In A Jam

by Megan Sparks

  First published in 2013 by Curious Fox,

  an imprint of Capstone Global Library Limited,

  7 Pilgrim Street, London, EC4V 6LB

  Registered company number: 6695582

  www.curious-fox.com

  Text © Hothouse Fiction Ltd 2013

  Series created by Hothouse Fiction

  www.hothousefiction.com

  The author’s moral rights are hereby asserted.

  Cover designed by Jo Hinton-Malivoire, original concept by www.spikyshooz.com

  All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  ISBN 978 1 78202 038 7

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  A CIP catalogue for this book is available from the British Library.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner.

  ebook created by Hothouse Fiction Ltd

  With special thanks to Alexandra Diaz

  Special thanks to Matty, for everything

  Chapter One

  “Gooooooal!” the announcer shouted. “The Liberty Height Stags now lead the Prospect Park Panthers 3-2 in the final game of the season!”

  Annie squealed and hugged her best friend next to her. “Did you see that, Lex? My boyfriend scored a brilliant goal!”

  My boyfriend. Just the sound of those words on her tongue made her tingle with excitement. Tyler was by far the fittest guy at Liberty Heights High School. He had irresistible blond hair that always seemed to fall just right and green eyes that Annie could gaze into for hours. And his body ... wow! Lean and muscular, he was perfect. And he was all Annie’s. She couldn’t believe her luck.

  Lexie grunted and looked up briefly from her sketchbook. “He’s awesome. Can we go now?”

  “Course not,” Annie said. The cheerleaders came out and did a little number led by Annie’s favourite person in the world. Not. Blonde, popular, and with a personality to match the Wicked Witch of the West, Kelsey had been vicious to Annie since she’d moved to Liberty Heights. They’d got off to a bad start just because Annie had accidentally knocked into Kelsey on her rollerblades. Their relationship had got even worse when Annie turned down a place on the cheerleading squad in order to play roller derby instead, the best sport on four wheels. No, the best sport ever, full stop.

  Annie definitely couldn’t leave the match now. Not with Kelsey prancing about, thrusting her hips and sticking her chest out as the cheerleaders danced. Kelsey had made it all too clear she wanted Tyler for herself.

  “Come on, Lexie,” Annie said. “There’s only ten minutes left. And this is for the regional championship. Besides, what kind of person leaves before the end of a match?”

  Lexie let out a breath that hung white in front of her mouth. “A cold one? It’s got to be below zero.”

  Annie put her arm around her best friend and gave her shoulders a rub. It was pretty cold. In London, where Annie had grown up, it wasn’t often this cold. But Annie figured she might as well get used to the weather. She had moved here a few months ago with her dad. Although she missed her mum and England, Liberty Heights, Illinois had some great things going for it and a little bit of cold wasn’t going to send her packing.

  Annie kept watching Tyler and the match while trying to comfort Lexie. “Pretend you’re Vincent van Gogh and can’t afford heat in your garret, but you’re on the verge of finishing your masterpiece.”

  “No good, I can’t feel the pencil to draw any more.” Lexie flexed her hand to get the blood flowing again.

  Annie tore herself away from the game for just a second to glance at her friend. Lexie’s fingers poking out from fingerless gloves did look a bit blue. Lexie was passionate about her art and never missed an opportunity to work on it. Maybe, Annie thought, she’d enjoy the match if she gave it a chance.

  But Annie wasn’t going to say that to her best friend. Lexie and sports were like ice cream and garlic; they just didn’t go well together. The last thing Annie wanted was to argue with her.

  “Tell you what. Stay with me, just until it finishes, and I’ll make you the most gorgeous hot chocolate you’ve ever had when we get back to Rosie Lee’s.”

  “Fine.” Lexie was pawing at the page of her sketchbook, struggling to turn it. “But it better have lots of whipped cream.”

  “Well, yeah. You know my dad makes it himself.” Annie imagined the freshly whipped cream and decided that she might just have to enjoy a gourmet hot chocolate too.

