T is for...he's a TOTAL jerk (Grover Beach Team #3) (6 page)

“Because what?” Liza demanded when he fell silent.

I tensed for his answer.

But Tony decided to counter with his own question. “Why do you think I would want to make out with her? Did you look at her? She’s totally not my type.”

Okay, I knew that, but still…ouch.

“She’s a pretty girl.”

“She’s not. She’s short…and snappy. Did you hear how she called me
busboy
? And what’s with her hair? Does she comb it with a firecracker? She looks like a Hobbit.”

“Anthony Jason Mitchell, that’s a friend of mine you’re talking about. Why are you suddenly turning into a complete moron? Someone should put you over the knee.”

“Knock it off, Liz,” he said, annoyed. “You sound like my mother.”

“If Eileen Mitchell could hear you now, she’d ground you for the rest of the century,” Liza whispered harshly. “By the way, I like Sam’s hair.” She sounded much calmer now. “It’s cool and something new. I’m thinking about getting a similar style myself, actually.”

Tony laughed. “Yeah, do that and Hunter will spank
your
ass. And if he doesn’t, I will.”

A moment later, he came out of the room and walked straight for the kitchen to the others. He didn’t see me pressing against the bathroom door, horrified by what he’d just said.

Liza, however, spotted me the instant she came out after him. She stopped in her tracks and grimaced. “Oh no. You heard it all, didn’t you?”

I nodded, unable to speak.

“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have cornered him in here.”

I shook my head, wanting her to stop apologizing. It certainly wasn’t her fault that Tony was an asshole and I was an idiot for listening in on them. “Could you give me a ride home?” I begged. “I don’t want to go in there again.”

Liza waited a moment, as if deliberating whether to sway me to stay. Finally, she nodded in resignation. “Sure. Just let me get Ryan’s car keys.”

“I’ll wait outside.”

With a spinning mind, I trudged through the front room and out onto the veranda, where I slumped down on the wooden steps. Only twenty feet away, waves crushed on the beach, and I wished I could drown all my anger and pain in them. I was so sick of this whole moving thing and the troubles that came with it.

I sniffed and wiped my nose with the back of my hand. When the door opened behind me two minutes later, I glanced over my shoulder. It wasn’t Liza coming out but her boyfriend. He jingled a bunch of keys in his hand. My butt remained rooted to the floorboards as he walked down the steps, turned around, and squatted in front of me.

“Crap evening, huh?” he said, looking me in the eye.

“You have no idea.”

“I told Liza I’d take you home. You cool with that?”

“Um, sure.”
As long as I would get away from Tony, all was fine with me.

“Okay, let’s go.” He rose and reached for my hand, pulling me up.

In a car that certainly commanded attention wherever he went, Ryan drove me home. Most of the way we were silent, but when he turned into the street where my family lived, he slowed down and looked at me for the first time. “You know, he isn’t really such a jerk.”

“Who, Tony?”
Yeah, right.
“That’s a bit hard to believe,” I muttered.

“Seriously.
He’s a nice guy. A good friend. I’ve known him for a long time.” He parked the car in front of the house and cut off the engine, which made me wonder if he had more to say.

I unbuckled my seatbelt and turned toward him. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because my girl likes you, and from what I get you’re cool. Seems like you’ll be hanging out a lot with us in the future. I just want you to feel comfortable when you do.”

“Comfortable?” I gave a bitter laugh.
“With Anthony Mitchell around? Oh, sure.”

“Give him time to…adjust. He’ll work it
out, I’ll make sure of it.” Ryan started the engine again but looked at me once more with an amused smirk. “He’s a soccer player. It’s all about defense. He doesn’t like it when somebody’s getting under his skin.”

My brows pulled into a frown, because I didn’t get what he was trying to tell me at all.

“Never mind.” He laughed. “Go to bed and get some rest. I think you need it—you look chewed up and spat out. See you at school. Liza will hold a seat free for you at lunch.”

I didn’t know if I should be happy about that or scared. Hanging out with Liza and her friends was nice. Hanging out with Tony was…like a tonsillectomy without anesthesia. I sighed. “Thanks for the ride.”

He said goodnight, and I climbed out of his car. As he drove off, I headed inside, grateful that I had my own keys this time. All the crap I’d had to take tonight had exhausted me, and I fell asleep within minutes.

*

Before school the next day, I ran Tony’s notes through the copier in my uncle’s office, because I intended to give them back to him at lunchtime and then find a seat with Allie and her friends today, if she would let me. I had strained Tony’s generosity enough by borrowing his notes. From now on I would give him a wide berth. I went back to my room to get my schoolbag, then left the house a bit early, so there was no need to run this morning.

