“Uh-oh is right, Ms. Martin.” She wrote out a slip on her detention pad, ripped it off with a bit too much enthusiasm, and handed it to Tessa. “Mrs. Gentry is waiting for you.”
“I’m going with you,” I said, handing Chewy off to Cody. “We can do good cop/bad cop and hope she goes easy on us.”
“Ha! You and your dimples always get off scot-free. I’m the one who’ll be doing hard labor.”
9
Tessa
Aaaand that’s how Spencer and I ended up in Principal Gentry’s office trying to clarify our morning activities in the hopes we could exonerate ourselves.
“Two trips to my office in as many weeks, Ms. Martin.” Mrs. Gentry’s fingers tapped a rhythm on her desk as her green gaze drilled into me. She sat behind her desk with a forbidding look on her normally friendly face. “Explain yourselves.”
“Right. First, I’d like to say we didn’t mean to flaunt the rules. I—I simply forgot to get the permission form signed. It’s totally my fault.”
I felt Spencer’s gaze whip over to me.
“That’s not true, Mrs. Gentry,” Spencer said. “The form was my responsibility. That’s on me, not Tessa.”
“I’ll make a note to hold you both accountable.” And she did. She leaned forward and wrote something down on her legal pad before looking back up. “We simply can’t have students setting up kissing booths willy-nilly.”
Willy-nilly?
“No, ma’am. But—”
“But—” Spencer interrupted me, which was probably good because he was much more persuasive than I was. “But what happened is my teammates and I are a bunch of sensitive guys. One Friday night, we saw one of those horribly sad ads about dogs in the local shelter, and we knew we needed to do something. So, after we all stopped bawling our eyes out and dried our tears, we came up with a plan to do something about it.”
“You’re telling me that big-hearted jocks crying their eyes out is the reason for the unauthorized kissing booth?” Mrs. Gentry asked, her face looking like Spencer had just offered to sell her a handful of magic beans.
“Yes,” Spencer said.
“No,” I blurted out. “It’s actually part of my senior art project. I’ve created an ad campaign to publicize the lacrosse team here at Sweet Mountain High.”
“The lacrosse team?” She frowned, leaned forward, and picked up the phone as she hit her intercom button. “Pauline, did we remember to add lacrosse try-outs to the spring schedule?”
“Oh, good.” She hung up the phone. “Ms. Derby said we’re good. It’s just, the lacrosse team is so new, sometimes I forget about it.”
“Well, there you go.” Spencer threw his hands in the air before slapping them down on his thighs. “That’s why we did the kissing booth. And Tessa and our team have a lot more planned to publicize the team, too. This year will be the lacrosse team’s second season, but no one knows about us. Not the faculty and not the students.”
“Spencer is right. The lacrosse team works just as hard as the football and soccer teams. The lacrosse team adds a lot to SMH: teamwork, school spirit, exercise, and watching guys hit other guys with sticks is fun.” I smiled confidently even though I was vaguely aware my sentences were more like word salad. “Aren’t these all ideals we can get behind, Principal Gentry?”
“Well, I don’t know . . .” She tapped her fingernails on her desk again. “I’m still having trouble connecting playing lacrosse to the kissing booth.”
“To put it another way, ma’am,” Spencer jumped in. “You might say what we were doing was promoting the health and general welfare of the student body, which is guaranteed under our Constitution.”
“Our school doesn’t have a constitution,” Principal Gentry said, arching an eyebrow at Spencer.
“I’m talking about the Constitution of the United States of America. We may not be able to vote yet, but we can still care about our rights and our foundations,” Spencer said. “Isn’t that right, Tessa?”
“Absolutely.” I nodded, figuring Spencer, sweet talker that he was, was on a roll. I was a little lost on what direction he was rolling in, but I figured he’d be using his blue eyes any minute now.
“But Mr. Hale, I’m confused about how the principles of the Constitution are upheld and guaranteed by a kissing booth.”
“Oh, that. Well, the kissing booth was more of a symbolic gesture of the guarantee to the pursuit of happiness, Mrs. Gentry. Ma’am.”
