Homecoming Queen (19 page)

“Well, think about it,” said Taylor. “If you see him coming at you with it, just slap him with your news first. Tell him he’s history.”

“That’s right,” said Casey. “Let him have it.”

DJ felt pretty sure that she wasn’t going to “let him have it,” but she nodded to humor them. And throughout the morning, she kept a lookout for him. But it wasn’t until lunchtime that she saw him.

“Hey, stranger,” Conner said as he joined her by the cafeteria entrance.

“Hey,” she said back.

“How’s the leg?”

She shrugged. “Kind of sore.”

“Is that why you skipped out of the game yesterday?”

“Um, yeah.”

“Haley said she met you at the pool. She said she really likes you and that she offered to give you rides to the pool after school.”

DJ didn’t feel like talking about Haley. “Well, I didn’t go yesterday. I thought I was going to your match.”

He nodded. “Yeah, Haley had gone that early morning anyway, but you could probably get a ride with her this afternoon, if you want.”

“Sounds like you and Haley have been spending a lot of time together,” DJ said, watching closely for his reaction. So far his conversation about Haley had seemed rather casual and innocent. But now his neck reddened slightly.

“Yeah. I think she’s kind of lonely.”

“But doesn’t she know lots of people here? I mean, since she used to live here all those years.”

“You’d think so. But some of her old friends, like Madison Dormont and Tina Clark, have gotten kind of snooty.”

DJ couldn’t help but make a face. “She was friends with Madison and Tina?”

“In middle school. Trust me, both of them were nicer back then. Anyway, I was telling her about you, DJ. I think you guys could be friends.”

“Well, I’ll ask her for a ride to the pool this afternoon,” said DJ. But as soon as she said this, she regretted it. She really didn’t want to spend time with Conner’s old girlfriend. If she was really his “old” girlfriend. DJ still wasn’t convinced that something new wasn’t brewing.

“That’s great,” said Conner, seeming genuinely excited. “Why don’t you tell me what you want for lunch, and I’ll pick it up while you go sit down?”

So she told him and then she smiled and thought, really, Conner was such a sweet guy and he really did care about her — why should she doubt him? Then as she made her way toward where her friends were already gathering at their regular table, she noticed Haley standing by herself near the girls’ restroom. Haley smiled and waved, but DJ was surprised to see how nervous she looked. Haley was like the golden girl, and she was nervous?

DJ paused. “Hey, Haley,” she called out. “Do you want to eat lunch at our table?”

Haley’s eyes lit up, and she nodded eagerly. “Sure, thanks.”

“I’ll save you a place,” said DJ with a smile that felt as genuine as a three dollar bill. She really didn’t want to share her Conner-time with Haley, but neither could she stand to leave a lonely girl lonely.

DJ saved a spot for Haley on one side of her and another for Conner on the other side. As soon as Haley walked up with a lunch tray, DJ introduced her to her friends, although it seemed everyone had already met her.

“It’s hard being the new girl back in your own home town,” admitted Haley. “Thanks for letting me sit with you guys.”

Just then Conner joined them. He looked slightly taken aback to see Haley sitting next to DJ, but he smiled at both of them then took his seat next to DJ. “Did you tell Haley that you want to bum a ride to the pool this afternoon?” asked Conner.

Haley, overhearing this, leaned over and grinned at them. “No problem.”

“That means I’m off the hook for chauffeuring?” asked Taylor.

“Totally,” said Haley. “I can bring DJ home too.”

“It’s so fun being the poor handicapped girl,” joked DJ. “Everyone has to take care of you and be nice to you.”

“At least until the big election,” teased Taylor. “Then some people — ” she elbowed Eliza now, “will probably go back to being mean again.”

“I’ve never been mean to DJ,” said Eliza.

“Don’t get all defensive,” said Taylor. “I’m just kidding.”

“It must be interesting having two candidates for homecoming queen under the same roof,” observed Haley.

“Interesting is one word for it,” said DJ.

