High School Hero (Forest Ridge High Book 1)

by Sherri Renee

  “I knew you were messing around on me with that loser.”

  Matt tensed and took a step towards him. I grabbed his arm, and he stopped walking, but his muscles were tense. I could tell he really wanted to go give George a piece of his mind.

  “You two deserve each other and anything else that comes your way.” George took off, fishtailing on the slick street before resuming control.

  “Nice guy,” Matt said, staring after him, his hands in tight fists at his sides.

  George was a jerk, but I didn’t even care about that anymore. It was his final words that scared me and made me remember the creepy feeling of being watched earlier. I started to shake.

  Matt turned and noticed me shaking. “Are you all right? Are you cold? Here.” He stripped off his jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders. “It’s freezing out here.”

  The gesture was so sweet. The warm jacket, still carrying his smell, made me want to go all gooey inside, but the icy chunk of fear lodged in my chest made sure that couldn’t happen.

  Laurie going M.I.A., the note in my purse warning me to keep George in line, the creepy feeling of being watched, and now what sounded like a threat from George. Something was really wrong. Or if it wasn’t yet, it was about to be.

  “Feeling better,” Matt asked with a concerned look.

  As much as I wanted to have a problem so small a warm jacket was all it took to fix it, that’s not where I was. I shook my head and stared down the street after George although he was long gone.

  I never claimed to have premonitions or anything like that, but I didn’t need a sixth sense to know something was really messed up. “I think something bad’s going to happen,” I said. I spent a minute giving him my reasons, and from the way his face hardened I could tell he agreed with me.

  “I think you should stay home tonight. You said everything would end after tonight’s game. Hopefully that means you’ll be safe then.”

  “I can’t,” I said. “I have no proof about anything. If I miss the game, the state championship game because I have a spooky feeling about it,” I wiggled my fingers in the air, “with nothing to back it up, I’ll be off the squad. And I’ll let the other girls down. We’ve worked really hard on all our routines, and it takes all of us to make them run smoothly.”

  Matt jammed his hands in his jeans pockets and looked out over the yard with a dark expression on his face. I could tell he wasn’t happy with my excuses.

  “Tell everyone you’re sick,” he said. “That’s an acceptable reason for missing the game.”

  I drew in a deep breath. “I don’t know if you can understand this, but I really want to cheer at the game tonight. It’s a big deal. Something most cheerleaders only dream about. If I had hard proof that something bad was going to happen or that I was in real danger I’d skip the game in a heartbeat, but without that. . .” I shook my head.

  Matt let out a huff. “I get it. I’m not happy about it, but I do understand. Tonight’s a big deal. Just do me a favor?”

  I nodded.

  “Let me drive you to and from the game. I’m going to watch you every second out there. If I see anything suspicious I’ll come pull you off the field myself if I have to.”

  With a smile on my lips, I happily agreed. I’d feel safer knowing he was keeping an eye out for trouble. I really just liked the fact that he seemed to care about me so much.

  I glanced at the door. “Some of the other girls are upstairs getting ready. I need to get back up there.” I reluctantly took off his jacket and handed it to him. “Thank you,” I said, taking a step closer and tilting my head.

  Matt’s face relaxed. He lowered his head to mine. Our lips met in a kiss that was at once electric and comfortable. My body heated up so much I hardly missed his coat. I forced myself to end the kiss even though I would have been perfectly content to stand there for hours. “I need to leave by six thirty for the game.”

  “No, problem. I’ll be here.”

  I slipped inside and kept my eyes on his until the door closed between us. Leaning on the door I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to erase the silly grin I knew was on my face.

  I’d never felt about anyone the way I did about Matt. I was so excited just thinking about spending time with him and getting to know him better. And if lots of kisses were involved I’d be perfectly okay with that.

