“Wait, you’ve got a date? Who? Neal? Matt? Craig? Chance?”
Payton laughed. “Geez, that’s a long list of guys. But yeah, Craig asked me again last night.” She explained last night’s activities, including the part with her falling out of the tree and into Craig’s arms.
Lily chuckled. “That had to have been quite the show.”
“You’re telling me,” Payton said. They spent the car ride and breakfast talking about school and dresses. Then Lily told Payton about her late husband, who’d passed away ten years ago. Payton felt bad for her, especially when she learned that Lily was never able to have kids. It had to be lonely, living like that, with no family.
“You know you have us, right?” Payton smiled and drank the rest of her orange juice. “We love you like family, not to mention what a lifesaver you’ve been for Dad.”
“You kids are my family too.” She patted Payton’s hand across the table. “I’ve gotten to watch you all grow up.” Lily’s eyes teared up. “And to think, Marino will be leaving for college in less than a year, and you’re in high school … ”
Payton giggled. “You sound like Dad.”
When they finished their meal, they headed for the mall. Payton tried on several dresses, going into every store that had formal gowns, but neither one of them were thrilled with what they were finding. It was either the wrong color or style, or too long or too short. Not that Payton was picky, but she wanted to find the perfect dress. The one that called out to her.
“I’m hopeless, aren’t I?” She sighed.
“No. We’ll find you one. I promise.” Lily stood, thoughtful, for a long moment and then clutched Payton’s arm. “Wait. I just remembered there’s this small boutique down off of Claire Street. The woman is a mastermind at making gowns and always has formals for sale.”
So they left the mall and hurried down to an old-fashioned looking store, which, lucky for them, was open for another few minutes.
“Hi. Can I help you?” a little old lady called out as they entered.
“I hope so. We’re trying to find a dress for this gal right here.” Lily ushered Payton inside.
The woman behind the counter stared at Payton for a few minutes. “I think I might have something back here. Hold on while I grab it.” She hurried to the rear of the store then came back once more holding a gown.
Payton knew the instant she saw it that she had to have it. It was dark blue, somewhere between royal and midnight. It had a halter-style top and was fitted down to the knees, where it had a kind of ruffle that was shorter in the front and tapered down longer in the back. The dress reminded her of the salsa dancers’ dresses in the dancing competitions that were on TV sometimes.
“Go, try it on.” Lily urged her into the dressing room, while the store owner went off to find a pair of shoes.
Payton slid out of her sweater and jeans and pulled the dress on over her head. It fit perfectly, clinging nicely to her slim figure. For once, she looked like she had boobs. Payton twirled around, loving the way it swished and swayed back and forth along her legs.
She shyly poked her head out then stepped out so Lily could see.
“Oh, honey, it’s perfect!” Lily held her at arm’s length.
“Here are some shoes.” The store clerk handed her a pair of silver strappy heels.
Payton would definitely have to practice walking in them ahead of time so she wouldn’t trip over her own feet and splatter on the dance floor.
“I love it.” But now came the big question. “How much do you want for it?”
“We’ve got it marked down to seventy-five.
Thank God. She could afford it. So Payton bought the dress and shoes, and still had money left, which she used when Lily brought her to another store to buy makeup.
“I’ve got some jewelry you can borrow that’ll match perfectly,” Lily said on the way home. “I can come over next weekend to help you with your hair and makeup if you’d like.”
“Really? That’d be awesome. Thank you. This whole day has been perfect.” As soon as Payton walked into her house, she rushed downstairs to hang up her dress. She couldn’t wait for the dance.
“Hey, Payton, Jake called and asked if you and Rice wanted to go see that new comedy movie?” Her dad glanced up from the book in his lap.
“All right, I’ll give him a call.”
It didn’t take long to finalize plans to go to the movies. Her dad was going to pick them up, and Jake’s was going to drop them off.
“Come on, Rice, get ready to go!” she hollered up the stairs to her brother, who was still trying to figure out which shirt to wear.
