Chapter 10
“Why aren’t you speaking to me? What have I done wrong?” I asked Amy as I reached for the tube of toothpaste.
“I thought you were giving the hoodie back?” she said, glaring at me.
“I changed my mind.”
“Why did it have to be him, of all people?
“What are you talking about?” I looked at her, utterly confused.
“I guess I thought you were actually going to turn him down. I’ve liked Chris forever, and now I’m just jealous. I’m sorry, I can’t help it. What did you do with him yesterday?” she pried.
“I don’t really want to tell you, but I assume you heard me last night on the phone, which is super embarrassing. I can’t help it that I like him.”
“Ugh!” she huffed, then she stormed out of the bathroom.
I wasn’t sure if she was mad because I wouldn’t tell her about our time together, or because she was hoping I would say I was willing to stop pursuing him.
I had no idea she had feelings for him, and I was relieved to have my Jeep back from the shop so that I could drive to school alone today.
I made my way down the back stairs into the kitchen to find that Mom was pouring a smoothie into a glass.
I picked up my backpack and was about to head out the door when she stopped me.
“Not so fast, Allie, you need to eat something. You need calories before your big game today,” she said. It was weird that she was always aware when I had games, but could never be bothered to attend. I tried not to let it bother me, but it did.
I grabbed the glass, chugged as much as I could in three gulps, handed the glass back to her, and headed out the door.
I tossed my backpack in the back seat, climbed in the front, and just sat for a minute before putting the keys in the ignition.
Hopeful that by the time I got to school, Amy would have chilled out and started acting normal again, I started the car and headed to school in silence.
I wasn’t in the mood for any music to lighten my frustrated mood.
When I pulled into the parking lot, I found a spot by the front of the lot so I could avoid having to walk past Amy’s car, and I cut the engine, but left the keys in the ignition so I could listen to the tape that was still in the deck since I still had ten minutes before I needed to get to class.
That’s when I heard a knock on my window.
For a split second, I was worried it was Amy, so I didn’t turn to look, but when I saw that it was Chris, my whole demeanor changed.
“Hey, what are you doing sitting in your car?” I heard him say through the glass. “Do you want to walk with me?”
“No, I just need a minute to sit and unwind,” I said. “You can sit with me if you want.”
I motioned for him to come around to the other door, and without replying, he walked around the front of the car and got in.
“Are you okay?” he asked before reaching a hand across the car, placing one finger under my chin, and pulling me in for a kiss.
“This morning was really weird with Amy,” I replied with my nose resting against his.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, then he kissed me again.
Just then, I opened my eyes, Amy walked past the car, looked at me in disgust, then she picked up the pace and walked faster.
“What the hell is her problem!” I said loudly.
I sighed and reached for the volume nob on the stereo.
Led Zeppelin was in the tape deck halfway through playing Misty Mountain Hop.
It was a song that I tended to listen to when I was angry.
I leaned back in my seat, closed my eyes, and bobbed my head to the music.
When the song was over, I opened my eyes and looked at Chris.
He was just looking at me, wide-eyed with a silly smile on his face.
“Feel better?” he asked with a laugh.
“I guess. Let’s go.”
We got out of the car, and I opened the back door to grab my backpack.
Chris walked around the back of the car to meet me as I shut the door, then he spun me around and leaned me up against the door with one hand on my lower back and the other on my car.
I quickly looked around the parking lot as he leaned in close.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “Everyone can see us,” I said with a sudden feeling of embarrassment.
“So?” he replied. “I don’t care what anyone thinks, and you shouldn’t either.” Then he leaned in and kissed me like there was no one in the parking lot but us. “Mmm,” he hummed with pleasure, then he pulled away and reached down to grab my hand. “Come on, slowpoke.”
I lightly shook my head in disbelief, and he tugged me playfully to follow.
As we walked down the sidewalk, I was self-conscious of what others were thinking when they saw us hand in hand, and I kept glancing at Chris to gauge him, but he seemed cool as a cucumber. I wish I were like that. I had never been comfortable in my own skin.
“Patton!” I heard someone yell from behind us, and Chris spun around.
“What’s up, Miller?” he replied, and he bumped fists with the hand that wasn’t holding mine.