Science was fun, with Nick crying because we had to dissect an onion today, and I was looking forward to the classes in which I would sit next to Susan again. She’d asked me over at Science, too, but Nick wouldn’t let me go.

Liza, Susan, Simone, and I ran late at lunch, because we’d gotten distracted by a poster hanging in the corridor that announced an upcoming soccer game. Apparently, the day was the date of Liza and Ryan’s three-month anniversary. Liza didn’t like the fact that Ryan hadn’t told her he’d be busy.

Ten minutes later, as we entered the cafeteria ranting about how boys never appreciated the important things in a relationship, most of the tables were full and the buffet nearly empty. With a queasy feeling in my stomach, I cut a glance at the long table where Nick and the guys sat, but Tony wasn’t with them. Scanning the entire room, I couldn’t make him out anywhere else either. Shit. I really wanted the notes out of my backpack and the last time I’d speak to him done. But it seemed I’d have to carry them with me a bit longer. At least I could sit with my friends without the tension of his presence.

I lowered into the same chair as yesterday, right beside Nick. Leaning across the table, I asked Liza if Tony wasn’t here because of me. She shifted in her seat and mumbled, “Of course not.” But she didn’t sound at all convincing. I guessed they’d had another argument over me last night, which totally freaked me out. But I didn’t say anything more and just tried to enjoy my small heap of spaghetti.

The meal was a mistake, because it kept traveling back up my gullet when we had to do cartwheels and some jumping on a giant trampoline in PE. Or maybe that was just due to the disgust that rose inside me when I thought of facing Tony in the next class.

Before the bell rang for the last period, AVE, I took a deep breath, straightened my spine to my full five-two, and stalked up to Tony at the back of the room. He didn’t notice me. I dropped his folder in front of him on the desk, not caring that he was just jotting something down on a sheet of paper and the portfolio landed on his hand.

“Thank you,” I said in the most emotionless tone I could manage.

He looked up at me and quirked his brows, looking seriously baffled for the length of a breath. “You’re done with all the projects?”

Oh.
So that was what he sounded like when he didn’t behave like a pig. Nice. But I knew I’d startled him, and that was the only reason he’d talked to me in the first place. By now he probably regretted opening his mouth. And I didn’t want to waste another couple of seconds of my precious time on him.

“I’m done with the first,” I told him in a noncommittal voice. “I photocopied your stuff this morning so I could get it off my desk and not run the risk of spilling
nail polish
all over it.” I flashed a cold smirk at him, turned on the spot, and walked to the front before he could come up with a shitty reply. Sliding into my seat, I exhaled a satisfied breath. That was done. Good.

Miss Jackson walked in and started the lesson. Soon, the strange sensation of someone’s gaze lingering on the back of my neck had me raking an uncomfortable hand through my hair. I tried to concentrate on our teacher, but the feeling was hard to ignore. After twenty minutes, I dared a brief look over my shoulder, expecting to see Tony’s eyes boring into me with a death glare. But they weren’t. He was focusing on the front. But after the next blink of his eyes, he cut a glance at me and we locked gazes.
Weird. I couldn’t look away. And he didn’t look pissed as usual. Just…expressionless.

I gritted my teeth and turned around again.
Anthony Mitchell, I’m done with you.

Class was over fast, but not a lot had registered. When the bell rang, I had to ask Laura Evans, the girl sitting next to me, about the homework project. She let me quickly copy her notes,
then I stuffed my things into my backpack and headed out after a small group of people.

Outside, I ran into Allie. “Hey, Sam,” she said. “We’re going to meet up for training on the soccer field in a few minutes. You
coming?”

Some dancing was just what I needed after getting a stiff neck in class, and since I had decided to give the cheerleader thing a shot after all, I nodded and followed her to the trimmed lawn a few hundred meters off the campus. We were the first to arrive and I slumped down under a tree while we waited for the others. By and by, they joined us, and in the end we were a total of eight girls.

Liza sat down Indian style next to me and bumped her shoulder against mine. “How was Arts? Did the oaf behave?”

“Yeah, everything was cool.” I shrugged. “No insults for once.”

“Good. I told him I’d kick his ass from here to Nebraska if he was mean to you ever again.”

I was right about them having another argument last night then. It hadn’t been necessary, because I’d be out of his path from now on anyway, but it was nice to hear that Liza was standing up for me. I bumped her shoulder back. “Thanks.”