“I’m working on it,” he said. “Do you want me to look like a dork?”
“I’m not so sure you can do anything to help that,” she said.
He leaned out of his bedroom door and flipped her off.
“Jake’s here,” Mr. Carter called.
Payton hurried to the front door and flung it open. “Hi.”
“So you finally managed to get a date to the dance, I hear.” Jake winked as they climbed into Mr. Baker’s car with Rice tagging along behind.
“Wow, news travels quickly.”
“Your dad likes to gossip.” Jake grinned. “See? You didn’t even need my help after all.”
They talked about their duet for homecoming the rest of the way to the movie theatre. When they arrived, Mr. Baker dropped them off out front, and they went in to purchase their tickets.
“I hope you know you’re sharing that popcorn.” Payton stole a piece as Jake threw it up in the air to try and catch it in his mouth.
“How about I bite off your hand?”
“Jerk.”
He laughed, handing her a piece.
They found seats about midway back and plopped into them. Rice decided to sit further up when he spotted a couple of his friends. The movie itself was pretty funny, and Payton found herself almost in tears from laughing so hard. By the end of it she felt better than she had in weeks. So with her youngest brother and Jake by her side she made her way out into the parking lot to wait for her dad.
“If it isn’t the Tigers’ quarterback.” A male voice cut through the air behind them.
She whipped around to see three guys wearing Lawson High sweatshirts. “Out scouting the competition already?”
“Don’t think for a second that we’re gonna go easy on you. We heard you cried at your last game so the ref would throw a flag. Guess someone shouldn’t be playing in the boys’ league.” The taller one got in her face, giving her a hard shove.
“How about you knock this shit off?” Chance Montgomery stepped up as he came walking out of the movie theatre.
“Aww … Look, guys, it’s our old quarterback, the traitor. Don’t worry, we’ll save a little something for you too … We won’t waste it all on your girlfriend.” The guy took a swing, and Chance ducked, before the other two guys grabbed a hold of him.
What the hell was wrong with these guys? “Let him go.” Payton jumped in, knocking one of the guys over. She saw the fist coming right for her face but had no time to duck, taking it right in the eye. She staggered back and fell on the ground. Rice dragged her up then tore into the fight as well.
“So, Montgomery, you need your girlfriend to fight your battles for you?” The guy asked, wiping the blood from his lip, where Chance had landed a solid punch.
“No—but if you go after her again, you’re gonna need an ambulance, got it?” Chance slammed the other kid into the ground.
“Hey, break it up.” A man came rushing over to pull the Lawson kids back. “You get out of here,” he told them, then peered at Payton. He cringed. “You kids okay?”
“Yeah, thanks.” Payton moved to Chance’s side. “Hey.” She touched his shoulder. He backed away from her, like she was Medusa and would turn him into stone with a mere glance.
“Just stay out of my life, okay? I mean, why can’t you just quit making a fool of me?” He pushed past her.
&nb
sp; At that moment, her dad pulled up. He took one look at her and jumped out of the truck. “What the hell happened to you?” He clutched her face in his hands so he could examine her already black eye.
“Lawson High football players.” Jake rubbed his own jaw. “I think they’re worried about the game in two weeks, or they wouldn’t have tried jumping Payton. It’s a good thing Chance showed up when he did.”
“This is ridiculous,” Mr. Carter said. “Those boys are lucky we don’t have names, or I’d press charges.”
“I’ll be okay, Dad,” she tried to reassure him, but she saw he was doing the white-knuckle thing on the steering wheel, probably plotting the deaths of several Lawson High football players.
As soon as she walked in the door, Brad, Marino, and Craig all looked up from their video game, mouths agape.
“Who the hell did that to you?” Brad leapt up to examine her like their dad had only moments before.
“Some guys from Lawson.”
“They’re dead,” Marino said. “No one touches my little sister.”
“Seriously, chill already. I’m fine. Just let it go.”
“This isn’t fine.” Marino glowered.
