by Shana Norris
“Hey, Cassie,” Elena greeted me as she made her way over to where I’d left my backpack and flute case. Mallory and Kelsey followed her. “How was your practice?”
“Torture,” I said. “I need a cold shower.”
Mallory made a face. “I’m glad I dumped band for cheerleading,” she said. “One year of marching in the sun was more than enough.”
And yet, jumping around in the sun was somehow better? It didn’t make sense to me, but I figured it must be popular-girl logic.
“You should join cheerleading,” Elena told me. “Then we could hang out together at practice.”
I snorted. “Me? A cheerleader? Did you not see me unable to keep in step while marching? I’m way too uncoordinated to even think about cheerleading.”
Elena pouted. “Oh, well, I guess we can still hang out after practice and whenever we get a break at the games.” She bounced on the balls of her feet. “I can’t wait until the game on Saturday! It’ll be so much fun.”
“I’m just looking forward to seeing the guys in those tight football pants,” Kelsey said, grinning as her gaze roamed over the football field.
“Well, yeah, that’s a given!” Elena said, giggling.
“Especially one guy in particular,” Mallory said, nudging Elena’s side. “Right?”
Elena’s cheeks reddened. “Maybe.”
Coach Wellens blew his whistle to signal the end of the practice, and the football players headed off the field. It was easy to pick out Hunter from the other guys. He stood taller than most, with broad shoulders and a thick, muscled body. Perry was tall too, though not as tall as Hunter, and thinner, with lean muscle and a narrow frame. They even walked off the field differently: Hunter kind of stomped, his body still rigid and tense from practice, while Perry casually sauntered off the field, as if the workout had no effect on him at all.
“Hello, ladies,” Perry said when he reached our little circle. He threw an arm around Elena’s shoulders and grinned down at her. “How’s it going?”
“Ew,” Elena said, wrinkling her nose. “You smell sweaty.”
She didn’t make any movement to get away from his stench.
“My apologies, dear lady,” Perry said, making a mocking, sweeping bow. “I shall now head to the showers to wash away the stench of my manly toil.”
I rolled my eyes.
But obviously I was the only one who thought Perry’s display was revolting. Elena, Mallory, and Kelsey all giggled and waved to him as he joined the line of guys headed toward the little gray building that housed the locker rooms.
Mallory and Kelsey let out an earsplitting squeal.
“Did you see the way he put his arm around you?” Kelsey asked Elena.
“He totally wants to go out with you,” Mallory said.
“Don’t you think so, Cassie?” Kelsey asked me. “I mean, you’re Perry’s sister. You know him better than we do.”
I knew my brother liked to flirt with pretty girls. And I knew Elena was just his type.
I also knew from the bad feeling in my stomach that things were not going to end well now that Elena Argos had come to Troy. Especially not if she let her fascination with my brother make her forget about her longtime boyfriend.
All three girls were looking at me as if waiting for an answer, so I said, “Um, yeah, I guess so.”
Elena slipped her arm through mine. “Tell me all about him,” she said. “What’s he like? What does he like to do for fun?”
I could tell her how Perry always managed to weasel his way out of doing his chores. Or about how when we were kids he tore the arms off my favorite doll. Or even about how he fell madly in love with girls for two weeks and then got tired of them and moved on to someone else.
But I knew Elena didn’t want to hear any of that. And if I didn’t watch myself, I’d end up sitting alone in the cafeteria again. I’d have to walk home from band practice by myself instead of standing with the three prettiest girls at Troy High, gossiping about boys.
And there was something about Elena. Things were different when I was around her. I wanted to be like her. She made me want to be pretty and popular and crazy over football players (although not football players who happened to be my brothers, because that would be gross).
I wanted Elena to be my friend. And I was afraid that the only way to have that was to tell her what she wanted to hear.
“Perry is such a great big brother,” I gushed. “He’s really funny and always helps out around the house. He’s a really great guy. He loves action movies and football, of course, and he sometimes helps my dad work on the family car. Perry is really smart about mechanical stuff.”
Elena squeezed my arm. “He’s not seeing anyone, is he? Or is there anyone he likes?”
“No, I don’t think so,” I said. “Well, obviously he must like you, with the way he’s been acting since he met you at lunch. But I haven’t heard him say anything about liking anyone else.”
Elena stopped walking and turned toward me. Kelsey and Mallory stood behind her, with matching grins as they watched Elena.
“Cassie, can you do me a huge favor?” Elena asked. “Tonight at home, can you somehow find out what Perry really thinks of me? Find out if he truly likes me? I’ll give you my cell number and you can call me right away. I have to know every detail about what he says and how he says it. Okay?” Her blue eyes sparkled as she looked at me, her smile hopeful. I felt as if she were entrusting me with an important task. And no one else could do this for her.
I nodded. “Sure,” I promised.
“How was the first day of school?” Mom asked over dinner that night.
Family dinners consisted of the five of us eating in various places around the living room while watching TV. I sat on the floor, with my plate on the coffee table. “Fine,” I answered.
“Not bad,” Perry said, shrugging.
“Uh-huh,” Hunter grunted, his eyes glued to the TV.
