Rory
Okay, this was bad. She was bad. It was just all bad.
Because she was anticipating seeing Jacob. Not Tucker. Jacob. She didn’t understand how it had happened, but she couldn’t
stop thinking about him. About his soulful green eyes. About his easy laugh. About his strong, capable hands. Yesterday, when
they were rehearsing in her yard, each time he’d gripped her waist to toss her she’d wanted to giggle and cry simultaneously.
Because what was happening? Was she actually falling for Jacob Reilly?
She needed to sort out her brain. But she didn’t have time for that.
There was too much going on. It was homecoming week.
Voting for king and queen was happening this morning during first period—which was why she was wearing her favorite kilt-style skirt and had her hair in its highest pony.
Regionals were on Sunday. Jacob needed to ace his math test first, of course.
And she had to get her nails done for the dance and figure out a hairstyle, and she still hadn’t bought shoes.
Normally this all would have been done weeks ago, but she’d been so distracted.
Suddenly it was time—this weekend she might very well be crowned homecoming queen.
With Tucker by her side.
Ugh. It was all too much. She came around the corner into the gym lobby just as Tucker and Jacob were walking in through the
far door. They were arguing. Instantly, Rory stepped back behind the wall, pulse pounding in her throat. What were they arguing
about?
Back pressed against the wall, she aimed a tight smile at a pair of freshmen walking by, who understandably gave her confused
looks in return. Tucker and Jacob were getting closer, and she was just thinking about diving into the girls’ locker room
when they seemed to stop. Luckily, she could hear them perfectly.
“We’re four and four, man. We can’t lose another game, or we’re not gonna make the playoffs,” Tucker was saying.
Jacob’s voice was low and he sounded frustrated. “I still don’t know what you want me to do about it. I already tried to talk
to Coach. He basically told me to eff off.”
“Then you have to beg,” Tucker insisted. “Tell him you’ll wash his car every day for a month. I don’t care. We need you back on the team.”
“Dude, even if I could somehow convince him, the next game is the same day as regionals. There’s no way I can do both.”
Rory’s heart went pitter-pat beneath her red sweater, and she almost laughed. She never knew that pitter-patting hearts were
a real thing until that moment. The moment Jacob pointed out that the cheer squad needed him. That it actually mattered to
him. She wanted to kiss him for it. If she was being honest with herself, she just wanted to kiss him, full stop.
“Screw the regionals!” Tucker snapped. “Who the hell cares about cheerleading? The whole thing is a freaking joke. You did
it as a joke! This is actually important!”
Rory felt like she’d been slapped. Before she could think twice, she came out of her hiding spot, striding purposefully around
the corner.
“I can’t believe you just said that!” she shouted at Tucker.
Everyone in the gym lobby stopped talking. Which, to be fair, wasn’t a ton of people. There was a group of freshmen and sophomores
who probably had gym first period and two gym teachers chatting over coffee. But it still got noticeably quiet.
Jacob turned beet red, as if he’d been saying that one of the things she loved most in the world didn’t matter.
Tucker didn’t turn red. He didn’t even have the sense to look caught out. He just tilted his head at her and rolled his eyes.
“Come on, Rory. You know how much this season means to me,” he said. “Without Jacob, we’re screwed.”
“What about my season?” Rory snapped, still walking toward the two of them. “But you never really cared about that, did you? You didn’t
even try to help me find a replacement for Stuart. Not really. And when Jacob made a bet with you that he’d try out, you thought,
sure! Why not? It’s not like it’s really going to matter. Well, guess what? It matters to me!”
A few of the kids in the corner ooooohed, but she ignored them.
“Babe—”
“Don’t babe me,” she said. “I’m not your babe. Not anymore.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw Jacob’s eyes go wide. Whispers spread throughout the group of freshmen and sophomores
as the teachers finally decided to try to wrangle them inside the gym. They weren’t moving. This was obviously too juicy.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Tucker said, his face caught between genuine confusion and a smirk.
“It means we’re over, Tucker,” Rory said. “I’m sick of being with a person who has zero respect for me or the things I care
about.”
