Dad: You never did say how you felt about me and the girls moving there.
Uh, yeah. That was on purpose. Something told me Daddy dearest wouldn’t love to hear the shrieking that had taken place in my head with that particular announcement.
Dad: We should talk.
Uh, no. I didn’t think so.
Dad: I have time for dinner tomorrow night before I have to head back. How about pizza at seven?
My fingers hovered over the keyboard for a full minute as I tried to come up with some excuse to get out of it.
Some excuse that wasn’t a lie that my mom would shoot down before I could blink.
I sighed as another two reporters slipped past me on their way out. “I sent you the final draft,” one of them called back to me.
I nodded, barely paying attention as I headed back to my desk. I gave my head a little shake when Will tapped his knuckles against my desk. “I’m headed out, too. I promised Hazel I’d go to the concert. The photos are all good to go, but give me a holler if you run into any issues.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”
Time was ticking for this issue, and I needed to focus. The clock kept moving, but my efforts were distracted, at best. I had to respond eventually, but I had no idea what to say.
I wasn’t even sure how I felt.
It was the sound of a sniffle that broke through my thoughts and my distracted efforts to finish this freakin’ issue already. My staff members had been filing out one by one over the last half hour, and I’d just assumed I was alone. But I clearly wasn’t. Not unless Moaning Myrtle was real and haunting my newsroom.
I shifted forward to look around my computer. “Madison? You’re still here?”
Why I was posing this as a question was anyone’s guess. She was very obviously still here. As far as questions went, the meaningless ones I’d just asked were treason to my journalist heart.
But in my defense, I’d panicked. I’d never been much good in the face of tears. Even Avery’s crying made me cringe. I mean, I’d gotten over it sometime over the last ten years, and I knew now that when Avery cried, my first response should be to get chocolate ice cream. Second, I should hug her and let her get it all out before attempting to use logic.
But with Madison…
What on earth was I supposed to do? I leaned forward again to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. Maybe she wasn’t actually crying. This girl was one of those...chipper people. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen her frown, let alone cry. But right now, there was no denying it, even if she did have her head tipped down so her chin was touching her chest.
Another sniffle from Madison.
Another surge of panic from me.
After one more second sitting there in frozen horror, I forced myself into action, standing up and walking around the desk. “Um, Madison?”
“I’m fine,” she said, but her voice was way too high, and she sounded like she might burst out in a sob at any moment.
“Um…” I looked around me, hovering in the aisle as I glanced toward the door as if someone who knew what they were doing might come in and save the day. Surely she had some friends around. Or maybe Avery hadn’t left yet, or—
A hiccupy sound cut into my desperate thoughts. Of course no one was coming. I was alone in here...with a crying cheerleader.
This was a nightmare. Literally, I was pretty sure I’d had this nightmare at some point. Avery kept telling me that I’d given her nightmares for life when I’d forced her to watch Jaws, but she had no idea how badly I’d slept after the infamous Bring It On movie-marathon event of 2016.
When I reached Madison’s side, I awkwardly reached out and patted her shoulder. “Are you, um…” Okay? Are you okay? Really, Max? That’s the best question you can come up with right now? “Is there anything I can do to help?”
She shook her head quickly. “No, thanks. It’s just...family stuff. And...other stuff.”
She was mumbling, and her cheeks turned red. So, she didn’t want to talk. I could respect that. “Look, if your article isn’t ready, that’s totally fine.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m almost done with the article. I promise.”
I nodded. Okay then. If it wasn’t news related, I had no idea how I could help. I started to back away slowly.
“It’s just…”
I stopped backpedaling. Oh. Oh crap. She wasn’t done talking. “Yes?”
She sniffed again, and her features scrunched up. Only an unfairly beautiful person could look adorable when crying, and Madison somehow pulled it off. “I was supposed to do this thing tomorrow night. You know that middle school fundraiser?” She sniffed again. “I was supposed to write about it as a feature.”
I nodded. I remembered. I’d assigned it.
“Well, I’m afraid...I’m not going to be able to cover it.”
I wasn’t sure how to break it to her that it didn’t really matter. I mean, sure it was a cute idea, but it wasn’t exactly breaking news. It would have been a good fluff piece, but I was sure I could find some other cute kids’ event to cover or maybe something at the local animal shelter.
Kids and pets. There was a contingent of readers who would always snag a copy just for the kids and pets.
“Okay, well, I think we can manage—”
“I just feel so bad.” Her voice was approaching a wail even though she was clearly trying her best to keep herself under control. Swiping at her eyes, she gave her head a little shake. “It’s too late to ask one of the other cheerleaders to cover my shift. I mean, everyone has plans for tomorrow night, right?”
“Er...probably.” Everyone except for me, that was. With Cristian in town, my bestie was definitely booked. My house would be overrun with my stepsiblings and their significant others, and my dad…
Well, I was hoping to avoid him like the plague.
“I’m sure you can find someone,” I said.
She sniffed. “Yeah, it’s only six hours, right? Sure, it’s overnight, but the kids will be sleeping, so it just has to be someone who’s not scared of being locked in a school overnight, right?”
