by Dean Murray
Jackson was waiting for me outside the girls' locker room and the smile he gave me when he saw what I was wearing made my face heat up. I honestly didn't know how to handle guys looking at me like that. It had never been an issue before now, but I decided I liked it. I wasn't about to go start dressing like a skank, but anything that helped Jackson notice me wasn't all bad.
Miss Winters was out on the sidelines of the football field in her normal place, but she was obviously unhappy about something.
"Ah, Adri, Jackson, good, you're here. I was starting to wonder if I was going to have a team left by the time that school got out."
I looked around and realized that while she was exaggerating slightly, she wasn't that far off. Half of the team still looked like it was missing.
"What happened?"
My question drew another frown out of her. "PE is what happened. Coach Bellor started a game of girls-against-guys dodgeball and then left to go take a call. Apparently there was more than the usual amount of trash talk and a bunch of girls got hurt."
"How hurt? Will they be okay?"
"Yeah, nothing serious, at least it doesn't look like any of the injuries are really bad, but we're down five girls. Two of them got slight concussions from running into each other, and the other three have sprained ankles."
I had to force myself to close my mouth. What Miss Winters was describing was that amazing. Stuff like that just didn't happen in real life. Movies and TV sure, but not real life.
"That's a third of the team."
"Yeah, but that's not the end of it. Jesse and Jenny both asked to be excused from practice. Normally I would have just told them no, but given how many girls we've already lost I decided to let them go, which means that we've got exactly ten girls left."
Miss Winters took a deep breath, visibly calming herself down before continuing. "Given all of the missing girls, and the fact that some of the girls who are going to be here are a little worse for wear from the dodgeball game, I've decided that we're going to do a flyer practice today. We have just enough people that we can have the three regular flyers and you all practice at the same time."
My stomach started doing flip flops. Practicing with Sheree in the dream world had actually been kind of fun, but I didn't know how similar that would be to the real world. Miss Winters patted me on the arm.
"Don't worry. You're the tallest flyer, so I'll have Jackson with you all of the time. Some of the others will rotate so that everyone gets a chance to work with different spotters and the like, but Jackson won't be rotating."
My nod was a little shaky, but she didn't seem to notice. I watched as she hurried over to talk to some of the other girls. I'd been trying to keep my nerves from being on display for the entire world to see, but Jackson obviously knew how badly our first practice together had gone. He touched my shoulder and pulled me around slightly so that I was looking at his face.
"This is going to be okay. Nothing bad happened to you yesterday and nothing bad is going to happen today. You can do this. It's no different than the stunt we pulled at the game. You just need to relax and trust me. You're still overthinking everything."
I nodded and closed my eyes for a second. "I do trust you; it's just there is so much that could go wrong despite your best efforts."
Jackson smiled. "Nothing will go wrong. You're safer with me spotting you than with anyone else in this school."
Our conversation was cut short as the last few girls trickled out onto the field and Miss Winters called for us to group up. I tried to listen as she explained what we were going to be doing, but my mind kept skittering away from the fact that I was about to simultaneously risk my life and humiliate myself in front of half the cheer squad.
No matter how hard I tried to focus on Miss Winters' words, my attention wandered. While she was explaining about the injuries that had sidelined the other girls, I noticed the fact that a slight breeze had started up sometime between lunch and now. As she started assigning spotters to flyers, my gaze drifted over to the football team, who looked like they were going to be practicing on the field at the same time as us today.
Miss Winters threw her hand into the center of the circle and as I followed suit and yelled the obligatory "Go Wolves," I realized that I didn't know what I was supposed to do next. Jackson put a surreptitious hand on my back and guided me over to the far end of the line of girls.
"We're over here, we're starting with basket tosses."
I wondered if I was in shock as Tessa and Daphne interlocked their arms and crouched down slightly. I felt Jackson's hands on my waist and heard him softly count to three and then I was standing on the basket with one hand on each girl's shoulder. Four seconds later I was airborne.
It wasn't a great launch, but that was my fault more than theirs. The dozens of times that I'd practiced this stunt with Sheree last night hadn't been enough to completely hardwire in a new set of reflexes, so I didn't push off with my hands hard enough, but Tessa and Daphne were much stronger than Cindi and Sheree and they launched me impossibly high into the sky.
The extra hang time should have terrified me even more, but instead it gave me time to get past the initial rush of fear. There was a brief instant at the very top of my jump when I was completely weightless and the world slowed down enough for me to appreciate just how vivid the colors were here in the real world.
Things really were a little different in the dream world and it went beyond just the colors and the way that objects tended to get soft and blurry when you weren't directly looking at them. That initial thrust of acceleration as the girls launched me skywards hadn't been as strong with Sheree and I hadn't gotten the timeless instant at the top of the jump with her.
