Part 23 (2/2)

I pushed the stall door open and faced her. The girls' room was the best place for this conversation since I was still a little queasy anyway.

”How are you feeling?”

Out of habit I crossed to the sink and washed my hands.

”Not bad.” Lies. Lies. Lies.

She nodded as if both of us ignoring the truth would make it disappear.

”They just announced the five minute warning. Coach is bringing the guys back down to the field.” She reached in her purse and pulled out a cherry colored lip gloss. ”Here.”

That was so Rachel. Every time stress. .h.i.t her, she put on lip gloss or changed her s.h.i.+rt or did something with her hair. I knew it wouldn't make me feel better, but she was obviously feeding off my anxiety so I put the funky tasting stuff on and forced a smile.

”Ready?”

What was I going to say? With a nod, I handed her back the gloss and headed toward the door.

The second half of the game flew by. We won, no big surprise. And then the afternoon was over. Everyone headed home until the oh-so-socially-climactic dance that night. All there was left to do was wait.

I'd never been very good at waiting. I put on my new Nikes and ran. Forget marathons. I ran like I was training for a 100k Ultra. At the little bridge, I was careful to turn west out of town. Away from the Parker household. The idea of seeing Luke, of watching him ignore me again, was more than I could take.

If he was going to blow me off today, it was going to have to be under the tacky dis...o...b..ll and in front of the entire school.

Note to self: Google ”free sanity test” after run.

Chapter 30.

It was time. And this time, there'd be no hiding out in the girls' room.

When Rachel picked me up for the Homecoming dance she had not one, but two Parker boys in her car. Of course, neither of them was the right one. Justin looked a little apologetic when I slid into the back next to him. No idea if it was because he wasn't Luke or because he watched me have to crawl over the front seat in one of Rachel's shorter skirts.

In the front, Rachel and Jared discussed... something. I couldn't have told you what if my life depended on it. After a minute of trying to follow their conversation over the music, and my own mental noise, I finally gave up.

”You ready?” Justin reached over and squeezed my hand.

It had taken losing his brother to see what a great friend I was gaining in him. No matter what happened with Luke, I knew Justin would be there. For the first time in my life, I had a guy friend. A big-younger-brother. A boy to look out for me. And vice versa.

The warmth of him seeped into my hand like a hug and suddenly, yeah, I was ready.

I nodded, forcing everything from my mind and just waited, enjoying the ride to the school and the safety of the people who surrounded me.

The parking lot was full of kids getting to the dance and everyone else showing up to see if they'd won anything at the auction. At this point, I was just worried no one had bought my painting. It would likely be Rejection Number One if it was still there.

At the doors, Jared stopped to make time with his future teammates, signaling for Rachel and Justin to join him. Justin's hand fell to my lower back, steering me through the crowd.

”Don't you want to hang with the guys?”

”Nah.” He glanced over his shoulder as we stepped through the crowed. ”I'd rather hang with you.”

I stopped and met his gaze, about to tell him I was used to being alone and that I could handle it, when Luke walked in. That was almost enough to make my stomach drop, but it was the not alone part that did me in. I wasn't even sure who she was, but the only thought going through my head was, at least she isn't Cheryl. If he ends up with someone else, at least let her be nice.

”Ignore him.” Justin gave me a little shove toward the tables where all the auction items were lined up. As we cleared a group of freshman, he whispered in my ear, ”Plus, I'm not supposed to know this, but he picked her up for one of the guys. He couldn't get off work early enough so Luke volunteered.”

That was so Luke. I started to turn toward them again, just to see if she really was acting like a random girl.

”If you look at my brother one more time, I'm going to think I'm not charming enough for you.”

Justin's hand still rested on my back, pus.h.i.+ng me forward, away from Luke. Away from social disaster. I glanced up at Justin, my heart cracking anew at that familiar Parker grin.

”Sorry.” I rolled my shoulders, trying to ease the knots out. ”You know you're one of my favorite people right? If, after tonight, you're the only Parker talking to me, I'll count that a win.”

I prayed I was telling the truth. Every part of me screamed that if I left this wannabe dance club in Rachel's Honda instead of Edith the Pickup Truck, everything would still be okay. Justin flashed that grin again. Yeah, it would be okay. It might hurt, but it would be okay.

He peered over the heads of the people in front of us. ”What number are you?”

”Shhhhh.” I covered his mouth with my palm, glancing around to make sure no one heard him.

Over my hand, his eyebrows went up, one c.o.c.king to the right.

”Can I trust you to not repeat that if I take my hand away?” I glanced around again hoping now was not the time people started seeing me.

He nodded, wagging my arm up and down with his head.

As soon as I let him go, he took my arm and led me to a quiet place next to a broken water fountain.

”Amy, when will you realize people are going to notice you? You're pretty and you're part of the most popular group at school. Not to mention nice and talented.”

I c.o.c.ked my head enough so I could look up at him in the close quarters, surprised by every word coming out of his mouth.

”I'm none of those things, and I'm definitely not popular.” Amazing that guy friends could be as delusionally supportive as girlfriends.

”The minute that soccer ball landed in your hands... no, the second you joined the soccer team, you were one of them. You're going to have to deal with the fact that people will notice you. And there's nothing wrong with that.”

Part of me knew if I won Luke back I'd have to deal with the whole popularity thing. There was no way that boy could be anything less than everything every girl ever wanted.

I nodded, understanding what Justin was telling me. Knowing he was right, I could do this.

”Okay, let's go see if anyone even wanted a still damp oil painting of a foolishly brave rescue attempt.”

We walked down the hall, his hand still on my back, him shouldering away undercla.s.smen not paying enough attention. Near the end of the row, we found it. Table Thirty-three. My table. My heart stopped when I spotted the empty s.p.a.ce where my painting should have sat.

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