French Fries with a Side of Guys

by Rebekah L. Purdy

  She wondered how her dad coped with it. He didn’t have it easy, that was for sure. He had to juggle raising six kids alone and running his own restaurant. Payton couldn’t imagine the stress he had to deal with.

  With a sigh, she rolled over. Would her family ever get over the loss of her mom and be able to live semi-normal lives? At this rate, she doubted it.

  Payton grabbed her lit book while trying to shove her bag and uniform into her locker. Why did they make these things so small? You’d think the school would realize how much freaking homework people had and make bigger lockers. With one last, giant shove, she finally lodged her stuff inside. Although getting it back out again might be a problem.

  From across the hall, she heard Maria’s voice drifting above everyone else’s. All squeals and high-pitched. Payton glanced at them.

  “So you never did tell me how your date with Chance went.” Maria giggled next to Kelly, her new best friend.

  “Oh, the movie was awesome. We ended up doubling with his brother and Debbie Mathers.” Kelly shrugged, then waggled her eyebrows like she was trying to keep the other girl in suspense.

  Payton went still, pretending to be studying the contents of her locker. Okay, maybe she’d misheard Kelly. They were supposed to be best friends. She wouldn’t really do something like this, would she? Taking a deep breath, Payton tightly gripped her book.

  “Did Chance kiss you?” Maria prodded as they began to walk down the hall.

  “No, but I think maybe by the next date he will. Oh, and he asked me to homecoming, can you believe that?” Kelly squealed, jumping up and down. “He called last night after practice. Oh my gosh, I wanted to die. He’s so freaking hot. And he’s into me. So anyway, maybe you could come with me to pick out a dress.” Kelly looped her arm through Maria’s, pushing right by Payton.

  She squeezed her eyes shut, wanting to scream or cry or hit something. Kelly was a traitor, and so not on the friend radar anymore. Her stomach twisted in knots as she slammed her locker door shut. So much for being Chance Montgomery’s girlfriend—or even friend, for that matter. Payton was seriously starting to regret beating him out for the quarterback position. But she wasn’t about to back out now. For shit’s sake, she’d worked her butt off this season. Just because he wasn’t man enough to admit she was better, it wasn’t her problem. She’d show him that she was the best. And she didn’t need him or his approval to win games.

  Payton sat down at her table, watching as Mrs. Bradford rolled a TV/DVD combo into the classroom. At least she wouldn’t have to concentrate on reading or writing first thing this morning.

  “I’ve got a surprise for you, class. I figured since you all did well on your tests yesterday, I’d bring in the movie Pride and Prejudice. I think the book will make more sense once you’re able to watch it here.” She smiled at everyone, a wistful look on her face that Payton was sure had everything to do with Mr. Darcy and nothing to do with her English class.

  Chance bounded into class late and handed the teacher a yellow slip of paper excusing him for being tardy. He slid into the chair next to Payton’s and set his books down.

  Payton cast a sideways glance in his direction, spotting that his hair was still damp from a shower. His face was drawn tight, his hands clenched on the edge of the table. Geez, was he ever in a good mood?

  She sighed, not wanting to even think about going to his study hall later to work on their paper, not after the way he’d treated her the night before.

  Focusing on the TV screen, she forced herself to watch the movie, which actually wasn’t too bad. Lots of swoony romance, a sarcastic lead lady … and well, Mr. Darcy was kinda hot, in an older-guy kind of way.

  Partway through the movie, Chance nudged her leg under the table, and she turned in her chair to glance at him.

  “What?” she hissed in a low whisper.

  He slid a note toward her, and she quirked an eyebrow in surprise. It simply read, “Sorry about last night.”

  She gave a nod then leaned over. “Me too.”

