“Do you have a minute?” He glanced up at the clock.
“Yeah, my class is right there.” She gestured to the room across from them, her face flushing. Geez, you’d think she’d never talked to him before. She rubbed her clammy hands on her jeans.
“So, I wondered if you might want to go to homecoming with me?” He shifted his books from one arm to the other, his gaze holding hers.
Payton’s mouth dropped open. No way. No fricken way. She knew exactly what was going on here. Rage tore through her as she jerked away from him. “Oh, wait, I get it—my brothers put you up to this. Didn’t they? Well, just forget about it, I don’t need your charity. Find someone else to ask, and tell my brothers that next time they can stay out of my business!” She didn’t wait for him to respond as she rushed into her computer class. Why the hell couldn’t her brothers leave shit alone? Now everyone would know they’d put Craig up to it, and the school would have even more reason to gossip.
Jake leaned over. “Did Craig Helton just ask you to homecoming?”
“Yeah, and guess who put him up to it? My brothers,” she snapped, ignoring the burning in her eyes.
By the time practice rolled around she was worked up into a frenzy and throwing touchdowns left and right. She ignored everything around her but the game … the one aspect of her life that hadn’t let her down yet.
“My grandma said she’d pick us up from practice and bring you home later tonight,” Visser said when they huddled up for another play.
Chance’s eyes shot up, and he peered back and forth between them. If she’d been in a better mood, Payton might’ve gloated about the fact that Chance seemed interested in what she was doing.
“Sounds good. Okay, boys, let’s go deep. I want Visser and Montgomery in the end zone. Cross routes, and I’ll hit whoever’s open.” She shoved her mouthpiece in.
“Lions twenty-four—hut-hut.” She scrambled back, trying to avoid the defense. As soon as she saw Chance’s hand go up, Payton let the ball go. The pass sailed through the air, landing in his hands.
“Bring it in, team!” Coach Youngman clapped. “Don’t forget tomorrow’s game is home. I want everyone in uniform after school and out here on the field stretching, understand? Mount Kefor is in second place, only behind us and Lawson. I don’t want any messing around. We need this game, and Lawson has already beat them.”
Once Coach dismissed them, Payton followed Neal to where an old station wagon sat waiting for them.
Payton spotted an old woman sitting behind the wheel. Neal’s grandma. Heavy wrinkles covered her face, like a prune left in the fridge too long. Her white hair was kind of fluffy and sticking up, but there was a kindness in her brown eyes that immediately set her at ease.
“Hi. You must be Payton.” The old woman smiled as they slid into the backseat of the car. “I’ve heard so much about you. It’s good to finally meet you.”
“Thanks.” Payton shot Neal an amused glance. “Hopefully Neal didn’t tell you any crazy stories about me.”
“No, no. Only nice things. But he didn’t mention you were such a pretty little thing.” She winked in the rearview mirror.
Payton’s cheeks grew warm. She wasn’t sure who turned more red, her or Neal. “Oh, before I forget, I talked to my dad last night, Mrs. Visser, and he said that if you’d like to come to our game tomorrow night, he could swing by and pick you up. You could sit with my family. That way, you can see Neal play.”
“That’d be wonderful. I’ve been meaning to go to a game, but sometimes I have trouble driving real far by myself.”
A few minutes later, they pulled up to the small home. Neal hopped out and helped Payton grab her bag and stuff.
She followed the pair up a narrow path. The inside of the house was cramped. A couch and recliner had been crammed into the living room. The dull yellow paint reminded her of the sun, while the carpets were worn from years of traffic. Homemade flowered curtains hung over the windows, while a picture of the Last Supper sat over an old wooden mantle.
The scent of apples and cinnamon wafted in the air, and even though it was tiny, the whole place glowed with warmth. Payton felt at home here—safe.
“You can change in my room if you want.” Neal led her to a door off the living room. “I’ll wait until you’re done before I change.” His room was neat and clean, a bit small, like the rest of the house, but comfortable. “Let me know when you’re done.” He closed the door behind him.