She was talking to herself, but I was nodding. It didn’t sound all that bad, really. I mean, if I were being honest, ever since I’d read From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, I’d thought it would be super cool to be trapped in a museum overnight. A middle school was way less cool, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a little bit intrigued.
“It’s the overnight shift?”
She nodded with another sniff. “Yeah, but the athletics association is hosting a dinner for all of the volunteers before it all gets underway. You know, give us the rundown on the rules and all that.”
“Dinner, huh?” I wasn’t really considering this, was I?
But it would be a legitimate excuse to bail on my dad.
“There won't’ be any other high school volunteers around?” Crap, I was already leaning toward saying I’d do it. This was probably a bad idea—
“I was going to be the only girl volunteer,” she said. I could see her panic as she said it, most likely realizing anew that she had to find someone to cover for her or leave the girls alone. “The last parent group leaves at eleven and the next one arrives with breakfast at five in the morning,” she said. “So I was the only one to keep the girls company while they slept.”
Slept. Ha! I might not have been a part of an overnight fundraiser, but I highly doubted they included much sleep. Which was fine by me since I was a night owl.
Oh crap. I was seriously considering this.
“I can’t believe I have to bail,” she continued. “I was going to get an automatic A in phys ed for volunteering, and I really could have used all the help I could get with my grades.” Her smile was watery. “Pathetic, huh?”
I couldn’t answer because my head was already racing, weighing the pros and cons. An A in phys ed, my least favorite class?
Sold!
I reached a hand out to pat her shoulder agai
n. “Don’t worry, Madison. I’ve got you covered.”
Four
Alex
Cristian slowed the car to a stop in front of the middle school entrance. We both sat there and stared at the building for a long moment. I couldn’t speak for Cristian, but I for one was marveling at how weird a school looked after dark.
I tugged on my baseball cap, adjusting it as I laughed at myself. It wasn’t like I was scared of the dark or anything, I’d just seen too many scary movies that took place in abandoned places. And this place? It looked deserted.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Cristian asked for the third time.
When I glanced over, I saw him crouching over the steering wheel of the car we shared when he came home from college on weekends and breaks. His tattooed forearms were resting on the dashboard as he craned his neck for a better look at the building, as if he was waiting for something to happen. His brows were drawn together in concern.
But that was normal for Cristian. The guy gave new meaning to the term ‘brooding.’
“It’s one night,” I said. “How hard could it be?”
He turned his head to face me, his eyes widening in disbelief.
“What?” I said. “It’s a freakin’ sleepover. The kids will sleep, and I’ll watch a movie on my phone.”
“The kids will sleep,” he repeated under his breath. “Tell me again how you got suckered into doing this?”
I sighed. “I told you. Someone from our team had to do it, so I volunteered.”
“Uh huh.” He was watching me warily, waiting for me to continue. Probably waiting for me to explain how I was blackmailed into doing this.
Of course, he didn’t believe the truth. There was no way he would buy a story in which I did the right thing. The selfless thing. My brother didn’t just know me, he knew our father—my role model. The guy I’d taken after.
The two of them had an even worse relationship than we did. I rolled my eyes. “It’s not that big of a deal, okay? They’re just a group of kids.”
“Mmhmm.” He shifted to face me head-on. “Tell me, Alex. Have you ever met children?” I ignored him, and he started to laugh. “And weren’t you supposed to go to a meeting or something to get the rules for tonight?”
I shrugged. “I had other places to be.”
He gave a weary sigh that was so very Cristian, and I flashed him a grin in response. Mr. Responsibility, that was my brother. Everyone knew Cristian was the smart one, the reliable one, and—despite the tattoos and the too-long hair—the good one.
Me? Well, they say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, so I guess that makes me the bad seed. Max would have crucified me for that mixed metaphor, but whatever. That girl was the most judgemental chick alive, and she clearly had way too much time on her hands to come up with insults.
“Are you going to go in there, or are you just going to glare at the school?” Cristian asked.
I sniffed and rolled my shoulders, shaking off thoughts of Max as I did. What was it about that girl that got to me? I found myself getting all riled up over her insults days later, her voice filling my head at the worst moments.
Like right now.
“Yeah, I’m going,” I said.
“You having second thoughts?” he asked. “Because it’s too late now. You made a commitment, and—”
“Yeah, I got it.” My voice was harsher than intended, but seriously—the guy never let up. We weren’t at odds as much these days thanks to Avery running interference all the time, but he still annoyed the crap out of me. Always waiting for me to screw up so he could lecture me.
I reached for the door, but he wasn’t done. “Are you sure you can handle this?”
I would have ignored him outright if I’d thought this was another case of perfect Cristian doubting my intentions and my ability to see anything through, but from the tone of his voice, he honestly sounded worried.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes again. My brother’s morally superior attitude had an annoying tendency to turn me into an aggrieved tween—all sighs and eye rolls like I was some teen movie cliché. “It’s going to be fine, Cristian.”
“You just…you don’t have much experience with kids…”
“Relax,” I said. “Madison’s going to be there. I’d bet you anything she’ll have them eating out of the palm of her hand.”