  Chapter 33

  The game was held at a nearby college that was central to both our schools. I didn’t ever get nervous cheering in front of crowds, but as the stands filled up my nerves started to tingle. It wasn’t just the size of the crowd, but the thought that if Laurie’s creepy boss was here I might not even notice him. And I really wanted to keep an eye on him every second.

  If something was going to happen tonight, I was pretty sure he would be in the center of it. I’d pulled Michelle away from the others for a minute before they’d left for the game to tell her about George and his possible threat so she could help me watch for anything that didn’t look right. With all these people here, though, how could we possibly tell if anything was out of the ordinary?

  It wasn’t raining anymore, but the clouds hovered overhead ominously, dark and full, looking like they might burst any minute. We hung banners from the chain link fence that separated the track from the stands then went to get the giant breakthrough sign we’d hold on the field for the guys to run through when our team was announced before the game started.

  “Laurie!” I yelled, spotting her in the crowd. She looked cute as always with loose curls in her blond hair. She wore her cheerleading uniform, and from a distance looked like a typical high school student. But up close her face was pinched, nervous.

  She moved towards me at a speed just below a run and kept glancing over her shoulder. That couldn’t be good. I jogged to meet her. “What’s wrong?” I asked immediately, certain that whatever it was somehow involved me.

  “Keep walking and smile.” She pasted a smile on her lips, darting looks left and right.

  “What’s going on?” I asked through a wide smile without moving my lips.

  “George isn’t playing by the rules. My uncle’s not going to let it slide.”

  I stopped and shook my head, trying to figure out what her uncle had to do with anything. “Your uncle?”

  “Keep your voice down.” Laurie darted a nervous look around. “The guy you saw me with at the mall. He’s my uncle. George is supposed to throw this game tonight or my uncle’s going to lose his shirt. Talk’s going around that George is bragging about how he’s going to stick it to ‘the loan shark.’” Her blue eyes finally stopped roving long enough to land on mine.

  “My uncle hired someone to be here tonight. They’ll come after you sometime during the game to send George a message to uphold his end of the bargain if it looks like he’s not going to.” She rubbed her face. “I can work this out, but George has to do what he said. If Forest Ridge wins this game, someone could get killed.”

  Tiny spots of light flicked along the edges of my vision as I tried to take that all in. I felt light-headed. I reached out and grabbed Laurie’s arm for support, but I almost wanted to faint. If I did, someone would take me away and tuck me in a nice warm safe bed until this was all over. But just because I was safe didn’t mean everyone was.

  Laurie flashed a sympathetic look at me but started walking again. Her gaze never stopped moving as she swept the crowd for familiar faces.

  “I’m really confused,” I said, keeping up with her brisk pace and scanning the crowd just as vigilantly as her. “I thought George bet on winning the game and was going to win a lot of money so he could pay off his parents house and pay for college.”

  Laurie shot me a look. “That might be his big plan, but it’s not what he agreed to. If he does that there’s no telling what my uncle will do. He’ll be pissed for one thing, but he also has to maintain his reputation. He’ll have to make George pay, and he might do it through people George cares about.”

  Mrs. Ma
sterson’s sweet face flashed before my eyes. They wouldn’t hurt his mother, would they?

  “Laurie,” I grabbed her arm and yanked her to a stop. “We have to call the police. This is illegal. We have to stop it before your uncle starts hurting people.” As much as I really was concerned about anyone at all getting hurt, at the moment I was more concerned about myself. Laurie said her uncle had targeted me.

  Laurie pushed herself right into my face. “If we call the police, I’m the only one who can be linked to anything right now.” She pointed to herself. “That’s why my uncle made me transfer here when it became apparent Forest Ridge had a good team this year and might make it to state.” Her voice held a bitterness I’d never heard from her before.

  “I’m the one who hooked George and his buddies up with the steroids to give them an edge and to lay a noose around George’s neck. It wasn’t hard after that to convince him to take out a little loan from Marvin to hold him over until after he won the game.”