Payton’s eyes shifted as she examined the room; the walls were painted blue, with dark-brown wood trim. His bedspread had a sports motif on it, while a dark-blue rug lay at the side of his bed covering worn hardwood floors. A coffee table with an alarm clock on it was positioned near the headboard of his bed, and his dresser had a collection of old model cars on it.
Like her own room, his had football pennants and posters plastering the walls, as well as some football trophies on his bookshelves. With a smile, she went over to see what books he had. They ranged from Edgar Allen Poe and Shakespeare to Robert Jordan and Terry Brooks. She even noticed some YA titles she had on her own shelf tucked in the back.
After taking in what seemed like every inch of his room, she tossed off her practice uniform and pulled on a t-shirt and jeans, along with a pair of tennis shoes. Payton gathered her things and ran them out to the car.
When she came back in, she caught the scent of food in the air. Her stomach growled. “Something smells good.”
“I made some beef stew—I hope you like it.” Mrs. Visser ushered her over to the table, next to Neal, and placed a steaming bowl of soup in front of her. She then cut them each a couple of slices from a loaf of bread she’d just taken out of the oven.
They sat around a small wooden table in the kitchen, the darkness already pouring in through the windows.
Payton took a bite of stew. “Ohmygod, this is so good. My dad’s has nothing on yours … ” She shoveled in another spoonful.
“It’s one of Neal’s favorites, but I don’t make it too often. Don’t want to spoil him, you know.” Mrs. Visser laughed, patting Neal’s hand. “So I hear you two are going to be doing some star-gazing tonight.”
“Yeah, Mr. Decker decided to make us plot out all gazillion stars in the sky. We have to keep track of planetary movement, as well as the moon cycles and all that fun stuff.” Payton rolled her eyes.
“We didn’t have an astronomy class when I was in school, it was biology or general science for us.”
Neal chuckled. “Yeah, ask my Grandma what she did to the frogs in biology class.”
Payton turned her gaze to the old woman. “Okay, now I’ve got to know.”
“The frogs were already dead of course, and there was this really mean girl in my school who used to pick on everyone. Anyway, the day before we were supposed to dissect the frogs I decided to pull a little prank. I snuck into the biology lab and took them all out and put them in her locker. The next morning, she opened her locker and the frogs fell out onto her head—and boy did they stink to high heaven.” Mrs. Visser chuckled, rubbing a wrinkled hand across her brow. “You could hear her scream up and down the halls.”
Payton laughed. “Maybe I should have your grandma help me deal with Kibby Carlton.” She finished her food and slid her bowl away. “Do you want me to put this in the sink or dishwasher or something?”
“No. Just leave it there. I’ll take care of everything.” Mrs. Visser waved her off.
“We should probably get started on that map. Just let me grab the telescope.” Neal hurried toward his room. “Did you bring a sweatshirt or jacket?” he called out to her.
“No. I didn’t even think about it. But I should be okay.” However, when Neal came out, he had a sweatshirt in hand and tossed it to her. “Thanks.”
“You two have fun.” Mrs. Visser smiled as they headed out the back door.
Once outside, Payton’s mind wandered back to Craig Helton again. She kicked at a loose stone, her anger bubbling again. Her brother
s better hope they had on armor tonight. She was in no mood for any more of their shit. Being here with Neal and his grandma, she’d almost forgotten about the embarrassment of Craig’s would-be charity.
“We can set the telescope up here.” Neal led her over to a picnic table, where he placed the telescope. He also set down some pencils and paper for graphing the stars.
Payton tugged Neal’s sweatshirt down over her head, catching the faint scent of cologne on it. Damn, the scent was almost intoxicating. After making sure he wasn’t looking, she raised the sleeve to her nose and sniffed again. Okay, had he always smelled so good? Not that she ever got close enough to be able to tell—well, unless you counted the time they spent in the huddle when they were sweaty.
