by RH Tucker
“We’ll just take it one step at a time.” He smiles, and I pretend he’s talking about us and not the race.
Walking around the course, he keeps his hand locked with mine. The cord holding our ankles together is loose enough that I’m not losing my balance now. I can probably stay upright for the rest of the race without holding his hand, but I don’t let go. Besides the tingles it sends up my arm and down my spine, it feels natural. As if our hands fit together like two pieces of a puzzle, interlocking perfectly.
“Okay!” Greg yells, blowing a whistle. “And the first-place winners, with ten extra points. Yvette and Oscar!” Everyone watching claps and cheers. “And second place goes to Franco and Jen!”
More clapping and cheering rings out as Matt bends over and starts to untie the rope around our ankles. I’m hit with a new sensation, as Matt puts one hand just below my knee, on the inside of my leg, as he unties our ankles. I catch my breath and look down at him. He looks up at me with a smirk. As he stands up, his hand slowly rides up to just above my knee, before he pulls it back.
I take a deep breath, steadying myself. “You know, you’re not the only one who can do that.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He flashes a coy smile.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You think you affect me that much?”
“Mmm.” He puts a finger to his chin, looking up at the sky in mock consideration. “I know I do.”
“I could do the same to you.”
“You might have to prove it.”
He gives me a challenging smile, and now I really want to prove to him I can get him just as flustered as he gets me. “I could do it and wouldn’t even have to touch you.”
“Is that right?”
I pull out my phone and scroll through my pictures. Last Halloween, Cindy, Veronica, and I all dressed up as X-Men characters for a costume party. Cindy went as Phoenix Jean Grey; Veronica dressed as a sexy Jubilee character. While I love both of those characters, I had my heart set on a badass female character named X-23. Basically, she’s a young, female clone of Wolverine.
Scrolling, I finally find some pictures of us at the party and one in particular. I wore black skinny jeans with a black sports bra. I taped up my wrists and forearms with black tape and had aluminum claws I could hold on to, so when I closed my fists, it looked like they were coming out of my knuckles. I thought it was the perfect meeting point between sexy and cool. Of course, I put on a jacket before leaving the house, so my dad wouldn’t see me wearing a sports bra. While at the party we goofed around with more pictures. I finally find the one I want to send him. It’s of me staring at the camera, as I lick one of the claws.
“Hey, Matt,” Veronica says as she and Cindy walk over.
“Oh, it’s Matt now, is it?” He teases her.
I look over to see her blushing in embarrassment before I hit send.
“Well, looks like you’re all talk, Nerd Girl.” Matt smirks just as his phone chimes.
I stand there, waiting for his reaction. He pulls out his phone and flashes me a puzzled look, seeing that the text is from me. His thumb swipes his screen, and I know the instant he sees the picture. His mouth drops, his shoulders stiffen, and his breath falters.
I lean in close enough that I could kiss his chin. “Without even touching you.”
I take a look back at Matt as we leave the courtyard. His confident smile is gone. His eyes stay locked on the screen for a moment longer, then they look up and find me. Now it’s my turn to flash a confident grin at him, watching him over my shoulder. He stares at me, licking his bottom lip, staring at me like he needs me.
As I walk away, I can’t fight it anymore. I can tell myself I sent the picture to prove a point, and it’s partially true. But I’m falling for the guy. And watching him stare at me with that ravenous stare, only makes me fall faster.
Chapter 28
Matt
My mouth goes dry as my eyes stick to my cell phone. Izzy and her friends turn a corner, so I don’t see her anymore, but that picture is enough to send a shockwave through my system. Even if I wasn’t a secret nerd and had no idea who X-23 is, the image of her licking that fake blade would be enough alone to send me into high gear. No, not just me, any guy. She’s wearing a small little black tank top, or maybe it’s a sports bra. Whatever it is, it reveals that soft, tan skin underneath. With the top and the tight black jeans, she’s posed in a way that it gives her an incredible hourglass figure. The first thing I do is save the picture and then place it as my background. The app icons cover it, but it’s too good to just be kept saved away in a pictures folder.