“I can think of some four-letter words that come to mind when I think about it,” said Taylor.

“And she uses them too,” said Eliza in a prissy sort of voice.

“I used to dream of being homecoming queen too . . .” Haley sighed sadly.

“Hey, you could be a write-in,” suggested Conner. “That happened one year when my sister was running.”

“A write-in?” She laughed. “Who would possibly write me in?”

The table got uncomfortably quiet now.

“Okay,” said DJ quickly. “Let me warn you, Haley. That’s a dangerous question in this crowd. We already have people scrapping for votes here. I had to declare myself neutral . . . as in Switzerland.”

“Yes we call her the Swiss Miss,” said Rhiannon.

Everyone laughed.

“Well, I wouldn’t even know how to launch a write-in campaign anyway,” admitted Haley.

“Oh, it’s probably not much different than what people are doing now,” said Conner.

“Some people aren’t doing anything,” said Taylor proudly.

“Taylor is running a non-campaign,” explained DJ. “No signs, no gimmicks. She’s kind of a stealth candidate.”

“Don’t be so sure about that,” said Casey. Then Garrison winked at her like they were in cahoots about something. DJ wanted to ask, but the bell rang and everyone took off in different directions.

By the end of the day, DJ knew what Casey had been up to. In fact, the whole school knew — thanks to the school radio station, WCCS, which was available in the classrooms. As it turned out, Casey had put the station to good use to keep her promise to Taylor. This made perfect sense since the station manager was none other than Garrison McKinley. Anyway, he must’ve allowed her to record a public announcement, and it was played several times throughout the afternoon. DJ heard it twice. She had to give Casey points for cleverness when she listened to the little poem that exonerated Taylor, defending her reputation, and giving Casey full credit for posting the skanky photos on the Internet. DJ was sure that Taylor would be pleased.

“What was that thing on the radio about?” asked Haley as she drove them to the pool. So DJ explained what Casey had done to get even with Taylor for hurting Rhiannon. It actually came in handy since it filled in the dead space and prevented DJ from demanding to know what Haley’s intentions toward Conner were. Also, DJ couldn’t miss the irony of how the reason Taylor got slandered was because she’d moved in on Rhiannon’s boyfriend. She wondered if Haley had picked up on that.

“Man, you girls must have some wild times at Carter House,” said Haley as they went up the steps the led to the pool building. “Kind of like being in a sorority.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s the blast that lasts.” DJ made her way into the dressing room, careful to avoid a puddle that looked slick.

“Do you need any help?” offered Haley.

“No, that’s okay. I know you need to practice, and it’ll probably take me a few minutes to get ready. You go ahead.” DJ was actually relieved to go into the cubicle and sit down on the metal bench. The process of dressing and undressing was still a painful challenge, and she was already tired from a full day at school. But at least she’d come up with a good solution for the pool this morning. She had decided to wear her bikini like underwear. That way she could simply take off her jeans and T-shirt and be ready to go.

Of course, she hadn’t considered the reaction she would get as she crutched her way out to the deck. A couple of the swim team guys actually whistled. Well, fine, she thought. She could deal with that. She paused, and balancing herself on her crutches, she feigned blowing a kiss, mouthing the words “thank you” as if addressing adoring fans. Naturally, this just made them whistle more. She rolled her eyes then proceeded toward the lane that was vacant.

“Hey, DJ,” said Caleb as he descended from the lifeguard chair. “How’s it going?”

She smiled. “Slightly better than the last time I was here.” She handed him her crutches and held onto the pool ladder. “Hopefully I remember how to do this.”

“Looks like the bruising is fading.”

She glanced at her leg and nodded. “Yeah. It is looking a little better. Still kind of Frankensteinish though. Too bad Halloween’s a month away. I could’ve taken my leg out trick-or-treating.”

He laughed as she eased herself into the water.

“There,” she said once she was fully in. “Was that better than last time?”

He nodded. “Much better.”

“Wish it felt better,” she said as she attempted a small kick.

