. “I’m still beating you in the game.”
Greg shrugged. “For now.”
“Forever,” I corrected him, reaching over to punch him lightly on the arm.
“You sure have an inflated sense of self-worth for someone so small,” Greg told me.
This time the punch I gave him was a little harder and Greg held up his hands, laughing. “Okay, sorry! You—and your ego—are both perfectly proportioned.”
“Thank you for noticing,” I said, laughing also.
A shadow fell across us and I looked toward the house to see a big figure standing in front of the living-room window, looking out at us. Hunter.
A moment later, the front door opened and Hunter stared stone-faced across the yard. “Cassie, come inside,” he said.
“I will when I’m ready,” I told him.
“Two minutes,” he said, tapping his watch for emphasis. He narrowed his eyes at Greg and then stepped back into the house, shutting the door behind him.
I groaned. “He is so annoying. He always thinks he can tell Perry and me what to do.”
“You probably should go inside,” Greg said, squeezing the brake handles on his bike and avoiding eye contact. “It’s getting dark. And I should get home.”
“Don’t let Hunter run you off,” I said. “You’re my best friend and you have every right to be here.”
Greg shook his head. “No, I don’t. I’m a Spartan and this is Trojan territory. Do you really want people from your school looking out their windows and seeing you with me?”
I flailed my arms, frustrated. “I don’t care what anyone else thinks! I’m not taking sides in this stupid fight.”
“You are, Cassie,” Greg said. He reached out to hold one of my hands and looked sad as he spoke. “We both are, whether we want to or not. I can’t ask you not to be on your brothers’ side, and you can’t expect me not to do the same for mine.”
“But this whole thing is ridiculous.”
“I know. But it’s not going to end, so we have to just go along with it and try not to let it tear us apart too much. I don’t want to lose you.”
My heartbeat pulsed throughout my entire body and echoed in my ears. My skin felt as if an electric current were running through it from where Greg’s hand made contact with mine.
We weren’t on different teams. We couldn’t be. Greg and I had always been together, on the same side since the day we met. I wouldn’t let Perry and Lucas mess everything up.
“I have to tell you something,” I said in a voice so low I wasn’t certain that Greg could even hear me. “The Trojans are planning to get the Spartan cheerleaders back for what they did to our locker room. Tomorrow before the game, when the cheerleaders are getting ready.”
I knew I shouldn’t have told Greg anything about the planned attack, but I couldn’t stand the idea that we might possibly be enemies.
Greg looked surprised. He didn’t say anything for a moment, then he whispered, “What are they planning?”
I shook my head. “I can’t tell you that.” I couldn’t betray my brothers even more by revealing exact details. “I’m already going to be in huge trouble over this. Just do what you think is right with that little bit of information.”
Greg squeezed my hand. “Okay. Thanks.”
I tried to smile, but I felt terrible. I had proven myself a traitor to my school and my family.
The door to my house opened again and I almost felt relieved to see Hunter standing there again. “Time’s up,” he said, his voice all serious. “Come inside, Cassie.”
“Bye,” I said to Greg, pulling my hand reluctantly from his grasp and wheeling my bike toward the garage.
I DIDN’T TELL ANYONE WHAT HAD HAPPENED when I walked into the house. I ran straight up to my room and locked myself in for the rest of the night.
I knew I had to tell Elena that her plan had been ruined. But I didn’t want her and the others to get mad at me when they found out. If Elena dumped me, I’d go back to being ignored and everyone would think I was a traitor to my school.
And Hunter would just say that he had warned me to stay away from Greg. This was my punishment for hanging around with Spartans.
I had to tell Elena. I just didn’t know how.
All day at school on Friday, I kept opening my mouth, telling myself that this was it, this was the time to say something, and then … nothing came out. I couldn’t force myself to say the words.
Time moved way too quickly and before I knew it, the end of the day had arrived and the final bell had rung.
I found Elena at her locker, thankfully alone. She wasn’t likely to be alone for much longer though. I knew Perry or Mallory or Kelsey would soon come looking for her.
“Hey, Cassie,” Elena greeted me, smiling wide. “We had a killer test in history today. I’m sure I failed.”
“That’s too bad,” I said, trying to sound casual. “Hey, I really have to talk to you. Right now.”
Elena closed her locker. “I’m meeting Perry out front. We’re going over to my house to talk about you-know-what.”
I knew what. The thing that I had ruined with my big mouth.
“That’s what I came to talk to you about,” I said. “Elena, you can’t go to Lacede tonight.”
Elena smiled at me. “Don’t worry, Cassie. Everything’s going to be fine. But you don’t have to go with us if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s not that. The Spartans know that you’re coming. You can’t go.”
Elena blinked at me, her smile gone. “How would they know?”
The question I had prayed she wouldn’t ask me.
“That’s not important,” I said. “Just don’t go to Lacede—”
“Cassie,” Elena said, scowling at me. “How do the Spartans know what we’re going to do tonight?”
She stared at me with a fierce look, like she knew already but wanted to hear me admit it. I had the sudden urge to run as fast as I could in the other direction.
