#HateThatBoy

by Yesenia Vargas

  I kept my eyes on the ball quickly approaching us. It came to a stop just a few feet away. Someone in short black soccer shorts and a bright orange tank top hopped over the fence and jogged toward us. I recognized her tall, lean frame, bronze skin, and long, black hair, up in a ponytail for the game.

  I stuck my head out from behind the tree, Noah still behind me. “Psst! Lena!”

  The game on the field had stopped and several players were gazing in our direction, waiting for Lena to toss the ball back.

  She looked in my direction and focused in on me. “Tori? What are you doing out here?” Then she blinked, and her eyes slightly shifted direction. “Wait, is that…Noah?” A wide, knowing grin came over her face.

  Several guys and girls called to her from the field.

  She turned around, tossed the ball in the air just ahead of her, swung her leg back, and kicked the ball hard. It landed back among the players on the field, and they resumed their game.

  Lena turned back to us and came over. “What are you two doing over here, all alone? And together. Are you guys, like, a thing now?”

  I opened my mouth to answer and deny it all somehow.

  Noah stepped out beside me. He took my hand and squeezed. “We are.”

  Lena brought her hands to her mouth, her eyebrows high on her forehead. “Aahh! I knew it! I knew you two would end up together. No one can hate each other that much and not end up falling in love.”

  Noah glanced at the ground, but his face broke out into a smile. I nudged him playfully but smiled too.

  I looked at Lena and shrugged. “It just happened. I was gonna tell you guys.”

  “Uh huh,” she said, eyes narrowing. “Sure you were. You better tell everyone else ASAP. Or I will. This piece of news is way too juicy to keep to myself. I can’t believe you didn’t say anything at our sleepover last weekend! Were you two already dating then?” She gasped, like several puzzle pieces had just come together in her mind.

  I grabbed her arm. “Lena, we can talk about that later. Maybe you can help us get out of here without half the school seeing us?”

  Noah looked on at the scene unfolding on the soccer field. Several people ran toward one spot on the opposite side. “Wow, Lena sure knows how to pile it on, huh?”

  Lena lay on the bright green grass, holding her leg up to her chest. She rolled over to her side, and then several players and people from the crowd surrounded her, blocking her from our view.

  “Yeah, she does, huh? She should go into acting.” I grabbed Noah’s hand. “Come on.”

  Noah gave one last look in her direction. “I’m pretty sure I hear her legit crying.”

  Hand in hand, we followed the fence, staying among the trees until we reached the gym.

  I checked my phone and met Noah’s eyes. “I should get going to cheer practice. I still have to change.”

  He came in for one last kiss, and for those few seconds, I forgot everything, including why I was in such a hurry.

  When we pulled away, his eyes met mine. He looked just as mesmerized as me. “Do you think we would have ended up here if it weren’t for that day when we ran into each other?” he asked quietly, brushing a strand of hair out of my face.

  “You mean the day you crashed into me and knocked me down?” I teased.

  He chuckled.

  I looked at him. “No, I don’t think we would have. And for the record, I’m really happy that I ran into this really annoying guy named Noah Thomas that day.”

  He smiled back at me, but after a moment, he glanced away, and his smile was replaced by him biting his lip.

  “What is it?” I asked, taking his hands in mine.

  He kept biting his lip but looked me in the eye. “I kind of wanted to do something nice for you, but I know you said you want to keep this quiet until after nationals…”

  Something nice?

  Noah pulled a small folded-up piece of notebook paper out of his backpack and held it in his hand. “Here. Just read this later, okay?”

  I took the note in my hand. “Okay,” I said slowly, wondering what this was about.

  With that, he kissed me goodbye, and we went our separate ways. As I climbed the stairs to the gym, I decided I couldn’t wait any longer. I stopped on the steps and carefully unfolded Noah’s note.

  He had written across the page:

  Tori Rodriguez,

  Will you go to prom with me?

  There were two checkboxes underneath his question. One for yes, one for no. He had signed his name at the bottom.

  Go to prom with Noah Thomas? We’d be sure to turn heads all night, but the thought of him holding me close as we swayed to slow music was all that mattered to me.

  I couldn’t wait to check yes and give it to him in class tomorrow. But now, I had to get to practice.

  When I walked into the gym, everyone was already on the mat and clearly not waiting for practice to start. Zoey wiped sweat from her brow, and the entire squad turned to face me along with Coach Davis.

  I checked my phone, and when I looked up, Mia was practically glaring at me.

  Maybe because there were two unanswered texts from her asking where I was from over half an hour ago. How did I not see those before now?

  I ran into the locker room, changed in about one minute flat, tucking the note from Noah into my book bag, and ran back out into the gym, where everyone was already waiting for me.

  Coach Davis pulled me aside before I could join the squad. “Tori, where have you been? It’s not like you to miss practice without telling me. In fact, it’s not like you to miss practice at all.”

  She waited for a response, but I could hardly think. “I’m so sorry, Coach. I think I just got mixed up. I could have sworn you said practice started at 2:30 today.” My voice sounded meek and small, which was saying something coming from me.