He sank back in his seat with a sigh of relief and made a knowing aaahh sound. “I get it now.”
“What?”
He started laughing. “You’re doing this for a girl.”
I turned back to him with a jolt.
He pointed toward the school. “This whole volunteering thing. Signing up to waste a precious Saturday night and missing out on partying it up with your friends…” He shook his head with another rueful laugh, seemingly at peace now that his world was back in order.
Cristian good.
Me bad.
My jaw worked as I reached for the door handle. “Whatever,” I muttered.
I wasn’t about to argue with him. What did it matter what he thought?
“I should have known a girl got you into this,” Cristian said, more to himself than to me.
I froze, torn between wanting to defend myself but also unable to deny it because...I had done it for a girl. But not in the way he meant it.
Selfish.
Max had called me selfish. And it was that accusation that had led me to volunteer. I’d wanted to prove something to her. To myself.
Whatever. The whole thing was ridiculous, but I was too far into it now.
And it was even more humiliating to admit that I’d stupidly gotten myself into this situation because I was trying to prove to myself that I wasn’t the same self-centered jerk my father was.
So fine. Let him think I did it to get close to the hottie blonde cheerleader. It was less embarrassing than admitting that some nerd with a chip on her shoulder had actually gotten under my skin.
“Good luck,” Cristian called after me as I scrambled out of the car.
Luck. Ha! As if I needed that. A sleepover I could handle, especially with the sweetheart of the century at my side, kissing boo-boos and singing lullabies.
Right as I reached the front door, a handful of parents came pouring out, nearly trampling me as they ran for the parking lot.
“You must be the night shift,” a particularly frazzled looking guy said, his curly hair sticking out in every direction like he’d been running his hands through it. Or like he’d stuck his fingers into a socket. One or the other.
“Yeah, that’s me,” I said, shifting my sleeping bag under my arm.
The guy shook his head as he clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Good luck.”
He ran off before I could ask him what that was about. I mean, wishing someone luck was all fine and good, but by his tone, that crazed look in his eyes…
I had the distinct impression that I was being sent into battle, and no one expected me to survive.
I scoffed at the thought and threw the door open, following the loud voices coming from what I assumed was the gymnasium based on the echoes. Sure enough, when I reached the swinging double doors leading to the gym, I opened them to find—
Chaos.
I took a horrified step back.
This was utter chaos.
I took another step back as shrieking started up from the far corner where a group of girls were either crying or laughing.
Laughing, I decided.
But then a basketball was tossed in their direction and the shrieks went from hysterical to alarmed. The boys who’d thrown the basketball were laughing like goons, but before I could shout at them that it wasn’t cool to throw a hard basketball at a girl, my attention was distracted by the chase scene currently underway as three guys raced after another laughing moron with a red face and a hyena-like cackle. Then a group of girls shoved me from behind to move me out of their way, and I snapped out of my shock long enough to search this room for any si
gn of Madison.
Sweet, kind, lovely Madison. Surely, she would get this crowd of heathens under control.
I craned my neck as I looked for her.
“Finally!” A voice behind me made me stiffen. The voice sounded familiar, but...no.
No, it couldn’t be Max.
“Hey, you! Are you the boys’ chaperone? They said at the meeting that there would be two of us, but they didn’t say who, and no one showed, so I thought—”
A hand spun me around by my arm, and my worst fears were confirmed as Max gaped up at me, looking just as shocked and horrified to see me as I was to see her.
“Alex? What are you doing here?” she snapped.
“What are you doing here?” Seriously, when it came to comebacks, I needed to up my game.
She shook her head, seemingly shaking off her surprise. With a scowl I knew well, she planted her hands on her hips. “Are you here just to annoy me or something?” She looked around. “And where’s the chaperone for the boys? The organizers said a male volunteer would be coming.”
I shifted my sleeping bag, ignoring the shrieking and laughter behind me and hoping no one was actually getting murdered because that was what it sounded like. I flashed my most winning smile—the smile that seemed to make her blood boil. “You’re looking at him.”
Her mouth fell open, and her eyes widened. At any other time, I might have enjoyed her shock, but my brain was rapidly making connections, and I was starting to understand that...crap. “Madison’s not here, is she?”
Her shocked look was replaced with a frown. “Great observation, Einstein.” She pursed her lips and looked so freakin’ smug I wanted to...to…
Kiss her.
I jerked back as if she’d hit me, and that smug look morphed into confusion. “What’s wrong with you?”
I used my free hand to take off my cap and shove it in my back pocket so I could run a hand through my hair. “What’s wrong with you?”
Her arched brows said she was unimpressed by my retort. She gave her head another little shake and closed her eyes for a second. I got the impression she was praying for patience. “You know what? It doesn’t matter.” She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes as she took me in from my tennis shoes to my no-doubt mussed hair. “I get it now, though. You signed up for Madison, right?” She rolled her eyes before I could respond. “Man, the girl is single for like three seconds, and everyone is going nuts.”
Sleepover with the Enemy (How to Catch a Crush Book 5) Page 4
