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“Yeah, but jeez. There’s a difference between sneaking a kiss and then slobbering in public.” She made a face and then chuckled.
I laughed a little. “It’s all the same to me.”
She turned her head, her soft brown eyes lighting up. “Haven’t been kissed yet then, huh?”
My mouth popped open at her figuring out the truth so quickly. Is it what I said?
She laughed softly. “I knew it. I’ve heard you were going out with Silas but didn’t believe for a moment you spent the night with him.”
“You can spend the night together and not kiss,” I said. I knew that was true. Happened every night with me.
“If you spend a night with a guy,” she said, “you’d be lucky to get out of there still a virgin, let alone not have kissed all night.”
“Oh,” I said. I wasn’t sure I should contradict her. “So you’ve heard things?”
“I hear a lot of stuff going on,” she said. She rolled her eyes. “A lot of it is boring.”
“So why do you listen?”
She shrugged and changed her attention to the football field. “So you gave up on the idea that you could date a bunch of guys at once?”
“I’m still friends with the others,” I said, again unsure about letting her in on the truth. Not that I didn’t trust her. She hadn’t told anyone about my previous confession which would have probably spread like wildfire if anyone had found out about it. Again, I didn’t feel I should press the issue.
“Not with Nathan any more though?”
My mouth parted. Had that spread already? “What?”
“He’s sitting over there all by himself.”
I glanced back, not meaning to, but she made me want to check. He was sitting in the back row. His eyes met mine. I could feel the pulling at my chest, wanting to sit next to him but at the moment, unable to.
“Something came up,” I said, turning back to her. “There’s a rumor.”
“There’s always a rumor,” Karen said. She sat back, stretching to put her feet on the seat in front of her. “What now?”
I wondered exactly how far this rumor got tossed around if Karen hadn’t heard it. “There’s one that Nathan spent the night with me last night. And then a follow up that Nathan was the one that spread the rumor. So for now, he’s trying to distance himself.”
“Oh,” Karen said, nodding and looking thoughtful. “Haven’t heard that.”
Maybe Silas had been on to something. Was it Rocky making up the rumor just to get them into a fight with Nathan? Or to urge Silas to break up with me? Did Danielle even say anything at all to anyone about what happened this morning? “The football team heard it.”
“The cheerleaders haven’t. They usually know everything. They usually start them.”
“You know the cheerleaders?”
“I’m friends with a couple of them. Well, not best friends, but I know them.” She pulled her cell phone out and then tapped at the screen. “Speaking of friends, wonder where mine is.”
“Who are we waiting for?”
“Karen?” a male voice floated to us.
Karen and I looked up at the same time. Derrick approached, wearing a running jacket and jeans and sandals. His bowl-cut dark hair had been recently trimmed.
My head jerked back, and I blinked, double checking to make sure I was right and not just seeing things. “Derrick?”
Karen turned back to me. “Know him?”
“We’re neighbors,” I said.
“Yeah,” Derrick said. He sat down in the lower seat in front of us and turned to talk. He did a short, two-finger wave. “Hey, Sang.”
“Hi,” I said. I offered a slow smile, relaxing. I’d been anticipating a complete stranger. Derrick was okay. I could handle this.
Karen grinned. “Sang knows all the boys, it seems.”
“I didn’t realize you two were friends,” I said.
“I only see him at school these days,” Karen said.
“Where’s your sister?” Derrick asked me. “Is she here?”
I shook my head. Gabriel had thought once that Derrick had a crush on my sister. Had that changed? I’d thought briefly that this might have been a date I was interrupting, but now I wasn’t sure. “Last I saw, her and Danielle were at my house. I wasn’t sure they were coming to the game.”
“Danielle said she was spending the night.” He glanced over my shoulder, in the direction where Nathan was sitting. “Everything okay?”
“Rumors,” Karen said. “There’s one about her and Nathan when she’s going out with Silas. So Nathan’s trying to hang back a bit to let the rumor cool off.”
“I thought you were going out with Kota. That’s what Jessica said.”
Uh-oh. A rush swept over me and my heart started frantically beating. That was right, Jessica, Kota’s sister, hung out with kids on our street. And Derrick occasionally hung out with them. Jessica may have heard from Kota’s mother that we’d been on a date. And after being at his house, and the cheek kiss, if Jessica heard about those, she’d no doubt think Kota and I were supposed to be dating.
“No,” Karen said. “It’s Silas. Or maybe for now.” She grinned. “She’s getting popular, so next it might be Rocky or one of the other popular goons running around.”
They started talking about the upcoming game, and I hid my release of a sigh. Karen saved me from answering Derrick, but what happens when Derrick reports back that I am dating Silas to Jessica? How far would these stories stretch?
Suddenly, the world had shrunk and everyone knew everyone else. My tongue glued to the roof of my mouth, letting the others talk. I nodded my head when I thought I should, but I was a million miles away, wondering how I got wrapped into this and what I was supposed to do next.
The bleachers filled and the start-of-game rituals began. I huddled in my seat, my arms tucked into my sides. I tried not to look as cold as I felt. The others had jackets and I was withou
t, but I didn’t want to go back for one.
I worried about Gabriel, Luke, and Kota. I hadn’t heard back. I wondered if they were okay.
Nathan never moved. I occasionally looked back, but it was clear we shouldn’t make too much eye contact. He’d smile a little when I caught his attention, but he’d jerk his head in a way that told me I should look ahead and not stare at him.
I tried to focus on the game, and it was an excuse to get out of friendly conversation. Karen talked with Derrick about television, food, and gossiped about other students.
Part of me wondered if Derrick ever mentioned what he knew about the Academy to Karen. From the way they talked, they sounded like old friends. How much did Karen know about what was really going on?
The football game started up and I focused on the players. I didn’t understand football, so mostly I was trying to identify which of the orange jerseys were Silas and North and then followed them. Did they keep the same numbers on their jerseys? Or did they switch? I couldn’t remember the numbers they had been wearing this morning.
By the end of the first quarter, the opposing team had scored and our team still had zero.
“This is depressing,” Karen said.
“I thought we had a good team this year,” Derrick said.
I couldn’t imagine a better team. Between North and Silas, who were massive and worked together well, and then Jay and Rocky, despite how I felt about them, were fast and had a fluidity in the way they played the game. Jay caught whatever Rocky threw at him. “Is the other team good?” I asked.
“They aren’t bad,” Derrick said. “But half their team graduated last year. Ours should be more together than they are now.”
“So why do our guys suck so bad?” Karen asked. “I mean, that last guy flat out dropped the ball.”
Nothing seemed to be going right for this game. Silas and North seemed to be the only ones able to tackle the opposing team. Others around them fell, or were pushed aside easily. And the other team even appeared smaller in size.
“Bad day?” I asked.
