by Belle Payton
Ava’s definitely a better sport than I am, Alex thought. She wasn’t sure that she could be friends with any of the Kelly or Baker kids now, let alone keep passing the ball back and forth. As it was, she refused to greet Andy and his mom as they walked past.
“I don’t want chicken again,” Andy was saying to Mrs. Baker. “All you ever make is chicken.”
“Everyone wants something different. Do I look like a restaurant?” Mrs. Baker grumbled.
“Tim and Greg are going to the food court in the mall. Can I go?” Andy asked.
“How will you get home? Yoo-hoo, Tam!” Mrs. Baker waved wildly to Tamara. “We’re supposed to go to Uncle Doug’s later.”
“Corey’s going to be there, too. I can grab a ride from his mom and meet you at Uncle Doug’s,” Andy said.
Alex’s ears pricked at the mention of Corey’s name. Corey would be at the mall. Should she ask her mom to go to the mall too?
She shook her head. Reality check! She couldn’t talk to Corey at school. Did she really think it would be any easier in front of Andy Baker in the mall food court? She needed to talk to her friends first.
“We need to swing by the high school,” Mrs. Sackett told Alex and Ava as they drove away from Saint Francis. “Your dad is letting Tommy and Luke borrow his car, so we’ll pick him up. Warning—he’s in a foul mood.”
Alex met Ava’s gaze from the backseat. Once again, they didn’t need words. They silently agreed to tell him the rest of their story. He had to know that the Kellys had planned PJ’s football move before the dirt biking accident.
“At least you beat Saint Francis,” Alex whispered to Ava.
Ava nodded. She knew what Alex meant. Coach’s foul mood would definitely get worse.
When they reached the high school parking lot, Tommy and Luke were in Coach’s car, waiting to go. Their sneakers tapped the dashboard to the bass line of the reggae music blaring out the car’s open windows. Mrs. Sackett pulled up alongside them and called Coach, but he was stuck in an endless meeting with the athletic director.
“Change of plans,” Mrs. Sackett yelled to Tommy. “Your dad needs more time.”
“No way!” Tommy turned down the volume. “Cassie’s birthday is tomorrow. The store messed up the engraving once. I need to get there.”
“Tommy, it’s been a long day—”
“Please, Mom. We’ve got to help Tommy out. It’s for his girlfriend.” Alex emphasized this fact. Tommy was shy. The fact that he had a girlfriend was a huge deal in itself; the fact that she was as cool as Cassie was mind-boggling. Alex wanted them to stay together.
Mrs. Sackett sighed. “Okay. Leave the car here for your dad, and I’ll swing you over to the mall. Grab your books out of the backseat.”
“Me too, Mrs. S?” Luke called.
“You too.” Mrs. Sackett liked easygoing Luke. The whole family did. And Alex used to more-than-like him, but she was over that now. He was too old for her!
Tommy hurried into the front seat. He tossed a pink coat into the back.
“Hey, careful with my coat!” Alex cried. “What are you doing with it?”
“Pink is his color,” Luke teased, as he slid in beside Ava. “Tommy was thinking he’d add pink ruffles to his jersey this season.”
“Yeah, because I’m not enough of a target after PJ bailed on us,” Tommy grumbled.
“I must’ve left the coat in the car the other day,” Ava put in.
Alex smoothed out the sleeves and slipped it on. “You messed it up.”
“No, I didn’t,” Ava shot back.
“Yes, you did,” Alex couldn’t help herself. When Ava started, she just had to finish.
“Girls!” Mrs. Sackett cautioned, and Alex and Ava shared a smile. If they were annoying their mom with their bickering, things were back to normal.
A few minutes later, they pulled up to the main entrance of the mall. “You boys be fast. I’m going to drive down the street and grab a pizza. You dad loves the supreme pie. It may soothe the sting of the day.”
“Can I come too? I’m great at shopping. I’ll make sure Cassie’s present is perfect.” Suddenly Alex felt bold. It had to be fate that she was here. She should go talk to Corey.
“Count me out. I’m sweaty, and I hate the mall,” Ava said.
