Maybe she saw the name on the back of my sweatshirt and that’s what caught her eye? But no, the way I was walking, there’s no chance she could’ve seen it.
So, why was she staring at me? Oh God, what if she’s friends with Mallory, and Mallory told her about the idiot who offered her gum today? I thought it went okay, but maybe she thought I was a total weirdo. My stomach clenches up like it wants to eject its contents. I’ve got to get out of here.
A loud thump echoes as one of the players trips and falls, and the coach and all the other girls go running towards her when she starts yowling, but the redheaded girl takes one look at her teammate then barrels over towards me, instead. She looks so fierce, I almost want to run, but I’m really curious what’s up with her, and it would not look good if I took off like I was afraid of her.
“You!” She points a finger at me, her eyes on fire. “Were you at the game on Friday?”
I nod slowly.
“Were you wearing that sweatshirt?”
I raise an eyebrow at her and nod again.
She grabs my arms and yanks me around so she can see the back of the sweatshirt, and her fingers trace the letters at the top. “Yep, the O is gone.”
“Huh?”
“Where did you get this sweatshirt?”
I turn around to see her glaring at me. She’s so intense, she would be intimidating if she wasn’t so cute. She’s tall with muscular curves, but she has the face of a little girl — freckled with big green eyes and an upturned nose.
“Uh, I think my mom found it at Goodwill.” Normally, I’d be embarrassed to wear something from there, but Mom knew I’d love it. A sweatshirt from my favorite team back in Indiana, with my name on the back, all the way out here in California — it was just too much of a coincidence to pass up.
“This was my dad’s sweatshirt; you have to give it back.”
I make a face at her. “No I don’t, and how do you know?”
“Because he had one just like this, and he lost it. We had to special order him another one.” She bugs out her eyes and wags her head at me like it should be obvious.
“There’s probably a couple thousand sweatshirts just like this floating around out there.”
She puts her hands on her hips. “Did you put the name Connor on the back of it?”
“No, it was like that.”
“Then it’s definitely my dad’s sweatshirt. It used to say O’Connor, but the O and the apostrophe peeled off.” She turns me around again and jabs me on my left shoulder blade.
“There’s a space here where the O should be, and the name is off-center because there’s supposed to be another letter.”
I turn around and frown at her then pull off the sweatshirt to see what she’s talking about. Sure enough, if you look close, you can even see a very slight difference in color where the O used to be. How did I never notice that before?
The coach and a few of the girls on the team are still huddled around the girl on the ground, and she’s crying. Somebody tries to move her, and she hollers. The redhead and I both turn to look at her, but my eyes get stuck on Mallory, bent over, her cute little butt up in the air. When it’s obvious that it’s gonna be a few minutes before they’re ready to practice, the redhead starts in again.
“So, are you going to give it back?” She narrows her eyes at me like a ferocious kitten.
“No, I didn’t steal it, I bought it. Well, my mom did. Maybe it used to be your dad’s, but it’s mine now, and I like it.”
“Is your last name Connor?”
“No, it’s Murphy—”
“Then why would you buy a sweatshirt with that name on it?” She snaps.
“Because, like I was about to say before you interrupted me, Connor is my first name, and I’m a Notre Dame fan,” I reply a little obnoxiously.
She rolls her eyes at me. “This is California; nobody’s a Notre Dame fan.”
“Well, I’m not from California, I’m from Indiana.”
She pulls back, surprised, and cocks her head. “You are?”
“Yeah, I mean, we’ve moved around a lot, but Indiana is home. We just moved here. My dad went to Notre Dame.”
She shakes her head. “Did you say your last name is Murphy?”
“Yeah. So?”
“So, you’re Irish.”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re from Indiana. And you’re a Notre Dame fan. And your first name is Connor.”
I roll my hand. “We’ve established all this. Your point?”
She shakes her head, and her orange curls jiggle. “Nothing, it’s just, an amazing coincidence.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, my dad’s from Indiana, and he went to Notre Dame, and we’re Irish, and our last name is O’Connor. What are the odds of us meeting like this?”
