Falling (5 page)

I still can’t believe that Connor would date someone like that. But Connor acts differently around people at school than he does when he is with his family. She must act differently around him too, I mean surely he wouldn’t date someone he knew bullied people. I have got to stop thinking about him. Blake is my new focus. If I keep repeating it to myself, it will become true.

After our workout, we headed back to Leah’s house to study for a test on Thursday. Leah draped herself across her bed with her book, while I sat on the floor. We were calling off questions to each other when we heard a giggle from downstairs.

“Samantha is here. She is here all the time now. I bet she is staying for dinner. Hey, are you staying? Please say yes, Abby. Don’t leave me with
my family and that spoiled brat,” Leah begs.

“Fine, I will stay, but she has hated me ever since the fruit punch incident. You have to promise to protect me if she tries to body slam me,” I say laughing.

“If she touches one hair on your head, her ass is grass,” she grins. “Let's go be social then, shall we?”

Once downstairs, I start rethinking my decision to stay for dinner. I have not had any contact with Samantha since last year, but from her hostile looks, she still hates me. Leah and I sit down at the table and start fixing our plates.

“You know Abby don’t you Samantha?” asks Mrs. Sparks.

“Yes, we had a class together last year. Although we didn’t really talk to each other very much,” she smirks in my direction.

“Abby is basically a part of our family. Leah and Abby are glued together. She is here so much, we should probably give her a bedroom,” laughs Mr. Sparks.

“Yeah, Abby is a hoot. She falls and runs into things, which is always entertaining.  She keeps us laughing,” Connor adds with a wink in my direction.

“Thanks a lot, Connor. Next time I knock you down, I will kick you hard so you stay there.”

I
laugh. I really do love hanging out with the Sparks. They are so much fun.

“Yeah, like that will happen again. Don’t make threats you can’t keep, Klutzy." I am so caught up laughing with the Sparks that I don’t notice Samantha staring at me like I am a bug that needs to be squashed.

Chapter 5

My plan is to go to breakfast in the cafeteria, sit with Blake, somehow bring up movies, and then ask him. Leah and I practiced it on the phone last night. It worked with her, but then again, she is my best friend.

When I walk into the cafeteria, I glance around hoping to see Blake sitting alone. I spot him over in the corner, and it is just as I hoped. I go through the line and get a sausage biscuit and juice, then head over in his direction. Oh no, someone is sitting with him now. Connor.

Well Connor has already spotted me and it would look crazy for me to turn and run away at this point, so I continue in their direction. “Hey guys. Is Leah at school yet?"

“Nope. You know her, she never gets here before the first bell." I flop down in the seat next to Blake. Okay should I go through with my plan in front of Connor.  He wouldn’t care either way, he will probably tease me about it later. Okay so here goes.

“So Blake, you ready to kick butt at the Mathletes competition this week?” I've just got to ease my way into this conversation.

Connor laughs, “I guess that is where nerds kick butt figuratively, right Abby." I stick my tongue out at him.

“Yeah, planning on it. Connor said he would try to come and watch because math is just about as exciting as football,” Blake says with a chuckle.

I laugh, “Yeah, but we throw math problems at each other instead of a ball." Good grief, I am an idiot. Blake and Connor look at me and smile, then start to laugh. What is wrong with me, and why can’t I talk to boys. When the first bell rings, we stand up and throw away our trash.

As we head towards the main hall, Blake slaps Connor’s hand and goes to his locker. I start to move that direction, when I stumble and Connor grasps my arm to keep me from falling.

“You okay, Ab?"

“Yeah,” I laugh. Connor’s hand is still on my arm and it feels like it is branding me, my heart is doing double time.

“So, when did you start eating breakfast at school? I’ve never seen you in there before."

“I just got to school a little earlier and was hungry. Do you eat there every day?”

“If I didn’t I would probably starve. Just teasing,” he says with a wink, “Yeah, Blake and I are usually in there sitting around before school. Well, I am off to learn, later Ab.” As he leaves he squeezes my arm once more and gives me a big grin. Project "Forget Connor" is so not working.

**********

My locker is stuck again. Why does this always happen to me when I am in a hurry. I try pulling it open again and then I notice the problem, my backpack strap is caught in the bottom of the door, jamming it up. I grunt as I pull with all my strength. Mrs. McKinney hates it when students are late. This will be my third tardy which means detention. Come on, open, you stupid door. All of a sudden two hands appear on my locker door, before I can turn around my locker is swinging open.

“You are supposed to put the whole backpack inside the locker,” laughs Connor.

“Thanks for the tip, I will remember that next time,” I reply laughing. I close my locker and we head towards pre-calculus, the only class we have together. “So how’s your day going so far?” I ask.

“Pretty good. So what are you and Leah planning for this weekend?"

“Oh, not much, just the game on Friday. Mom and Dad already told me I have to mow the y
ard and watch Allie on Sunday. What an exciting life I have!” I say as I roll my eyes. Goodness, I am such a loser. Connor laughs. I love the sound of his laugh.

“So, I heard y
ou were dating Samantha Hardy,” I torture myself with this information, yet I want him to tell me about it.

“I guess. We are just hanging out. I can’t really decide if I like her or not. What do you think of her?” he asks.

“I had Spanish with her last year, and she didn’t seem to like me very much, of course I spilled a fruit punch on her.” I say with a shake of my head.

Connor chuckles, “Well, my sister definitely has an opinion. She says that Samantha is snobby and mean. I did notice the other night at dinner that she gave you a weird look. What was that look about?”

“I don’t know,” I shrug.

“I have been friends with you since the seventh grade,” he frowns, “you can tell me the truth.”

“What does it matter what happened last year, Connor?”

“It matters to me. I know you, Abby, and if you are being quiet, something must have happened with her.”

