A Fine Line (18 page)

Lucy leaned into Wes and said, “We wouldn’t want to disrupt the sleep of Forrest Hills’s star kicker.”

Wes cocked his head and replied evenly, “You, Lucy Karate, can disrupt my sleep any time you feel like it.”

Lucy did her best to keep the drool from running down her chin as Wes pulled off his t-shirt and got under the covers with her. In the opposite bed, Mandy and Gina passed out quickly. Lucy could hear their quiet breathing and suddenly wondered how many more nights in a cheap hotel room they would share on band trips. Thinking about her friends was merely a passing thought when she concentrated on the large male presence behind her. Lucy wondered how she was going to get any sleep spooned so close to Wes.

“Sweet dreams,” Wes whispered in her ear.

Lucy relaxed in his embrace and what felt like moments later, she being woken awake by the shrill ring of the phone. Gina mumbled a string of expletives and knocked the phone off the hook. Everyone in Room 312 promptly fell back into a deep sleep. The next thing Lucy knew, their door was being pounded on and one of the girls’ cell phones was going off. She heard Mandy exclaim, “It’s 8 o’clock!”

The girls sat straight up in bed. Wes tucked his arm around Lucy and pulled her closer, “Five more minutes…”

The buses were scheduled to leave at no later than 8:15AM.

“Girls! Open the door!”

Now Wes was awake and already rolling under the bed, while the girls were scrambling to put clothes on and pack all at the same time.

There was more pounding, “Girls! Open the door NOW!”

Frantically, Gina flung open the door. In a very different look from not even ten hours previously, Mrs. Nelson practically growled, “The buses are leaving in five minutes. I am not impressed by your actions this morning. You’re all upperclassmen and should be setting a better example.”

They all looked at the floor and replied, “Yes, Mrs. Nelson.”

“I’ll be back in exactly three minutes and I expect you to be ready to leave.”

“Yes, Mrs. Nelson.”

The door closed and Wes popped out from under the bed.

Amidst frantically throwing all her personal belongings in her overnight bag, Lucy told him, “Just leave as soon as you’ve seen our buses pull out.”

Wes winked and said, “Hopefully next time we’ll get more than a few hours…”

The Forrest Hills kicker leaned down and kissed Lucy’s forehead and scooted, once again, under the bed.

Mrs. Nelson was true to her word and returned exactly three minutes later. The girls were somehow packed and ready. With their hair tucked into matching bandanas, the bass Lieutenant, Color Guard and Majorette Captains, with trophies in hand made a complete walk of shame out to the waiting (and already loaded) buses. When they climbed red faced on the drumline bus, clapping and shouting began as the trio made their way to the back of the bus. A pink cheeked Lucy slid in next to Tom, who loudly commented, “Did you run into a vampire last night, Luce?”

Lucy’s hand slapped her neck and she immediately turned three shades darker.

Tom’s brown eyes opened wide and his mouth opened which Lucy immediately clapped her hand over, hissing, “Shhh!”

Tom whispered back, “I’m proud of you, Lucy girl.”

Lucy crossed her arms and looked out the window, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mr. Finnegan.”

“Sneaking a boy into your room?”

Now it was Lucy’s turn to look shocked.

Tom leaned into his friend, “You’ve come a long way from the goody goody, straight-A, naïve freshman that you were four years ago.”

Lucy leaned back on Tom, “I’ll take that as a compliment and not speak another word of last night.”

Tom smiled and said half to himself, “I only wish I had thought of sneaking Jewel in…”

With that, the normally loquacious Lucy promptly fell asleep. The Aquarium was borderline tortuous for Lucy, Mandy, and Gina. The girls only managed to stay conscious only with copious amounts of caffeine purchased at the café. Lucy received a text message from Wes late in the afternoon letting her know that he got home safely. Lucy kept opening her phone and reading the message.

>> Home safe. C u 2morrow. Your Wes.

My Wes…

Back at the high school that evening, happy and tired as she was, Lucy knew there was one more thing she had to do. Barely able to keep her eyes open, she packed her drum away in the band room and went out to help Molly bring in the rest of the Pit equipment. Lucy took a deep breath and tapped Bronwyn, who was helping Molly with the grand marimba, on the shoulder, “You go ahead to the car. I’m going to help Molly.”

It was a picture right out of their freshman year. The girls had somehow always been responsible for moving the large instrument. As was their custom, Lucy took the larger end and Molly steered. They walked down one of the less crowded smaller halls that led to the back entrance of the percussion room.

“So, Molly?”

“Yeah?”

“There’s something I have to tell you.”

Molly stopped the marimba, “There’s something I have to tell you.”

“I’ll go first—” They both said at the same time, followed by the same nervous laughter.

Lucy smiled and said, “Let’s go at the same time.”

Molly nodded, “3-2-1—”

“I like Wes.”

“I don’t like Wes.”

The friends looked at each other and whether it was the complete lack of the sleep or the bizarreness of the situation they both burst into hysterical laughter.

Through the tears streaming down her face, Lucy managed to squeak out, “Billy?”

Molly nodded mutely, laughing harder, and this fact was somehow even more hilarious.

Moments later, when the rest of the FHHS drumline seniors walked into the percussion room, and found their girls laughing hysterically, barely able to stand, they shrugged their shoulders and carried on as if nothing was out of the ordinary. They had long ago given up on trying to understand the relationship between two of the coolest girls who had ever marched in their section.

