Rebound Boyfriend

by Daphne James Huff

  It had made cheerleading a little less fun now, but everyone knew that was her fault, not mine. And, as captain, I had to show a united front. An unspoken truce existed but was as delicate as the cheer charm bracelets we all wore. The simmering tension threatened to split the team apart at any moment. Once again, I was grateful we had only a few weeks of the season left.

  “I have your essays for you,” said my history teacher, Mr. Carter, interrupting my thoughts. He was looking particularly pensive at the front of the room. “I am not quite sure if they’re up to AP standard yet.”

  My heart sank as his eyes flashed to me. I struggled to keep from squirming in my seat under his scrutiny. I had made up for all my mistakes from last semester, but it didn’t look like Mr. Carter was as quick to forget.

  History class had never been my favorite. Finding out at beginning of the year that Jeremiah was in it with me seemed like a great way to get to know him after pining after him for years. And that was exactly what had happened. We’d started by sitting close to each other. Then studying together. Then ‘studying’ together…

  And then heartbreak.

  Sitting here every day in the front while he took a seat in the very back was like torture. My neck was sore from straining to keep myself from looking at him.

  “I think it’s time to talk about your final projects,” Mr. Carter said.

  Everyone shifted in their seats, and murmuring rustled through the class. It was worth fifty percent of our grade, and we’d all known it would start after winter break. And I really needed to do well on it. Like, ninety-nine out of one hundred good, or I’d never make up from the disaster of last semester. But couldn’t he have waited until after basketball and cheerleading season was over and my mind was at least a little more on top of things?

  “There are some very strong students and some that need more help,” he said, glancing around the room.

  I sank into my seat. I knew I was one of the ones who needed help. Ever since my private tutor had dumped me for my former best friend, it had been hard to study. Not that we’d really done that much studying before…

  No. I was angry with him. I would not think about kissing him. Ever again.

  “I’ve paired you up in what will hopefully be beneficial sets. In addition to working together on the final project, the stronger partner will tutor the weaker one, thus reinforcing both of their knowledge of the topics.”

  Ugh, was he still talking? Couldn’t he just post a list instead of making it a whole public thing? I doodled on my paper, slowly but surely transforming the JKs on my notebook into butterflies and flowers.

  “Abbington and Hanes, Garret and Hart, Keller and Parsons…”

  My head shot up. I turned to the back of the room.

  Jeremiah’s look of surprise was a mirror image of my own. I drew my eyebrows together in a death glare. His eyes went wide, and he swallowed hard. The chemistry nerds weren’t the only ones I could scare.

  I threw my hand into the air the second Mr. Carter finished his list of partners. “I would like to be reassigned, please,” I said primly.

  Mr. Carter closed his eyes and sighed. “There will be no changing of partners if you want to pass this class,” he said.

  “What? That’s not fair!” I said, crossing my arms. “I can’t work like this.”

  “Consider it preparation for college, Miss Parsons,” he said, opening his eyes to give me a significant look. “Please follow the rules this time. You can’t always get what you want.”

  Someone in the back started singing the rest of the Mick Jagger song, and the class laughed, the spell broken.

  I ignored everyone, especially Mr. Carter’s ‘follow the rules’ comment, and refused to turn back to see what Jeremiah was thinking about all this.

  But what would Linzie think?

  My cheek twitched.

  What would Staci think?

  I spent most of the class worrying and didn’t really pay attention to what Mr. Carter was saying, even though I really needed to pass this class. Although I’d always done pretty well in school, my grades this year were already borderline, and I was still waiting to hear back from a few schools who’d waitlisted me. I refused to be the only senior at prom without a boyfriend or solid college plans.

  Everyone started shuffling out before I even realized class was over. I stood slowly, letting everyone else leave, hoping to catch Mr. Carter again to argue my case. I was pretty sure in college you could change classes when your ex was in it. He couldn’t seriously expect me to learn anything from someone who had broken my heart.

  “Hey.”