  Her voice rang louder now, and most of the girls tried to pretend they couldn’t hear us, but that was impossible inside the gym. “No, I very clearly said 1:30 yesterday. What’s going on? This is the second time you’re late to practice. Nationals is on Saturday. We can’t have our co-captain missing practice the week of nationals. You know that.”

  Her loud tone had my cheeks flushing red. “I’m really sorry, Coach. Like I said, it was my mistake. It won’t happen again. You can count on it.” I blinked back the tears of embarrassment and carefully exhaled.

  When she didn’t say anything for several seconds, I finally glanced up at her. She looked like she wanted to ask me what exactly I was up to that made me almost an hour late for practice, but she didn’t. Instead, she pointed to the mat, and I got over there so fast.

  The rest of the girls stared at me in silence, serious expressions on their faces, and I got why. When I had helped Noah the other day, that had been the first time I had ever missed practice. Now I had missed again, and this time, just before nationals and without any kind of explanation.

  At least not one that wouldn’t have them hating me. Missing cheer practice just days before nationals because I had been kissing a boy? Not cool.

  I stepped into formation with everyone else, but I knew now more than ever that no one could find out about Noah and me. I’d have to talk to Lena ASAP, but also with Noah. He’d have to understand that I couldn’t let something like this happen again.

  And if that meant not seeing him much for a few days, he’d just have to understand.

  Cheer came first, and the squad was counting on me to help lead them to nationals. I couldn’t let them down now.

  Twenty

  “Do you think that weirdo’s ever going to make any actual friends?” Gary asked at the lunch table. He and his football buddies had joined us, setting down their trays and finding empty seats among the cheerleaders.

  His friend, Preston, smirked. “Looks like his only friend is that computer of his. What a freak.”

  Gary drank from his carton of milk. “He looks like he lives in a dumpster.”

  They snorted with laughter,
and I glanced at Noah. He sat at an empty table several feet away, his back to us. He’d pushed his tray aside and was typing away at his keyboard.

  I wanted to say that Noah was ten times the decent, good human being than any of them would ever be, but instead, I stayed quiet and finished eating my taco salad. There was no point in arguing with someone like Gary. It was impossible to get him to see that Noah was a good guy, way better than him.

  But then Claire spoke up. “If he would at least dress a little better, maybe he’d have some friends. But he dresses like he doesn’t care.”

  “Or like he gets his clothes at Goodwill,” Gary retorted.

  Their laughter made my blood boil. I clenched my fork and tried to focus on keeping my face straight. Without looking up, I said, “You know not everyone’s parents are as well off as yours, right? Not everyone is born with a silver spoon in their mouth.” My eyes found his.

  Gary stared back at me, a smug grin on his face. Unlike Noah, his eyes weren’t kind at all. “What does that even mean? Besides, why do you care? Got a crush on Noah or something?” That last question was meant as a joke, but I knew Gary. He really wanted to know.

  Everyone stared back and forth between us.

  I stood up, tray in hand. “Why do you care? It’s not like I’m your girlfriend anymore. Thank goodness.”

  Several cheerleaders covered their mouths and gasped or laughed along with several of the football players. I didn’t stick around to hear what comeback Gary had to say.

  All I could think about as I dumped my tray and gave it to the lunch lady was how unkind and inconsiderate all my so-called friends had been toward Noah.

  Was that how they would treat him when they found out he was my boyfriend? There was no doubt about it when it came to Gary and his friends, but I wondered about the girls on the squad. A few of them went out with football players, and cheerleaders and football players always stuck together. Wouldn’t they go along with his cruel jokes?

  If they did, I wasn’t sure it was something I could handle.

  Noah found me on my way to cheer practice that afternoon. After the conversation at the lunch table, I had hardly been able to pay attention in any of my classes, much less talk to anyone.

  I just wanted to be left alone, but Noah came up to me, his hand taking mine.

  Making sure no one was around, I said, “Hey, I can’t talk. I can’t be late again, or Coach Davis will kill me.”

  He let go of my hand. “Okay, I just wanted to see you for a few seconds. I should get going anyway, but maybe I can call you later?”

  I nodded but hardly looked at him.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, still not leaving.

  “I’m fine,” I snapped. “Just tired. I’ll probably go to bed early tonight.”

  He nodded slowly, his easy-going smile disappearing.

  Guilt seeped into my stomach, and I hated that I made him feel bad. I took his hand and squeezed but didn’t know what to say. “I should go.”

  At practice, I went through all the motions and movements but jetted out of there as soon as Coach dismissed us, hardly sticking around to chat or take my time getting to my car like everyone else.

  After I got home and closed my bedroom door behind me, my phone dinged with a text from Noah. A totally sweet message telling me to call or text whenever I’m feeling better, no pressure.

  Instead of replying, I closed our thread and went to my other unread messages.

  Mia asked if I was feeling sick or something. I texted her back, assuring her I was fine, just extra tired, and she let it go.

  Then there were several unread messages from our #BestFriendsForever thread.

  As I lay in bed, finally catching my breath after a super long and tough day, I read through the messages from Ella, Lena, Harper, and Rey.

  Rey shared pictures of her new journal. It had black paper and came with several gel pens.

  Rey: I’m thinking about starting a blog.