“You don’t know me that well.” I tease, trying to change the subject.

“You have no secrets from me,” he laughs.

I look at his smiling face and can’t resist, “Oh, I definitely have a few secrets." Then I wink at him. He snorts but then smiles at me as we enter Mrs. McKinney’s class. I can’t believe I winked at him, but it doesn’t matter, he never takes me seriously. I was trying to be flirty, and he just laughed it off as me being goofy.

**********

On Wednesday after the Mathletes competition, I finally had my chance to talk to Blake. The competition was at Johnson High, which we defeated by five points. The bus ride home was very interesting. Leah and Miles are sitting together, so basically I don’t exist in her world at the moment, it is only Miles. I watch her flirt outrageously with him, while he stutters and blushes. That must be what I look like when I flirt. I am such a loser. It is time for me to change my loser status. Time to flirt with Blake and succeed. I look around the bus to see where he is sitting. He has a seat to himself even though he is talking to the senior guy in the seat behind him. No more wasting time.

“Hey!” I say as I jump into the seat beside him.

“What are you doing?” he asks as he grins at me.

“Just wanted to talk to you. I am so happy you came tonight. There is no way we would have won without you. I mean, that last problem was a doozy. Thank goodness, we had you to solve it.”

Blake blushes, “Thanks, but I think you are giving me a little too much credit. So, you didn’t come to breakfast this morning? I missed getting to talk to you." Did Blake just flirt with me? Well here goes nothing.

“I was running late this morning, but I will try to get there tomorrow. I really like talking to you, too. Maybe we could hang out sometime?” I ask blushing.

“I was actually wondering if you would like to hang out on Saturday, maybe go to a movie or something?” Blake blurts out.

“Yes, I would love to. I was actually trying to work up the nerve to ask you out,” we both
laugh nervously. The rest of the way home, we discuss what movie we want to see and argue over where to eat. I am having so much fun arguing with Blake, it almost makes me forget Connor. I start really looking forward to Saturday.  

When the bus pulls in the school parking lot, Blake and I say good night to one another and hug. A guy hugged me that is not related to me. I look over Blake’s shoulder and see Leah grinning at me giving me a thumbs up. Connor is standing beside Leah staring in my direction. I walk over to Leah and nudge her arm.

“I have a date on Saturday. Can you believe it?” I whisper.

“I saw the hug. I am so excited for you. And just think, Friday you will get to watch him play football. I bet he looks great in his uniform.” Sometimes Leah gets so excited she just babbles. I just start to
laugh at her because she is giving me the play by play of her and Miles on the bus. As I turn towards my car, I bump right into Connor who is standing in my way.

“Oh, hey Connor.” I say laughingly. “See you later." I still tingle when I see or touch Connor, but Blake is nic
e and cute. Connor is a fantasy, Blake is reality.

“Watch where you are going, Ab. One of these days
you are going to hurt yourself.“ He reaches out and grabs my arm to slow me down. “So where you hurrying off to? Not going to talk to me at all?”

“No, I am not going to talk to you,” I g
rin. “Homework is yelling at me to get home and I must listen.” He laughs and says something I can’t hear. As I move to unlock my car door, I look back at Connor once more, I can’t help myself. He is standing in the same spot watching me. When he sees me eyeing him, he waves and flips his eyebrows at me. Will I ever really be over my crush on him?

Chapter 6

Blake called me last night and we talked for about an hour. He is so easy to get along with and talk to. I feel like we could become really good friends. I just don’t know if there is a spark with him or not. I want there to be, so that I can finally be over Connor, but I am starting to feel like maybe Blake is just a friend.

I walk into the cafeteria on Friday morning to meet Blake for breakfast and notice that Connor has stolen my seat. As I walk over to the table, I see Samantha slide into the seat beside Connor. As I near the table, Connor looks up and grins at me. Samantha narrows her eyes and whispers something in Connor’s ear that makes him laugh. I flop into the seat beside Blake. “Hey, I am so happy it is finally Friday. “

“Me too," Blake and Connor say at the same time, then they burst out laughing.

Samantha eyes my clothes with a smirk and says, “So you going to the ballgame tonight, Abby?”

“Of course she’s going. She always goes with my family,” Connor answers for me.

“Yeah, and since Sunday
is filled with chores, Mom said I could spend the night with Leah.”

“So that means another movie marathon when I get home, right?” he said, smiling at me. I notice that Samantha is shooting daggers at me and Blake looks left out. I look over at Connor and he is still grinning at me. What was that about?

“So what movie you want to go see tomorrow? Have you decided?” I ask turning to Blake.

“No. I was thinking a horror movie." I see him wink in Connor’s direction before smiling at me.

“Hum, Maybe.” I say as the bell rings. We make our way out of the cafeteria and head towards class. I wave to Blake and start walking towards English.

Connor appears beside me and whispers, “So, you two have a date on Saturday? When did that happen?"

“After Mathletes on Wednesday.”

“I wonder why he didn’t tell me. That is weird. So what movie are you guys going to go see? Maybe Samantha and I could go double?”

“No thanks. This is our first date. I think we should go alone, plus Samantha makes me nervous with her constant glaring.”

“I knew there was something with you and Samantha. Why would she glare at you?”

“I don’t know, and at the moment I don’t care. She is a jerk and I don’t know what you see in her.”

“Where is this coming from Abby?” Connor asks defensively.

“You asked for the truth earlier in the week and I am giving it to you. I don’t want to be around you if she is close by. Last year she tortured me in Spanish and I have no interest in feeling that way again. Anyway, I gotta go to English. See you after the game tonight." As I walked away from Connor, I thought my date with Blake might be giving me the confidence I need to be able to deal with boys, especially Connor.