  Well, speak of the heartbreaking devil.

  I turned to see Jeremiah’s deep golden eyes staring into mine. He’d never been one to do that annoying ‘check me out’ glance up and down; he’d always looked at me like a person, not a hot body. Now I wondered if I shouldn’t have been more worried about that. Linzie had always been gorgeous, plus she had a good five inches on me. Maybe he liked being able to look her in the eye.

  “What?” I snapped, shoving my ginormous history book into my shoulder bag.

  He blinked and frowned. “Just wanted to see when you think we can meet up to get started.”

  “How about the Tuesday after never?” I said, the words sliding off my tongue like hot coals. I saw each one singe him a little bit. Instead of being thrilled, guilt seeped into my chest. “I’m going to talk to Mr. Carter…”

  I sighed. Our teacher had already left, heading to who knows where. The teacher’s lounge, most likely. There was definitely something going on with him and the new French teacher. Even the teachers were luckier in love than me.

  Jeremiah bit his lip. “How’s your mom?”

  If my words had been hot coals, the glare I gave him now was pure ice.

  “Fine. Everyone’s fine.”

  My mom was most definitely not fine. Jeremiah hadn’t been the only guy to walk out of my life over the holidays.

  “You know I have practice every day, but we could meet during morning break, if you want.”

  As seniors, we got a dedicated study room and a free period. Most people ditched, and I had been planning to as well.

  “Fine. Can I go to class now, please?” I was gripping my bag as if I were about to swing it at him. I knew I would never do something like that, but I had to let him keep thinking I was mad. If he knew how much pain he’d caused me, he’d just go off and laugh at me with Linzie.

  Thankfully, he stepped aside, and I brushed past him, hitting his chest with my arm on purpose, but then I stumbled when I met a hard block of muscle. I sucked in a breath as he grabbed my elbow to steady me. The electric touch of his skin on mine was like a shot of espresso right to my heart. I turned to shoot him another icy glare but melted when I saw tenderness shining in his eyes.

  How could he still be looking at me like that after what he’d done?

  He opened his mouth to say something, but I pulled out of his warm grasp with a jerk of my arm. I didn’t turn to look back as I ran out of the room.

  Chapter Four

  Operation ‘find a new boyfriend’ had suddenly become more than a little urgent.

  How much time will I be spending with Jeremiah over the coming weeks? I wondered as I raced into the crush of bodies in the hallway. Jeremiah called my name, but I ignored him completely, sped over to meet Staci by her locker. It was on the other side of the school from my next class, but being two minutes late wasn’t as important as alerting her to the now urgent need to find another guy. I had to get my mind off Jeremiah immediately.

  I bumped into several people in my rush to get to her, channeling the whole bitchy cheerleader vibe that was more Linzie’s deal. I usually tried to be nice to most people, but this was an emergency.

  “I have to get a boyfriend,” I said, slightly out of breath by the time I got to her locker. “Now.”

  Staci’s Cheshire Cat grin was instantaneous. “I know just the person.”

  I b
linked, then narrowed my eyes. “You’ve been thinking about this already, haven’t you?”

  She waved her hand. “Of course. I knew you’d be ready eventually. I’ve had someone waiting.”

  “Who?”

  “Ryan Nelson.”

  My eyes nearly fell out of my head. “I can’t go out with him! He’s Jeremiah’s teammate.”

  Geez, even I had standards.

  “So? Jeremiah went out with another cheerleader, Sammi. That broke all the rules.”

  I bit my lower lip, considering.

  “Well, he isn’t too terrible looking,” I conceded.

  Staci grinned even wider. “Are you kidding? He’s ten times hotter than Jeremiah.”

  Debatable. Ryan was more the tall, stocky type. He was a great shooting guard, but I found him a little awkward. Besides, he was a junior, and what would it say about me to be going out with someone younger than me?

  Still, desperate times and all…

  “Fine. Make it happen.” My stomach dropped, like the final nail in the coffin of mine and Jeremiah’s relationship. If I was going to do this, it meant we were really over.