It took everything I had not to snicker or roll my eyes. Spencer was laying it on a bit thick, but I moved my gaze from Principal Gentry and over to Spencer. Oh yes, he was working that blue gaze of his now. Blue gaze. Blue gaze. Blue gaze.
“Alright, Mr. Hale, as long as you don’t set the booth up again this semester, we’ll let it go this time.”
“Thank you, Principal Gentry,” Spencer said, standing quickly and grabbing me up with him and hustling us out the door.
“Whoa, what’s the rush?” I asked, darting my gaze behind us to see what I’d missed.
“Not my first rodeo. I’ve learned always to exit on a positive note.” Spencer grinned over at me as we headed out of the front office. “You, young lady, are unbelievable.”
“Is that good unbelievable or bad unbelievable?” I asked.
“Good. Very good.” Spencer looked at me with respect. “The kissing booth was sheer genius.”
“Maybe, but I’m sorry we ended up at the principal’s office.”
“Are you kidding? We’ll be the talk of the school,” he said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as we walked down the hall where Cody and a couple of lacrosse players waited for us. “I call that free publicity.”
He had a point.
“Well? How much trouble are we in?” Cody asked.
“Thanks to Tessa, none.”
“Me? No, pretty sure you hypnotized her with those eyes of yours.”
“He’s been using those to get out of trouble since kindergarten.” Cody shook his head before looking at me. “So, I think our kissing booth was a success.”
“Totally agree,” Mikey said. “Could you believe the number of students who had no idea Sweet Mountain had a lacrosse team?”
“It’s still a new sport to some kids,” Spencer said. “Thanks to Tessa, we handed out a lot of flyers today.”
“And kisses.” Cody sighed happily. “I don’t want to brag, but one girl Frenched me.”
“Spencer got a lunch date with his dream girl.” Did I sound like a growly Chihuahua when I said that? “So, I guess we all got what we wanted.”
Rhys punched him in the arm, and Cody put him in a headlock to rub his knuckles on his head.
I shook my head at their antics and began cleaning up. “Hey, where’s Chewy?”
“Maria came and got him,” Cody said. “Which is good because knowing me, I’d have lost the little guy.”
“Cody, the form wasn’t a big deal,” I said. “Stop beating yourself up.”
We finished the clean-up and grabbed up our backpacks to head to our classes.
“Oh, hey. I need to take some photos of each player for our next promo. Any chance you guys could call an informal practice so I could take photos then?”
“I’ll send out a text and see,” Spencer said. “You should come to band practice tomorrow. You haven’t been in ages, and you could get started with some photos there.”
Five of the guys—well, five including me—had formed a band back in our freshman year. It was just a way for us to hang out together during the winter. Another thing I’d pulled back from.
“Yeah, Tessa. It’s not the same without you.” Cody ran his knuckles on my head until I batted his hand away. “Come to practice. Please? Spencer, hit her with the blue gaze.”
“It doesn’t work on her. She’s immune,” he said, his blue eyes smiling at me.
If immune felt like a swarm of butterflies taking flight at once and scattering in the wind, then yea. Totally immune to Spencer’s blue eyes.
&
nbsp; “I’ll try.” It would help me get started with the photos. And I did miss playing with them. But those butterflies were why I’d stopped going.
10
Spencer
The next day, I stood outside the cafeteria, trying to look as chill as I could. Like I was all that and a bag of chips. I knew what table Ashley and her friends sat at all last year, but I absolutely did not want to be the first one there. I also knew I wouldn’t be dragging my lunch from home out of my backpack. I was sure this was not the peanut butter and jelly crowd. For today, I’d buy a slice of pizza and figure out later on if I could afford to keep that up.
My money was a little tight since my trip to Replay. I knew Tessa thought I was being shallow, but to hang with this crowd, I needed to fit in. So, why was I feeling guilty? Maybe guilty wasn’t the right word. Stupid? Yeah, I felt a little stupid remembering how hard I’d worked at my summer lifeguard job and busing tables at Skippy’s diner to earn all that money. Then again, I only had one shot at this, and I always went hard at every goal I set.
I pulled my phone from my back pocket to check the time, deciding I’d waited long enough to head into the cafeteria when I heard someone call my name. Looking around, I saw Tessa and Cody heading my way.