Maybe it was because she'd been doing it for so long that some of those things were old hat for her, or maybe it was just that she experienced a basket toss in a different way, but doing the basket toss for real had a surge of excitement to it that was exactly what I needed. I couldn't have done it without the drills Sheree had put me through, but it wasn't the drills that finally made me okay with putting my life in other people's hands, it was the sheer thrill.
I nearly messed up the landing. If Jackson hadn't reached up and grabbed my shoulders at the last second the girls probably couldn't have caught me safely, but he did and they did. As soon as my feet hit the ground I spun back towards them with a smile on my face.
"Let's do it again. I can do better than that."
The next basket toss went off almost perfectly. I assisted with the launch and even kicked my legs out a little at the top before coming down for a much more controlled landing. My grin just got bigger and bigger as the practice went on.
Miss Winters ran us through all of the stunts that I'd screwed up so terribly with Cindi and Sheree the day before. I didn't get them all perfect, but I did really well and I got better and better with each stunt. I lost Tessa and Daphne a couple of stunts in, but Jackson stayed with me and somehow I knew that he really wouldn't let anything happen to me.
By the end Miss Winters was having us synchronize our jumps, which was harder than I expected because different bases threw the different girls at different speeds, but it actually went pretty well all things considered.
I ended the practice hot, sweaty, and feeling drunk from the endorphins. Miss Winters congratulated us all on a good practice session and then dismissed us. I was leaning against Jackson, still trying to catch my breath when Miss Winters came over to us.
"That was really, really well done, Adri. I was hoping that you'd display at least a little of the natural talent that Cindi has so much of. I never expected you to be this good so fast. I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone pick up stunting this quickly before."
"Thanks, Miss Winters. I'm not sure what happened, it just all clicked for me. It helped to have such good bases, especially Jackson."
She nodded and gave me a brilliant smile. "You've given me a lot to think about today, Adri."
I watched her walk away fo
r a few seconds and then turned back to Jackson. "Thanks again, Jackson. I couldn't have done any of that without you."
"I'm glad that you've started to trust me, Adri. I really won't let anything happen to you out here on the field."
There was a teasing look in his eyes, but the words had the feeling of being carefully measured out. Jackson gave me one last nod. "I'd offer to walk you home, but my mother is expecting me."
"That's okay, I should probably spend some time alone with Cindi anyways and the walk home is about as good a chance as I'm probably going to get."
I knew I should probably go back to the locker room and change into my street clothes, but I just couldn't seem to bring myself to turn away from Jackson. I told myself that I had all of my clothes and books with me between my backpack and my duffle bag and that I could always just walk home in my workout clothes.
Under normal circumstances it wasn't something I would have been very keen on, but apparently it was enough of an option for me to just sit there and watch Jackson until he turned onto the street and disappeared behind one of the houses.
Jackson no longer being where I could see him broke some kind of spell and I realized that given how unhappy Cindi was with me that there was a chance that she'd just choose to leave without me.
I walked over to my bags and picked them up, but when I turned back towards the school I realized that I wasn't by myself any more. Tristan flashed me the winning, all-American smile that always made Cindi's heart flutter and then held out a hand as though offering to help me with my bags.
"Hi, Adri. I've been trying to catch you by yourself for a couple of days now, but you're like a ghost. I don't even know where your locker is and you weren't at lunch today."
"You could have asked Cindi. Since I started cheering she knows my schedule better than I do."
Tristan shrugged. "It's okay, luckily Coach let us go about the same time as you got done, so we can talk right now."
I debated for a couple of seconds and then put my backpack in his outstretched hand. "Okay, we can talk, but let's talk while we're walking. I need to find Cindi and you'll want to say hi to her anyway."
Tristan grabbed my arm, completely stopping my forward motion and pulling me back around to where I didn't have any choice but to look him in the eye.
"You didn't come to the party after the last game, but you said maybe another time. A few of the guys and I are planning on going up to a cabin in St. Cloud the week your parents are going to be out of town. Come with me."
It wasn't the most romantic gesture ever. Actually it wasn't even the slightest bit romantic, but it took me a second to process what he'd said because the way he was holding onto my arm was making me nervous. Tristan wasn't as tall as Jackson, but he had slightly broader shoulders and he was built like someone who spent a lot of time in the weight room.
Jackson was all lean muscles, almost like a swimmer, while Tristan was bulky, more like a running back than I'd always thought a quarterback was supposed to look like. I told myself that nothing was going to happen out here in broad daylight despite the weird vibe I was getting from him, and then shook my head at him.
"I'm flattered, Tristan."
Actually I wasn't really flattered, more like creeped out due to the fact that he had to have at least some inkling of the fact that Cindi liked him or he wouldn't be trying so hard to get me off by myself to talk. Still, I was pretty sure that he was used to girls all but swooning when he asked them out and I figured that things would go better if I didn't let on that his pitch had been the epitome of underwhelming.
"That sounds fun and all, but I don't think it would be a good idea."
"How come?"
"I don't think it's really my place to say."
He looked at me for a few seconds almost as though he was expecting for me to cave just based off of his smoldering good looks.
