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From my ears to my nose, a band of heat moved over my face, making it so numb I wasn’t sure if I was smiling back at him like I thought I was.
“Sweet.” Making me flinch when he broke our connection, Jason waved the paper in front of me. “We have the same set-up except for shop class.”
Since the school system introduced me to math with letters, Jason had been feeding me answers to keep my grades up so I didn’t get kicked off the team. So, my entire body relaxed with one big sigh as I took the schedule from his fingers. “Thank God.” I folded the paper and slid it back into my pocket, trying my hardest not to steal another glance at the boy behind him and failing miserably at it. “I’m not sure what geometry is, but I think it might be Latin for Faith has zero chance of passing this class.”
Shifting his arm to rest his cheek on his palm, the new kid dug his tooth into his bottom lip as he chuckled, making me look over my shoulder to make sure someone wasn’t mocking me.
“Hey,” — I bounced my finger on Jason’s shoulder as he sat down next to him — “you wouldn’t have an extra sweatshirt in your football locker, would you?” Twisting my knees, I motioned back toward my house. “I left mine on the kitchen table, and I’m not trying to freeze to death.”
Rubbing his palms over his round belly like a crystal ball, he clicked his tongue back at me and swung his head. “Nope, sorry. Us husky boys don’t take cold like you mere mortals do.”
The bell rang, and Carolyn hooked a finger around my belt loop as she inched away to the hall. But my knees were so spongy from the new boy’s devious little side grin that I stumbled backward into her like a dummy. “Um. Catch you after homeroom, I guess.”
Fast enough to get away but slow enough that I didn’t seem like a bigger jackass than I’d already made myself, I grabbed Carolyn’s elbow and pulled her into me. “Did you see that new boy? I’m so in love.”
Peeking back at them again, she smiled and shoved her hip at me. “Yeah. He’s still watching you leave, just so you’re aware.”
We disappeared around the corner, and I caught my breath again, like whatever hold he had on me fizzled the further I got from him.
I knew he moved in right beside Jason in the rich part of town, which made him out of my league in about a hundred ways. No, I didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of being with someone like him, but I was suddenly very excited about starting that school year, anyway.
2
The Deal
Dominic
Getting ripped away from the only home I’d ever known and all my friends still had me a little pissed about life, I guess.
Until I figured out the humongous kid with red hair at football practice lived next door to me, I thought I’d never find somewhere to fit in.
Hanging out with Jason all summer made it a little easier to adjust to this tiny town with nothing to do. If not for him taking me under his wing as he did, I may never have gotten close to the girl with long, dark hair who stole my heart that morning.
Hearing him talk about his friend Faith so much with the other guys, I felt like I was already friends with her. When he yelled at her, and I turned around to find her coming toward us, though, I knew I could never only be one of her buddies.
Even from that distance, her soft green eyes sparkled in the sunbeams fighting through the misty overhead skylights. Her perfume’s sweet, woody scent when she straightened out her hair with her fingers trickled over me, haunting me in every Fall breeze for the rest of my life.
Nothing got through the rush of my heartbeat in my ears until she said, “I’m not sure what geometry is, but I think it might be Latin for Faith has zero chance of passing this class.” And for some reason, I couldn’t remember anyone ever saying anything so funny.
From her head to the bottom of her old sneakers with dirty laces, she was a perfect ten. So, every time she looked away from me, I used the opportunity to check the total package again and make sure I wasn’t imagining her.
Since the first second she dropped into my life, she had me hypnotized. Every move of her body was like a pendulum swinging back and forth, taking me deeper into some trance where nothing else going on in the world mattered.
The bell ringing sent Jason to his feet, and Faith backed away, releasing me so I could put a thought together again. “Hey, man.” Turning out of the bench seat to stand, I smacked Jason’s arm with the back of my fingers. “I need to go to the locker room real quick. Do we have time?”
Jason rose on his toes to squint at the clock on the other end of the room. “Yeah, plenty.” I waited until Faith went around the corner and turned to catch up with Jason. “The teachers don’t much care what the football team does anyhow. We’re the only entertainment around here for these old bastards.”
He held the gym door open for the cheerleaders from the Varsity squad, who didn’t bother to give him a second look. “How late are you allowed to stay out on school nights?”
The woman who gave birth to me was the overbearing mother grand champion of all time, and I laughed at him. “I’m not, ever. That’s why I told her staying after school to support the other teams was mandatory, and the games didn’t end until almost midnight sometimes.”
He pulled the locker room door open for me, and I put my hands together as I walked underneath his arm. “And my father swore I was preaching the gospel since he thinks she’s a pain in the ass, too.”
Rushing down the stairs together, I snapped out my imaginary fishing pole. “So she bought that shit, hook, line, and sinker.”
Given that I hadn’t even spoken to Faith yet, I realized anything I said would come off way too strong. The thing about me, though, is that when I want something, I go in a hundred percent or not at all.
Once I opened my locker door, I pushed all the stuff aside and went for it. “So, about that Faith girl?” I pulled a navy blue bundle from the pile of clothes at the bottom and shut the door. “Are you sure you’re not interested in her? Because I am.”