“Hey, we grabbed the last picnic table under the trees,” Tessa said. “It’s time to decide on our Halloween costumes for this year.”
“I can’t. I’m meeting Ashley for lunch,” I said.
“Right! High five!” Cody and I slapped hands over Tessa’s head.
“Whoa.” Tessa ducked just in case. “I forgot, you’re the man with the plan. Good luck, stud. Just remember, we’re here for you if you want to come back to the dark side.”
“Spencer, if you see your sister in there, tell her I’m outside if she needs someone to eat lunch with,” Cody said.
“Yeah, no.” Cody had started crushing on Lexie some time last year, and we were all hoping he’d get over it soon.
“Oh, boy.” Tessa shook her head and grabbed Cody’s sleeve, pulling him away toward the picnic table.
I took a deep breath and pulled open the cafeteria door. The noise from hundreds of chattering high school students hit me right away, and the scent of fried food permeated the air. I’d buy my pizza first and scope out where Ashley was while I stood in line. Hopefully, that would save me from looking like some love-struck dweeb.
As it turned out, I didn’t need to worry about looking for Ashley because just as I got in line and grabbed one of the orange plastic trays, she found me.
“Hi, Spencer,” she said from behind. “Mind if I cut in line?”
“Sure you can cut. You can even put your lunch on my tray.” Oh, good. So much for not acting like a love-struck dweeb. Put your lunch on my tray? Spencer, really? Might as well offer to carry her books or lay over a puddle so she doesn’t get her feet wet. Jeesh. Step up your game, idiot.
She smiled at me and placed a strawberry yogurt and a diet cola on the tray. It didn’t look like much food compared to my pepperoni pizza, apple, and two milks. It didn’t look like much compared to the amount of food I knew Tessa and Lexie packed away three times a day. Maybe being popular took so much time you had to cut down on other activities—like eating. I paid for both of us before following Ashley to the table.
“Hey, guys. Y’all know Spencer, don’t you?” Ashley made the introduction as we both slid onto a bench at the table.
“Hi, Spencer. I’m Haley. I think we had biology together last year,” she said.
“Miss Dunderfin? Really, you were in that class?” I couldn’t recall seeing her in biology.
“Well,” Haley said, “I spent most of class out in the parking lot, but when I did make it, I sat in the back row and slept.”
“Oh, yeah.” I didn’t know what else to say. I might not love school myself, but doing well in school was part of my long-term plan. Skipping school would only slow me down, so it never held any appeal. “Well, uh, I hope you passed the class.”
“Nope.” Haley didn’t sound upset at all. “I’m taking it again this year, and I have Mr. Watson, who is soooo great.”
“Oh, the new student teacher?” Another girl down the table asked. “Tabby said he’s hot.”
“Brian. Trey. Do you know Spencer?” Ashley nodded to two more students sliding onto the bench opposite me. Other than the fact that one guy was huge, they could pass for my clones. Or vice versa. Same short haircut, same little shark emblem that sat on the left side of all three of our collared button-up shirts.
“Hey, Spencer. I feel like I’ve seen you out on the field. You on the JV football team? Or is it soccer?” the guy named Trey said.
“Lacrosse. I play on the lacrosse team.”
“Oh, right. Forgot we had one.” Trey smirked across at me. “I play Varsity football. I’m the quarterback.”
“Dude, think you mean the backup to the back-up quarterback. Zayn’s our quarterback, and Kurt’s the back-up,” Brian said around a mouthful of cheeseburger. He nodded at me. “I’m on the football team, too. Defensive back.”
My gaze dipped down to the three-course meal piled high on his tray. “Yeah, I can tell. I mean, I’ve seen you on the practice field after school.”
“There’s a rumor you lacrosse guys might even be able to win a game or two this year,” Trey said.
We’d finished in third place last year and had the trophy to show for it, but I clamped my jaw tight and withheld the slightly rude response on the tip of my tongue. I didn’t need to get into a fight with one of Ashley’s friends on day one. Besides, the way Tessa was helping publicize our team, we wouldn’t need to rely on rumors. We’d have actual fans at our games.
I was opening my second milk when Arnold, from the gaming club, walked by with his tray. I nodded at him just as there was a blur of movement, and Arnold was flying through the air. Reacting on instinct, I jumped up and gave him something to fall against instead of the floor.