"Is it because of Cindi?"
"You know that she's interested in you, don't you?"
He nodded. "Yeah, but it's not like I asked for that. Cindi is a nice girl, and she's super attractive, but she isn't the one I'm interested in. You are."
I didn't know what his issue was for sure. I suspected that he was getting bored of girls throwing themselves at him and just wanted a challenge.
I didn't actually care what was making him act like a jerk, but I needed to come up with a way of warning him off without ruining the possibility of him and Cindi getting together later on. Assuming that she was still interested in him once she got to know him better.
"I really am flattered, Tristan, but I'm not going to do that to Cindi. Even if you were my type, which you aren't, I still wouldn't do anything to hurt her like that."
Tristan waited to see if I was going to say anything else for several seconds and then shrugged. "I have a feeling you're going to change your mind at some point, but I won't push the issue right now. One way or another you're going to end up spending that weekend with me. Tell Cindi that I said hi."
I opened my mouth to ask him what he meant, but he just shot me a snarky grin as he looked over my right shoulder and then turned and walked off. I turned to see what he'd been looking at and my heart sank as Cindi hurried towards me.
Chapter 13
I had only a second to wish that Cindi had been a few minutes slower changing and then she reached me and I had to start answering questions.
"What did he say? Tell me everything!"
Fat chance of that. Cindi was already mad at me. If I told her that her crush had asked me out then she'd stop talking to me altogether. It wasn't fair. I hadn't done anything to try to capture his attention, but she wouldn't place the blame on him, she'd lay it squarely at my feet.
"It was mostly just small talk. He's got some kind of trip up to St. Cloud planned when Mom and Dad are away on their vacation."
"Did he invite us? Did he mention me?"
"He didn't invite us."
Technically he hadn't invited us, he'd invited me, so it wasn't quite a lie.
"You came up in passing, I tried to bring you up more than that, but he really seemed pretty focused on himself."
Again, not quite a lie, he'd definitely cared more about himself than anything or anyone else. And I had brought up Cindi, he just hadn't wanted to talk about her.
"You can't just leave me hanging like that, Adri. What did he say?"
"He said you were nice and super attractive."
Something that hadn't quite added up during our conversation suddenly crystallized for me.
"Cindi, how did Tristan know that Mom and Dad are going to be gone? I haven't said anything to anyone, did he hear it from you?"
Cindi gestured for me to pick up the backpack that Tristan had set down on the ground before making his abrupt exit.
"Let's get started for home. I'll tell you on the way."
She'd already started walking so I didn't have any choice but to grab my stuff and follow if I wanted to carry on a conversation with her.
"I want to throw a party while Mom and Dad are gone. Not a huge one or anything, I just want to invite a few friends. I had Patty Conners mention it to Tristan so that he could make sure not to plan anything else. I was thinking that you could invite Jackson."
"Are you crazy?"
The words came out harsher than I meant for them to, especially after how pissed off she'd been at me lately. It wasn't like I could take them back now though and they pretty much summed up how I felt.
"I've seen how you look at him, Adri. It's obvious that you like him. Maybe not to everyone, but you're my sister. I've never seen you act like that around any other guy. I think you should invite him and see where things go. It's not like we get many opportunities to have the house to ourselves."
"That wasn't the part I was talking about. You can't really be thinking that it's a good idea to throw a party while Mom and Dad are away."
"So you do like him. I thought as much."
"Okay, yes, I'm very interested in Jackson, but th
at doesn't change the fact that these things never work out like they are supposed to. More people than you invite are going to end up coming to the party and then you'll completely lose control of it and they will trash our house."
"Just because you saw it happen that way on a sitcom doesn't mean that it's gospel, Adri."
She had me there. I hadn't actually been to any parties since I'd been eight and those had been heavily supervised. I knew I was right though, knew that the risks were huge, but she preempted me.
"Missy threw a party last month and everything was fine. The key is to make sure you invite three or four of the biggest guys on the football team and have them throw out anyone who shows up that you don't want to be there."
"What if they don't do their job? Or end up being the ones who get out of control."
"That's easy. You pick guys who are dating your friends and make sure that they know they'll be going through a major dry spell if they screw things up."
My face heated up immediately. It was like this whole conversation was one blindside after another.
"I can't believe you just said that! Please tell me that you haven't…well, you know."
Cindi had the grace to look a little embarrassed. "No, I haven't, but you and I are about the only girls on the squad who haven't. Just because I haven't doesn't mean that I don't know what's going on though or how to use it to my advantage."
"Wait a second, were you at Missy's party?"
"Of course. You're a pretty heavy sleeper, especially lately. I waited until Mom and Dad fell asleep and then I snuck out through our window. Patty picked me up half a block from our house and then dropped me off again a couple of hours before dawn."
I was still reeling or I probably would have handled things better. Instead I let the first thing that came to mind slip out of my mouth without filtering it.