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See, we used to talk about things like that. Pax would text me at weird hours of the night and say dorky things and make me laugh. And he’d confide in me.
I need to know if Pax is just in a bad mood because of the game loss, like my sister seems to think, or if he’s mad at me. And if so, what could I possibly have done?
Pax catches my eye and turns his back on me, and now I know that I haven’t been imagining things. He’s mad at me for some weird reason, and I need to know why.
We are pals. Pals don’t just have tantrums and stop speaking to each other. They work things out. I may know a lot of people at school, but I really only have a few close friends, and I thought that Pax was one of them.
I tap him on the shoulder and say loudly, “Hey, Pax, can I speak to you for a minute?” His whole family hears, and they look at me with interest and possibly a little skepticism. Like, is she a crazy fan?
Then his mother, Margaret Saul, cocks her head to the side, staring at me intently. Her face lights up. “Is that Ruby? The friend you told us about? She looks just like her picture.”
He sent them my picture?
Jeez. I hope it was a good one. He’s taken a lot of pictures of the two of us, and he always joked that it was for the fake photo album of the fake girlfriend.
Pax turns to scowl at me. “We’re just leaving,” he says huffily.
“Oh, we’re in no hurry,” his mother chirps merrily. “It’s better to wait a while for the crowd to leave anyway. The traffic is going to be murder.”
He shoots her a grumpy look, then shrugs.
“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Saul.” I smile at her. “You must be so proud of Paxton.”
“Oh, he’s all right.” But she smiles up at him with a mother’s fondness.
Pax’s brothers are all staring at me with a lot of interest now. One of the twins nods in approval at the other twin, which makes me want to pop him in the nose. Apparently, I pass muster in the hotness department or something? Oh, thank heavens. Now I can sleep at night.
“We’re going out to dinner, later, and maybe...” His mother looks at me hopefully.
“Mom, she already has other plans,” Pax growls.
“No need to be such a grump, dear,” she says reprovingly.
“You got that right,” I murmur.
He grabs me by the arm and we walk about a dozen feet away, standing in an empty space. There’s still a good number of people making their way out.
“You suck ass!” a Rovers fan yells at him. The man’s kid, who looks like he’s about twelve, flips Paxton off.
“Hey, way to support your team,” I call out indignantly.
Pax scowls at me and shakes his head angrily. “I don’t need your help, Ruby. What do you want? My family and I are in a hurry.”
“No, they’re not,” I point out. “Your mom just said so. She seems lovely, by the way. Are you sure you’re related?” He just stares at me. He used to laugh at all of my jokes.
“Ruby, are you ready to go or what?” That’s Nick, yelling to get my attention. I turn to look at him and give him a wave. There’s a girl standing next to him, with a hopeful look on her face. Dude. No wonder the coach thinks he’s a player.
I return my attention to Paxton. He’s looking at Nick with open disgust on his face.
“What. Do. You. Want,” he repeats.
Wow. Who is this man standing in front of me? I’m tempted to stomp off and find my sister, but I’ve already committed to this, so I’ll see it through.
I glare at him. “Okay, fine, you’re acting like an absolute ass to me, and I want to know why. I get that things didn’t go the way you wanted tonight, but you played an amazing game, and it was incredibly close, and I just don’t get your attitude.”
“I didn’t play an amazing game tonight.” He scowls at me like it’s my fault or something. “My game did suck ass. That guy was right. I screwed up and let my entire team down, and all the fans, and my family.”
“So is there a reason you need to take it out on me?” I snap. “I thought we were friends.”
