Finding Me Again (7 page)

Two

Tripp

As I watch Hadley walk off I wonder why she hates me so much. She doesn’t even know me. It can’t just be about me accidentally hitting her with some paper. Although from the way she’s acting I can tell she thinks I did it on purpose. Only why would I do that?

“Hey.” Maverick runs up to me, out of breath. “Why were you talking to Hannah?”

“Huh?” I glance in the direction of his gaze and catch sight of Hadley’s back as she races out to the parking lot. “Oh, you mean Hadley?”

He shrugs. “Whatever.”

No wonder she was surprised that I knew her name.
“Mav, we’ve gone to school with her since Junior High. Did you seriously think her name was Hannah?”

“Yeah, so?”
Mav takes a step back, his eyebrows furrowing. “What’s going on here? Do you have like some nerd girl fantasy you’re hoping she’ll play out or something?”

“
Eww. No, man.”

Mav
holds up his hands as if in surrender. “Cause if you do, I’m not one to judge. Have your fun. I won’t say anything.”

Exasperated, I shake my head. I glance around to make sure no one else can hear this conversation. But there are hardly any students left in the halls. Mostly everyone’s already gone home.  “No, that’s not it.”

“Cool, because you know Sonya is into you, and you don’t want to screw that up.  She is so freaking hot.”

He’s right. Sonya is hot, and she’s a cheerleader. She’s exactly the kind of girl I should be going out with. Exactly the kind of girl everyone expects me to date. So, why am I not attracted to her the way I should be? All my friends would do anything to get with her, but it’s me she wants, and for some reason I just can’t get excited about her. However, I can’t admit that to
Mav. The teasing would be endless. “I know, man. She is. That’s why I’m taking her to the fall dance.”

“You asked her already?”

“No, but I’m going to.” I paste on my best cocky smile. “And you and I both know she’ll say yes.”

“Yeah, she will.”
Mav says in a lewd way, rocking his hips back and forth. Everything is a sexual joke with Maverick. “So if you like Sonya then why were you wasting your time talking to ‘what’s her face’?” He scrunches up his nose.

“Hadley. Her name’s Hadley.” I don’t know why I feel the need to keep reminding Maverick what her name is. It’s not like he’ll ever call her by it. “And I was just apologizing for earlier.”

“Oh, right. Dude, that was so funny.” Maverick snorts. “When that paper smacked her in the eye, the look on her face was classic.”

The image of Hadley’s expression fills my mind, and my chest tightens. I know what it feels like to be humiliated and ridiculed. I never want to make someone else feel that way. “It wasn’t that funny,” I mumble.

“Oh c’mon, what’s going on with you, man?”

Feeling embarrassed, I force a light smile. “Nothing.” I pat
Mav on the back. “C’mon, we better get to practice. Coach’ll kill us if we’re late.” I mostly say it as a way to evade this topic, but I honestly don’t want to late to football practice. The last thing I need is for coach to ride me anymore than he usually does. Together Mav and I head back down the hallway toward the locker rooms.

On the way, we pass the gym where the cheerleaders practice. Sonya, Molly and Trista stand outside wearing short shorts and tank tops. Their shrill laughter pierces my ears, and I wince. I dated both Molly and Trista last year. Now Molly’s with Toby, and I heard Trista’s dating some guy from another high school. When Sonya spots us, she lifts her shiny lips into a seductive smile and saunters in my direction. Her tight, low cut tank top and tiny shorts leave nothing to the imagination. I see
Mav’s eyebrows shoot up as his gaze roves over her taut body. But for some reason when I look at Sonya, I just feel tired. Something about this chick just makes me feel exhausted.

“Hey
Mav,” she says, using his nickname. It sounds funny coming out of a girl’s mouth since usually only the guys call Maverick that. Then again, it doesn’t surprise me. Sonya likes to think she has the inside track with all of us. She turns her gaze to me with a flutter of her long lashes. “Hey, you.”

“Hey you back,” I try to sound flirty, but the truth is I’m kind of annoyed. I hate how she acts like I should feel special that she chose me. And I hate how she assumes that just because she has her sights set on me then it’s a done deal. Hasn’t she ever had a guy turn her down
? I take in her long sleek hair, smooth tanned skin, heart shaped lips and almond colored eyes.
Yeah, I guess that she probably hasn’t.

She comes closer, and her fruity scent chokes me. Reaching out, she runs a red lacquered nail up my chest. “Where are you off to? Football practice?”

I swallow hard, enjoying the feeling of her fingertips through my shirt. As much as she annoys me, I’m still a guy. And her touch does feel good. “Yeah.”

“Don’t work too hard,” she says with a wink.

It seems that her words have a double meaning, but I’m not sure what it is. I nod anyway.

“We’re late, dude,”
Mav whispers harshly.

I glance up at the clock on the wall and groan.
Great. Just what I need.
Looking down at Sonya, I smile apologetically. “Gotta run. Talk to you later.” Without waiting for her response, I spin around and race toward the locker room.