Miller looked down at our hand, made a wide-eyed face, and looked back at Chris without saying anything.
“Nothing, man, just saying ‘hey.’ How’s it going? Big game tomorrow, right?” he asked.
“Yep, St. Mark’s. Come on out,” Chris replied.
“Will do. Have a good one,” Miller said, then he continued down the sidewalk.
When we made it to the locker hall, Chris let go of my hand, grabbed the door, and held it for me as I walked under his arm and entered the building. There were already lots of people inside.
“Thanks,” I said, at the kind gesture.
“No prob,” he replied, as he followed me through the door and to my locker.
“Don’t you need to go get your stuff for the day?” I asked.
“Nah, I already have everything I need in my backpack from yesterday,” he laughed.
I wondered what it was like to be so organized. As I looked around the hall to see who was looking in my direction, I saw my sister and Brooke at the other end, watching me carefully.
“Great,” I said, but he didn’t hear me.
I opened my locker and unzipped my backpack, and I could see him looking in the bottom of my bag when I realized what he was looking at. His hoodie.
“Oh. Yeah,” I said, but I otherwise ignored it, looked back at my locker, grabbed my books, and shoved them in my bag. “Ok, I’ll see you later,” I said as I tried to close my locker door, but he held it firmly open. Playfully, I reached up and touched his bicep with my fingertips.
“Are you going to let me shut my locker?” I asked as I tilted my head, and a lock of hair fell into my eyes.
He reached a hand up to move the hair out of my eyes, but didn’t move his other hand from the top of my locker.
“I guess, but it’s going to cost you,” he said with a smirk.
“I know what you want,” I said, and without skipping a beat, I raised up on my tiptoes, kissed him quickly, and then lowered my heels back to the floor.
With a look of surprise, he smiled, pushed the locker shut, and turned to head to his first class.
I watched as he walked away, and this time, before he opened the door, he turned back around and smiled.
When I turned around to walk down the hall, Amy and Brooke were still watching with dropped jaws, and anger washed all over them.
The entire morning dragged by, and my mind took turns thinking about Chris and thinking about that afternoon’s big game against St. Margaret’s.
I went over the plays in my head and revisited everything I knew about their strengths and weaknesses.
When the lunch bell rang, I grabbed a piece of chalk from the chalk tray before heading out of the room and making my way to my locker.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Chris waiting for me with his back against the wall.
“Hey, Superstar, ready for lunch?”
“Sure, but I need to eat outside today where there’s a blacktop.”
He looked confused, but shrugged in compliance, then we made our way to the cafeteria.
I crafted my usual salad, and Chris got his food, then we left the cafeteria and he followed me to the basketball court.
I was on a mission and my mind was focused only on that afternoon’s game, so I set my tray down on a bench and got to work.
When I squatted down on the pavement, my sweater rode up my back.
“Nice view,” I heard him say, but I ignored him and yanked it back down into place.
I leaned forward onto my hands to draw a rectangle outline, then started drawing little x’s and o’s inside the box.
“Okay, now I’m really confused. Are we playing tic-tac-toe?”
I looked over my shoulder and smiled, but didn’t reply.
Instead, I got up and drew another rectangle next to the first with more x’s and o’s.
Then I got up once more, drew one more rectangle like the first two, and stood, looking at them in silence.
Next, I started drawing lines all around the rectangles.
“Are you feeling okay?” He asked, looking on. I finally looked back at him, told him I had it all worked out, sat down next to him, and ate my lunch.
“What was all that?”
“Plays,” I said matter-of-factly.
“You’re something else,” he said, as he leaned in next to me and nudged his shoulder into mine.
“You feeling good about this afternoon?”
“I don’t know. I’m still in my head about yesterday’s practice and worried I’m going to screw up today’s game,” I said nervously.
“Hey,” he said in a serious but soft tone.
“Look at me,” then he took the salad bowl from my hands and set it down on the bench.
“You’re the best player on the team. The best player in the league.
Why don’t we go down to the field hockey field right now, and you can go practice some before this afternoon?
Get your nerves out.” Then he smiled as he waited for my reply.
“Are you serious?”
“Sure, why not? We both have a free period next. Come on.” And without letting me decline, he grabbed both of our trays, ran them back to the cafeteria, and we headed down to the field.