Tommy hurried Luke and Alex to Magic Memories as Mrs. Sackett drove off. The small store was decorated in pink and black and featured a variety of silver items that could all be engraved.
“Oh, look at this.” Alex held up a silver-backed hairbrush that had been monogrammed. “You should have monogrammed something for Cassie. I think monograms are classy. What’s Cassie’s middle name?”
“No idea,” Tommy admitted.
“What kind of lame boyfriend are you?” Alex asked. Her middle name—Wright—was her mom’s maiden name. ASW. Alex loved the way that looked. When she was older, she planned to monogram everything in her home—the plates, the towel, and even the toilet paper. She’d seen monogrammed toilet paper in a catalog once.
“Want to know the kind of lame boyfriend Tommy is? He can’t even get a bookmark engraved right,” Luke teased.
“That was not my fault. Can you believe they engraved ‘Our story begs together’?” Tommy said.
“What does that even mean?” Alex asked.
“He’s begging that she doesn’t break up with him!” Luke laughed.
“It means nothing. They made a mistake,” Tommy said.
“What were you aiming for?’ Alex asked.
“ ‘Our story begins together,’ ” Tommy said. “Get it? It’s a bookmark, and we just started going out.”
“I like it. Deep, yet romantic.” Alex nodded. “Impressive. Total approval.”
“Thank you.” Tommy gave a deep bow.
“Except Lover Boy has horrible handwriting,” Luke put in.
“They got it right this time,” Tommy said, as the clerk in retro black-framed glasses presented the newly engraved bookmark for inspection.
Alex proofread the bookmark. “Perfect! She’ll love it.”
“Would you like me to wrap it?” the clerk asked.
“Definitely,” Alex answered for Tommy. She’d spied the shiny pink-and-black wrapping paper and the matching organza ribbon. Tommy could never wrap better on his own.
“It’s going to take about ten minutes. Cool?” The clerk pointed to a pile of presents another clerk was wrapping.
“Very cool,” Alex answered again. Now she had time to find Corey. “Listen, Tommy. A friend is at the food court. I need to tell him something.”
“Text him.” Tommy counted the money in his wallet.
“It’s not that easy. I need to see him. I’ll be superfast. I promise,” Alex said.
Tommy eyed her suspiciously. “Mom will freak if I let you wander around the mall on your own.”
Alex pointed at Luke. “I’m not on my own. Luke will come with me.”
“I will?” Luke asked.
“Please,” Alex begged.
“Sure. Taking the Sackett twins to the food court seems to be my mission in life.” Luke grinned.
“Ten minutes,” Tommy warned. “You better be at the entrance then or you are on your own explaining this to Mom. I am not getting blamed.”
Alex hurried Luke through the mall. Her eye landed on a mannequin wearing the cutest striped sundress and hoodie combo in the window of Spruce, but she kept moving. Shopping would have to wait. She was on a mission.
She slowed as they neared the food court. She immediately spotted Corey’s dark-red hair, Andy’s spiky blond crew cut, and the Fowler twins’ floppy brown bangs. It didn’t hurt that they were all dressed in identical Tigers jerseys.
“So are we going to eat?” Luke asked. “I’ve got some cash.”
Alex bit her lip. Could she drag Luke with her to talk to Corey or would that be weird?
Weird, she decided.
“See that guy over there?” She pointed to Corey. He stood with the guys by the
curly fries stand. “I’m going to run over and talk to him. It’s kind of private. Could you, uh, hang back?”
Luke wiggled his eyebrows. “What is going on here? Are you going to start engraving bookmarks too?”
“Far from it,” Alex assured him. She tightened her coat around her, as if shielding herself, and headed toward Corey.
Tim spotted her first. “Hey, Alex! What’s up?”
“Nothing. Just shopping.” She dug her hands into the pockets. “Uh . . .” She took a deep breath. “Corey, can we talk?”
Corey studied her for a moment, then shrugged. “Sure.”
She tilted her head, indicating that he should step away from his friends.
“Ohhhh! She wants privacy!” Andy made gross kissing noises.
Alex rolled her eyes. Andy was such an idiot.