“Huh. I guess that is pretty unlikely.”
Back on the court, the coach has her arms under the injured girl’s, and they’re hobbling off to the sidelines. Mallory glances at me and Kerri, and I tense, hoping she doesn’t think we’re together.
The redhead plucks at the sweatshirt in my hands. “And I’m 99.9% sure that this is the sweatshirt my dad lost a while ago. His lucky sweatshirt.”
She looks at me expectantly, and I decide to change the subject.
“What’s your name, anyway?”
“Kerri. Are you going to give the sweatshirt back?” Geez, she’s persistent. And kind of annoying.
“No, I don’t think so.”
Her face twists, instantly morphing from demanding to pitiful. “But it’s his lucky sweatshirt! And he could really use some good luck right now.”
“Yeah, well, so could I.” Mallory is talking to some of the other girls, no longer paying any attention to Kerri and me. Kerri follows my gaze and frowns when she realizes who I’m looking at.
The coach hollers out, “Okay, girls, do some layups while I call Lara’s parents.” Her eyes zero in on us, narrowing, and she points a finger at Kerri. “O’Conner, you lead.”
Kerri scowls at me and walks away but turns around a few steps later. “Think about it, Murphy. And let me know when you’re ready to do the right thing.”
Okay, I think that was the longest conversation I’ve ever had with a girl, and probably also the weirdest. But surprisingly, I didn’t have any problems talking to her, and that’s saying something considering how strange that conversation was. Maybe it’ll be just as easy to talk to Mallory.
Chapter Four
Kerri
This is, like, a whole new level of bad luck for me. I mean, come on! What are the odds?
My lucky sweatshirt got towed off with Dad’s mangled vehicle, Dad’s sweatshirt had to be cut off of him, and by some strange coincidence, a boy from Indiana moved to California, bought my dad’s lost sweatshirt from Goodwill, showed up wearing it, but won’t give it to me.
I know he bought it and all, and he has no idea how important that shirt is to me, but still. He wouldn’t even consider it!
He leaves before practice is over, so I don’t get another chance to talk to him, but I think he’s in my history class. Maybe I can try again tomorrow. Niall picks me up after basketball practice because nobody’s had the time to look at my car yet, since Dad’s been in the hospital. We’ve been spending all our time with him.
“You want to get some dinner before we go see Dad?” Niall asks as I hike myself up into his truck with an oomph.
“Yeah, that’d be good. I’m starving.” I glance at the growing pile of fast food bags in the footwell. “But can we go somewhere other than McDonald’s?”
Niall smirks. “You’re cramping my style, girl, but I suppose. Where do you want to go?”
“You’re style? What’s that — cheap and easy?”
He slaps a hand to his chest and winces. “Oh, that’s harsh, Sis. True, maybe, but still. Don’t let Meghan hear you say that.”
“I won’t if you take me to that Asian restaurant I’ve been wanting to g
o to.” I give him a big-toothed grin and wiggle my eyebrows.
“Oh, not the eyebrows! You know it creeps me out when you do that. They look like little caterpillars wiggling across your face.”
I slug him, and he reaches to tickle me. I grab his hand and squirm away from him. Normally, he would keep at it till he got me, but a car cuts in front of him, and he hisses and slams on the brakes.
“Probably shouldn’t do that while I’m driving, huh?” He’s suddenly serious, and I know we’re both thinking about Dad.
“I miss you, Niall,” I blurt out, feeling emotional. “It’s good to hang out with you again.”
“I miss you, too, Ker-bear.” He reaches out and squeezes my hand.
As sad as it’s been watching Dad suffer, it’s been nice to have the whole family together again. I mean, we all still live in the same house, but Reid and Niall are busy with work and college, and Niall has a girlfriend now, so he spends any spare time with her.
Sean’s still in high school, but he’s a senior, and he’s been working a lot to save up for school. I feel kind of guilty that I haven’t gotten a job yet. I guess I really should, especially now. Dad will probably be out of work for a while. But I still have a few weeks left of basketball season, so maybe I should wait till that’s over for the year.