“Thanks, Spencer.” His eyes jerked over to Trey before we both bent down to salvage what we could of his lunch. It wasn’t much. Especially considering his slice of pizza was stuck to the front of his shirt.
Trey, Ashley, Karen, Haley—pretty much their whole table laughed like it was the most hilarious thing they’d seen.
I jerked my gaze to Trey and back to Arnold. “Do you want me to—”
“No. In the words of Horatio Hornblower, ‘He’s not worth the powder.’” Arnold jerked his head in a nod and left.
I hadn’t seen for sure what had happened, but the smug grin on Trey’s face made it easy to guess what he’d done. Not cool. The fact that the whole table had laughed, really not cool.
“Hey, everyone! Vivian and Stu are going to Cancun the weekend before Halloween,” Trey announced to the whole table, although I noticed he didn’t look at me. “Guess what that means?”
“Yeeessss. It means this year’s Halloween party is going to be lit!” Haley said.
Easy guess that Vivian and Stu were Trey’s parents.
“You know what they say, Spencer,”—Ashley turned, placing her hand on my knee while flashing me a look from under her eyelashes—“when the parents are away, it’s time to play.”
Time to play. I closed my eyes and counted to five in my head as the realization hit me. When I’d come up with my brilliant plan, I had failed to consider a few things. I didn’t drink. No one in my crowd did. I didn’t mind dressing like Ashley’s group temporarily, but I would absolutely draw the line at drinking. I also never imagined a scenario where I’d have to turn down the most popular girl in school. But I had to.
It wasn’t just the drinking. I also had one of the last mothers on earth who still called a kid’s house to talk to the parents. My parents were pretty cool, and I didn’t feel comfortable lying to them. Which meant I’d need to think up a lie to tell Ashley so I wouldn’t have to lie to my mother. Some days, life did not make sense.
Ashley scooted closer to me on the bench. “Do you want t
o go with me, Spencer?”
Did I?
11
Spencer
“It sounds fun, but I’ll have to check my work schedule.” That was the truth, and it would buy me some time to figure out a solution.
“You work at night?” Ashley asked, her delicate eyebrows scrunched together.
“Those tables at Skippy’s don’t bus themselves, do they, Hale?” Trey said, smirking across at me like he thought he could embarrass me.
I chose to ignore him and turned back to Ashley.
“Yeah. I work nights in the fall, so I have my spring clear for lacrosse. About the party—” I started, only to be interrupted by a hand slicing between Ashley and me, waving a yellow slip of paper in my face. Like a life vest held out to a drowning man, a student stood there with my chance to escape.
“Dude, Mrs. Gentry wants to see you. Now,” the not-a-moment-too-soon note-holding student said.
Ashley frowned at me, and I quickly grabbed the note with a shrug.
“What can I say? Mrs. Gentry can’t quit me.” Probably Tessa’s next new publicity move. I stood, grabbed my backpack, and backed away from the table. “I’ll see you later, Ashley.”
“Wait!” She jumped up after me and pulled a black Sharpie marker from her purse. Reaching out, she grabbed my hand, pulling my shirt sleeve up to my elbow. Without glancing at me, she proceeded to scrawl her phone number on the inside of my forearm. She turned the last zero into a heart. Yeah, that was sweet. “Better yet, call me later.”
Okay. So, Ashley Marks was signing parts of my body with her phone number. I’d say my plan was working.
“Later,” I said and walked out the door, feeling like I’d mastered the next level in my favorite video game.
I was halfway down the hallway when someone called my name. Turning, I saw it was one of Ashley’s football player friends coming at me. Brian. Uh-oh. I knew the guy, Trip—no. That wasn’t his name. Travis? Wait—Trey. He hadn’t seemed too happy I’d joined their crowd at lunch. The dude had looked at me like he wanted to rip my face off for talking to the queen bee of their group. Here’s hoping he hadn’t sent Brian to do the job for him. Brian was a big dude.
My Totally Off-Limits Best Friend: A YA Sweet Romance (Sweet Mountain High, Year 2: A Sweet YA Romance Series) Page 5