  That seemed to suffice, and they spent the remainder of the class in silence, but every so often she’d sneak a look at him to find him studying her profile. Payton raised a self-conscious hand, wondering if she had food on her face, or worse—a booger hanging out of her nose. But there wasn’t anything grotesque clinging to her, or at least nothing she could find without racing to the bathroom to look in the mirror. And it was at that moment she decided she’d be doomed to suffer at the hands of her crush for all eternity … It only took one look from him to melt her into putty. Why the hell couldn’t she just get over him? He’d been such a douche bag lately. But he had been nice the first time they’d met. Even during the first day of tryouts he’d been decent. However, that didn’t mean she should just jump back on the Chance Montgomery wagon and doodle his name on her folders or take discreet photos of him with her phone. She needed to be smart about this. Besides, he was into Kelly—or so she’d said.

  The next several minutes were complete torture. Sitting so close to him. Smelling his yummy cologne. Watching the way his eyelashes brushed against his cheeks. Crap. No. No. No. She couldn’t lose focus now. Just because he apologized didn’t make things okay.

  When the bell rang, relief flooded over her, and she rushed to her locker to trade out books for second hour. “Hey, Neal.” She waved, trying to catch up with her friend.

  “Hi. I see you survived English lit.” He grinned, staring at her Pride and Prejudice book.

  “Yeah, but barely. At least we got to watch a movie.” She shifted her books from one arm to the other. “So I heard Mr. Decker is gonna be assigning projects this week.”

  “Like we need more work.” He rolled his brown eyes skyward. “Between all the homework, practice, and games I don’t have time to do anything else.”

  “Tell me about it. I have to work tonight too.” When they arrived at their classroom, they took their usual table in the back. “Guess who apologized to me today?” She plopped down in her chair and watched the teacher take a sip of his coffee.

  Neal laughed. “I’m gonna go with Chance. He must’ve gotten an earful from Youngman last night.” He grabbed a pen from his folder and twirled it around between his fingers. “Did he sound sorry, or was he just saying it to say it?”

  “This might come as a shock, but it seemed pretty sincere.” Which only added to her confusion. You’d think with all the brothers she had, she’d at least have an idea of what was going on in Chance’s head. But nope, his mood swings were worse than a girl with PMS. “I forgive him, but he’ll have to do more than write me a note to be my friend again.”

  Mr. Decker cleared his throat, slid his seat back from his desk, and stood, indicating class was starting—or, more specifically, that they should shut their mouths. “Happy Tuesday.” He clapped his hands together. “I’m really thrilled about our next assignment and hope that you will be too.”

  “Great,” Neal muttered under his breath, “I sense many tremors in the Force.”

  Payton covered her mouth, trying to smother a giggle.

  The teacher shot them a warning look, which instantly shut them both up. “For the next month we’re going to map out the stars and planets. You and your partners are going to come up with a couple different models showing the movement of the planets as well as the positions of the stars. I want you to find the names of some of these stars and plot them on your solar-system maps. I’ve also sent away to the star registry so we can name our own star.” He paced back and forth. “You’ll need to make time for you and your partner to get together and work on this. And I want full participation. I don’t want to find out that only one partner did the work. If I do, I’ll be handing out some Fs.”

  Payton turned to Neal, whose face had drained of color. “What’s wrong?”

  “Um … nothing.” He shrugged, refusing to meet her eye.

  Okay, it didn’t seem like nothing to her. But she didn’t want to press him. If he wanted to talk about
it, he would, right? Once class was over Payton walked in silence, wondering what was bothering Neal. He was always the one cracking jokes or talking with her, but now he couldn’t get away from her fast enough. Maybe he didn’t want her as a partner. But she didn’t think that was it. She exhaled loudly. Had her brothers slipped her some type of magnetic perfume that repelled boys? God, she was really beginning to think so.

  By seventh hour, Payton still hadn’t received her pass to go to Chance’s study hall, and even though she didn’t really want to go, she was totally disappointed. This sucked. And it meant they’d be running short on time to work on their project. If her grade-point average got screwed up because of him, she was going to kick his ass!

  “Hey, beautiful.” Jake swooped into choir class carrying his guitar. “Mr. Fogg wants us to set up in the large practice room today so he can come in and listen to us.”

  “Okay, but I’ll need to warm my voice up first.” She followed after him. “So, I’m going to ask you a question, and I need you to be super honest with me.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Is there something wrong with me?”