Niall pulls into a strip mall, and bright red lanterns dangling from the overhang lead the way to The Golden Dragon. A gold, plastic cat figurine waves hello to us from the counter, and a tiny, Chinese woman pokes her head out of the kitchen and says, “Dine in? Carry out?”
“Table for two, please,” Niall says, and the woman nods and grabs some menus then leads us up a couple steps into the dining room.
We slide into opposite sides of a red, leather booth underneath a backlit picture of a gold dragon. All the other booths have similar pictures of dragons in different poses hanging on the red walls. Chinese elevator music plays softly and the other people around us all talk quietly.
“This place is classy, Ker. This is a pretty big step up from McDonald’s.”
“Oh hush. Don’t you take Meghan to places like this? I hope you don’t take her to McDonald’s.” I cringe.
“Meghan likes McDonald’s. That’s why we get along so great.” He grins, and I wrinkle my nose.
I open the menu, and my eyes blur at all the choices. No pictures, only long descriptions, and I feel a little overwhelmed. Dad doesn’t like Chinese food, so we don’t get it very often. Seven is my lucky number, so I scan the list for it. Chicken lo mein with vegetables — that sounds good.
Niall isn’t a very adventurous eater, so he spends a long time agonizing over what to get. The waitress comes and takes our orders, and Niall finally settles on sweet and sour chicken with the sauce on the side, just in case.
I smirk and shake my head. “You realize that’s exactly the same thing you get at McDonald’s, right? Chicken nuggets with sweet n’ sour sauce.”
“Yeah, but here they give you vegetables and rice instead of fries. Blech.” He makes a face.
When the food comes, Niall dips a piece of chicken in the sauce and takes a little bite. He rolls it around on his tongue, trying to decide if it’s edible or not.
“Not as good as McDonald’s,” he mutters.
He pops a plain piece of chicken and grimaces. “Kind of bland. I think they forgot to salt it.”
I roll my eyes at him. He’s so picky, he’s like a little kid. “You just think that because McDonald’s over-salts everything to make it more addictive.”
He grabs the salt shaker and douses his nuggets, getting salt all over the table, then tries another one.
“Niall!”
“What?”
“You spilled the salt.” I bug out my eyes at the mess on the table.
“Sorry.” He shrugs and starts to wipe it off onto the floor.
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
He sighs, grabs the shaker with his right hand, and tosses some salt over his left shoulder for good luck.
“Happy now?”
I bare my teeth in an exaggerated grin.
We concentrate on our food for a while, Niall rolling his chicken in the salt then dipping it in the sauce and me slurping long noodles into my mouth whole since it’s bad luck to cut them.
“So, how’s school going?” We both ask at the same time when the silence gets a little awkward.
“Pretty good,” we both answer and start chuckling.
“Ladies first.” Niall holds out his hand to me.
“My classes are going okay, although Pre-Calc is kind of hard.” I cringe, remembering the sucky grade I got on the last test.
“Sorry, can’t help you with that; math’s not my best subject, either. Isn’t your friend Mia really smart? Maybe she can help you.”
I sigh and swirl a fork through my noodles. “Yeah, but Mia’s been kind of busy lately.”
“Does it have anything to do with that guy who was with her on Friday? The hot one?”
I giggle. “Yeah, that’s Austin, her new boyfriend. And ew — I can’t believe you called another guy hot.”
He smirks and dips another piece of chicken in his sauce. “Just calling it like I see it. Guys like that, usually their looks are their only redeeming quality. I’m surprised Mia’s into him.”
“No, Austin’s not like that. I mean, he is kind of cocky, but he’s really good to Mia, and he’s nice to me, too. They won King and Queen of Hearts at the Valentine’s dance. I was really happy for Mia when I heard.”
Niall frowns. “You mean you weren’t at the dance?”
“No, I didn’t have a date. I thought it’d be weird. Maybe if Mia and I went together it would’ve been fun, but I didn’t want to be a third wheel.”