She stepped behind a stand-up sign advertising tropical smoothies. Corey followed. Luckily, Andy stayed back with Tim and Greg. Now that she was here with Corey, she felt her nerve going. She studied the pattern of rhinestones on the toes of her ballet flats.
“So?” Corey prompted.
She raised her head, and they locked eyes. Oh, wow! She thought about how great his eyes were for the millionth time. Dark blue like the water in a swimming pool on a cool day.
“So.” Alex had no idea where to begin.
“You wanted something?” Corey leaned against the sign, and they both watched it teeter. He steadied it.
“I wanted . . .” What did she want? She wanted to go out with him. “Do you like me?”
“What?” Corey startled at the directness of her question. She was startled by it too. Had she really asked that?
“I mean, I thought you liked me.” For a moment, her statement hung large in the air.
Corey’s face flushed. “Yeah, well, yeah.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Corey studied the list of ingredients in the tropical smoothie.
He liked her! He did!
“So? I mean, what happened?”
“It’s just that—”
“Alex.” She felt a tap on her shoulder. She spun around to find Luke pointing to his phone. “We need to go.”
“Oh, hi. One minute, okay?” She turned back to Corey.
Corey stared at her, his face filled with disbelief. Then he frowned.
“It’s just . . . ,” she prompted him. Finally she was going to find the answer to the mystery.
“It’s just nothing. He’s waiting.” Corey’s voice came out icy.
“But . . .” Alex fumbled, acutely aware of Luke listening to every word. “So . . . are we good?”
“No.” Corey shook his head, then walked away. When he joined Andy, Tim, and Greg, they immediately left the food court.
Alex started after him, but Luke stopped her. “Tommy is waiting with your mom and Ava. We’ve got to go.”
Alex watched Corey. He never looked back.
“I don’t get him,” she said quietly to Luke.
“Boys are weird,” he agreed.
Ava waited until Coach swallowed his first bite of supreme pizza before she spilled the story of the super team and the Kellys’ deception. As she spoke, Tommy and Mrs. Sackett exclaimed and ranted, but Coach stayed silent. He merely nodded and chewed thoughtfully.
Ava wasn’t sure what this meant. She shared a questioning look with Alex. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you this part before.”
“We never thought he’d leave. We didn’t want to upset you over nothing,” Alex added.
“Bad call. PJ’s leaving sure isn’t nothing,” Tommy quipped. “Maybe if Coach knew, he could’ve stopped him.”
“We’re really sorry.” Ava glanced at Alex. She was sure her twin would be angry with her, but she had to ask. “Are we in trouble?”
“It goes back to trust and honesty,” Coach said.
“We get that. We really do,” Ava said. She wondered why Alex was staying silent. Why wasn’t she fighting harder not to be punished?
“How about you girls make dinner one night this week?” Mrs. Sackett suggested.
“Totally!” Ava smiled at Alex. That wasn’t bad at all. Her twin had to be happy. Now she could go to the movies with Corey.
“PJ should try some trust and honesty,” Tommy muttered.
“I talked to him today,” Ava said, reaching for another slice.
“PJ? Why would you do that?” Tommy cried. “Everyone at school froze him out.”
“He was at my game,” Ava explained. “You know, he didn’t seem super excited about transferring to Saint Francis. His dad is making him do this. You should talk to him, Coach.”
“Look, there’s nothing I can do if Mr. Kelly has his mind made up, and believe me, I’ve tried. All day, I’ve tried. I’m not calling PJ blameless. The boy is almost eighteen, and he needs to start making himself heard, but I don’t live under his roof, so I don’t know how things are done at his home.” Coach turned to Tommy. “Neither do you. There is no reason not to talk to him.”
“But what about the super team?” Alex asked.
“My team won state—if that doesn’t make us the super team, I don’t know what does,” Coach scoffed.
“I’m telling the other players about this. They can’t keep thinking that you forced PJ off the team,” Tommy said.
“That’s so unfair,” Alex protested. “I mean, logically, why would the coach force his best quarterback off his team?”
“Oh, thanks!” Tommy clutched his heart. “Nice to support your brother.”
“I didn’t mean that you weren’t—”
Tommy jumped in before she could finish. “Dion is coming back next week. He’s been cleared to play. He’ll be QB1 now. All’s good. I’m happier at number two.”
