Tuesday August 27
THE NEXT MORNING I walked to school early to see Tami. I wanted to talk to her and see what was going on. I was seated on the front steps when I saw her walk in with Bert Nelson; they were deep in conversation. When they got to the steps, Tami and I just nodded to each other and she and Bert went into the school. Seeing them together like that about killed me.
I knew Bert from middle school. He was a nice guy, but we never ran in the same circles. I tended to hang out with the nerds, and he was a jock and a rich kid. I had to admit they made a nice-looking couple. No one ever accused Tami of not being good looking. She was just always a tomboy. Dressed like a girl, I could see where Bert would be attracted to her. Her long dark brown hair was no longer in a ponytail; it had been styled to have a little body and framed her cute face.
Before I started to sulk too much, first bell rang and I made my way to homeroom. I wouldn’t see Tami until lunch.
Lunch finally came and Tami waited for me at my locker. I launched right in.
“So what’s the deal with you and Bert?”
Tami gave me a dirty look and surprised me.
“Drop it. I’m warning you, if you don’t, we’re talking about you and Lily all through lunch.”
I blinked twice; well okay. Something was wrong, and I didn’t know where to begin. I shrugged, doing my best to remain calm.
“Okay, we have a deal.”
We made it to the cafeteria without saying a word to each other. I could feel the tension build between us. Tami and I didn’t keep secrets. That was what made me nervous. She and I had only actually talked a few sentences since we reconnected yesterday. Aside from her reading my mind, we hadn’t talked about anything significant. I started to believe there was much more going on than I knew. The only secrets she ever kept from me were things like birthday presents, never anything important.
When we finally made it to our table, I found Alan, Jeff and Lily waiting for us. Alan had grilled Lily, and I could tell by Jeff’s shrug that Alan had started to irritate her. Tami walked up to Alan and smacked him on the forehead.
“Ow! What was that for?” Alan asked.
She looked him in the eyes and left no doubt she was serious.
“Do you want David to bring his friends to the table and eat with us?”
He looked a little sheepish.
“Yes,” was his one-word answer.
“Then don’t pry into their personal business.”
She said it loud enough that we started to get noticed.
As a freshman, being noticed in a high school cafeteria wasn’t always the best thing. I sat down next to Lily and winked at her. She seemed relieved. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of red hair coming my way. I smiled and jumped up to greet Peggy.
“Hey, Gorgeous.”
Peggy beamed and leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I noticed that half the lunchroom watched us. The funny thing was a vast majority of those who watched were girls. Greg had a huge grin on his face and gave me a wink from across the room as she flirted back.
“Hey, Good-looking. The stuff you loaned me yesterday, I have it at my locker. I want to thank you for being such a gentleman. Most boys would have either leered at me or let me go to class like that.”
The whole time she was rubbing her hand on my chest. That was fine except for one little thing. Did I just say little? Well, the little guy—Mr. Happy was his name—had taken notice that the woman of his dreams had caressed me. I arched my eyebrows, and she suddenly noticed what she was doing and jerked her hand away.
“You don’t have to stop, I was enjoying that,” I said with a stage whisper as I leaned in.
She gave my arm a playful swat.
“I bet you were.”
I just leered back and used my best sexy voice.
“I think you enjoyed it too.”
She blushed, so I changed the subject.
“Why don’t you join us for lunch?”
Peggy thought about it for a moment and just nodded. She went to her table, and you could hear the volume of girl-chatter go up when she gathered her lunch and joined us. Before Peggy made it back to our table, I heard a smack.
“Ow! What was that for?” Alan complained.
Alan and Jeff were in shock all through lunch with Tami and Lily taking up residence on either side of me, and Peggy across from me. Funny how a pretty girl will do that to a guy. I had two of the better-looking freshmen and a smoking-hot junior seated at our lunch table.
Every time I tried to get Tami’s attention, she seemed to ignore me. I wasn’t going to get anywhere with her at lunch. Towards the end, the subject of football came up. I think Tami was trying to head me off so she wouldn’t have to talk to me. “David, what’s this I hear you’re going out for football?” Tami asked.
The lunch crew all turned and looked at me. I was about to put a bite in my mouth but stopped to answer.
“Yes, I got the permission slip signed and tonight I have a physical. If everything’s okay, my first practice is Wednesday.”
Lily was enthusiastic.
“You have the body for it.”
I groaned as everyone else chuckled. Peggy wasn’t to be outdone.
“Lily, you’re right, he does look like such a jock now that he’s spent the summer on the farm. How did you get so many muscles?”
Tami frowned and added her two cents.
“I don’t know, is his new body all show, or does he have real muscles to back it up?”
I made the mistake when I flexed my arms and chest. Lily and Tami took that as an invitation to grope me. I looked at them in mock horror.
“Ladies, careful with the merchandise; you break it, you buy it.”
Peggy grinned.
“Keep flexing like that and I might have to check your bod out a little closer.”
“You can have the shirt off my back, any time, any place,” I said, as I looked her in the eyes.
“Oh, I do declare, I feel faint,” Peggy said to tease me.
Lily slugged me in the arm and Tami gave me a disappointed look. I suddenly felt like I may have crossed a line. Everyone burst out laughing at the look on my face.
The bell rang and we headed to our classes. Alan pressed me for details about Peggy in PE next period.
"Well, let me put it to you like this." Alan leaned forward, looked around to see if anyone was listening, and spoke in a lowered voice, "Peggy, that absolutely gorgeous thing you were talking to, is a complete and total slut."
My head snapped around. I guess it was time for another Alan beatdown. Ever since Jeff and I had known him, one or both of us usually ended up smacking him about once every other week. I figured I would give him a little more rope and then let the beating begin.
“Do tell,” I said calmly.
He was in his own world or he would have seen the danger signs I gave off.
“Well, first of all, your brother went out with her, and we know he bags every fox in this school.”
“Really, Greg never told me any such thing.”
“No, he never does talk, but it’s common knowledge.”
“Where are you getting this ‘common knowledge’ from?”
I think he caught the edge in my voice and decided to take another tack.
“Never mind, let’s take your big brother out of the equation.”
“Let’s, and before we go much further, Peggy is one of the most popular girls at school and a personal friend.”
He looked at me in confusion.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
I took a deep breath.
“Don’t you think if she were a slut, the other girls would be trashing her?”
He wasn’t to be deterred.
“Well, she must not’ve slept with any guy that has a girlfriend.”
This had gotten interesting. Alan’s convoluted logic had me intrigued.
“So she’s a slut with a code of ethics then–like the Bro Code?”
The Bro Code said if another guy was into a girl, you backed off until it was obvious he had no shot. Sometimes the ‘no shot’ portion of the code was blurred, but in general the system seemed to work. You also didn’t go after taken girls.