  After Annie’s mum and dad separated, Dad had decided to return from London to his hometown in Illinois to follow his dream of opening up an English-style café. It was called Rosie Lee’s, Cockney rhyming slang for tea. While it had got off to a slow start, business was steady now, especially with the Christmas season approaching.

  It had been a hard choice for Annie to choose which parent she wanted to live with. She had grown up in London and definitely felt British, but Dad pretty much raised her single-handedly while Mum worked at her law firm. Dad had always been there for Annie and she couldn’t imagine life without him, even if it meant leaving the familiarity of England. Still, Annie couldn’t help but hope that maybe her parents would get back together one day.

  Annie got to her feet as the Panthers pushed forward, trying to score a goal, but before it got to the keeper, Tyler somehow soared a metre into the air to head the ball back to Javier. Great play!

  Five minutes left on the clock and Annie couldn’t keep her eyes off the pitch. The ball was going back and forth between the teams, but the Stags still held on to their one goal lead. If they could keep it up, Annie might be kissing a regional soccer champion tonight. Annie let out an excited high-pitched squeal and Lexie responded with a sound of exasperation.

  Annie offered Lexie her scarf, but Lexie shook her head. Poor Lexie. If only she could enjoy the game. There had to be a way to make her feel more connected.

  “Did I tell you what the team did to the coach?” Annie smiled at the memory of Tyler telling her the story. “Tyler and Ethan bought a live turkey from a farmer the other day and put it in the coach’s front garden. The coach freaked out when he came home. The bird started chasing him and wouldn’t let him get in the house. The coach had to call animal control and they spent hours chasing after the bird through the neighbourhood!” Annie laughed as she imagined the scene.

  “Hilarious,” Lexie muttered.

  “Don’t worry, they caught the turkey and took it to an animal sanctuary.”

  This time Lexie grunted but didn’t look up from her sketch. Maybe it was more than just the cold. Maybe Lexie and her mum were fighting again. Although Annie got along well with Lexie’s mum, she knew Mrs Jones wished her unconventional daughter would be more normal. It wasn’t fair how parents always wanted their kids to be different to who they were. Annie had the same problem with her mum back in London.

  She hugged her legs to her chest and tugged on the hat that covered her long brown hair. OK, maybe it was a bit colder than she admitted. That was the disadvantage of being so tall (five foot eleven and a half) and slim. There was nowhere to store body heat. Everyone had already warned her about the Midwestern winters and it was only November. At least there wouldn’t be any more soccer games until next autumn.

  Annie glanced at the sketchbook again. Instead of complimenting Lexie’s artwork, Annie frowned at the sketch. Lexie’s gloved hands were covering most of it.

  “Hey, what’s that?” Annie asked, reaching over for the sketchbook.

  Lexie quickly flipped the book over to
hide what she had been doing. “Nothing. Just something I messed up on.”

  Annie didn’t know what to say. She’d seen the sketch for the briefest second when Lexie had moved her hands. Still, it was long enough to know what she saw: a soccer player with an uncharacteristically large head, cheesy grin, and a speech bubble that said, “I’m so awesome.” It could have been any of the players, but Lexie was too good an artist not to make him clearly identifiable. Even without the exaggerated cheekbones and the perfect hair, Annie still recognized him easily. Tyler.

  Annie realized that Lexie didn’t really like her boyfriend. But then again, Lexie didn’t like most jocks and the attention they got. She was resentful that athletics got much more funding than the arts. But getting together with Tyler was one of the best things that had happened to Annie since she moved to the United States. Surely Lexie could make an exception and like this one particular jock. Annie knew, though, that it wasn’t exactly one-sided. Tyler thought Lexie was a bit eccentric (he used the term “weird freaks” to describe Lexie and her friends from manga club). But Tyler read the comics in the newspaper and that was kind of close to the graphic novels Lexie read. They had that in common at least. Annie really liked both of them and giving up one for the other wasn’t an option. Maybe if they spent more time together, they’d realize how great the other was. They would just have to find a way to get along. Besides, they did have another important thing in common...