Her dad came back in holding a washcloth with something on it. It smelled horrible. “Here, put this on it.” She was about to argue, but when she saw the look on his face she knew she better not disobey.
Craig’s jaw was tensed up, but he moved over to let her sit on the couch next to him.
“Well, Rocky, you may want to lay off the movies for a while,” he said with a lopsided grin.
“If you think she looks bad, you should see the other guy.” Jake tried to lighten things, which, thankfully, worked. But Payton knew damn well that they weren’t about to forget the incident any time soon. Not to mention she still had to face her football team the next day at practice—which was as bad as having fifty extra brothers.
Numerous people stared at Payton when she walked into school on Monday. Already, the rumors were spreading about how she got her black eye. A couple said some guy tried to mug her, others said she and Kibby got into a fight, and one guy even asked if she’d been punched by one of her brothers. By the time she got to her locker, she’d been stopped several times to answer questions. “Holy crap, what happened?” Neal about ripped her arm off to get a better look at the “battle wound.”
Before she could answer, Chance sauntered by with a fat lip and a bruise along his jawline.
Neal stiffened, his mouth turned down at the corners. “I’ll kick his ass.” He charged toward Chance. Payton gripped his sleeve and started laughing.
“Hey, he didn’t do it.” She wrapped an arm around his waist to keep him still. “He actually jumped in and came to my rescue.” Payton went on to tell them about the Lawson guys jumping her, which only added more fuel to the fire.
“Hey, Montgomery.” Marino bounded down the hall, and all eyes turned onto him when he met Chance at his locker. “Thanks for looking out for my sister yesterday. She told us how you had her back in that fight.”
Chance glanced at Payton and nodded. “Not a problem. You didn’t think I’d let our rival team take out our quarterback, did you?”
“I had my doubts, but you’re okay, man.” Marino slapped his back then came to join Payton.
“Geez, for a second I thought you might try to kick his butt or something.”
“Do you want me to?” He grinned, putting an arm around her.
“No, I’d rather you not.”
“Fine. Ruin all my fun. But, hey, Craig’s looking for ya. I think he wanted you to hang out with him for lunch—but you didn’t hear it from me.” He winked. “I gotta get to class. Catch you later.”
“So you and Craig?” Neal raised an eyebrow.
“Kind of. He asked me to homecoming again on Saturday. And apparently it wasn’t because of my brothers.”
“Aw, man.” Neal’s face fell. He looked kind of bummed. “I was gonna have my grandma call your dad tonight to see if it’d be okay for you to come over to my house after the dance Saturday. I was inviting you, Matt, and Chance, kind of an after-dance campout thing. Not that I was sure if your dad would let you come spend the night with the guys or anything.” His ears turned pink. “But you’re like one of my closest friends, so I figured I’d at least ask.”
“I can still go. Well, I mean, if my dad will let me. Besides, he really likes your grandma and knows we’re all buds.” She grabbed her books from her locker. “Have your grandma call, and we’ll see what he says.” She glanced at the clock. Crap, she needed to hurry up. Payton ran down the hall toward her first hour and saw Chance had beat her there.
“Morning,” he offered.
“Hi. Listen, I never got a chance to thank you for coming to my rescue yesterday.” She opened her lit book and pulled out her homework from the previous night.
He stared at her bad eye. “I obviously didn’t do too great a job of protecting you.”
“Well, just think—it could’ve been two black eyes instead of one,” she said.
“We should try to set up a time to work on our paper,” Chance said, fidgeting with his notebook and pen.
“I thought you said we should do our own?”
“I was being a jerk. You’re right, if we don’t hand it in, it’s going to screw up our grades. So how about it? I’ve got some pretty good ideas in mind.”
Wow, so now he wanted to work on it together? Payton wondered why he’d had a change of heart all of a sudden. Unless, of course, he hoped she’d do it and give him credit for it. Which, if he tried, she’d tell him to kiss her ass. However, he had come to her rescue, and he’d been nicer lately. Besides, he got good grades, so he didn’t need her help. “We just need to find a time.” She took out her planner to determine what days they had practice and when she was supposed to work.