The next day, we have our whipped cream pie contest. This one isn’t a doubles game, but rather guys versus girls. The winning team gets an addition five votes for each member, so Yvette and Sarah are hounding the rest of the girls to do well as they sit at the table.
Each couple sits across from each other, and I look at Izzy with a smirk, to which she smiles back. I didn’t say much to her in class. I thought about bringing up the fact that I saved the picture she sent me as the wallpaper on my phone, knowing she’ll probably get embarrassed, but figured I’d save that tidbit for another day.
Greg stands at the end of the table. For this event, we’re all organized in the quad area.
“All right, here are the rules,” Greg says into the megaphone, announcing to everyone looking on. “Each court member has a whipped cream pie sitting in front of them. On the bottom of the plate, is a piece of bubble gum. Each person has to eat the entire plate of whipped cream, using only their face, no hands. After the whipped cream is gone, then they have to chew the bubble gum and blow a bubble. Once they do that, the next member can start on their plate. The first team that finishes gets the five extra votes each.
Izzy and I are near the end of the table, in the fourth spot. Franco and Jen are the last team members.
“Okay. Ready? Set? Go!” Greg yells out, and Yvette and Oscar dive in since they’re the first couple.
“Remember,” I call over to Izzy. “No hands.”
She shoots me back a flirtatious smile. “I thought I proved to you yesterday; I don’t need my hands.”
“Touché.” I clear my throat before biting the inside of my cheek.
Oscar finishes blowing a bubble and Sam starts in on his plate of whipped cream. Yvette finishes her bubble and Natalie starts next for the girls.
Sam plows through the plate, getting whipped cream everywhere, making our team laugh and cheer him on. I’m happy that Sam isn’t too embarrassed about being on the court. Despite some of the small jabs Natalie has taken at him, he seems to be enjoying it. Plus, all his friends from debate and chess were around yesterday and today, cheering him on.
Sam finishes quicker than Oscar, blowing his bubble and Bret dives his face right in to the plate of cream. Natalie’s still trying to finish her plate when she finally finds the bubble gum at the bottom. She starts chewing on the gum, but Bret has already finished his plate and is chewing his own piece of gum.
“Hurry!” Yvette screams, and Natalie finally blows her bubble, allowing Sarah to dive into her plate.
But Bret’s already blown his bubble, and I’m digging into my whipped cream. I glance over and see Sarah still eating. I finish my plate of whipped cream and find the gum.
Looking up, Izzy is grinning from ear to ear, watching me. I chew the gum a couple more times and see Sarah get to her piece finally. I deliberately lick my lips at Izzy. Her smile’s still there, but her eyes narrow at me. Blowing my bubble, my eyes never leave hers, until the bubble pops from too much air and Franco dives into his plate.
I bob my head a little, whipped cream dripping from my chin. Sarah finally blows her bubble, and Izzy starts on her plate. Her hands come loose from behind her, and she puts them on the table.
“No hands!” I yell at her through laughter.
“I know!” she yells back without looking up.
Franco has nearly
cleared his plate of whipped cream when she finally gets to the bottom and finds the gum.
“Go! Go! Go!” Yvette screams again, but it’s no use.
Franco starts chewing his gum at the same time Izzy does. He blows his bubble first and she follows close behind, but Jen still has to finish her plate.
Greg blows a whistle. “And the winners? The boys’ team!”
Yvette scowls through her whipped cream face but everyone else is laughing, even Sarah.
“Aw.” Jen frowns. “I didn’t even get to try.”
“I can get you a little messy if you want,” Franco says. She beams at him, wiggling her brows.
Izzy raises her eyes, looking over at me as she gets up.
“Nicely done, man.” Carter walks over, slapping a hand on my shoulder.
I walk around to the end where Cindy and Veronica are waiting for Izzy. “Thanks.”
