“Oh, shit, you did.” Troy lifted his hand from the bench and ran it through his hair, making it stick up even more in front. “You’re with him again.”
“I’m not, I swear. He and I had this…” No way am I going to explain this to Troy. “Anyway, Ashlyn and I cut out early and went surfing. I thought about calling you, but since we were in a fight and all…”
Troy let out a long breath and put his arm back on the bench, scooting close enough her knee was against his thigh. And for some reason once she noticed that, all she could think about was the fact that her knee was touching his thigh. He leaned so close their noses were inches from touching. “I declare the fight over.”
She swallowed, finding it more difficult than usual. “What about what you said? About me losing myself?” Just saying the words aloud made her feel like the bottom of her stomach had dropped out.
“I was just mad.”
“Sometimes I do feel a little lost, though.” To her dismay, her voice cracked. “I don’t even know how to get back to the person I used to be.” And I don’t even think it’s possible with everything that’s happening to me.
His hand brushed across her shoulder and then he gently lifted her chin with his fingers. “You’re still in there.” His eyes locked onto hers, and it felt like he was peering inside of her, pulling out all her secrets. “I’ve seen more of the old you lately. The girl who talked music for hours and didn’t get embarrassed when she crashed my skateboard.”
Heat crept into her cheeks as she remembered wrecking in front of him, the kind of wipeout where you were up one minute, then down the next, with no idea how exactly you got there. “Oh, I was embarrassed.”
“But you just laughed, got up, and hopped back on. Knee dripping blood and everything.” An easy smile played at the corners of his mouth. “I’ll even forgive you for the dance music. Everyone has their problems.”
Summer grinned. “Like you’re so normal.”
“Normal’s boring.”
Something in the air shifted, and it was just her and Troy, in their own little bubble. I knew his eyes were green, but were they always that green. This close, she could see how much darker the rim was, which made the lighter part stand out that much more.
“Troy?” A female voice asked, popping the bubble. She was the same tall brunette he was with yesterday after school—a volleyball player, if Summer remembered it right. “I need to talk to you. About…you know.”
“You know?” She’s interrupting us for you know? As annoying as that was, Summer found herself wanting to know. Especially since Troy straightened, widening the space between them.
He held up one finger to the volleyball player, and then glanced back at Summer. “You did a nice thing, standing up for Darren earlier. I know Lexi is your friend, and that probably wasn’t easy.”
“Actually, it was easier than I dreamed it’d be. Lexi and I have always had a rocky relationship, even before this morning. But it’s probably going to get worse. Not just with her, either.” Summer worried about the fallout with the team and how it’d affect their dance routine. Hopefully Kendall would figure out a way to smooth it over, because Summer didn’t think she had the energy.
The volleyball player was still standing there, and judging from her crossed arm position, getting impatient. But Summer didn’t want to let Troy go quite yet. “You seem to flow effortlessly from group to group with no problems, Mister Bond. How do you do it?”
He gave a casual shrug, a cocky smile curving his lips. “I’m an enigma.” He glanced at the volleyball player. “I’ve gotta go.” He gave Summer’s knee a quick squeeze. “See you around.”
He stood, and he and the brunette walked away, their heads close together, but in a hushed-discussion way, not a we’re-about-to-suck face way.
So there was that. Whatever that was.
All the other girls on the dance team gave Summer icy glares as she took her place on the floor. Is it cold in here, or is it just all of you?
The music for their routine started. She went one way; the whole team went the other. Struggling to keep up, she found herself a step behind the entire dance. Again. She’d practiced over and over, but that didn’t matter if someone pulled the rug out from under you.
“What happened?” Summer asked at the end of the routine.
“We changed the steps,” Kendall said.
“No one told me.”
Kendall crossed her arms. “Sucks to be left out, doesn’t it?”
So apparently Kendall wasn’t on her side anymore. Awesome.
“We had a meeting at lunch,” Kendall continued, “but you were busy with your other friends. I don’t have time to explain it all again, so I guess you’ll have to pick it up on your own.”
For the next hour, Summer struggled. The girls gave her dirty looks, and no one offered to help. Basically, Lexi had made good on her threat. By the end of practice, Summer’s frustrations threatened a hostile takeover.
She headed over to Kendall. “Can I come over and work on the new moves?”
“Now you want to be my friend?” Kendall asked.
“I never stopped being your friend.”
“Really? You left my party early with Ashlyn, and never even called to find out how the rest of my birthday was.”
“I did mean to call,” Summer said, realizing she’d forgotten to keep her promise about that. “I was just—”
“Let me guess. Busy. Did you have time to hang out with your new friend?”
“Kendall, there’s a good explanation.” Summer tried to think of what explanation she could give. The real one certainly wouldn’t do. And the other truth—that she had so much fun hanging out with Ashlyn that she didn’t want to deal with her high-maintenance friends—wouldn’t go over very well either. “I still don’t understand why it matters if I have other friends.”
Kendall let out an Oscar-winning sigh and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Because you having these new friends is screwing everything up! You mess up at dance practice, and now my grades are on the line. Darren helped Lexi, then I got the answers from her. We had a system, and you messed it up for a guy who likes getting attention from us.”
Summer clenched her jaw, working to cool the angry heat quickly rising through her body. “You guys take advantage of him.”
“So what? That’s the way the world works. Someday he’ll be running a computer company or something like that, and women will throw themselves at him. It all works out.” Kendall pointed a finger in Summer’s face. “You need to fix it. Tell Darren to help us out again and I can probably get Lexi to forgive you.”
She clenched her jaw tighter, so hard she thought a couple of teeth might crack. “I’m not going to do that. I won’t let you use him. Especially when you all trash-talk him behind his back.”
“You still want to dance, don’t you?”
“Of course I do.”
“Well it’s them or us, so if I were you, I’d rethink your stance. You’ve got till tomorrow morning to fix it. Now if you’ll excuse me, the girls and I have plans.” Kendall picked up her bag and raised her voice. “Come on guys. Let’s go.”
Summer stared as they walked away. Well hell.
She exited the gym and spotted Troy walking across the parking lot, headed toward his Jeep. Needing to talk to someone who didn’t hate her, she rushed to catch up with him. “What are you still doing here, Mister Bond?”
Troy glanced at her. “Hey. Just…this and that. How was dance practice?”
“The girls are mad about the Lexi-Darren thing. I got an ultimatum and everything. Fix it or get off the team.”