“Sounds like a great day,” Dad said, smirking. “How was football practice, guys?”
“Good,” Hunter said. “Coach said my throwing arm is looking great.”
Dad nodded approvingly. “I knew all that practice this summer would improve your arm,” he said. “Not that it needed much improving.” He grinned.
“So, Cassie,” Mom said, “how were your classes?”
Mom always asked that. And I knew that what she always really wanted to ask was, “Did you make any friends today?” It practically killed my mom that I wasn’t as popular as she had been in school. My dad had been a football player and my mom a cheerleader. They were like the perfect, popular couple. They’d had two perfect, popular kids. And then they’d had me.
I’d spent my entire life convinced that I must have been adopted.
“My classes were fine,” I said, stirring a cucumber around in a puddle of salad dressing on my plate. “I have a friend in my English class.”
Mom’s face lit up so much you’d think I had just told her Santa Claus was coming down the chimney right at that moment. “You do? Who is it?”
“Elena Argos,” I said. “She’s one of the kids who got transferred to Troy from Lacede for the redistricting. We have a couple of classes together. And we knew each other already because she—”
I caught myself just in time. I almost said that we knew each other because she was dating Greg’s brother. I had a feeling that spilling the beans about Elena’s relationship status in front of Perry probably wasn’t the way to win her friendship.
But why shouldn’t I say something? Elena was dating Lucas. Perry had a right to know that before he had any serious thoughts about dating her.
And yet, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.
Maybe Elena and Lucas really weren’t together anymore, I told myself. They could have broken up last night after I left Greg’s house. Elena and Lucas breaking up was nothing new. Every few months, they had a huge fight and swore they’d never speak to each other ever again. Then three weeks later,
they were back together, proclaiming how they were soul mates.
But wouldn’t Elena have been upset today if they had broken up? Or maybe she had become so used to it that it didn’t even bother her anymore?
I had to keep my mouth shut for a little while.
“How do you know Elena?” Mom asked me.
“Oh,” I said, trying to think quickly, “we met at the community pool last year.” I shoved a forkful of salad into my mouth and focused on chewing.
“I can’t believe Elena is a sophomore,” Perry said through a mouthful of steak. “She seems so much more sophisticated. Sophomores are babies.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You were a sophomore just last year,” Hunter reminded him.
Perry waved a hand. “Exactly my point. Last year, I was just a kid. This year, I’m much more mature.” He let out a loud burp. “Excuse me. See? Last year I wouldn’t have said excuse me after burping. This year I have manners.”
Oh, puh-lease. When had he suddenly developed these manners? Right after he had held me down and farted on me two days ago?
“But there’s something different about Elena,” Perry said. The corners of his mouth curled into a slight smile. “She’s not like the other girls at school. Not like anyone I’ve ever met.”
“You’ve only talked to her twice,” I pointed out.
“But I can tell,” Perry insisted. “She’s special, I can feel it.” He put his plate down on his knee and looked at me. “Cassie, you have to help me get her.”
I swallowed the food in my mouth. “Get her what?”
“You know, get her to go out with me. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her all day. Do you know if she’s seeing anyone?”
This was it. This was the time to tell my brother the truth. Maybe I could find a way to break it to him gently.
But the way Perry looked at me made me remember the way Elena had looked that afternoon. Perry and Elena could become the most popular couple at Troy High. And if I kept my mouth shut and went along for the ride, I could be popular too.
I didn’t owe any loyalty to Lucas anyway. What had he ever done for me?
I tried to push thoughts of Greg out of mind as I said, “I don’t think she’s seeing anyone right now.”
Perry smiled wide at me. “Great. Tomorrow I’ll work my magic on Elena Argos.”
“BUT WHAT SHOULD I DO?” ELENA ASKED ON the phone later that evening.
I lay on my back across my bed, staring up at the ceiling. I couldn’t believe Elena Argos was asking me for advice. “I don’t know.”
“Lucas and I have been together a long time,” Elena said. “But we keep breaking up. It’s not a healthy relationship, is it?”
“You guys have broken up fifty times in the last year. I think you should be experts at it by now.”
“But those breakups were different,” Elena explained. “We always knew they weren’t forever, but this time it is. Once I tell Lucas it’s over, it’s really over. I want to do this right. I don’t want to make him go crazy or anything.”
“That’s … considerate, I guess.”
“I still care about him, but I’m not in love with him anymore.”
“Then you shouldn’t be with a guy who you don’t like in that way.”
Elena sighed. “I wish this were easier. But I think I really like Perry. I can’t stop thinking about him. And I can’t believe he actually likes me.”
“He does,” I said. “He said he’s been thinking about you all day.”
I had to hold the phone away from my ear to keep from going deaf at Elena’s squeal.
“A little warning next time, please,” I grumbled.
“Oh, Cassie, you don’t know how happy you’ve made me,” Elena said. “I could come over there right now and kiss you.”
“Better not, my kissing seems to scare people away.”
Elena didn’t seem to hear my comment. Or she didn’t care, as I could hear her rustling through something on the other end of the line.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Trying to pick out the perfect outfit for tomorrow,” she said. “I want to look my best when I see Perry at school.”