  He laughed. “Can you be more specific? Because, you know, you are kind of weird.”

  Payton rolled her eyes. “Funny—but I’m serious. Why is it I keep repelling like every male within a hundred-foot radius of me? … Do I smell? Is there something in my teeth? Am I a bitch?”

  “No. No. And no. You’re fabulous, and obviously these guys are idiots … ” Jake took out his guitar and strummed some chords for her.

  “Well, if I was only talking about Chance, then I’d agree with the idiot part, but even Neal is acting strange now.”

  “Don’t worry about it, he’s probably just having a shitty day or something. Now come on, let’s practice.”

  Once they finished warming up, Mr. Fogg came in. “Okay, you two, let’s hear it.” He sat down on the small love seat, his hands in his lap, staring at them.

  Jake started off with the guitar, giving them a lead in. They easily fell into their harmonies, and Payton let the music carry her away. It was easy to get lost in a song, to forget everything else around them. It was just her, Jake, and the music.

  “Bravo! You two are amazing.” Mr. Fogg wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. “This is one of the best versions I’ve heard in a long time. Keep up the good work!”

  After the bell rang, Jake and Payton walked out of class together.

  “We should get together a couple times this week and next just to make sure we have it down—”

  “Don’t tell me you’re nervous about singing?”

  “Me? Nervous? Funny. I just don’t want to make an ass of myself in front of half the town, you know.”

  She totally got that. Payton had enough things to worry about, last thing she intended to do was screw up the National Anthem and give people more crap to tease her about. “I’m with you.”

  “Have fun at practice tonight.” He leaned over to kiss her cheek, making farting sounds as he blew on it.

  “Ew, that’s gross.” She laughed, shoving him away. “Let me know which days you want to practice this week, and I’ll work it into my schedule.”

  “Sure thing, dude. See you later.” He waved and rushed down the hall with his guitar in hand.

  “Well, if it isn’t our girl quarterback.” Kibby glared at me as she pulled her cheerleading stuff out of her locker.

  A strong scent of floral perfume wafted in the air between them. Geez, did this girl not know the meaning of the word moderation? Trying not to die from the fumes, Payton rolled her eyes. “Wow, you’re perceptive.” She swung her own locker open and grabbed her football gear. Once she shut the door she lugged her pads and book bag up onto her shoulder. “How long did it take you to sound out the word quarterback? I mean, it is a big word.”

  A few people in the hall laughed, and Kibby looked as if she wanted to scratch out Payton’s eyes with her red-lacquered nails.

  “Keep talking shit, Payton,” Kibby threatened. “Sooner or later you’re going to wish you didn’t cross me.”

  “I’ll remember that.” What a freaking bitch. Seriously, the girl never toned it down. Payton gave her a wink before dashing out to practice.

  Things went much smoother than they had the day before. Chance was actually running the right routes and catching the ball. He’d even managed to turn it up a notch, outrunning even the fastest of their running backs.

  “Hey, Montgomery, what happened to that study-hall pass?” Payton jogged up alongside him. Not that she wanted to talk to him, but if she wanted to finish their assignment she’d have to be tortured.

  “Sorry, I forgot all about it. I’ve just got a lot going on right now.” His jaw clenched, and he attempted to pull ahead of her.

  “So do I, but our grade depends on it, and I’m not going to write it by myself—or if I do, I’ll make sure Mrs. Bradford knows.” Her voice rose an octave. What the hell was his problem? God, it was like he’d been given a dose of Kibby’s bitchiness or something.

  “Fine, maybe we should just write our own and explain to the teacher we couldn’t get together.” He dashed off, not letting her get another word in.

  Payton groaned and watched him pull ahead, this time not bothering to try to catch up again. If she could have one day without Chance drama, it’d be a miracle. She sucked in a deep breath and pushed herself harder. Her lungs burned and trembled beneath her as fatigue drifted in. But she forced herself to go faster, coming in second only to Chance Montgomery.