“What are you doing?” Neal raised an eyebrow.
Payton’s face went hot, and she stammered, “I— uh—the shirt smelled good.” She cringed. That sounded slightly stalkerish.
“Oh, that’s just my cologne. If you don’t like it I can go grab you a different shirt.”
“No, I like it,” she blurted out. “I mean—never mind.” She climbed onto the table, took a seat, and started to adjust the lens on the telescope. She focused in on the Big Dipper. It’d be easier to use it as a starting point rather than trying to figure out what random star she was looking at.
Neal and Payton scoured the night sky for coordinates their teacher had given them then began to plot the different stars. Once they had those down, they had to find the names of stars.
Payton tugged her hands up in her sleeves and blew on them, trying to get rid of the chill.
“Your grandma’s a sweetheart,” she said, when Neal raised his head from the telescope.
“Yeah, she’s pretty great—I think she liked you too.” He grinned, plotting out their last star for the night. He chewed his bottom lip and watched her for a second. “So I heard Craig asked you to homecoming.”
Payton slid from the table and walked around the yard. Ugh. How many people had heard him ask her? With a sigh, her gaze flitted over the grass until she spotted a container with footballs, basketballs, and baseballs in it. She walked toward it and grabbed the football.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she answered. Payton didn’t want to relive the humiliation, not even with her friends. Instead, she waved him to go out for a pass and tossed the ball across the backyard to him.
He caught it, then threw it back. “Okay, but everyone was talking about it seventh hour. They said you turned him down right in the middle of the hallway.”
One look at Neal told her he wasn’t going to let it go. “I told him no because my brothers put him up to it.”
“Are you sure?”
She snorted. “Look, people like Craig Helton don’t like girls like me. I’m not some popular, pretty girl. I’m a tomboy—you know guys see me as one of the guys.” She whipped the ball hard, but it didn’t seem to faze Neal in the least.
“Why do you assume he doesn’t like you? I mean he’s walked you to class before … And for your information, there are lots of guys who think you’re hot.” Neal leapt up to catch another throw.
She went still, staring at him. “Now you’re just trying to make me feel better.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Really? Then name one.” Payton stood with her hand on her hip.
Right then Mrs. Visser came out the door carrying a plate of cookies along with some hot chocolate.
“Aren’t you two supposed to be studying?” She looked amused. “I don’t think astronomy has anything to do with football, unless there’s a constellation I don’t know about.”
Payton and Neal laughed. “Actually, Gram, we finished plotting what we were supposed to for tonight.” He sat down at the picnic table, grabbing up a couple of cookies.
Payton took a big bite, letting the warm cookie and melted chocolate dissolve in her mouth. “I might have to move in with you. These are so good.” Payton closed her eyes, savoring the last bite.
“You can come over any time you want,” Neal’s grandma said. “If you two are about done, I should probably get Payton home so her dad doesn’t get worried about her.”
After they put all their things away, they piled into the car and drove across town. Payton stared up at the star-cluttered sky and the full moon. She remembered a time when she and her mom used to lay a blanket out in the yard and sit there for hours, searching for shooting stars or making up their own constellation names. Just one more memory to drive home the fact that her mom wasn’t here.
Payton shifted her thoughts, biting back the bout of sadness that weighed on her. Soon they pulled up to her house, which was lit up like the Fourth of July.
“Thanks for dinner and letting me drop in,” Payton called as she slid from the car and grabbed her football pads, Neal helping to gather the rest of her stuff.
Once they got up to the porch Payton realized she still had on his sweatshirt. “If you can give me a second, I can drop my things inside and give your sweatshirt back.”
“Don’t worry about it, just bring it to school tomorrow.” He reached around her to open the door.
“So I’ll see you tomorrow?”
He set her things down in the entryway. “Yeah.” He gave a quick wave then turned to leave.
Payton watched his grandma pull out before shutting the door behind her. When she finally got inside, her brothers and dad were sitting around the table. All at once, her rage from the day came back in full force, and she stormed into the dining room.
