“Ha ha ha!” I force an exaggerated laugh. “Jake is such a jokester.”
Jake’s laugh putters out, and his smile falters. “Uh, I was thinking about going to Buffalo’s for wings, they’re having a special, but maybe I should take you somewhere nicer since you’re all dressed up?”
“No, Buffalo’s is good. I love wings.” I force a grin. “Okay then. Are you ready to go? Cuz I'm ready to go."
I tug Jake towards the door. “I’ll be home by 11.”
I push Jake out into the night and shut the door then cover my face with my hand. “I can’t believe you said that.”
“Oh, come on! They couldn’t possibly have thought I was serious!”
“I knew you weren’t serious, but that’s because I know what a prankster you are. They don’t know anything about you! Now they probably think you’re a lunatic.” I shake my head at him.
“So, what’s your family like?” I ask once we get going. I have to yell because Jake has the music so loud. It’s some hard rock station like Sean listens to. He doesn’t ask me if I mind the music. I can stand it, but I prefer the country music that Connor plays.
“I have a sister who’s two years older than me. She’s perfect for playing pranks on.”
Is that all he ever thinks about? I’m suddenly a little worried about his plans for this evening. “Have you ever played a prank on one of your dates?”
“Maybe.” He gives an evil grin.
“You better not, Jake Matthews! I’ve got enough bad luck without you purposely trying to embarrass me.”
“Yeah, you were a mess last time! But you have to admit the pizza thing was hilarious, especially since you knew what I’d done to it.”
“It was humiliating. And painful! My tongue was sore for days after that.”
“Aww, poor thing. I promise not to play a prank on you. At least, not tonight.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me and grins, and I jab him with my elbow.
When we get to the restaurant, the parking lot is crowded, so we have to walk quite a ways. I wish Jake would loop his arm through mine since I’m wearing high heels, but he doesn’t seem to notice, and I’m hustling to keep up with him. I’m doing okay until I step on a crack in the pavement and my heel gets caught.
My legs keep moving but my shoe doesn’t, and the force snaps the heel off my shoe. I stumble, and Jake reaches for me, but it’s too late. My ankle twists under me, sending pain shooting up my leg, and I drop to the ground, scraping up my hands and knees on the rough pavement. My beautiful but dangerous shoe is ruined, and I’m in a lot of pain, but I’m embarrassed enough as it is; I don’t want to tell Jake how bad I’m hurt.
“Oh my God, Kerri, are you okay?” Jake reaches down to help me, and I pull myself up, balancing on one foot.
“Yeah, just a little banged up.” I wipe my hands on my pants and dust off my knees, trying to ignore the throbbing in my ankle.
“Oh no, your shoe broke.” Jake picks up the disconnected heel and looks at it, but there’s no help for it. I’m bummed about that because those shoes were amazing. Maybe it can be glued back together.
“Can you walk?”
“I might need to hold on to you, if you don’t mind.” I cringe.
“No! Sure!” He holds out his arm, and I wrap my arm around his elbow, trying to balance my weight between him and my good leg. I hobble the last few yards to the door, and every time I touch my other foot to the ground, pain stabs through my ankle. Tears sting the corners of my eyes, but I blink them away, desperate to pretend that everything is fine.
Of course, my bad luck has to come back the minute Connor isn’t around. It’s been so long since anything really bad has happened, I almost forgot how unlucky I am without him. This wouldn’t have happened if he was here.
When we get inside, there’s a crowd waiting for a table and nowhere to sit while we wait. My leg is already tired from bearing most of my weight, and I don’t know how long I can stand here. I keep a hold on Jake to prevent myself from falling over.
Jake makes a few half-hearted attempts to talk to me, but the music is loud, and I’m in too much pain and too focused on staying upright to devote any energy to conversation.
Finally, the waitress leads us to a table. I prop my sore foot up on one of the extra chairs to try to keep it from swelling and wonder if I should ask for some ice, but my pride keeps me quiet.
