Page 87 of The Cheerleader

There’s a table in front of the doors to the stadium-style lecture hall opening off the middle of the lobby. Susie sits there with one of the other cheerleaders. I think her name is Sherry.

“Hi,” I say, purposely forcing Susie to meet my eyes. I’m rewarded with her blush.

She sits up straight and schools her expression, trying to look like she doesn’t care she’s selling tickets to a porno flick.

“Hi.” She eyes the group of us like we’re more perverted than she gave us credit for, and I hold in a smile. Eldy stands next to me, and the way he looks at the girl sitting with Susie confirms my suspicion that she is indeed Sherry, the cute one he talks about.

“Hi, Sherry. Imagine meeting you at a movie like this.”

She giggles. “I know, but I’m glad I’m out here and not inside watching.”

“That’s a shame,” Eldy says, and I elbow him hard.

“How many tickets?” Susie asks.

“One,” I say, unhappy about handing over a ten-dollar bill, a steep price for a movie, especially one I have no desire to see.

Eldy pushes my hand aside before Susie can take my money. “I’m buying. Four tickets.” He hands her a fifty, and her eyes go wide. Mack and Chuck smack him on the back and thank him.

“You’re a good friend,” Susie says as she hands over the tickets and the change.

When he pushes the ten dollars in change back to her, I can’t let him get away with the asshole move calculated to impress Sherry.

“He’s a fool with too much money he didn’t have to earn,” I say.

Sherry gasps. “That’s not very nice. He’s not a fool just because he wants to be generous to his friends—whether he’s earned the money or not. He could do a million other things with it.” She’s serious and staring at me like I’m a jerk. Maybe I am.

Eldy’s looking at her like he wants to eat her alive. We’ll see what kind of jerk she thinks I am when I save her from being devoured later because I was serious in my warning to Eldy and the others about not messing around with the cheerleaders.

Though I’m mostly concerned with two cheerleaders in particular, the ones who mean something to me: Liz and Susie.

I may as well admit to myself that Susie means something to me. But I refuse to think about what that something is.

There’s a crowd lining up behind us in the lobby, all male, and the large clock over the door says there are only five minutes until showtime, so we go inside the lecture hall. Eldy leads us toward the front where a big screen is set up behind the lectern.

There are doors on either side of the screen leading out to a hallway that leads to the restrooms, other classrooms, and an exit further down. I had an intro physical science class here last semester and did well. Science and math suit my way of thinking—logical, reasonable, and dispassionate.

“Let’s sit in the back,” I say, stopping them before they claim seats. Eldy looks at me, and I stare back and motion with my chin. “You’ll see the screen fine.”

He grunts, and we take our seats near the back row, me on the end. They know my intention is for us to play bouncer, bodyguard, security in general.

Mack squeezes past and sits next to me. “You take your responsibility too far sometimes,” he says. “We’re not really responsible for the cheerleaders, you know.”

“You have a problem looking out for them?” I say under my breath, not looking at him but watching the crowd. I was a bouncer for a short stint my freshman year to earn extra money before Coach found out, so I know the drill, what to look for.

“No.” He shrugs. “I guess they’re friends. Liz is good people.”

The lights lower and the buzzing in the room gets quieter but more intense.

Some guys are still coming in the doors as the lights go dark and the movie starts.

As Liz tries to close the doors, I hear her whispering to someone that there’s no more room and they’ll have to leave. I turn around. There are two guys, not huge by my standards, but they tower over Liz as she smiles up at them. One of them wears a UConn rugby jersey, and I recognize him. It’s Vinnie, the guy with a chip I met at the beer fest.

He argues with her. “I just paid my money to the pretty ticket lady⁠—”

“We’ll reimburse you⁠—”

Keith comes over to help her convince Vinnie and his friend they have to leave.