  Annie.

  Chapter Two

  “I still can’t believe we won!” Annie danced around Lexie, half with excitement, half to warm up, as they headed to her dad’s café. “I was sure that last shot was going to go right in. If Tyler hadn’t cleared it, it would have been a draw.”

  “We call it a tie,” Lexie mumbled.

  Annie frowned. Normally Lexie didn’t correct her British terms. In fact, Lexie often tried to incorporate British words into her own vocabulary. For instance, Lexie now went to the “loo” instead of the “bathroom”.

  She’s probably just cold and hungry. Some people got all grumpy when they felt like that. Dad was a miserable old git if he worked too hard and forgot to eat. Annie linked her arm through Lexie’s and started singing her favourite Queen song, “Don’t Stop Me Now”, to cheer her up. By the time they got to Rosie Lee’s, Lexie was smiling.

  The café was half full when they walked in. Across the black and white chequered floor was a display case stuffed with mouth-watering goodies. Lexie had painted an amazing mural of a double-decker London bus with famous Brits waving from it that gave the café enough hipness to be a hangout for young as well as older customers. Lexie plonked herself down at a table while Annie went into the kitchen. One of the regulars, Simon, was chatting with Dad through the kitchen serving hatch while Dad rolled out the dough for raspberry white chocolate croissants. Not only was Dad the best cook in the world, he loved talking to everyone. Two great qualities for running a café.

  Also, it didn’t hurt that he never took himself too seriously and was always being goofy.

  As soon as he saw Annie, Dad straightened his shoulders and gave an evil laugh. “At last, my victim has arrived. Here, try this.”

  He reached for a cheddar cheese scone and tried to shove the whole thing in Annie’s mouth. Annie extracted the scone as Dad and Simon laughed at her startled expression. She took a normal-sized bite and savoured it. It was delicious. But she wasn’t about to say that to Dad; it’d just go straight to his head.

  “Hmm, a bit salty, isn’t it?”

  “You see? That’s what I thought too, but Simon,” Dad exaggerated his friend’s name, “Simon thought it was perfect.”

  “Just face it, Dad, you’re not.” Annie gave him a condescending pat on his arm.

  “Inconceivable!” Dad spluttered in mock indignation.

  Now it was Annie and Simon’s turn to laugh. Annie gave her dad a kiss and exchanged her school bag for an apron. The oven timer went off and she pulled out some gorgeous-smelling chocolate chip cookies. Dad scolded her when she placed two of the hot cookies on a plate instead of letting them cool first. Annie just smiled sweetly – Dad did the same thing when there weren’t customers around. In their minds, there wasn’t anything better than a cookie piping hot from the oven. Especially when it was chocolate chip.

  Annie devoured hers and set the other in front of Lexie, who was warming up her hands with her breath. “I’ll get that hot chocolate going,” Annie said.

  “Awesome,” Lexie said with a grin, looking the happiest she’d been since school ended for the day. Annie smiled back. Amazing what a bit of chocolate could do for anyone’s mood. Annie turned to prepare the café’s signature drink: steamed milk, Dad’s own hot chocolate mix (cocoa, vanilla infused sugar, and pinches of cinnamon, cayenne, and salt), mini marshmallows, and lots of homemade whipped cream.

  Annie had just finished adding the whipped cream when the bells attached to the door chimed the arrival of a customer. She glanced over her shoulder and beamed. No, not any customer.

  Tyler.

  Following behind him came his usual entourage of teammates and cheerleaders, including Kelsey. Annie didn’t know why she had to come. Kelsey would only complain about how fattening everything was. But then she’d steal bits from the cute boys’ plates so the calories wouldn’t “count”. Or something. Annie had no idea how Kelsey’s mind worked. Or if it even did.

  She set Lexie’s hot chocolate down on the counter before greeting Tyler. “Hiya! How did you get here so quickly? Lexie and I only just made it back.”

  Tyler dangled the keys to his sports car in front of her and winked. “They’re called wheels, babe.”