“You know, you have the talent to play QB1 if you would only apply yourself and focus,” Coach started.
“Yeah, yeah.” Tommy stopped him. Ava—and Coach—knew his heart wasn’t fully into football. He loved playing piano and making music, too. But now wasn’t the time to get into that.
“Do you think other players will go to Saint Francis too?” Ava asked. “If Mr. Kelly said they’re looking to recruit a new team?”
“I hope not.” Coach folded his napkin and sneaked a piece of crust to Moxy under the table. “We’ll have to wait and see.”
“We can’t wait! We need to do something to make sure they all stay,” Ava said. Suddenly she was angry at herself for not jumping in earlier. Maybe she could’ve made PJ stay. He seemed like he wanted to.
“It’s hard to compete with Saint Francis,” Alex pointed out. “Did you see the water fountains in their halls? They have buttons to choose different flavors of water!”
“Seriously?” Tommy’s eyes widened. “I heard they give every student a customized laptop and a watch-computer!”
“I bet they buy the students robots to do their homework, too,” Mrs. Sackett added with a laugh.
“And program the robots to do the football practice sprints,” Tommy suggested. “If they do that, I’m in!”
Ava listened as her family laughed and poked fun at fancy Saint Francis. She wondered what PJ and Tamara would make of them. She tried to imagine dinnertime with Mr. Kelly and Mrs. Baker and gave a little shudder. She was glad she was a Sackett.
Then she had an idea.
“You know how you said the football team is just like a family?” she asked Coach. “We should make the guys part of our family too. We should invite them to dinner. You haven’t had a team-bonding event in a while.”
“That’s actually a good idea,” Mrs. Sackett said. “I think it would do the team and the town good to see Michael Sackett relaxed and off the field.”
“I can cook,” Coach offered.
“Me too,” Tommy chimed in.
Ava wrinkled her nose. “I think not.”
“I have a better idea. We can have a big barbecue here in our backyard.” Alex jumped up and found a pad of paper and a pen. “Okay, how many hamburg
ers will a team of football players eat?”
“You’ll make your famous chocolate chip cookies,” Mrs. Sackett told Coach. “We can even make the barbecue a monthly thing.”
“Tommy’s jazz trio can play music,” Alex suggested.
“Should we invite PJ?” Ava asked after they’d planned the menu.
Coach shook his head. “That ship has sailed. Let’s concentrate on the boys who are committed and focused.”
But Ava wasn’t ready to give up on PJ just yet. There were still six months until the first fall kickoff. Maybe she could find a way to get him back. Maybe Alex would help. Alex was good at fixing things.
Later that night Ava pushed open Alex’s bedroom door. “Hey, Al!”
“Knock much?” Alex lay on her bed, reading her English book. She scooted over for Ava to join her.
“That went okay, right? No grounding.” Ava rested her head on Alex’s pillow. She reached for Alex’s stuffed bunny and began to toss it. She couldn’t help it. Whenever she saw the bunny, she just had to toss it.
“I was kind of hoping we’d get grounded,” Alex confessed.
“Really? Why?” Ava cradled the bunny and faced her twin.
“Then I would have an excuse why I wasn’t going on Friday. I’d just tell Emily and Lindsey that I was grounded. I could blame Mom and Dad,” Alex said.
“But why?”
Alex told her about Corey blowing her off. Not once. Not twice. But three times!
“That’s harsh,” Ava agreed. “But Corey’s a good guy.” Ava had played football alongside Corey. She’d done sprints in the mud with him and push-ups in the grueling heat. Of all the boys on the team, he’d always been one of the nicest and most easygoing. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“It makes sense if he doesn’t like me anymore.” Alex thought for a moment. “I’m going to tell everyone that my parents won’t let me go to the movies. Corey hasn’t told anyone yet, as far as I know, so he probably won’t care what I say. We’re grounded, okay, Ave? Back me up.”
“Sure.” Ava had gone along with plenty of Alex’s crazy schemes in the past—saying she was grounded when she really wasn’t was not a big deal at all. “But after everything that’s happened this week with PJ and Coach, I’m not sure lying is the best idea.”