  Like his daily make-out session with Linzie wasn’t proof enough.

  I could practically hear Staci cackling with glee as I raced away to my next class.

  Later, we stood in line for lunch. “Why the sudden change of heart?” Staci asked.

  Nothing looked terribly appetizing, but cheerleading took a lot out of us. Coach got mad if we didn’t eat, and frankly, we were all super cranky when we didn’t. Not worth the pain, from either side.

  “What do you mean?”

  Staci sighed and grabbed two rolls and extra butter to split. “Yesterday you were crying over his torn t-shirt as I wrenched it out of your claws. Today you’re all of a sudden ready to move on?”

  I shrugged. “What can I say? All of that candy finally convinced me. And I don’t want any more of your slaps.”

  “Hmm.” She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, totally not convinced.

  But for some reason I didn’t want to tell her.

  I’d be spending hours with Jeremiah soon enough, all in the name of acing my history project and getting the best grades I could this final semester. I wasn’t heading off to Harvard or anything, but I was still waiting to hear from my top pick. These third-quarter grades would be important. My brother and sister had both gone to really good schools; I wanted to make my mom proud. She’d been so miserable lately and I really wanted to do at least one thing to make her happy. She’d never liked me cheerleading, and had been okay with it the past four years because I had kept my grades up. And I always had, until recently.

  So if keeping those grades up meant finally getting over Jeremiah so he could help me, then that was what I’d do. But I wanted to do it on my own; Staci’s methods, while original, weren’t going to work for me in the long run. I had to do this without M&Ms and without slaps. A new boyfriend was clearly the right choice.

  Besides, what difference did it make if Staci knew I was spending time with Jeremiah? All she needed to know was what to tell Ryan about my favorite movies and date spots.

  For now, Jeremiah was my secret.

  “Go, Mountaineers! Get a win for Rosemark!”

  My face was hot from screaming for an hour in the heat of the gym. Basketball season was really the worst. Weeknight games, like this awful Thursday one, made keeping up with homework nearly impossible. On top of that, the room got so hot, the smell of sweaty players mixed with the winter coats and wet boots of the crowd made an incredibly unappetizing mix. Give me fresh air and a football stadium any day, even in the cold Colorado winters.

  Besides, Ryan was shooting me winks from the bench, and that just made my face burn even hotter.

  “What did you tell him?” I asked Staci during a time out.

  Ryan was thankfully occupied.

  “That you’d been crushing on him for ages and couldn’t wait for him to ask you out.”

  “What?” I turned my head to face her, whipping the girl next to me with my tight ponytail. She shot me a look and scooted closer to Linzie on the other side of her.

  One more for the Linzie team. Captain or not, I needed to get myself together or people would start thinking Jeremiah had dumped me for being a total nutjob.

  “Well, it’s true, right?” Staci raised her voice, glancing over to Linzie. “You never liked Jeremiah at all, did you? Just someone to keep you occupied while you were waiting to make a move on Ryan.”

  “Yes, totally.” My voice sounded flat and robotic to my ears, but the girls around us were leaning in with interest. “Ryan’s always been my dream guy.”

  My stomach twisted at the lie. I’d honestly never even noticed Ryan at all before this week. He was just another guy on the team, the same as all the others. Jeremiah had been my crush since middle school, and to have finally gotten him but lost him was the kind of pain that would take a little more than a few handfuls of peanut butter M&Ms to get rid of.

  But Linzie couldn’t know that. And Jeremiah couldn’t know that, not if we were going to have to spend so much time together over the coming weeks.

  “Go, Ryan!” I yelled, standing and cheering as the players made their way back onto the court.

  He turned and shot me another wink, and my stomach churned a little, but I kept my wide smile plastered on.

  Ryan faced the court again, but Jeremiah had already started passing him the ball, and it slipped out of Ryan’s hands and into the waiting arms of a player on the opposing team. The rest of the Rosemark team on the bench groaned, and those on the court yelled at him.