“Isabel, right?” Carter looks over at Izzy.
She looks at me then back at him. “Yeah.”
“I’m Carter.”
“Oh, I know.” She purses her lips together, fighting back a smile.
“Right.” He rubs the back of his neck, a little embarrassed. He still regrets letting all those rumors run wild.
“Hi.” Emma steps up waving at her. “I’m Emma.”
“Emma!” Jen runs up behind her and slams her uneaten pie into her face.
“Oh, my God! Jen!”
Jen’s in hysterics, while Emma looks like her head is going to explode.
“Come on. I’ll help you clean up in the bathroom,” Jen says through broken laughter. “We need to talk,” she says as she casts a glance at Franco, who smiles back.
I feel a little bad because Lucas is my friend and I know there’s some sort of history between him and Jen, but she really seems to like Franco. Emma and Jen disappear behind us as Greg hands out towels.
“So, you two gonna win the scavenger hunt tomorrow?” Carter asks. “Twenty extra votes to the winning couple.”
“We’ll see.” I look over at Izzy. “Hands might be required for that one.”
She smirks at the inside joke while Carter looks at me confused.
“Oh, I can work with my hands too.” She glances at me, before wiping a smudge of whipped cream from my chin, then licking it off her finger. Her eyes never leave mine. She takes a step closer and I let out an inadvertent cough, straightening my shoulders. “See you tomorrow.”
She wipes another smudge of whipped cream from the bottom of my cheek, only this time she taps me on the nose with it. She hasn’t flirted with me nearly as much as I have with her, but after the picture yesterday and now today, I don’t care. If I was keeping score, she’s definitely caught up.
Carter nudges my side. “Tell me again why you aren’t dressing up at prom to go with her?”
“Shut it.”
Chapter 29
Izzy
Even though we seem to both be volleying flirtatious shots at one another during the prom court events, neither of us have brought up the actual event—that being prom. In all honesty, I’m a little hesitant to bring it up. I want him to dress up as Spike, but if he were to ask again, I think I’d say yes with or without him dressing up. After the last two challenges, I can’t deny the spark between us. If anything, it shows me we can still hang out around everyone at school and still be ourselves around one another. Besides, who am I to tell him or anyone else how they should or shouldn’t be. Maybe I’ve been making too big of a deal out of him and his nerdy side that I love.
Like. I mean like. Shoot. That’s not good.
“So, any more progress on McFanboy and the prom challenge?” Veronica whispers to me in class.
“Not really.”
“You know, I was thinking. What if someone else asked you? You think that’d make him change his mind.”
I pause from the notes I’m writing, staring at my notebook in thought. “I don’t know.”
“I think it might.”
“V, it doesn’t matter, because the dance is in two days. If no one’s asked me by now, then they probably won’t.”
“I don’t know.” She turns around to face me. “Maybe no one’s asked you because they think you’re going out with Ma—him.”
I stare at her in confusion. “Why would they think that?”
“Good lord, Izzy.” She taps her forehead, shaking her head. “You should’ve seen you two during the last two lunches. It totally looks like you guys are going out.”
I think back to the last two days. The tripping over each other, the whispers after the race, tapping his face with whipped cream. Okay, maybe it might have looked like we were going out, but I was completely oblivious to it. Mostly because I don’t care. When I’m around him I don’t think about anyone or anything else. It’s just us. Okay, Izzy, you’re in freefall mode. Careful.
“That’s not true,” I argue.
“Well, would you be up for a date?”
“I don’t know.” I keep my head down. “Maybe.”
“Good, then I’ll let him know you’re available.”
“Wait, what? Who?”
“Oscar Cappelli.” She grins.
“Oscar? No way.”
“Why not?”
“V, he’s gross.”
“I think he’s cute.”
“Yes, he’s attractive, but he’s like, a sleazeball. Why would you even mention him?”
“Because I overheard him talking in one of my classes and he mentioned you.”