We place our orders and make small talk, but we can’t seem to find anything we have in common. We end up talking about other people that we both know instead of ourselves. Jake’s not a bad guy, but I can’t help but compare him to Connor. It’s only been a few hours since I last saw him, but I already miss him. Maybe it’s because I’m afraid he doesn’t want to spend time with me anymore.
“Hey, I have a great idea.” Jake leans forward and whispers with a mischievous grin. “Let’s play a prank on the waitress. I’ll order wings, and then when they come, I’ll pretend I’m having an allergic reaction. When the waitress comes to see what’s wrong, I’ll say, ‘Is there chicken in this, cuz I’m allergic to chicken!’ Won’t that be hilarious?”
I don’t want to tell him no, but I don’t like the idea of embarrassing a stranger in public. I force a grin and nod noncommittally. Maybe I can distract him so he’ll forget about it.
The waitress leads a group of people to the table next to us, and they play musical chairs for a minute as they decide who should sit where and realize they have one more person than they have chairs. The waitress turns towards us and puts a hand on the chair my leg is propped up on.
“Mind if I take this?” she asks, simultaneously pulling it away from the table.
My foot falls off the chair and drops to the ground, sending a bolt of pain shooting up my leg. I can’t help it — I scream, and tears burst from my eyes. Jake jumps up, bumping into the table on the other side and knocking their drinks over.
Now, the entire restaurant is gawking at us, the waitress is staring at me like I’m a crazy person, and Jake is hovering over me, unsure what to do. “Are you okay, Kerri? What’s wrong?”
He bends over and whispers in my ear, “Is this a prank? Cuz if it is, it’s awesome!”
I want to scream at him for being such an idiot, but I’m crying so hard I can’t catch my breath let alone answer. Several of the other waitresses hustle over to see what’s going on, but no one knows how to help me. It takes several minutes before I calm down enough to be able to talk.
Finally, I take a shaky breath and wipe my face, no doubt smearing makeup all over. “I hurt my ankle when I fell, so I had it propped up on the chair. When she pulled it out, it fell off and hit the ground.”
“I’m so sorry, hun! I didn’t know!” The waitress’s face twists in sympathy.
“I know, it’s not your fault.” I offer her a pathetic attempt at a smile.
Jake pulls the table away and kneels down so he can look at my ankle. It’s obviously swollen, and I wince when he reaches out to touch it. “No!” I smack his hand away.
“What can I do, Kerri? Do you want some ice? Do you need to go to the doctor?”
I shake my head. “I just want to go home, Jake. Can we leave, please?” This date has been a disaster since the first moment. Why on earth did I think I could be lucky enough to have a nice night with someone other than Connor?
He nods. “Yeah, sure. Uh, can you walk?”
“I don’t know.”
He helps me to my feet, and I manage to hobble to the front of the restaurant. Jake leads me over to one of the benches. “Sit here, Kerri, and I’ll go pull up the car.”
I nod weakly, and Jake rushes outside. A few minutes later, he comes back in and helps me out to the car.
“I’m sorry I ruined your evening, Jake. I’m sorry I’m such a disaster.”
He frowns at me with pity in his eyes. “It’s not your fault, Kerri. I’m sorry I didn’t realize how bad it was.”
I lean my head up against the window, letting the cool glass soothe my burni
ng cheek. I don’t even try to make conversation, and neither does Jake. I think he realizes I’m not in the mood for it. When we get back to my house, he helps me to the door and offers to come in, but I’m tired, and I just want to be alone, so I tell him I’m fine. He gives me an awkward wave and turns away.
I push the door open and hop inside on one foot then drop onto the sofa with a groan.
Dad is half asleep on the recliner, but my entrance wakes him up, and he pulls himself upright and gapes at me. “What happened?”
I give Dad the highlights, and he sympathizes with me while Reid makes me an ice pack and brings me some Advil. When I get up the energy, I hobble to my bedroom and flop on my bed, slamming the door behind me. The horseshoe above my doorframe falls down and lands with a thump that sounds like a nail being pounded into my coffin.
