Teagan
Studying with Juliet was heaven. No drama. No mysteries to unravel. And super phew, no boys. Although… “Juliet? O reigning Style Queen of Easton Prep…”
“Yes, athletic one?” Juliet drawled from her current favorite study spot, a mountain of pillows fashioned into a chaise longue. “What wisdom can I offer you?”
“Your brooch. Is that… Perry’s?”
Juliet scoffed. Haughtily. “As if I’d be caught dead.”
Teagan performed a somber sign of the cross. “My condolences. When did you die?”
Juliet threw a pillow at her, then demanded it back.
“How’s it going with him?”
“Annoying,” Juliet said. What else could it be? They were talking about Perry. Then she smiled.
“So it’s going well, then. Cute.” Teagan shut her book. Her brain was too full to take in any more information.
“Can we talk about your love life?” She poked at Teagan’s bun.
No. They could not talk about her nonexistent love life. It was even messier than her bun.
Juliet gave the bun another wary poke. Teagan batted her hand away.
“What?” Juliet looked affronted. “This sad bun reeks of boy problems. Explain. Is it Cam?”
“It’s not him.”
“Oh?” Juliet smiled triumphantly. Now she would make Teagan supply her with one of her five required servings of gossip per day. Gossip, of course, being a superfood at Easton. “There’s someone else?”
Juliet could wrangle gossip out of a spy if she wanted to. “There was someone else. I hooked up with Josh.”
“Wow.” She clearly hadn’t seen that coming. “I cannot leave you unsupervised.”
“No need to worry. He’s firmly in the past tense.” Teagan gave a little sniff and fluffed her bun as proof. “I’m focusing on me now.” The clip holding her bun in place fell out.
“Yes.” Juliet held out a brush. “I can see that.”
Teagan’s shoulders slumped. It was too big an ask.
Juliet put the brush down, then took a breath like she was considering saying or doing something that was not her usual modus operandi: insulting people in a lofty tone. “Is this a hug situation?”
Sweet baby cheesus. Did she really look that bad? And also, no. She’d cry and Juliet would flee and then she wouldn’t have any friends left. She shook her head in thanks. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”
Juliet did it anyway, which was really, really nice of her. When it became awkward, about two seconds later, Juliet took hold of Teagan’s shoulders and held her at arm’s length. “Boys are so unnecessary.”
Yeah. They were.
Juliet released her and held out the brush. “Hygiene is.”
Boys, annoyingly, were necessary when you were coxing an eight boat full of them.
At least today she wasn’t in charge. Or out on the water, face-to-face with a boy she kept telling herself wasn’t remotely on her romance radar.
Coach Hayden had called an erg session, but only Cam, Josh, Baloo, and Ryder were there.
Coach told them to press out a 2K sprint, then left the room.
No explanation about why the others weren’t there. No one bothered enough to ask.
The guys looked… intense.
Baloo hadn’t been the same since Oar-Gate. He was training hard, but not following the best fueling regime. She’d seen him shoving a couple of crumpled-up bags of potato chips into the trash when he thought no one was looking.
Ryder looked like a zombie version of himself. Rowing as if his undead life depended upon it.
Josh was pressing out strokes in the all-hallowed zone: hitting a stroke time that took half as long as it took for the return slide. Return slides were hilariously called recovery time.
Not like this, they weren’t. The effort it took to pull that hard, with exacting precision, was huge. He was sweating buckets. But doing well.
She’d seen him tossing back a pill from the same container she’d caught him with at his birthday, but when she’d asked him about it, he pulled a box of Tic Tacs out of his pocket. Didn’t offer her one, though. As if he didn’t care whether her breath was minty fresh.
Cam was in the zone, too. Shoulders strong, back straight, leg muscles nowhere near the dreaded shake, when you’d pushed beyond your limit and everything started quivering from the strain. He had a few streaks of oil on him, like he’d come straight from his dad’s shop to training.
At least she wasn’t the only one who wasn’t making an effort with their appearance.
Coach Hayden came back in as one by one they finished their sprints, guzzled water and energy drinks, and panted.
“Good workout?” Coach asked.
He got a few grunts in reply.
“You’re probably wondering why it’s only the five of you today.”
They all perked up. So there was a reason the others weren’t here.
“The Norfolk Indoor Rowing Invitational is coming up,” Coach said. “Only those with strong erg scores qualify. This year, as a bonus, a scout from the Junior National team will be attending the event.”
They were hanging on to his every word.
“Cam, Josh, Ryder, Baloo?”
C’mon, Coach. Spit it out.
“You’ve made the cut.”
The news sent Teagan rocketing off her erg straight into cheerleader mode.
This was huge. Mega. A scout from the Junior National team could change these guys’ lives if they saw in them what she did.
That they could achieve more. Push harder.
Do better. If only they knew how much people believed in them.
She knew her coxing and training sessions weren’t the only reason the guys had improved so much, but as she met each of their hands for a well-deserved high five, the sting of contact felt like a silent thank-you.
“Teagan?” Coach silenced the guys.
“Yup?”
“There’s a girls’ competition as well. You’re going to be in it.”
“No way!” she exclaimed.
Coach wasn’t celebrating like the rest of them, but she could tell he was proud. Quietly confident. At least he wasn’t trying to manifest aura points. That had been beyond weird.
When Coach put their times up on the leaderboard, the good vibes pretty much evaporated.
Josh tried to give Ryder a compliment about his score—a personal best. Ryder took it the wrong way, or maybe everything out of Josh’s mouth sounded like a taunt to him.
Either way, he wasn’t what you’d call gracious.
“I guess it’s just Cam I have to beat now,” he said, then strutted off to take a shower.
Josh took the bait, shouting, “Enjoy this moment. It’s not going to last!”
Ryder could really be stupid sometimes. Clearly beating Josh in public was not enough for him.
Not that she cared. If she’d taken note of Josh’s workout, it was because she had to as the team’s cox. It was her job. But outside that? She had as much interest in Josh Regis as she did in watching YouTube videos on crafting mosaics with her mother.
Coach Hayden cut Ryder’s roistering short, handing him a clipboard.
Doled out four more to the rest of them.
“It’s up to you to fill these out, all right?
Do it now, so you don’t forget. And remember, this is an individual competition, but you’re still part of a team.
We’re all rooting for each other. It’s a privilege to be invited.
Proof you’ve worked hard.” He gave them his no-nonsense stare, like he already knew if there was a way they could screw up this once-in-a-lifetime chance, they would. “Don’t let that hard work go to waste.”
Teagan sat down to fill out her form. There was no way she was going to mess up this opportunity. Not after turning down Gravenhurst.
Josh slid onto a chair next to her. “You were looking pretty good on the erg today.”
“Yup.”
Better than pretty good, thank you very much.
Typical Josh. Thinking he could use the same technique he’d used on Ryder to worm his way back into her good books. She was not one of his pawns anymore. She was Teagan Tao, single sculler. Ice queen.
She felt his eyes stay on her, but he eventually got the hint. Their one-time-only make-out session was covered in permafrost.
“Yeah, I guess I deserve that.” He picked up his pen with a sigh. “How long am I gonna get the cold shoulder?”
She gave him a withering look she’d borrowed from Juliet’s arsenal. “Life is long.”