“Why don’t you come over to my house tonight after practice?” Chance said, just as the class got quiet and several people turned to look at the pair of them.
“Mr. Montgomery, I would appreciate you and Ms. Carter waiting until after class to discuss your dates.” Mrs. Bradford glowered from her desk.
Payton peered at the table, ignoring the laughs and whispers around the room. Payton waited for their teacher to start talking again before answering. “Sure. Do you think I can get a lift home?”
“Yeah, Kyle won’t mind.”
Payton was in heaven. She was finally going to hang out with Chance Montgomery—of course, it was only for homework … but in fairy-tale terms it could be romantic. Payton had a countdown going for the rest of the day, and nearly floated into practice that night.
“Carter, what in the world happened to you?” Coach Youngman glanced up from his playbook as she approached.
For about the thousandth time, she ran through the events from the movies, and when she finished, she could see Mr. Youngman was not happy.
“Did either of you get the names of those boys?” he asked as Montgomery came up from behind her.
“No, sir, but I’d much rather settle this on the field,” Payton said. Which was the truth. It’d give her a lot more pleasure to see their faces when she creamed them.
“Good enough for me then … ” Coach smiled and patted her on the back.
“You’d think I wrestled an alligator.” She chuckled, walking with Chance over to where Matt and Neal sat, stretching.
“Yeah, the story keeps getting bigger the more people who tell it. I think the last version I heard in seventh hour had you tied to the train tracks being attacked by the whole Lawson freshman and JV teams. I, of course, was upgraded to superhero in tights, swooping in to rescue you.” Chance laughed.
She watched him with a smile on her face as she tugged her helmet on. “Wow, did you just tell a joke?”
“I do have a sense of humor, you know.”
“How would I know that? We’re usually fighting.” She took a seat next to Neal and began stretching out her legs and back.
&nbs
p; “I’m not gonna be like that anymore—I promise.” Chance stood and lunged to the left for a ten count.
“Hey, Payton.” Matt waved his hands to get her attention. “Did Neal tell you about next Saturday night?”
“Yeah, his grandma’s gonna call my dad tonight.” She caught Chance’s glance.
“What about you?” Neal stared up at Chance.
He shrugged. “My parents won’t care.” Soon Coach had them all lined up for sprints, and when they finished, they broke off into their usual groups.
Coach Youngman had a bunch of new plays he wanted them to run through, specifically created for the next week. He didn’t seem too concerned with the Hamilton team they’d play Thursday—but they were only two and five in the division.
They formed up on the line of scrimmage, and the receivers went out on a slant route, one going left, the other right. Payton made the pass look easy as she hit Chance with the ball. The team ran several more plays before Coach made them do laps and called it a day.
Payton followed Chance off the field, when she heard someone calling her name from behind her. She peered over her shoulder and smiled. “Craig, hey.”
“Can I give you a lift home tonight?” he asked, his jersey and pants covered in sweat and mud from practice.
“Um, actually, I’m going to Chance’s house,” she said.
His face fell, and his eyes darkened.
“We’ve got a paper due for Mrs. Bradford’s class on Friday, and this is the only day we both have free.” She hoped he didn’t think she was ditching him. Not that they were dating or anything, but still. Her heart hammered in her chest as she watched him.
“That’s cool. Maybe tomorrow then.” He threw his duffel bag over his shoulder and walked away.
“Craig, wait.” Damn, she didn’t want him to think she and Chance had a thing, because they didn’t. She might think he was cute, but that was it. She rushed back to Craig. “I promise it’s for homework only, I mean, I don’t have a thing for him or anything.”
“Well, I’m not exactly your boyfriend, so it’s fine either way.” He shrugged and left her staring behind him.
Okay, she might be new to the whole dating, boyfriend-girlfriend scene, but Craig seemed jealous. “What’s with the males in my life?”
French Fries with a Side of Guys Page 15