But I forced myself to stay. I lifted my head and held my shoulders back, trying to look back at her without showing how crushed I was inside.
“I told them,” I said.
Elena didn’t flinch. She didn’t change expressions at all.
“You told them,” she repeated.
“I didn’t mean to,” I whispered. My voice suddenly wouldn’t go louder than that. “It just came out. I’m so, so sorry.”
Elena let out a long breath. “I’m sorry too,” she said. “Bye, Cassie.”
She turned around and headed toward the front doors without a look back at me.
This was it. Elena would tell everyone else what I had done and I would be an outcast at Troy once again. No, worse than an outcast. I would be so low that even the outcasts wouldn’t come near me.
A few minutes after I arrived home, the door opened and Perry, Hunter, and Elena walked into the house. I sat alone in the living room, pretending to watch TV. My stomach dove into my feet when they came in, but I kept my eyes on the TV screen, trying to act as though I wasn’t nervous about what they were going to say to me.
Perry and Elena sat down on the other end of the couch. Hunter stood in front of the TV, his arms crossed over his chest.
For several long moments, no one talked.
Finally, I said, “You’re in the way of the TV.” My voice came out squeaky.
Hunter didn’t move. “Elena told us what you did,” he said.
“Traitor,” Perry muttered.
“I’m not a traitor,” I said, looking away from Hunter to glare at Perry. I could deal with Perry being angry with me more than I could deal with Hunter being disappointed. “I didn’t mean to tell them. It slipped out.”
“What’s done is done,” Hunter said. “We’re not going to L
acede tonight, so whatever the Spartans were planning to do to surprise us won’t work.”
I wanted to bury myself in the couch and never come out. “Is everyone mad at me?” I asked.
“No,” Elena said.
I looked at her, surprised.
She shrugged. “We didn’t tell them what you did. Only Hunter, Perry, and I know. We just made up an excuse about why we aren’t going.”
Relief flooded through me. “Thank you,” I said.
Perry sneered. “Don’t thank me. I wanted to tell them.”
“Elena convinced us not to,” Hunter told me. “She believes that you didn’t mean to ruin the plan.”
“I’m sorry.”
Perry took the remote from my hand and started flipping through the channels. “You should be,” he said. “Do you know how hard it is to find stink bombs around here? Now we’ve got a whole supply and no one to use them on.”
“We’ll plan something else,” Hunter said. “For now, we have to call the other guys and try to figure out what the Spartans are planning.”
“Count me out,” Perry said. “Elena and I are going to her house to watch a movie and spend some time together.” He reached over and ran his fingers through the ends of her hair.
Elena blushed, giggling a little.
“No, you’re coming with me,” Hunter snapped. “You can make out later.”
“But—”
“End of discussion,” Hunter said, shooting Perry a dark scowl. His face softened a little when he looked at me. “The plan tonight was ruined, but the Spartans haven’t won yet.”
I tried to smile. “Thanks for not telling everyone.”
Hunter nodded slightly. “You’ll still have to make up for this, but there’s no reason everyone should know.”
I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that.
GREG STOOD ON MY FRONT PORCH THE NEXT afternoon, his hands shoved into his pockets. He gave me his trademark lopsided smile. “Hey.”
“Hey,” I said, leaning against the open door as I looked at him.
“Can I come in?” he asked. “Or is this a Spartan-free zone?”
I stepped back, opening the door wider. “You can come in,” I said. “Hunter and Perry aren’t here right now.”
Greg looked relieved as he walked past me. Mom stuck her head out of the kitchen to see who had been at the door. “Oh, hello, Greg,” she said, smiling warmly at him.
“Hi, Mrs. Prince,” he said.
“I haven’t seen you in a while,” Mom said. “We’ve missed you around here.”
“Yeah,” Greg said, his cheeks reddening a little. “I’ve been really busy with school and all.”
Mom nodded. “Cassie’s been really busy too. Well, I’ll be in the kitchen if you two need me.”
I led Greg into the den and we sat down on the couch. The TV was on and we stared at the screen for a moment in silence. I wasn’t sure about Greg, but I couldn’t pay attention to the TV at all even though I looked right at it. I kept focusing on the fact that Greg and I were alone, in my den, and he smelled so good. Soap and deodorant and his natural Greg smell. I wanted to lean into him and inhale his scent.
I cleared my throat. “So how are you doing?”
Geez, I sounded like we were casual acquaintances who hadn’t seen each other in five years rather than best friends.
“All right,” he said. After a moment of silence, he added, “The Trojans never showed up at the game last night.”
I looked down at my lap. “That’s good. Then there was no need for anyone to do anything.”
“You told them, didn’t you?” he asked. “You told them that you had told me about the plan.”
I forced myself to lift my head and look him in the eye. “I had to. It wouldn’t have been right for me to let them go there without knowing the truth.” I bit my lip. “Are you mad?”
Greg shook his head. “No. Lucas is. I knew you would tell the Trojans. But Lucas wanted to be prepared for them anyway. So we set up all kinds of traps around the locker rooms—you know, water balloons and buckets full of mud.”