With that, she turned on her heel and stormed away, hoping she looked a lot cooler and less emotionally crushed than she felt. And sort of wishing she could take Jacob with her.
“Are you okay?”
“Did he really dump you in front of the entire freshman class?”
“What are you going to do if you win king and queen?”
By the time Rory’s day at school was over, she was more than ready to go home, shut the door, and scream at the top of her
lungs. Somehow, between the time she’d told Tucker it was over and the time the final bell rang, the story of their breakup
had become warped almost to the point of unrecognizable: As the new story went, the freshman and sophomore classes had been
gathering in the gym for a talk about the dangers of drugs when Tucker had loudly and spectacularly dropped Rory because she’d
stolen Jacob from the soccer team and clearly she was a vindictive shrew.
How? How was this possible? There were at least a couple dozen eyewitnesses to what really happened. But the more Rory tried to
set people straight, the more they seemed to think she was a pathetic liar.
And unfortunately, she couldn’t just go home. She had to lead cheer practice.
As she walked down the hall toward the exit to the courtyard, the sky overhead was gray.
A stiff wind tossed the clouds overhead, making everything feel ominous and gloomy.
She paused when she saw the entire squad was huddled outside, whispering and looking around furtively.
Clearly they were talking about her. What did it say that she wanted to run rather than march out there and tell them what had really happened?
She took a deep breath and was about to open the door when someone grabbed her arm and pulled her back, away from the windows.
“Hey.” It was Jacob. He was wearing his black soccer hoodie with the red-and-gold soccer ball patch at the breast and a pair
of black athletic shorts. He looked so handsome she wanted to step into his arms and bury her face in his chest.
Except where had he been all day? He hadn’t followed her after she stormed away from Tucker, and she hadn’t run into him even once in the hallway.
“Hey,” she said.
“Listen, I don’t know what the hell happened, but I’ve been telling everyone who would listen that you dumped him, not the other way around.”
Rory stared at the patch of floor between them. “Thanks. I’m sure he’s just spreading the lies to make himself look better.”
“Probably,” Jacob said. “Jackass. Why am I even friends with that guy?”
She gave a short laugh. Her chest felt tight as she finally managed to look up—to look him in the eye. She wished they’d run into each other sooner, but at least she’d have a chance to say what she needed to now, before they went out and joined the squad.
“Jacob, listen . . . if you’d rather play in the soccer game this weekend, I would understand,” she said. “I know how much
you love soccer, and I know you never intended to be a cheerleader. I don’t want to screw up your whole soccer career just
because Stuart got hurt and there’s no one else at this school willing or able to join the squad. You should just—”
“Okay, stop talking,” Jacob said, taking a slight step back.
“I’m just saying—”
“I know what you’re saying, and I appreciate it. I do,” he said. “But I’m not gonna back out on you. Or on the squad.” For
a long, suspended moment, the two of them stared at one another. The hallway grew darker as the clouds outside continued to
gather. Not even the overhead lights could seem to properly cut through. Rory’s heart seemed to pound in every inch of her
body. Then Jacob stepped closer again. “I would never do that to you, Rory. The last thing I’d ever want to do is disappoint
you again.”
Rory gazed into Jacob’s eyes. Her breath came short and shallow, and she could feel the heat coming off his body.
He reached up and gently tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear.
He didn’t break eye contact. In her entire life she had never stared into anyone’s eyes this long, but she couldn’t look away.
This was Jacob. Jacob Reilly. The most annoying, frustrating, crazy-making boy she’d ever been forced to tolerate.
And all she wanted to do was close those last inches of space between them and touch her lips to his.
And then they heard screaming. They both jumped and turned just in time to see the door flung open and the squad tumbling
into the hallway, each person slightly more soaked than the one before them.
“The sky just opened up!” Gwen cried, flinging water off her hands.
“We’re gonna have to practice in the lobby,” Coach Maguire said.
Layla narrowed her eyes at Rory and Jacob. “What’s going on here?” she asked, waggling a finger between them.
“Nothing!” Rory and Jacob said at the exact same time in the exact same tone.
Rory looked at Jacob, and he gazed back intently. They both knew it was something.