“No pain, no gain.” He grinned.

And normally she would’ve agreed with that old sports slogan. But the kind of pain she’d experienced since the accident hadn’t seemed to have gained her much of anything. And the sooner it ended, the happier she would be. But she faithfully, albeit slowly, swam laps for an hour. And then, once again, as she painfully extracted herself from the water, Caleb stuck out his arm to help her.

“Thanks,” she said, struggling to get her crutches into place and wishing she’d brought a towel.

“You were moving faster today,” he said.

“I used to be able to swim fairly well,” she said sadly.

“You will again.”

“I hope so.”

“Give yourself time.”

She nodded. “Yeah, I know.” And she knew enough about sports to grasp that it took hard work to get better at anything. Unfortunately, when it came to athletics, she’d never had to work so hard for so little in her life.

He patted her on the back. “Have a good weekend, DJ.”

“Thanks. You too.” Then she hobbled back to the dressing room. And this time when she took a shower, she soaped up and shampooed her hair, but the bikini remained intact until she was in the dressing room and behind the curtain in the cubicle. No more strippers on crutches scenes for this girl!

Back in Haley’s car, DJ tried desperately to keep from mentioning Conner, which was all she could think about. She complimented Haley on her car, a classic VW Bug. “Where do you get something like this?”

“My dad got it on eBay and then restored it for me,” she explained. “It’s almost forty years old.”

“Cool. I’ll bet it gets good gas mileage too.”

“Unfortunately, the older models don’t do as well as the new ones.”

DJ didn’t know much about cars, so the conversation went nowhere. They fell quiet again.

“DJ?” ventured Haley. “Are you and Conner fairly serious? I mean, I know you date sometimes, but are you like a serious couple?”

DJ shrugged. “I guess it depends on how you define serious.”

“Well, like exclusive.”

“We’ve never said we were exclusive, but I guess I sort of assumed that we were.” DJ considered telling Haley about how she and Conner had dated briefly during the summer, followed by a breakup that had nearly broken her heart, but decided not to. Why let Haley know that DJ sometimes felt insecure in her relationship with Conner?

“Yeah. Okay.” Haley bit her lip. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”

“That’s all right.” DJ knew she should change the subject now, but something inside wouldn’t let her. “Do you still like him?”

Haley didn’t answer. And DJ knew that was her answer.

“Does he still like you?” DJ asked in a small voice.

Again Haley didn’t say anything, and the silence in the car was so thick that it felt like it was cutting off the oxygen supply. DJ had the urge to open the window.

“I’d like to lie to you, DJ,” said Haley finally. “I’d like to say, no, I have absolutely no interest in Conner. But the truth is I still have feelings for him. Still, I respect that you guys are a couple.”

“Do you think Conner has feelings for you?” asked DJ weakly.

Haley just shrugged. “It’s not like he’s said anything.”

“But you think he does?”

“I don’t know.” Haley sighed. “You know how guys can be.”

DJ wanted to say that, no, Conner wasn’t like that. Unlike other guys, Conner was actually pretty good at sharing his feelings, and that was one of the reasons she liked him so much. She wanted to say that they had this special connection, that they’d made it through that one miserable misunderstanding last summer, and she hoped that meant they could make it through another, although she wasn’t positive.

. But she didn’t say anything.

And when Haley dropped her off at Carter House, she barely even said good-bye.

18

“I WISH IT WASN’T AN AWAY GAME,”
DJ told Conner on the phone. She was lying on her bed with her legs propped up on a pillow and her eyes closed. She had just managed to settle in when he called, and it had taken every ounce of energy she had to reach over and pick up her cell phone. She had been glad to hear from him, but when he’d invited her to a football game, she’d groaned. It was an hour’s drive, which meant they would get home late — plus she had to get up early to go to an appointment with the physical therapist the next day. “I’m not sure that I’m up for that,” she said. What she was hoping was that he’d think of something else for them to do — maybe get a bite to eat at the Hammerhead. Fish and chips sounded good to her.