Rory
Was it last season, when the football team coughed up an idiotic turnover and lost its chance at the playoffs by one point?
No. Nope. She distinctly remembered being able to laugh on the bus home after that game, and she couldn’t fathom laughing
right now. She didn’t even change out of her uniform like she normally would have. While the rest of the team went back to
the locker room, she stormed straight through the school and out the front door, her ponytail swishing behind her, to wait
for Tucker at his car.
“Rory! Wait up!”
She flinched at the sound of Jacob’s voice. Did he really think that coming after her right now was a good idea? Why hadn’t
he just gone home at halftime like she’d told him to?
“Come on! I know you hear me! Just wait up.”
She walked faster, knowing he could catch up to her easily if he really wanted to. But she was so mad at him. So disappointed. Just when she’d started to trust him, just when she’d started to think that maybe he could take cheerleading
seriously, he had to go and prove two-weeks-ago Rory right.
Her body gave a violent shiver. The temperature had dropped continuously throughout the evening, and she was seriously regretting
not changing into her leggings. She shoved her hands under her arms and watched her breath come out in cloudy bursts.
“Rory, please stop.”
Jacob finally caught up and skidded to a halt in front of her, his face flushed.
“Why? Why should I stop for you?” she shouted. “You clearly have zero respect for me or for the team or for what we do, so
I don’t see why I should spare you even a moment of my time!”
“I’m sorry, all right!?” He straightened his arms in front of him, palms up. “But what did you want me to do? That was torture
out there!”
“Torture? Getting through one ninety-minute soccer game without being a jackass is torture?” she shot back.
“For me it is!” He paused. “Wait, I mean, not the jackass part. I can go sixty minutes without being a jackass. I think.”
Ugh. Was he trying to be charming?
“Look at it from my side of things,” he pleaded. “Two weeks ago, I was one of the stars of that team, and now I’m on the sidelines shaking pom-poms!”
“What’s so bad about shaking pom-poms?” she asked, cocking her hip. “I thought you wanted to be a cheerleader.”
He tsked and looked up at the dark sky for a moment. “Come on, Rory. You know it’s not that simple. Soccer is my sport. It’s
been my sport for years. I made first team all-county last year. I might get a scholarship. And I miss playing, okay? I’m
sorry, but I do. If I had to choose between soccer and cheer . . .”
Her heart sank. Of course she knew all of this. But hearing him say it out loud somehow made her feel incredibly disappointed.
It wasn’t until that moment that she realized how much she’d been hoping he’d come around, that he’d become a true part of
the team. What had she been thinking? This was Jacob Reilly. All he cared about was having fun and being the center of attention.
He’d more than proved that tonight with that idiotic chant. Jacob was not a team player.
“Okay, great. Good to know where you stand,” she said.
“Wait. I didn’t mean—”
“Yes. You did,” she said, storming away. “If you see Tucker, tell him I’m walking home.”
An hour later, Rory found herself at the diner with Tucker, Kai, Cody, and Everett, munching half-heartedly on a grilled cheese sandwich while they went over the game play-by-play.
The mood was subdued, as it always was after a loss, and the only other girl at the table was a sophomore Cody was dating, who kept getting up to chat with her friends at another booth.
When Tucker’s car had pulled up next to her on Orchard Lane, Rory had almost told him to go without her. But then she’d remembered
that Owen was having dinner at a friend’s house, and the idea of going home to an empty kitchen had depressed her even more.
“Oh my God, how hilarious was Reilly, though?” Kai said out of nowhere.
“I don’t know. I think he looks super sexy in those cheer pants,” Cody joked, then took a huge bite of his hamburger.
“Was he wearing makeup?” Tucker asked, nudging Rory. “Do you make the guys wear makeup?”
“Um, no,” she said firmly. “We don’t make anyone wear makeup if they don’t want to. And he was not.”
“You sure? He looked like he had on that cheek stuff. What’s it called?” Tucker said.
“Rouge? I think it’s called rouge,” Everett said, rubbing his own cheeks and batting his eyes. The guys all threw napkins
at him. “What? I have sisters in dance!”
“Yeah, no. I’m pretty sure he was just so embarrassed he couldn’t control it,” Rory replied, dropping her sandwich onto her plate.
She felt bad the moment she said it. Yes, she was pissed off at Jacob, but she knew if she gave these guys any ammunition, they’d use it, and she didn’t want to be responsible for that.
“I don’t know why he’d be embarrassed,” Tucker said, feigning innocence. “Prancing around all, ‘Rah, rah, sis boom bah.’ ”
He waggled his hips on the booth bench and flopped his hands around on his wrists. His friends cracked up.
“I’ve literally never said ‘Rah, rah, sis boom bah’ in my life,” Rory said flatly.
“You just did!” Kai crowed, earning more laughter.
Rory stood up abruptly, glad she’d taken the end of the bench. “I’m gonna go.”
“What? Why? We just got our food!” Tucker said.
“If cheerleading is such a joke to all of you, then maybe we won’t cheer at the soccer games anymore,” she told them, shoving
her arms into her varsity jacket and grabbing her bag. It was Tucker who had begged Coach Maguire to have the cheer squad
at some of the soccer games last year, citing the unfair treatment their crappy football team got.
“Oh, come on, babe! You’re overreacting!” Tucker whined. “As usual,” he added under his breath and behind his hand, but not
quietly enough for her not to hear. His friends laughed again, this time uncomfortably.
“Nice,” she said. “I’m out.”
The good thing about the diner was it was only a few blocks from Bellissima, her dad’s restaurant, so she could walk over there and get the car. Plus he’d feed her something that was not soggy grilled cheese.
As she headed for the door, she half expected Tucker to come after her and apologize. To tell her he’d drive her home. But
he didn’t. Rory held her head high as she walked away. She was starting to wonder what she’d ever seen in Tucker to begin
with.