  After Coach dismissed them Payton went over to sit on the bleachers to wait for her brothers to get out of practice for a ride home. She’d need to dash in and get a shower before heading up to work. She pulled her homework out of her bag to start working.

  The scent of burning leaves drifted on the air as the wind tugged her hair loose from its ponytail holder. She swiped the strands away from her face and glanced around the bleachers. She noticed Neal still waiting for his ride as Bradshaw came toward her with dirt caked on his uniform. His hair was messy, and he stood, trying to pull his sweatshirt tighter against him.

  “Hey, do you think we could give Neal a lift home?” She gestured toward him.

  Brad followed her gaze. “Yeah, I’ll be in the car. But hurry up, we’ve got to get to the restaurant.”

  “Thanks, I’ll owe you one.” Payton threw her stuff back in her bag and walked over to Neal.

  He peered at her as she approached. “Hey, come on, we’ll give you a lift home.” Payton flagged him to follow her.

  His eyes widened, and he shook his head. “It’s fine. My grandma should be here any time.” He glanced at his arm, like he was checking the time, but didn’t have a watch on.

  “Neal, knock it off and come on. There’s no way I’m leaving you out here by yourself. Besides, Brad doesn’t mind.” Why was he acting so freaking weird? He obviously needed a lift home. With her free hand, she grabbed hold of his arm and dragged him after her.

  “Wait, Payton, it’s not a big deal. If she doesn’t show I can just walk.” He attempted to jerk his arm away.

  “What’s wrong? Look, it’s seriously fine. We’re friends—or at least I thought we were. I mean, I’d do this for any of the guys on the team.” She stared at him. Maybe he didn’t want to be seen with her or something. Maybe Chance had gotten to him.

  With a look of defeat, he finally went with her.

  “Hey, Visser.” Bradshaw smiled when they climbed in. “Which way?”

  “I live on Treemont Road,” Neal mumbled, staring out the window and avoiding her eyes.

  Payton chewed her lip. This sucked. How could she go from being his friend to getting the silent treatment from him today? Had she said something to offend him? It didn’t make sense. But then again, most of the guys in her life didn’t make sense lately.

  It took only a few minutes to get to his street, and soon they pulled up in front of one of the shabbiest, most rundown houses P
ayton had ever seen. It was like a large box. Paint chips had long since flaked off, giving it a dingy gray color. A white picket fence with missing boards surrounded most of the property—reminding her of a mouth with missing teeth. The roof was sagging, as was the front porch, like both had had the weight of the world thrust upon them. It seemed at odds with the lush green lawn and the beautiful flower garden on either side of the house.

  Neal shoved the door open as if he couldn’t get out fast enough, his eyes downcast, and he didn’t even turn to look at her.

  Even from this angle, Payton saw his face go red. Oh. Now she understood why he’d been acting strange when he’d found out about the project.

  “I-I live here with my grandma.” He finally raised his hooded eyes until they met hers, then quickly peered back down at his hands.

  “You guys have an awesome garden,” she blurted out, trying to think of something nice to say. “My mom had one when we were growing up. She used to make us help her with it. After she died, we tried to keep it up, but it doesn’t quite look the same.” Payton watched him a moment. She wanted him to know she didn’t give a shit what kind of house he lived in. He could live in a damn car for all she cared …

  He shot her a bewildered look, as if he’d not been expecting her to say that. At last he smiled. “I’ll let my grandma know. She works hard at keeping it up.” He cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. “I should probably let you guys get out of here so you’re not late. Meet me in the library during lunch tomorrow?”

  “Sure. I’ll see you.”

  He waved. “By the way, thanks for the ride.”

  “Not a problem.” Brad nodded, waiting for Payton to climb into the front seat next to him. Once she shut the door, he turned to her. “That was a nice thing to say.”

  She shrugged. “I meant it though. It is a nice garden. And I didn’t want him to feel bad.”

  Bradshaw chuckled. “This is why we all love you so much—you’ve got a big heart, Payton.” He reached across the seat and messed up her hair, then guided the car back out onto the road.