  Harper: So we’d finally get a peek at what you write in there all the time? :)

  Lena: I want to read all the juicy secrets. Lol.

  Ella: You should totally do it. I can help you set it up if you want :)

  Tori: Definitely do it!

  After a while of random conversation with my friends, Lena sent me a private message.

  Lena: So when are you going to tell everyone else? About you and Noah.

  I thought about how to respond to her.

  Tori: I will. Soon. Just as soon as nationals is over. I feel like I hardly have time to breathe right now. Did I tell you I was late to practice the other day?

  As a varsity soccer player, Lena had to understand why I needed to focus on cheer right now.

  Lena: I still think you should tell them. You should have told all of us sooner. We’re your friends <3 Remember what I said about you not opening up with us? This is the perfect example. Just saying. You know I love you, right?

  I sighed and tapped back a response.

  Tori: Yeah…I love you too…

  Tori: And I promise I’ll think about it.

  But I already knew what I was going to do.

  As much as I hated keeping the secret of Noah and me from my friends, it would have to wait until after this weekend. They’d understand.

  The last couple of days before nationals, Coach Davis squeezed in extra practice time during the school day. Somehow, she had convinced our elective teachers to let us off the hook for a few days. We just weren’t nailing the routine a hundred percent.

  Ever since I’d shown up late, the squad had been off, and it was obvious. We weren’t landing stunts like we should. We weren’t as enthusiastic. Mia said it was just the pressure of nationals, but I knew that wasn’t the whole explanation for why the girls were hardly talking to me. After the showdown with Gary at lunch, I was sure they suspected the truth.

  Meanwhile, Coach was counting on us to place at nationals and bring home a title before she retired this summer, but our squad had fallen out of sync, and it was my fault.

  I kept flubbing my stunt at the end of the routine, and the rest of the girls forgot steps or messed up their own stunts.

  And the extra practices weren’t helping. Suddenly, nationals felt like a steep mountain we had no chance of climbing, much less reaching the top.

  I was frustrated, the girls were frustrated, and Coach Davis was just plain done. She stopped talking, stopped pushing us on. Instead, she sat down during practice. That was not a good sign.

  It was sixth period, so we practiced on the far half of the gym, far from the regular P.E. classes going on. Even though it was loud, we didn’t dare look in the direction of the boys playing basketball or the girls walking laps with their phones out.

  Or Noah sitting on the bleachers just a few feet away with his computer and headphones out.

  Nope. I kept my eyes straight ahead and focused as much as I could, but as much as I tried, I fumbled through the finishing stunt for the third time in a row.

  “Take five!” Coach Davis said, her back already to us.

  I took a swig of water and leaned against the cool wall of the gym, determined not to look at Noah. Not right now.

  But he gave me a small wave. I pretended not to see him, put my water bottle down, and did some stretches, even though I was completely warm from the last half hour of practice.

  Coach’s voice sounded like a boom throughout the gym. “Tori! Get over here!”

  I got up in a snap and jogged over to Coach. She stood in the far corner of the gym, clipboard in hand. Someone accompanied her, and though her back was to me, I recognized her as soon as I got a little closer.

  I joined them and looked up at my mom. She looked like she’d come directly from one of her important luncheons. “Hey. What are you doing here?”

  She blinked back at me. “You tell me. Coach Davis was just telling me that you’re not yourself lately. Is that true?”

  Instead of the hint of concern most mothers might have
in their voice after hearing this type of news about their daughters, my mom was clearly upset. Practically angry that I would dare pull something like this.

  I glanced between her and Coach.

  Coach Davis looked like maybe she was regretting calling my mom. “We’re worried about you, Tori. You haven’t been giving a hundred percent the last few days, and that’s not like you. I thought maybe your mom and I could talk to you and figure out what’s going on.

  “Nothing’s going on,” I said. “It’s just, with school and cheer, there’s a lot on my plate, and it’s been getting to me. But I’ll do better. I promise.”

  I couldn’t meet their eyes when I said that but hoped they believed me. I hated that this was happening.

  They didn’t say much after that. My mom changed her approach and said maybe she could talk to some of my teachers and ask them for homework extensions. I said that wasn’t necessary. Coach patted me on the shoulder and told me to tell the squad to run the routine again. They walked toward Coach’s office, and I walked over to the squad.

  “Coach said to run the routine again.” Then Julie caught my eye. The somber expression on her face made me stop. “Everybody, wait. I just want to say I’m sorry I was late the other day. There was no excuse. And I’m sorry it’s made this weird rift between us lately. I don’t want to be the reason why we don’t place at nationals, okay? I really want us to crush it.” I grabbed Julie’s hand, and she offered a small smile.

  Mia stepped toward me. “What’s going on with you lately?”

  The girls waited for an answer, and I wondered how to tell them the truth. “The first time I missed practice, I was giving Noah Thomas a ride home.”

  Claire gasped, and everyone else stayed silent.

  Only Mia spoke. “Is he the reason you were late again today? A boy? That’s your reason?”

  “It’s not what you think,” I said quickly. “At least not at first. It was an emergency, and he had no one else to ask for help.”

  Their faces softened.