  I think my mouth hung open as she talked. As many scenarios as Michelle and I had cooked up, none of them had Laurie pushing drugs and funding loans.

  “Once George was fully hooked,” Laurie said, “I threatened to go to the police about the drugs if he didn’t throw this game. I also let him know his loan would be considered paid in full if he did. It didn’t take him long to realize his entire future would go down the toilet if the police were involved. He not only wouldn’t get a football scholarship, he wouldn’t be eligible to play college ball at all. Odds were fair he’d even do time since he distributed the drugs to other players.”

  We were slowing the flow of traffic. A few people gave us dirty looks as they shoved past us. I barely noticed. After all this time I finally knew what was really going on.

  It wasn’t that it was so far off from what I’d been thinking that I couldn’t believe it. It was that while Michelle and I were trying to come up with what was happening, we were simply inventing far out stories. Things we kind of suspected might be true but didn’t totally believe. To have Laurie confirm that George was involved with illegal stuff and real-life criminals was hard to wrap my mind around.

  Laurie stepped away as someone else bumped into her and started walking again. “My uncle had me do all the dirty work so nothing could be traced to him. George and I are the only ones who’ll face the music if the cops get in on this.”

  “But what about the person you said he hired? Why can’t we call in an anonymous tip that there’s someone here with a gun?”

  I followed her look as it swept the rapidly filling stands. There were hundreds of people here. Each wearing bulky winter clothes and many carrying umbrellas. Without any kind of description, where would they start looking?

  And that’s if they took our call seriously to start with. I spotted a couple of uniformed police officers walking through the crowds and felt the slightest bit better knowing they were there.

  “Look,” Laurie said from the corner of her mouth. “Something’s not right. I haven’t been able to get ahold of Marvin all day, and he always stays in touch when we have something big going on.”

  My eyes widened. “You do this kind of thing often?”

  Laurie pinched her lips tight and gave me a look I interpreted as “you are so sheltered it hurts” although she could have been going for something a little meaner.

  We’d crossed the field and Jules spotted Laurie. She let out a high pitched squeal and came running towards us.

  “Stick close to me,” she said, turning on a bright smile as Jules got close. “Once I talk to Marvin I’m sure I can convince him to leave you out of this. Until then don’t go anywhere alone.”

  That made me feel a little better but not much.

  Jules grabbed Laurie in a big hug. “I was so worried about you. Where’d you disappear to after the pep rally? I’ve been texting you all afternoon!”

  Laurie’s whole demeanor changed as she jumped into what I guessed was her cover story. “There’s this guy I’m kind of seeing,” she said, sounding all bubbly and light-hearted and totally different than she had seconds before “Only we haven’t told anyone yet. We’re keeping it quiet until we know where things are going. You know how it is.”

  Jules jumped up and down. “I’ve been trying to set you up with guys all year. I can’t believe you finally found someone. Tell me who it is.”

  Laurie shook her head. “No can do.” She gave Jules a secretive smile.

  Jules wasn’t deterred and started naming every guy at our school.

  Laurie let Jules drag her over to the other girls so they could help her guess. I stood to the side and watched the stands fill with so many people I couldn’t make out each face. It was like staring into an over-crowded fish tank and trying to tell one fish from the other.

  I twisted my hands together. How would I spot Laurie’s uncle if he showed up much less a stranger he hired? Any one of those unfamiliar faces could be working for him. It could be a man a woman. Someone young or old. I searched for anyone acting off or suspicious in any way, but all I saw were eager fans visiting and looking for seats. This was hopeless.

  I didn’t want Laurie to get in trouble even though what she’d done was really messed up. I didn’t even want George to get in trouble. But this was really all George’s fault. Not only did he let himself get in such a bad situation, now he was going to renege on his end of the deal? Bad guys weren’t called bad guys because they had big generous hearts and were forgiving when someone tried to cheat them. Surely he knew that.