Going on another night of little sleep, Lucy walked under the portico of the front of the school. She had been weirdly stressed about what she was going to wear this Monday morning and opted for her favorite pair of black shorts, black and white Puma sneakers, and a tight thrift store t-shirt.

No one’s going to mistake me for a cheerleader.

She went, as usual, to the band room and sat at her familiar spot idly wondering if the weekend and all of its events had actually taken place. Her green eyes swept to the corner of the percussion room where the trophies were kept. Sure enough, the latest one was added.

I wonder if Wes will come and find me.

Normally brave and fearless Lucy was suddenly shy about walking through the halls to find the football player.

What if he rejected or ignored me? I wouldn’t be able to take it.

So, you’re going to hide out here?

Yes, he knows where I am – if he wants to come find me.

As soon as Lucy thought it, the band room door opened and she thought she saw a familiar figure poke his head through. For the first time in a long time, the band room actually went silent, which was a lot considering people were still celebrating the win over the weekend. No one expected the team’s British kicker to walk in and sit next to their beloved bass Lieutenant. No one expected that same guy to lean over and kiss her on the cheek. And no one expected that same girl to blush and smile.

“Hey, you.”

“Hey.”

It was like the pause button was taken off, and everything went back to normal. It seemed rather fitting that Wes would join Lucy in the band room, than Lucy joining Wes at the Jock table in the Commons area. That was another thing that Lucy loved about her marching band family. They were a very accepting group – everyone found their niche in the band. Lucy wasn’t so sure they would get the same acceptance from the football players.

On Tuesday morning, the Homecoming nominations were announced. Lucy wasn’t surprised when her name wasn’t called – she didn’t really care about that sort of thing – but was happy to hear Jewel’s name was among those listed. However, when she heard her newly minted boyfriend’s name called for the Court, she was suddenly nervous.

Why? He’s on the Homecoming Court. He’s living the American Dream…

That I’m not a part of…

What’s the worst that could happen?

Lucy caught up with Wes soon after the Homecoming announcements, “What’s up, Mr. Popular?”

Wes turned a very cute shade of red, “Oh, whatever. It doesn’t mean anything.”

Lucy could tell from the tone of his voice that it totally did mean something. They held hands and silently walked down the halls for a few moments, when Wes squeezed Lucy’s hand, and said, “But it does remind me of something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

Lucy’s heartbeat quickened, “What’s that?”

Very properly he asked, “Can I escort you to the dance?”

Lucy squeezed his hand in response and replied, “I would like nothing better.”

* * *

CHAPTER NINETEEN: Wide Right

Humming the halftime show to himself before football practice that afternoon, Wes laced up his football cleats. When he looked up, he found himself strangely surrounded by a number of his teammates. He asked cautiously, “Anything I can help you with, gents?”

Sean, a particularly large offensive line member, asked gruffly, “What gives, man?”

Wes looked around, “What are you talking about?”

“You and the band dork?”

Wes clenched his jaw, “You mean Lucy?”

“Yeah. Does she put out or what?”

Wes’s jaw clenched even tighter and he asked, “What are you talking about?”

“Well, we’re all trying to figure out why you’re with a girl like that when Tiffany is gagging for it.”

Tiffany was, of course, the vapid head cheerleader, who had made her affection for Wes no secret to anyone (including Wes) on numerous occasions.

Wes sighed and stood up, “Listen, I don’t know how it is here in the States, but when you spend a night with a girl in the U.K. it means something.”

The guys in the room pounced on this particular piece of information. A round of catcalls and whistles went through the locker room.

“You’ve already spent the night with her?” Sean asked in disbelief.

Wes put up his hands and tried to defend himself, “It wasn’t just her, her best friends were there, too.”

Everyone in the locker started hollering and exchanging high-fives. A number of the football players patted Wes on the back and it dawned on the transfer student what they had implied from his comment.

Sean, the ringleader, said, “I always knew those band girls were totally up for anything! ‘This one time at band camp…’”

As much as Wes tried to explain himself, no one would listen. The British footballer went out to practice with an ominous feeling.

They’ll let it go, right?

Would your mates at home?

Bollocks. I am in serious trouble.

The following day, when Lucy walked into school she noticed a lot of people blatantly staring at her. Worse than that, people were actually whispering and pointing. When she got to the band room, her two best friends were waiting for her – Mandy with a particularly venomous expression on her face and Gina’s normally pretty face was puffy and tear stained.

“What’s up?” Lucy asked cautiously, putting down her messenger bag.

Mandy crossed her arms and said in a clipped voice, “Umm, maybe you should ask your boyfriend.”

“Why?”

Gina burst into tears, “Our reputations are shot, thanks to the rumors he’s been spreading!”

Lucy thought a moment. She had been so exhausted after the combined Indoor practice/complete lack of sleep she hadn’t called Wes to say good night. What had happened?

Lucy crossed her arms, “I find that hard to believe.”

“Then why were we practically accosted by the football team when we came into school today?”

“What were they saying?”

“They kept mentioning Saturday night,” Mandy mentioned through gritted teeth.

He wouldn’t…

Moments later, Lucy busted out of the band room and walked quickly through the halls, finding Wes at his locker. He must’ve seen the look of outrage on her face, and asked, trying to keep the alarmed note out of his voice, “Did someone do something to you?”

Lucy spoke very calmly, “I just need you to answer a simple question for me.”

Having never seen this behavior in Lucy or the dangerous expression on her face, Wes nodded slowly.