My first instinct is to call Connor, but instead, I call Mia. She’s out with Austin, though, and doesn’t answer, just sends me a text saying she’ll call me later. I email my coach and let her know I won’t be able to play tomorrow. There’s no way this will heal by morning. I just pray my ankle is better by the next game, or the team probably won’t make it to state.
I have to get Connor back or my life is going to fall to shambles, but how?
Chapter Seventeen
Kerri
I wake up Saturday morning when Mia plops on the bed next to me and jiggles my shoulders. “Wake up, sleepyhead. Don’t you have a game to get to?”
I groan and roll over, wincing and crying out when I lift my ankle.
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt? You didn’t answer any of my texts last night.”
“Sorry, musta fell asleep.” I yawn and rub the crust out of my eyes then dig my phone out from under me. The phone is still on vibrate from my date last night, and there are a dozen missed texts from Mia and some of the girls on the basketball team. I sigh and drop the phone on the bed.
“I twisted my ankle last night and made a total fool of myself in front of Jake and the entire restaurant. I can’t play today.” I pout, and Mia’s face pinches with sympathy.
“Aw, Kerri! I’m so sorry.” I show her my swollen ankle, and she winces.
I pull myself up so I’m leaning against the headboard, and Mia moves to sit next to me. “Connor quit on me, and my bad luck came back in full force like it was saving up energy, waiting for the opportunity to dump on me.”
“What happened with Connor?” Mia hands me the box of Lucky Charms I keep beside the bed, and I grab a handful, starved since I didn’t eat dinner last night.
“I don’t know! It was like a switch just flipped, and all of a sudden he didn’t want anything to do with me,” I mutter around a mouthful of cereal, but Mia understands cuz I do that all the time.
“Really? That’s weird. I thought he was into you. I’ve been waiting for you to tell me that you guys made it official. Did you say something to him?”
“He went with me to my interview, and afterwards he asked me if I wanted to go out and celebrate. I told him I couldn’t cuz I had a date with Jake, but I really wanted him there for good luck, so I suggested we go on a double date and he could ask Mallory since he has a crush on her.”
“I heard Mallory is dating Dylan now.” Mia pops a few marshmallows in her mouth.
“Yeah, that’s what Connor said, so I asked him if there was anyone else he liked that he could ask, and that’s when he got all weird and said he had homework to do. But five minutes before that he was free? I don’t buy it. He said he probably couldn’t make it to the game today, either. Not that it matters now, anyway.” I cross my arms and huff, glaring at my offending ankle.
Mia flops her head over to glare at me. “Kerri, don’t you get it? He was jealous that you had a date with Jake.”
I shake my head at her. “Why would he be jealous? He doesn’t like me like that.”
She rolls her eyes. “He spends all his free time with you and treats you like a princess. You guys seem perfect for each other. Why do you think he’s not into you?”
“Because, after all that time together he’s never once tried to take it to the next level. We’re just friends. It’s Mallory that he’s into.” I pull my green and white striped comforter up over my knees and snuggle into it, wishing I was in something more comfortable than last night’s dress clothes.
Mia wrinkles her nose. “I don’t know why anyone would pick Mallory over you. Maybe he used to like her, but I think he likes you now. He’s probably just afraid to tell you.”
“He did tell me that he has no clue how to talk to girls, but he talks to me all the time with no problem. I figured he wasn’t intimidated by me since he doesn’t like me that way.”
“Well, maybe you need to make the first move, then. You do like him, don’t you?”
I trace one of the green shamrocks tacked all over my walls. “I don’t know. I really like being with him, but I never let myself think of him that way.”
I think about it now, though, and it’s as obvious as my freckles in the summertime. I love hanging out with Connor. I love his shy, sweet personality, how he goes out of his way to look out for me, how we like the same music and movies and sports teams. I love the way his eyes stare into mine when he’s listening to me like I’m the only person in the world. I love the way he gets along with my brothers and fits in like he’s part of the family. I love everything about him.