  Laurie was still the center of the conversation, but I made up an excuse and dragged her aside. “You said someone will come after me if George doesn’t do what he’s supposed to. Is your uncle planning on hurting me? Talking to me? What? I don’t even know why I’m involved in this.”

  Laurie’s face was pinched tight and her eyes never stopped scanning the crowds. “If it looks like George isn’t throwing the game, Marvin will send him a little message.”

  I grabbed both her arms and shook her. “What does that mean?” All kinds of scary images raced through my mind. Sending someone a message on movies wasn’t a cute little note or voice mail. It was broken bones and burned buildings. I hoped I was over thinking this.

  Laurie met my eyes and didn’t mince words. “He’ll hurt you to make sure George stays in line.”

  I felt the blood drain from my face. My knees turned rubbery. I started to sink to the turf, but Laurie held me up. “I’m keeping an eye out. I won’t let that happen, okay? That wasn’t part of the plan. We have to act like nothing’s wrong though. If he thinks you know what’s going on he’ll move faster.”

  “I can’t,” I whispered, feeling overwhelmed. I darted frightened glances at the crowd. “I can’t act normal, knowing someone might attack me at any minute. We have to call the police. We’ll explain he made you do everything. They’ll let you go and arrest him.”

  A look of sorrow swept across Laurie’s eyes. “That’s not how it works.” She licked her lips. “Not only that, he’ll find out who called the cops and kill them. You. Me. He won’t care.”

  “But he’s your uncle.”

  Laurie’s face hardened again. “He’s my uncle in name only. He “raised” me since my parents were killed. Really he just wanted to live in their nice house and drive their cars, living off the insurance money that was supposed to be mine.” The bitterness was back in her voice one hundred fold. “He’s made me work for him for years. I’ve been saving up to disappear, but that’s not as easy as they make it look on TV.”

  She gave me a hopeful look. “Why don’t you just talk to George and make sure he loses this game, but not too bad so it looks thrown, and then no one will get hurt?”

  I shook my head. “George won’t listen to me. We broke up this morning, and he’s acting crazy.”

  “You have to try.” She pulled her purple phone out of her waistband even though it was strictly against rules to have it. I figured cheer rules were low on my list
of concerns right now. “If I can get a hold of Marvin, I’ll tell him you two broke up. That might at least take the bullseye off you.”

  Without hesitating, I took the phone from her and pushed the button to hang up.

  “Why’d you do that?” She narrowed her blue eyes at me and snatched her phone back.

  I bit my lip, full of internal conflict. “At least if the target’s on me we can be on the lookout. What if they target his new girlfriend? Or his parents? No one’s watching out for them. They’ll be easier targets.” My forehead furrowed as I considered my next move. “Don’t tell him we broke up yet. I’ll try to talk to George.”

  I didn’t wait to see what she thought about that. The football players were lining up, getting ready for the game to start. I spotted George’s blond hair and ran straight to him. Of course, he had to be surrounded by the entire team. I shoved my way through a sea of shoulder pads.

  “We have to talk,” I said when I finally reached him. I kept my voice low and tried to drag him aside.

  He dug in his heels and looked me up and down before laughing. “You had your chance, babe. I told you this morning, we’re over.”

  My cheeks flamed as the guys near us coughed and laughed. “It’s not about that,” I hissed at him, scowling at his buddies. “I don’t think you want me to tell your friends what it’s really about.”

  His eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, but he stalked through the team and stopped in a vacant spot a few feet away. He crossed his arms and waited for me to catch up. “I don’t know what you think you know but you better keep your damn mouth shut.”

  Chapter 34

  I was too scared of Laurie’s uncle to be scared of George. I got right in his face. “Someone wants to hurt me because you’ve been running your big mouth saying you’re not going to throw the game like you promised.”

  He looked slightly surprised I knew that much but didn’t interrupt me. “I would have already called the police, but Laurie said only she and you would get in trouble if I did, and her uncle would just be more set on hurting someone.”