“I’ll bet Lucas was mad that he went through all that trouble for nothing,” I said.
“Well,” Greg said, smiling a little, “we did get Coach Whittingham with the mud buckets, accidentally. It was pretty funny.”
We laughed and I felt my body relax. This rivalry had both of us on edge and made things weird between us. I just wanted to go back to the times when we spent long afternoons together, playing video games and having fun.
I could feel Greg’s gaze on me and I turned to look at him. He blushed, looking away quickly.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Greg said.
He acted too weird for it to be “nothing.” Usually when he came to my house, he would just plop himself down on the couch, put his feet up on the coffee table, and act like he was right at home. But this time he sat straight up on the couch, his feet on the floor and his hands on his knees. He looked like he didn’t know what to do with himself.
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Greg repeated. “Why do you have to be so annoying, asking questions all the time?”
I grabbed a throw pillow and smacked Greg in the head with it. “How’s that for annoying?” I asked.
Greg snatched the pillow out of my hands and pulled me toward him, wrapping one arm around my neck. With his free hand, he gave me a hard noogie right on the top of my head.
“Is that annoying enough for you?” he asked. “Because that’s how much you’re annoying me right now.”
“Ow!” I cried. “Okay, okay, I give in. Stop!”
Greg stopped, releasing his grip on me. I lay with my head in his lap, looking up at him. His well-worn jeans felt soft against my cheek.
Greg lifted one of his hands and ran his fingers through the ends of my hair. I closed my eyes, wishing we could stay like this forever.
This was something that boyfriends and girlfriends did together, not two people who were just friends.
I sat up quickly, bumping my head into Greg’s nose. Because for some reason, he had sort of slumped over, bending his head down toward me. Greg leaned back instantly, clasping his nose.
“I’m sorry!” I exclaimed. “Are you okay?”
Greg checked his hand for signs of blood, but thankfully there was none. “I’m fine,” he said. “Just a little bump. What’s gotten into you?”
My entire body felt hot. I suddenly felt like I was sweating in my thin T-shirt. “I just remembered something I need to do,” I said quickly. I had to get Greg out of there before I gave into my insane impulses and kissed him. I would not make that mistake again.
“You have to go,” I said, standing up.
Greg blinked up at me. “What?”
His lips were a soft shade of pink, his lower lip kind of pouty and—
“Out!” I shouted. “Go home right now.”
“What has gotten into you?” Greg asked, wrinkling his forehead in confusion.
“Nothing. But you can’t be here right now.” I pulled Greg to his feet and pushed him toward the door.
But when I opened the front door, I found Elena and Perry standing on our front lawn, their faces attached at the lips. They broke apart when they heard the door open, and looked at us sheepishly.
“I’m not going outside while Elena and Perry are out there,” Greg told me as I pushed him onto the front porch.
“I don’t care,” I said. “Just go home right now.”
My face felt hot, my heart pounded against my ribs, and my lips tingled as thoughts of kissing Greg flashed through my head. Maybe Elena knew what she was doing. Maybe kissing a boy, the right boy, really was worth all the trouble it could cause.
My hands pressed into his back and I pushed Greg farther into the yard.
Perry looked at us, smirking. “What’s the Spartan doing here?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I said. “Greg was just leaving.
”
“But Cassie—”
“Go!” I insisted.
Greg turned around to face me. “Do not make me walk out there in front of them,” he said in a low voice.
“I’m sorry, but you really have to go before I do something I’ll regret.”
“Cassie—”
I stared at his collar to avoid looking at his soft, pink, oh-so-kissable lips. “Seriously, you have to leave now. Please don’t ask questions, just go.”
Greg looked at me for a moment longer, then shoved his hands into his pockets, turned and hurried toward the sidewalk without looking back at me or toward Elena and Perry.
Thankfully, Perry kept his mouth shut, mostly due to the fact that Elena used her lips to keep him from talking.
“Cassie.”
I rolled over, burying my head into my pillow.
“Cassie.” The voice had grown slightly louder this time.
It hurt to open my eyes. I looked at the clock, blinking to bring the fuzzy numbers into focus: 2:53 A.M.
“Geez, Hunter, what is wrong with you?” I grumbled. “No one in their right mind is awake at this hour.”
My brother stood hunched over my bed, dressed in a black hoodie and dark jeans. “Get up,” he said.
“No way.” I pulled the covers over my head.
Hunter snatched the covers away, dropping them on the floor. “Up. Now. Perry is waiting for us in the car.”
I sat up. “What’s going on? Are Mom and Dad okay?”
“Shh. Everything’s fine,” Hunter said. “We’re going to Lacede.”
I laughed. My brothers must have completely lost their minds.
“I’m going back to sleep,” I said. “You two can do whatever you want.”
I lay back down, but Hunter put his arms under my body and lifted me from the mattress. “You have to go with us, Cassie,” he said softly as he walked out of my room, carefully carrying me through the doorway.
“Put me down,” I whispered as he headed toward the stairs. Visions of the two of us tumbling headfirst down the stairs flashed through my mind. “I can walk. If you’ll let me get some shoes. And a jacket.”