“From now on, keep your noses out of my business! I don’t need your help getting a date for homecoming.” Her eyes narrowed. “I seriously can’t believe you talked Craig into asking me to the dance today! I’ve never been so humiliated in my life.”
“What are you talking about?” Marino stood and reached for her arm.
“Don’t play stupid! I know you made him ask me.” She shoved him out of her way. “Sometimes I fricken hate you guys.” She spun on her heel and raced down to her room. With a sob, she sprawled across her bed.
This school just kept getting better and better. When would her brothers learn to stay out of things? They couldn’t fix everything, no matter how much they believed they could. Payton didn’t even want to think about seeing Craig—how would she even look at him now?
A knock sounded on her door. “Go away!” she shouted, pulling her comforter up over her head as if that’d shield her from anyone.
“I’m not going away.” Bradshaw burst into her room and whipped the blankets off her. “I love you, but sometimes you’re a total airhead.”
She attempted to move away from him, but he sat on her bed, holding her in place. “Why can’t you guys just stay out of things? I mean, being nominated for the freshman-class prince was bad enough, now you guys go and con your friend into asking me to homecoming? For shit’s sake, what were you thinking?”
“Listen, about that—”
She put her hand over his mouth. “I don’t want to hear it. Not tonight.” She finally tugged out of his grasp and leaned against the wall.
After a moment, he raised his head and quirked an eyebrow at her. “Do you have on cologne?”
“No, it’s Neal’s. I mean it’s on the sweatshirt he loaned me.”
“Okay, that’s good. Because if I found out he was trying to put a move on my sister I might have to have a talk with him,” Bradshaw teased as he stood to go. “Look, I’ll leave you alone tonight, but tomorrow we need to talk. Don’t forget we’ll have to ride in with Marino in the morning since it’s Montana’s turn to have the car.”
“All right, see you in the morning.” Once he left, Payton sighed and turned off her bedside lamp. She cuddled into Neal’s sweatshirt and tried to drift off to sleep. At least she had a game to look forward to tomorrow, and she needed to be on her toes if she wanted to keep up her winning streak.
Payton changed into her football gear in the girls’ locker room before walking across the hall to the boys
’, where the rest of her teammates were pulling on their jerseys.
“Man, I hate wearing a cup, my balls get sweaty and itchy,” Matt said, trying to adjust himself.
Neal glanced up to see Payton and slugged Matt in the arm. “Watch it, Payton’s here.”
He shrugged. “So? She doesn’t have to worry about these things. Besides, she’s probably heard her brothers talk about their balls before.”
Payton wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, but I’d rather not discuss my brothers’ anatomy, or yours, for that matter.” She sat down between them. The stench of sweaty guys permeated the air around her. And everyone was way too close. Guys threw pads and stuff at one another while trying to finish getting ready.
“Carter,” the coach called as he came in the door.
“Right here.” She raised her hand.
“How you holding up?” He raised an eyebrow, glancing at her then back down at his clipboard.
“Good. I’m ready to get out there and play,” she said. She hated sitting and waiting, all it did was give her more time to get nervous. Already, her stomach knotted as it always did before a game.
“Contrary to what I told you on Wednesday, their linebacker Kelvin will be playing tonight. That kid’s a beast, so I want you on your toes. Which means, offensive line, you better be protecting your quarterback tonight.”
“You got it,” Matt said, slapping her on the back.
“Now line it up, we’ve got a game to go win,” Mr. Youngman said.
As Payton stood, she felt warm breath tickle her neck. “Hey, Carter,” a voice whispered in her ear.
She stiffened. Great. She hoped he wasn’t PMSing again. “Montgomery.”
“I think I’m ready for you to call the big play,” he said.
Payton whipped around. Her eyes met his, neither of them turning away. “Wait a second—you mean the play I was trying to get you to run that day you kept spazzing out on me?”
French Fries with a Side of Guys Page 12
