Chapter 6
“Good morning!” My chipper sister said as I walked into the bathroom. I was not a morning person.
“Hey.”
“So, what did you decide? Are you going to give it back?”
“Yep,” I said as I looked at her and shrugged. “I’m not good at this sort of thing. I want him to give me my hoodie back.”
“Wait, he has yours? “ she asked in surprise.
“Yeah, that’s why he put his in my bag, he said he would leave mine, but he put his in there instead. Annoying.”
Suddenly, Amy’s body language changed, and she seemed very tense.
“I have to go get ready,” I said, and walked out.
Back in my room, I changed out of my PJs and got dressed, then stood in front of my full-length mirror for a look at my outfit.
I loved the way the waves of my hair fell below my shoulders and rested loosely on my chest. I leaned in close to look at my eyes, then reached for the metallic magenta tube of mascara on my dresser and applied it to my lashes.
I wasn’t one of the girls who caked on makeup, but I always wore mascara.
The black color on my now longer-looking lashes really made my green eyes pop.
Then I set down the tube and stepped back from the mirror to admire my thin waist and muscular calves, which the heel of the boots kept slightly flexed.
The last thing I needed was to grab was my hockey bag and Chris’s hoodie, which I put in my backpack. It was time to go.
Downstairs in the kitchen, my mom was making us her daily strawberry banana yogurt smoothie, but I was too anxious to eat.
She handed it to me anyway and told me to drink it, so I chugged half of it, set down the glass on the floral tiled island, and headed for the garage.
Amy shrugged her shoulders at Mom and followed.
“Where is it?” she asked as we climbed into the car.
“In my backpack. I told you, I’m going to give it back. I have a huge game next week and I don’t want to be distracted.”
“I think that’s for the best. I hope one day you’ll think about something other than field hockey, though, it’s sort of obsessive.”
I buckled my seatbelt and pulled my backpack into my lap, then I unzipped it and pulled his hoodie out to look at it one last time.
Hmm I said in thought. I held it on my lap and gripped it tight for the entire drive to school. What did this hoodie mean?
When we pulled into the parking lot, we were one of the first few cars that had arrived, but Amy parked near the soccer fields anyway.
“Look at us being on time. Can we please make this a habit?”
“I doubt it, but I’ll try,” I said dubiously. She glanced at me and reached for the handle, about to open the door, but stopped.
“It’s going to be fine, Allie, just quickly give it back and then don’t give it a second thought,”she said, hand still on the door handle.
As I sat in the car, I glanced around the parking lot.
Others were arriving and starting to get out of their cars.
Just then, some of my teammates walked past Amy’s car and waved.
Worried they’d seen the hoodie in my lap, I panicked, shoved it into the bottom of my backpack, opened the door, and got out.
“Wait up!” I called after them, but they didn’t hear me.
Amy quickly got out and ran around the front of her car to catch up with me.
“Allie!”
“Amy, don’t say anything about this to your rumor mill,” I said, as I glared at her. “I mean it. Let me do this on my own. Not a word to anyone. I’ll kill you if you spread rumors about me.”
“I won’t. Just get it over with. You’ll feel a lot better once it’s done. I’ll see you later,” She said, and then she turned back to greet her arriving friends. Amy was known for starting rumors among her popular friends, so she made me nervous with this information.
By the time I made it down to the Upper School, I still had ten minutes before the bell rang.
I had never been so early. As I pulled open the door to the building and headed down the hall, there he was, leaning back against my locker.
I scanned the hall to see a few of my teammates huddled directly across from my locker.
When they saw me coming, they raised their eyebrows and then quickly looked away.
I knew they were talking about me, which made my stomach drop, so I looked down at the floor and back up again, hoping Chris would be gone by the time I got to my locker. No luck.
“Hey, Superstar. You’re early today,” he said as he looked me up and down with a little bit of disappointment on his face.
How did he know I was early? Had he been paying attention to me for some time?
“Guess so,” I replied quickly. “Can you move, please? I need to get in my locker.” His close proximity and the scent of his Axe spray made my palms sweaty again.
“Sorry, sorry,” he replied, drawing the words out slower than necessary.
I spun the lock and opened it, but his presence caught me off guard, and I didn’t want to give his hoodie back in such a public place. I had decided I wouldn’t even bring it up.
“Exactly what I expected from someone like you,” Chris said, looking over my shoulder at the mess inside my locker. I spun around.
“Someone like me?”
He was standing close enough that I could see the length of his long eyelashes again.
“Someone who seems to care more about sports than grades. Am I wrong?” he asked with a smile.
“You’re not wrong, I just hate that you’re right,” I replied.
“My sister is the one with the good grades. She’s the one my mom is proud of.
I’ll never know what that’s like.” I veered off and then looked up, realizing that I was oversharing and he was deeply invested, leaning in a little too close and staring me in the eyes.
“Of course she’s proud of you,” he said, as he leaned away with a serious look on his face.
“No, she’s not, she’s never been to a single one of my games,” I replied. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said all of that. I need to get to class.” Then I spun back around to shut my locker, crouched down to unzip my backpack, and loaded my books into my bag.
“You brought it,” I heard him say.
I quickly looked up at him. He was grinning. God, he had straight teeth. I looked back down at my backpack, trying to ignore him.
“Yeah, I brought it,” I replied, trying to act nonchalant. Then, with a sudden feeling of rage washing over me, I reached into my bag and held it out to him, deciding that I didn’t care what anyone else saw. I just wanted to be rid of it, but he pushed it back towards me.
“I was hoping you’d be wearing it,” he said, followed by a silly frown.
“Well, I was hoping you’d have left mine in my bag instead of yours, so I guess we’re both not getting what we want, are we?
I guess I’ll keep it as ransom for mine,” I said, then with a sudden burst of confidence, I got to my feet, reached up and patted his cheek playfully.
I swear I saw his eyes widen and a fire flash within them at my touch.
I shoved his hoodie back down in my bag, zipped it, and turned around to head for class.
The girls across the hall had been watching the whole time, but quickly turned back around when I caught their eyes.
As I walked away, I turned to look over my shoulder, and he was still standing there, leaning against my locker, watching me carefully as I left.