5. Chapter Five
Chapter Five
Fourteen Years Earlier
Fort Collins, Colorado
My ancient locker is stuck again. I’ve already entered the combo three times, and it still won’t open.
Saying a quick prayer to the locker gods and putting my fingers up to try one last time, the tall redhead boy whose locker is right next to mine saunters up. I pause what I’m doing and watch him, interested in what he’s going to do when his decides not to open either. But then, I swear to God, it opens without him even touching it.
I purse my lips and glare at him. I’m not entirely sure why, but I feel slightly offended by the locker’s obvious show of favoritism.
Glancing from him to his locker, the idea pops into my head that maybe I could just ask him if I can leave my books in his locker until tomorrow. I open my mouth to speak, then quickly shut it again, remembering the fact I’ve never even said one word to this kid, so asking him to use his locker would be horrifically awkward.
Crap. I really don’t want to bring my heavy backpack to the debate tournament. It seriously weighs like four-hundred pounds with all my books in it. I start looking around the hallway for a place I can stash my books when the kid slams his locker shut. The force of his closing makes mine pop open effortlessly. Thanks, guy.
After quickly piling my books inside my locker, I race to the bus, praying to the transportation gods that it hasn’t left without me. Oh man, could you imagine if I missed the first debate of the year? A shiver creeps down my spine at the thought. That wouldn’t be good at all.
I make it to the bus just as the doors close. Great. I hesitantly bring my hand up and give a little knock on the glass door, hoping the driver sees me before she takes off, and I'm completely out of luck.
My reflection in the door stares back at me, and I can tell that my hair is a mess from my impromptu jogging session. I try my best to smooth it down as the bus driver opens the door and slowly eyes me up and down. From the look on her face, I can’t tell if she’s questioning if I’m on the debate team, or if she’s questioning her career choice. But either way, she’s definitely annoyed.
Giving her the friendliest smile I can possibly muster, I step onto the bus and make my way to my seat in the front row.
The bus ride is bumpy and extremely loud. Students are shouting over the roar of the engine, and music is playing from one of the CD players someone brought along.
Even with all the chaos happening around me, I don’t stop going over my arguments for the upcoming debate. This is the first tournament of my senior year, and I couldn’t be more excited.
Coach Christensen informed us in class that depending on how we do today, he will be picking the captain for this year’s team.
Becoming the debate team captain is basically all that I’ve thought about all summer long. I know it’s not the most important thing in the world, but honestly, it would look great on my college applications. My dream is to go to law school and becoming captain would make it that much easier to get into the exact program I want, and to me, that ’s the most important thing in the world.
I can’t wait to graduate. I can’t wait to be an attorney in some big city somewhere with good friends and coffee by the bucketloads. I can’t wait to live in some shiney new apartment on the high floor of some tall modern building, with all of my own things. I can’t wait to start my life.
But first, I have to win this debate and become team captain. I can do it too. I know I can. I was up all night putting together my notes and finalizing every little detail. It’s extremely important that everything looks and feels absolutely perfect. I have all my thoughts organized in my special color-coded binder with everything marked and highlighted just the way I like it.
I repeat my talking points over and over in my mind until I can recite them forward and backward without any pauses in between. At this point, there is no way I’m losing this. I’m too good at what I do. Debate just comes naturally to me. It’s like I don’t even have to think about it. I know what to say and when to say it and always have.
Just pulling up to Fossil Ridge High School, it’s easy to see how much nicer it is than our school. It was only built a few years ago, so everything is all shiny and new.
Walking through the front doors, I’m hit with the strongest rich kid vibes I’ve ever felt in my life. Every single kid sitting in the large common area is absolutely stunning. I’m not kidding when I say that each one of them looks like they could have a contract with Abercrombie I need some fresh air, pronto. I look at my watch and realize we still have a bit before the tournament begins, so I wander the halls looking for a way outside.
When I open the door, the sweet Colorado air hits me immediately. I take a deep breath in, and my nerves instantly start to dissipate. I shake out my hands trying to get the blood back into them.
You got this, Jane. You can do this. You’re going to kick Fossil Ridge’s ass. Asses? Doesn’t matter. You’re going to win this tournament and become team captain.
I jump around a bit, feeling pumped. Then, out of nowhere, I hear someone behind me clear their throat. I freeze. Crap. Of course I’m not alone.
Closing my eyes, hoping to God that they just leave and let me steep in my utter embarrassment on my own, I hold my breath and don’t move a muscle.
I don’t hear anything. No movement, no talking, no more clearing of the throat. Nothing. Did I imagine it ? I turn my head, and that’s the moment I come face to face with the most attractive guy I’ve ever seen in my life.