“So, nobody asked you, or what?” His face gets even more worried.
I wave it off. “It’s no big deal. I’m not interested in anybody, anyway. I’m busy with basketball and… stuff.”
Actually, I have plenty of room in my life for a guy, especially now that Mia is busy with Austin all the time. I just haven’t found anybody who wants to be a part of it. And it doesn’t seem fair to expose another person to my bad luck.
“Kerri, you’re great, you know that, right? I know we pick on you, but we’re just being brothers. Any guy would be lucky to have you. Maybe Sean could hook you up with one of his friends.”
“God, no!” I get the creepy-crawlies just thinking about that. “I’d rather be single the rest of my life than go out with any of Sean’s jerk friends.”
Niall chuckles. “Okay, well, let me know if I can do anything to help. You know — coercion, blackmail, bribery.”
I roll my eyes at him. “I can find my own boyfriend, thanks. I don’t need my brother to hunt one down for me.”
I knock on the table for luck, hoping it’s the truth.
When the check comes, Niall winces at the price and pulls out his wallet with a groan.
“Three times as much as McDonald’s, and not nearly as good. Whose stupid idea was this? Oh yeah, yours!” He wags a finger at me.
I stick my tongue out at him. “I’m worth it; you just said so, remember?”
I take one of the fortune cookies and crack it open, pulling out the little slip of paper.
“What’s it say?” Niall asks, grabbing the other one.
“A stranger will bring you unexpected good luck,” I read, and a tingle goes up my spine. I press my fingertips against the lacquered table, leaving fingerprints, and realize my hands are sweaty.
“Nice. Mine says, ‘Your sister will buy your dinner for you.’” He grins and wiggles his eyebrows, and I kick him under the table.
“Must be your other sister, cuz this one’s got no money.”
The portion sizes are enormous here, so even though I feel like I ate a ton, it looks like I’ve barely made a dent in my food. The waitress brings us take-home boxes, and I scoop the rest of my dinner in, happy to have something good to bring for lunch tomorrow.<
br />
“Ready to go?”
I nod and grab my food. I’m sliding my jacket on as I walk, trailing behind Niall, not paying attention, when Niall says, “Watch your—”
Suddenly, the floor falls out under my feet and my body goes sprawling. My container of leftovers flies from my hands and lands with a splat in the entryway, the contents exploding.
“—step.” He winces and reaches down to help me up.
I’m laying there, stunned and humiliated, my cheek pressed to the cold floor and my body spread-eagle, the breath knocked out of me, when the door opens and in walks Connor Murphy, wearing my dad’s sweatshirt.
“Kerri? Are you okay?” Connor grabs my elbow, pulling me to my feet.
“You couldn’t have been here five seconds earlier?!” I holler and wipe the dust off my clothes with stinging hands.
“Huh?”
“I could’ve used the luck. From the sweatshirt.”
“Oh.” He looks down like he forgot about it already, or maybe he just forgot that I said it was lucky, but either way, it ticks me off.
“Hey, that looks just like Dad’s old sweatshirt, the one he lost,” Niall says.
“That’s because it is.” I scowl at Connor. Niall looks between us in confusion.
“Come on, let’s go.” I tug on Niall’s arm. “Sorry about the mess,” I say to the lady at the front counter, wincing.
Connor looks at the food on the ground then back at me. “Kerri, wait. My dad’s going out for a dinner meeting, so he doesn’t need the food I ordered for him. Why don’t you take it? It’s chicken lo mein. Do you like that?”
The cashier hands a takeout bag to Connor, and he digs inside and pulls out a carton, handing it to me.
I stare at the food in his hands with a confused look on my face for a beat too long, and he starts to pull it away. “Maybe not—”
“No, no! I love it, it’s great. That’s actually what I ordered. Lucky number 7. That’s awesome. Thank you.” I take the food and shut my mouth, realizing I’m rambling.
Connor nods, and I nod back inanely.
“Have a good night,” I say, then hustle out the door, hobbling.
Good Luck Charm Page 4