“Really?” My distaste drifts away, intrigued by what he said. “What’d he say?”
“It was right before class started and I think he was with Jeremy and Franco. He mentioned something about how hot you looked at the pep rally, even with your costume.” She beams with pride. “Then Jeremy said something about Matt and you having a thing.”
“Jeremy said that? Why would he say that?”
“I don’t know. It sounded like Matt and he got into an argument. Anyways, Oscar just nodded.”
“Well, don’t do me any favors. Jeremy McCormick is a bigger jerk than Oscar. If they were talking about me, it probably wasn’t all that flattering.”
“But, what if?”
“What if what?”
“What if I put it out there, that you’re free for prom. If he asks you and Matt finds out? You think that might change things?”
I chew on my lip, aimlessly doodling on my paper. I’ve never been a fan of playing dating games. Even with my last boyfriend, I didn’t get all flirty to try and impress him or anything. He asked, we went out and dated for a little bit. But maybe Veronica is right? Maybe Matt would think twice about my prom proposition. And even if he doesn’t dress up as Spike, it might still make him think about it. And as far as I know, he hasn’t and wasn’t going to ask anyone else.
“I’ll take your silence, to mean yes.”
“No.”
“No?” She raises an eyebrow.
I wrinkle my nose. “I don’t know.”
“Let’s just see what happens,” she whispers back, and I don’t reply.
I don’t have any classes with Oscar, so if Veronica did put her plan into action, he’d have to go out of his way to find me either today or tomorrow. I keep debating with myself whether or not it’s a good idea, and that internal argument grows even louder when Matt walks into our sociology class.
“Ready for the scavenger hunt?” he whispers to me.
Again, a simple question. Just like he’s done a number of times before. But just like all those times, goosebumps cover my arms, my breath catches, and that burning sensation tears through my chest.
“Ready,” I say over my shoulder, but don’t look back at him.
He doesn’t whisper anything else during class. When the bell rings for lunch, we walk side by side towards our meet-up location for the scavenger hunt.
“Everything okay?” he asks.
“Yeah, why?”
“You seem … quiet.”
&n
bsp; He stares at me through the corner of his eyes, and I want him to ask about prom again. Or, who cares if he doesn’t ask me. Aren’t I always telling Veronica a girl can ask a guy just as easily? I don’t want to see what Veronica’s up to; I just want to go with him. But bringing it up again, means we might argue about it again and I don’t want that either.
“I’m fine,” I answer as we meet up with the others.
“All right, we can start,” Greg says, standing next to Mr. Garrison.
Yvette flashes me a dirty look, as Matt stands close to me. I never understood the hate some girls give to others over a boy. But I’m not about to step away from Matt either.
“Okay,” Mr. Garrison starts. “Greg and I have set up the scavenger hunt since some of you on court are in student council. Each team has the same riddles, but inside the envelopes, there are different starting spots for each couple.” He holds up five envelopes. “We tried to make them challenging, but not so much that you can’t solve them. They’ll be taking you around campus, and at each spot, there will be either a person there with your next clue, or it will be posted to the answer.”
“This is my cell number,” Greg points to the dry-erase board. “When you solve all four riddles and get the clues, text me a picture of all four. The first team that texts me the picture of all clues that are correct will win the votes. Questions?” Everyone looks around at each other, but no one asks anything. “Good. Here are your envelopes.”
Greg hands out the envelopes and Matt takes ours, looking at me with a nervous smile.
“Okay, open your envelopes on Three … Two … One … Now.”
There’s a low chattering among everyone, but I can’t hear what everyone else's riddle says, as Matt reads ours to me.
“Don’t you worry, don’t you fret. Just shoot straight, nothing but net.” Matt looks at me.
“Nothing but net?”
“Gym. It has to be the basketball hoops in the gym,” he whispers. “Let’s go.”
He grabs my hand, and we take off out of the classroom. Natalie and Sam follow behind us but then turn a corner.