I thought Elena always looked her best regardless. “Okay, then,” I said. “I’ll let you go. I need to do my homework anyway.”
“Okay. Thanks for everything, Cassie. You’re a great fake best friend,” Elena joked, laughing.
I laughed. “That’s my job.”
As I hung up the phone, I thought about Greg. What was I doing helping Perry and Elena get together? How mad would Greg be if he found out I’d had a part in breaking his brother’s heart?
I found myself picking up the phone again and dialing his number.
“Hello?”
My stomach jumped. Lucas had answered the phone. Could he sense I had just talked to his girlfriend and knew she planned to break up with him?
“H-hi, Lucas,” I said, trying to sound normal even though my voice trembled a little. “Is Greg home?”
“Hold on,” Lucas said.
A moment later, Greg picked up the phone. “Hey, Cassie,” he said. His voice sounded a little weird, lower than normal.
“Hey,” I said.
There was silence as I tried to think of something to say. Memories of our kiss flooded into my head.
I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself. “Look, Greg, let’s just forget about … you know. Okay? It was a mistake.”
Greg was silent a moment, then said, “Okay. Forgotten.”
He didn’t like the kiss. That was obvious. I was so incredibly stupid. Why hadn’t someone invented a time machine so I could go back and undo the biggest mistake of my life?
“So,” I said, pushing away those thoughts, “why haven’t you called me today? You always call after the first day of school to see how things went.”
“Sorry,” Greg said. “I had this student council meeting after school and now I’m working on ideas for fund-raisers we can have this year. I didn’t realize being the tenth-grade class president would be so much work. It’s a good thing I decided not to try doing this and band at the same time.”
Greg had quit band after his freshman year when he was voted class president for the upcoming year. I was a bit disappointed, since band had brought Greg and me together in the first place.
“You were the one who wanted to be president,” I reminded him. “You could have stayed with us band geeks and just showed up at games when needed.”
Greg laughed. “I know, but student council will give me more experience than band would if I hope to get into politics one day. Besides, I kind of like being in charge. The other class officers kept looking to me for ideas and approval during our meeting today.”
“A nice stroke to your ego, I’m sure,” I said, rolling my eyes as I settled back into the pillows on my bed.
“And it gets me out of Lucas’s shadow,” Greg said. “I’m sure you know how that feels.”
Of course I did. I’d done nothing but live in Hunter’s and Perry’s shadows my entire life.
“So how did your first day of school go?” Greg asked.
I rolled onto my side and ran a fingernail over a loose thread on my comforter. “Fine,” I said. “The same old thing, I guess.”
I couldn’t tell Greg about Elena and Perry. Part of me wanted to and knew I should, but the other part really didn’t want to mess up this budding friendship with Elena. It felt nice having someone notice that I was around. I loved having Greg as my best friend, but I also liked having a girl to talk to. Maybe I could even eventually talk to Elena about Greg. She had more experience with guys than I did, so maybe she could tell me what to do about the feelings I had for him.
“There weren’t any riots in the halls because of the former Spartans now attending Troy?”
I laughed. “No, everything seemed to go fine. An uneasy alliance, I guess, since we’re all forced together.”
“Did you see Elen
a?”
I swallowed hard, trying to keep from sounding as panicked as I felt at his question. Why was he asking me about Elena? Did he suspect something?
“Yeah, we have English together,” I told him. “And we have the same lunch period. Oh, and the cheerleaders were outside practicing at the same time the band was, so I saw her then too.”
“The Spartan cheerleaders aren’t going to be too happy to hear that she’s now cheering for the Trojans,” Greg said.
“Well, she can’t help that her house is now inside the Troy district,” I pointed out.
“I know, but this rivalry makes people crazy. Lucas is already making comments that the Lacede students now attending Troy should have all convinced their parents to move into the Lacede district so they wouldn’t have to change schools.”
There was definitely no way I could tell Greg that I knew Elena planned to break up with Lucas. If Lucas already felt this hostile about something that people had no control over, how would he react to the news?
Greg sighed. “I should go. I have a ton of stuff to read over from last year’s sophomore president.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Hey,” Greg said, “want to come hang out with me at Lacede’s game on Friday night?”
My heart sped up a little at the thought of spending Friday night with Greg. “Sure,” I said.
“Great. See you then. Good night, Cassie.”
“HEY,” ELENA SAID WHEN SHE FOUND ME AT my locker after school the next afternoon. “We’re all going to the Ice Cream Factory. Come on.”
I looked over her shoulder and saw Mallory and Kelsey waiting nearby. “Me?” I asked. I had never been asked to go to the Ice Cream Factory with anyone.
“Yes, you,” Elena said, laughing and tossing back her blond waves. “We’re all going. Don’t keep us waiting.”
“Who’s we?” I asked as I shut my locker and let Elena lead me down the hall toward Mallory and Kelsey.
“Come on, Cassie,” Mallory said, sneering. “Don’t be such a slowpoke.”
The girls led me outside to the parking lot, past the losers’ circle, where the geeks and loners watched us as we laughed and talked on our way outside. In the parking lot, three cars waited along the edge of the grass.