But I’m still not convinced he feels the same about me. And I’m not sure I’m brave enough to risk telling him. I decide to give myself the rest of the weekend to think about it and see where we stand on Monday.
Maybe he was just having a bad day, and he’ll be over it by then. Maybe we can just go back to normal. But do I want that, now that I realize how I feel?
On Monday, my ankle is feeling better, and I can walk almost normally. Maybe too normally.
When Mallory sees me walking down the hallway, her eyes turn to hot coals, and she stomps over to me with a look that makes me want to run and hide.
“Where were you on Saturday? Why weren’t you at the game? We lost because of you!” I back up a little with each word till I’m pressed up against the wall.
“I sprained my ankle on Friday; I emailed the coach and told her I couldn’t play.”
“Yeah, that’s what she said, but you look fine to me.” She flicks her eyes up and down my legs with a snarl.
“You know we can’t win without you, and we’re this close to state!” She pinches her thumb and forefinger together and shoves it in my face.
“We wouldn’t have won even if I was there. I couldn’t play, for one thing, I couldn’t even walk. And Connor wasn’t going to be there, so even if I had played we still would’ve lost.”
She rolls her eyes and stomps her foot. “Ugh! I’m so sick of you and this whole Connor thing! You don’t need him there to win! You used to win all the time before you met him.”
I get right up in her face and scowl. “Yeah, cuz my dad was there cheering for me. But he’s still laid up with a bunch of broken bones, so I need Connor to take his place.”
She must feel a twinge of sympathy for me, because she doesn’t argue about it.
“Well, are you going to be able to play at the next game? It’s regionals!” She props her hands up on her hips, purses her lips, and raises an eyebrow at me.
“I think so, but I’m not sure Connor will be there, so I don’t know how well I’ll do.”
She throws her hands up in the air. “Why not?”
I stare at the ground. I didn’t hear from Connor all weekend, and I miss him so badly it hurts just to think about him. “He’s mad at me.”
“Why? Cuz you dumped him for Jake? I heard you guys are going out now.”
“Not exactly.” Geez, you can’t even take a crap in this school without everyone knowing about it. I’m not sure exactly what’s going on between Connor and me, and I don’t want to get into the details; it’s none of Mallory’s business. But she doesn’t seem to care, anyway.
“Well, whatever you have to do to make him un-mad at you, you need to do it, because I didn’t spend all this time practicing and playing games to lose now. We deserve to go to state. I would do anything to make it happen, and so should you.”
Her words plant an idea in my mind, and suddenly I know how to find out if Connor still has a crush on Mallory and make sure he’s at the next game without making him feel like I’m just using him for my own gain.
I lean in and narrow my eyes. “Mallory, you said you’d do anything to get to state. Do you really mean that?”
“Yeah, I guess. Why?”
“Well, I’m not sure I can get Connor to come to the next game. But I bet you can.”
“How?”
My hands immediately start sweating, and I clutch my notebooks to my chest. I can’t believe I’m doing this. I feel like Abraham sacrificing his son, hoping that it will all work out in the end.
“Ask him out on a date.”
She sneers at me. How can someone so pretty be so ugly sometimes? “Why would I do that?”
“Because Connor likes you, that’s why. If he thinks you like him back, he would do anything you wanted, including come to the game and root for us.”
She flips her hair behind her shoulder and rolls her eyes. “So, I’ll just ask him to come to the game. I don’t need to go out with him.”
Argh! Why is she making this so hard on me?
“Yes, you do. Otherwise, he’ll just think I put you up to it. But if you ask him out, he’ll think you really like him. Besides, maybe it’ll make Dylan jealous.”
I heard through the rumor mill that Dylan ran into Macy on Friday night while he was out with Mallory, and he spent 15 minutes talking to her while Mallory sat alone, waiting for him to come back. I’m sure Mallory is pretty ticked off about that.
Mallory narrows her eyes and purses her lips. “Okay, I’ll do it. But you better be there at the next game, and we better win.”
She huffs and whirls around then stalks off down the hallway to snatch the boy I love right from my outstretched hand.
Good Luck Charm Page 14