  “Get your head in the game, Ryan!” cried Anderson, the captain, looking furious.

  I sat back down quickly and flushed. Oops.

  Ryan was pissed at Jeremiah, and everyone was pissed at Ryan. The team fumbled other passes and missed shots they normally made. They’d been having a rough season anyway—girls’ basketball was way better at Rosemark—but this was a new level of bad.

  The girls around me on the bench agreed.

  “Yikes, it’s like Mackey forgot how to dribble.”

  “Preston is all over the place tonight.”

  “Playoffs are like, two weeks away,” said Staci, leaning in to me. “If this is how they’re playing now, there’s no chance of them going.”

  “Well, it would mean less time dealing with some people.” I kept my voice low, glancing to my right at Linzie.

  “But also less time staring at your favorite player,” said Staci, raising her voice.

  “Je-Ryan, yes,” I said, cursing my tongue for its habits.

  Staci spared me a slap, but I got a hand squeeze that was slightly too hard to be friendly.

  I wasn’t sure how much more of this I could handle. Yes, I’d done the whole ‘purge’ process and now had Ryan as a goal. But that didn’t mean all of my feelings for Jeremiah had just vanished.

  I avoided looking at either of them and let my gaze wander the crowd. I smiled as I caught the eye of Preston’s sister, Charlie, who had been dating my cousin, Jackson, since the fall. All thanks to me, I might add. They’d been such boneheads about the whole thing, but seeing Jackson happy had been worth it. He played basketball for our rival school, Pinebrook, and Jeremiah had always been decent to him. Thanksgiving this year had actually been fun, once he and Jeremiah had finished their daylong basketball tournament in Denver. We’d all driven back together when it was over, and eaten at my aunt’s house, where we’d laughed and talked all night.

  Christmas, however, had been an unmitigated disaster.

  I shook my head, turning my focus back to the game. It took another agonizing thirty minutes for Rosemark to lose, and if there was one thing I hated more than Linzie and Jeremiah, it was being a cheerleader for a losing team.

  It was just embarrassing.

  With heavy feet but perky smiles, we trailed back to the locker rooms. My sneakers had come out of their expert game-day knots, s
o I leaned against a wall just outside the door and bent to tie them.

  “Um, could you move?” I turned my head and looked up to see Linzie standing behind me.

  There was a wide expanse of hallway for her to maneuver around me, but apparently, she wanted to use the exact same path that I had taken. Typical.

  My face grew hot, and I narrowed my eyes. We hadn’t spoken directly to one another in weeks, and I had so much I wanted to say, it was all tangled on my tongue, each barb getting caught on one another so all that came out was something like “Unghmfffh.”

  She let out a shrill giggle, and Christina mimicked her. We’d giggled together so many times over others, it was like a knife to the heart to hear it directed at me. How many people had cried because we’d laughed at them?

  I couldn’t let her see me flustered. I pulled myself up to my full height, and despite being so much shorter than her, I managed to look down my nose at her.

  “I’ll move when I feel like moving,” I said, my voice a low snarl. I accented it with a flick of my chin, and she swallowed hard, her eyes never leaving mine. “I’m not stepping aside for you.”

  Her icy stare hesitated only for the briefest of seconds before lighting up.

  “I’ve got all the room I need next to Jeremiah,” she said with a toss of her hair.

  The reminder was like getting punched in the gut.

  Don’t let your face fall, don’t let your face fall…

  “If you want my leftovers, go ahead,” I said. “I’m moving on to bigger and better things.”

  She raised an eyebrow and scoffed. I couldn’t think of anything else to say and prayed that would be enough to get her off my case. Another ten agonizing seconds of staring, and she finally turned on her heels and shuffled off in the opposite direction.

  Once she was finally in the locker room, I collapsed against the wall in the now empty hallway, and let a single tear escape down my cheek.

  Chapter Five