A moment later, Allie had us stretching our muscles before we started the training. I planted the sole of my right foot against a tree trunk and did some stretches like I used to do in ballet class as a child, reaching for my toes and touching my forehead to my kneecap.

But looking at my pants was boring, so I turned my head to the side and let my gaze roll out on the soccer field. Some boys and girls were running out on the field. So it was co-ed training today. Twisting my upper body to one side and laying my temple on my knee now, I tried to find Susan in the crowd. She must be there somewhere, but I couldn’t spot her. Instead, I caught a glimpse of Anthony Mitchell.

He wore the white shorts and blue jersey again, and now I saw that there was an angry red shark on everyone’s back. The same as on the banner hanging from the bleachers that spelled
Grover Beach Bay Sharks
.

Tony swung around, his gaze landing on our small group. Too late, I realized that I had started to watch him kick ball with Nick, and he sure noticed, because his eyes narrowed when our gazes met for a second before he turned away and ran off toward the goal.

As I ran out with Hunter and the others to the field, I was still gnashing my teeth over my lack of attention when the little troll had dumped my stuff on my desk and actually rendered me speechless for a second.

Nick aimed a shot at me. “Do some kicks for warm-up?”

We kicked back and forth for a minute, running along the side of the field, trying hard not to get into Cloey’s line. Well, I did. I had enough craze going on since last night and didn’t care for bumping into her, too.

At the far end of the grounds, Nick and I switched positions, and there I spotted the girls. Allie had made it a point to train with the girls while we were training, too, so we could give them feedback afterward. Nothing I was really eager about. Girls dancing was, well…if you were a guy you would like it, no matter if they were pros or not.

Normally, I enjoyed them for a few minutes but then concentrated on the game and afterward told them they were cool. But this time I knew Liza would be with them, and my blood pressure rose in anticipation of seeing her cheering for us.

I had been dumbstruck when she’d announced it yesterday during lunch. But then she’d joined the soccer team for me last summer, so why not go cheerleader for Hunter now? I searched the small group for her beautiful, long hair. What I got stuck on, though, was a thatch of black weed attached to a body that could stretch like a fucking bungee-rope.

The little troll had her leg bumped up on a tree and was bending forward like she was made of rubber. She quickly looked away. Yeah right, like I hadn’t noticed her staring at me. Ugh. With all the shit I’d given her last night, it surprised me that she still could look at me and not
throw up. Credit to her for giving me the notes back today. They were still neat and spotless.

Damn, Samantha Summers was probably a nice girl. She must be if Liz had befriended her the first day. And logically, I knew she and Cloey Summers weren’t the same person, but still…better keep a distance. I’d had my fair share of trouble with one of them; I didn’t need another story which I
couldn’t tell to anybody afterward.

I raced Nick with headers to the upper end of the field,
then we kicked back and forth once more.

I sneaked another glance at the girls, who were now practicing some easy steps to music. Liza laughed when they were all supposed to roll their hips, and I couldn’t look away until she’d done it.
Fuck, just why had I let that girl go? She twisted her hair up and fixed it with a claw at the back of her head. Nothing the bungee troll could ever do with
her
hair. She just shoved it out of her face and tried to hook it behind her ears, which didn’t work out. Fringy as it was, it immediately slid to the front again. She blew the bangs out of her eyes, then unzipped her hoodie and tossed it to the side.

Holy shit!

She wore little to nothing underneath. Just a brief black top that ended right below her ribs and pressed her boobs to her body. It was laced in the back, and together with the army pants and the heavy black boots she seemed to wear permanently, the bungee troll suddenly looked a damn lot like Lara Croft. I stopped with the ball under my foot and blatantly watched while she showed the others some seriously cool street dance moves. With the little she wore on top, this was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.

Pain exploded in my head as a ball hit me right above my left ear. Cussing and with a roaring head, I stumbled to the side.

“Stop staring at my girl, Mitchell!” Hunter shouted as he came running to me, laughing. He knew I wouldn’t touch Liza as long as she was hooked up with him. But he also knew this would change the very instant one of them decided to break up. However, this time his bantering failed to reach the mark.

“I wasn’t staring at your—”
Yeah right. Tell him who you were really looking at.
I almost laughed at myself. “Ah, forget it. Let’s play.” I grabbed the soccer ball he’d tossed at me and ran up to the opposite goal to get voted into either Hunter’s or Winter’s team. As always, I ended up as Hunter’s first pick.