  Annie grinned. Tyler knew how strange she found it that everyone drove at sixteen here and loved teasing her about it. Driving age was seventeen in the UK, but in London most people waited until they were older to learn how to drive. Before she could reply to his cheeky comment, he came behind the counter to give her a long snog. There was a definite “eww” that might have come from Kelsey but Annie barely noticed. Tyler’s kisses always made her forget everything. When he let go, she had to steady herself against the counter, her legs too weak to hold her up.

  “Come sit down.” Tyler gestured towards the three tables his gang had pushed together, with their regional championship trophy on the top.

  Annie looked around. There weren’t any new customers. The empty tables had been cleared and wiped. The display case was full. She grabbed a tray of mugs and the coffee pot, and a plate of assorted cookies, and scooted around the counter. Even though she had just got there, she supposed she could take a mini break.

  As soon as she set everything down, Tyler pulled her onto his lap even though there was a free chair next to him. Annie blushed, not sure what to do. It was a bit awkward. Standing they were almost the same height (actually Annie was an inch taller) but on his lap, she felt like she towered above him. Then there were the other reasons it was awkward.

  If Mum were here, she would have scolded Annie for being inappropriate and demanded she get off him at once. But Mum wasn’t here, was she? She was several thousand miles away in London. And Dad was busy in the kitchen. Besides, it wasn’t like Tyler was touching her where he shouldn’t. Just a hand on her leg that felt oh so nice. If they were alone, she’d lean into his chest and enjoy his arms around her. But since they weren’t alone, being on his lap was a good alternative. Especially since Kelsey seemed to seethe with jealousy.

  “Did you see me score, babe?” Tyler asked as he emptied four sugars into his coffee.

  “You were brilliant. During that last shot, you really psyched out that keeper ,” Annie gushed.

  “I know, I couldn’t believe it,” Tyler beamed. “He’s one of the top goalies in the state.”

  “Let’s not forget who assisted that goal.” Javier sipped from a cup of coffee before reaching for a peanut butter cookie. “This coffee is fantastic, Annie.”

  “Cheers,” she said. “And you were great out
there too.” Javier was definitely the best player after Tyler and the only freshman on the varsity team. Nice too. He always chatted a bit with Annie. She was about to say something else to Javier but Kelsey interrupted.

  “You’re a shoo-in for the All State team,” Kelsey said, leaning across the table and showing off more cleavage than should be allowed in a family café.

  Tyler laughed the compliment away while Annie pressed her lips together. If only she could make Kelsey back off.

  They were all still talking about the game when Lexie appeared at their table.

  “Annie, I’m going.” Lexie stood in front of her, avoiding eye contact.

  “No, please don’t.” Annie got off Tyler’s lap. “I was just going to come over.”

  “What’s that you’re wearing? Are you going to a costume party?” Tyler laughed. Javier folded his arms and shook his head disapprovingly. Annie wanted to hide.

  There was nothing funny about it.

  In the few months Annie had known Lexie, she hadn’t seen her best friend wear the same outfit twice. Or rather the same look. Today was no exception. Chunky black Mary Janes, black and white striped thigh-high socks, short red tartan skirt, and white shirt. Today Lexie must have spent hours straightening her wild ringlets and tucking the ends under to form a pageboy hairstyle. A red bow sat innocently on top of her head. Lexie looked like she’d stepped out of an anime film.

  “It’s an artsy look from Japan. I think it’s really cool,” Annie defended her friend. Lexie always had a way of looking hip. “What did you call it? Harijoku?”

  “Harajuku,” Lexie muttered, buttoning up her coat.

  Kelsey smirked. “Newsflash! Only total geeks get their fashion inspiration from comic books.”

  “Oh really?” Lexie said, pretending to sound surprised. “I always assumed you were basing yourself on Two-Face from Batman, Kelsey.” Lexie pulled the white bobble hat she’d knitted herself over her head and took off. The rest of the table hooted at Lexie’s comeback.

  “Lexie, wait! Tyler was just kidding,” Annie said.