His wavy, chestnut-colored hair and smooth bronze skin are glowing in the warm afternoon light. His jaw is sharp, and his lips are full. Holy crap, he’s hot. Those nerves I just tried so hard to get rid of, return with a vengeance.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know anyone was out here. I was just hot…like temperature hot, not like looks hot. I just felt, like, really warm, so I decided to come out and get some fresh air.” I breath in a shaky breath, awkwardly fanning myself. “Whew, that’s better. Well, I’m going to head back inside now.”
I reach for the handle but before I can open the door, I hear him scoff. “Maybe you’re hot because you’re wearing a turtleneck in August.”
Wow, attractive and rude . That’s a new one…
I turn my attention back to him. He’s staring at me with big, dark brown eyes and a perfectly crooked smile.
“First of all, it’s obviously not a turtleneck . It's a light crewneck sweatshirt. They’re two entirely different things. Second, it’s my favorite crewneck sweatshirt, and I wear it to all my special competitions because it’s super lucky and helps me win. Third, it's not even that hot of a sweatshirt, and I can take it off if I want to.” I cross my arms over my chest.
He raises his eyebrows and does nothing to hide the smirk on his face.
“Oh, come on! I have a shirt under it! Ugh, that’s totally beside the point anyway…I was hot because I was nervous about my debate coming up, so I came out to get some air. Clearly that didn’t work because now I'm even more hot because a stupid boy is being rude and presumptuous to me.” I say all of this with an exasperated huff, pulling my sweatshirt off over my head.
“You’re on Poudre High’s debate team?” Stupid-hot-rude-boy asks me.
“Yes.” I scowl, smoothing down my hair.
“Cool. I’ll see you in there then.” He grabs the door handle and steps inside the school.
Well, this is just great.
The auditorium we’re competing in is absolutely massive. It’s clearly state-of-the art, and the acoustics are fantastic. The debaters could whisper into their microphones, and I’m sure it would be heard loud and clear in the back row.
It looks like the Fossil Ridge team brought about eighteen kids or so, which is a good thing because our school brought sixteen. That means our entire team will all have the chance to show Coach what we got.
I look to my left for the umpteenth time to peek at what stupid-hot-rude-boy is doing. Since it’s only been about ten seconds since the last time I checked, he’s still just staring forward, watching the current debate unfolding on the stage.
This annoys me. No one, and I mean no one , is that interested in the politics of water usage in our town. Also, I don’t think he’s looked through the crowd even once to see if he could spot me. Not that I would even want him to search for me, because he’s so obviously full of himself, but nevertheless, it’s irritating that he hasn’t even looked away from the stage once.
The competitors on stage finish up with their last rebuttal, and the winner is announced. So far, Poudre is in the lead with only one more debate of the night to go. My debate. It’s finally my chance to shine.
I walk up onto the stage and take my place. I move the microphone down to my level, take out my notes, and inhale a big, deep breath to center myself.
I look over at my opponent and see that it’s none other than stupid-hot-rude-boy at the podium opposite mine. My fists clench the papers in my hands.
Stepping forward, the moderator begins. “Okay, ladies and gentlemen, this is going to be our last debate of the tournament. First, on the affirmative side, we’ll be hearing from the Fossil Ridge debate team captain, and then following the cross-examination we’ll hear from Poudre High. Fossil Ridge, are you ready to begin?”
Hot-rude-boy nods his head and brings his microphone closer to his mouth. “Thank you, Mr. Nielson. Before I begin, I would just like to introduce myself. My name is Noah Riley, and as debate team captain, I would like to thank you all for coming here to Fossil Ridge this afternoon. This has been a wonderful tournament so far, and now that it’s my turn, I’m excited to settle the score and see which school ends up taking the win.” He flashes the audience a big, bright smile, then turns his attention on me and winks. What. A. Dick.
That’s it. That’s all it takes for all of my hard work and preparations from the night before to go flying right out the window. This freaking boy has gotten me so worked up that the debate that follows is a complete catastrophe. The worst part of it all is that he knows it too.
The level of confidence he exudes is amazing. He goes through each of his arguments with absolute ease and does it all while grinning ear to ear. He’s so convincing that I find myself nodding and agreeing with every point that he makes. What a mess .
At the end of the debate, the moderator comes back on stage and announces Noah Riley as the winner of our round. If this was any other debate, I would put up a fight if I felt like I deserved the win, but this is certainly not one of those times.
My shoulders drop, accepting my defeat.
Noah turns and walks over to me with that stupid, dimpled grin of his. He shakes my hand before bringing me in close. He slowly bends down and whispers in my ear, “Looks like it’s time to get a new sweatshirt.”