The Romeo Club (7 page)

As a crowd of girls walked past, I saw several of them turn to give the Nerd Herd a second glance. Project makeover, an official success. Now, I just needed to make sure that the right girls took notice.

I glanced down the hall and saw Portia opening her locker. Perfect. I nudged Trey, whose locker happened to be near hers. “You know, now would be a good time to go talk to her. She’s alone and she’s got her locker open.”

“Um, and why do I care if she’s getting into her locker?” He frowned.

“Her dance posters are hanging up. Act like you’re getting your books out and notice them. Then you can be like “Oh, you like dance too.” See, perfect conversation starter and it will open it up for you to bring up the new dance show episodes we watched.”

“Wait, he watches Celebrity Dance Off?” C.C. interrupted, a smirk appearing on his freckled face.

“Yes,” Trey said. His face turned a nice shade of strawberry.

“Since when?”

“Since he’s trying to get a date,” I said.

C.C. opened his mouth to ask another question and I pinched his arm.

“Ow, why does everyone keep beating on me today?” He rubbed the spot I’d squeezed.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s because you won’t shut your mouth.” My gaze rested on him.

He grinned. “That’s okay. I love it when girls are rough.”

Seriously, he was such a pig. “And again with the mouth.”

Trey took a deep breath. “Okay, I can do this.”

“Yep. And I’ll be right here if you need me.” I slid my backpack off and leaned against the wall.

“All right, here goes nothing.” He sauntered down the hall, stopped at his locker, then grabbed his books out for first hour. He leaned closer to Portia and said something.

Damn, I wished I was closer. But whatever he’d said made her smile, and I saw her point to various pictures hanging up in her locker. Oh. My. God. She was buying it.

Just then, in the middle of watching my work of perfection, Rex stepped in front of me. His lips turned down in a frown, his arms crossed his chest. “We need to talk.”

Uh-oh. This wouldn’t be good. I gave him a forced smile, but my stomach knotted. We’d been together for several months and had never had a fight. Hell, I’d never fought with any guy I dated.

“Sure. What’s up?” I tried to pretend like I didn’t know what this was about.

He led me a few feet away from the guys and said, “You lied to me, Del. I know you’re not getting tutored. Hell, you’re getting better grades than me right now.” He glanced down the hallway. “So, my question is what the heck is going on? Do you not want to hang out with me anymore or something?”

My pulse roared in my ears. “No. That’s not it. I promise. Okay, here’s the thing—I-I joined the Science Club.”

His mouth fell open. “What?”

“I was embarrassed—I mean, Science Club is normally reserved for nerds.” I nodded in the direction of the Nerd Herd. Although, deep down I was just as big of a dork as they were—I just hid it better.

Rex let out a long breath, took a step toward me, and pulled me into his arms. “You don’t know how happy I am to hear you say that. I thought maybe you’d found some other guy or something. Next time, just tell me the truth, okay?”

C.C. cleared his throat and I caught his eye over Rex’s arm. ‘
Don’t you dare.
’ I mouthed when I realized he was ready to say something. He held his hands up and spun away from us.

“Trust me, there’s no other guy. You’re it,” I said, turning my attention back to Rex.

He grinned. “Well, if there was somebody trying to move in on my territory, I might have to kick their ass.”

But even I noticed his gaze drift to the new and improved Nerd Herd as if to warn them off.

Great, nothing like a little territory marking. Seriously, I wasn’t a piece of property or something. With that, he bent down and gave me a peck on the lips. One way or another, I had to handle things better. And I better go tell Mr. Braxon I’d joined the Science Club, just to be safe.

***

Kenadi passed the soccer ball to me as we raced toward the goal. I dribbled it, then took a shot from the back post. The ball sailed in.

“Woot, that’s my girl.” Kenadi pumped her fist, while I did a celebratory booty dance.

As we made our way back to the line to await our next turn, I told Kenadi about my run-in with Rex and also helping Trey talk to Portia.

“Speaking of Trey, I know I said it last night, but I think it needs repeating. You’re spending a lot of time with him. Not to mention, nearly every conversation we’ve had in the last week has revolved around him.”

My cheeks burned. I leaned down and pretended to pick mud out of my cleats. “He’s my friend. I want to help him out.”

“Right. And you bought him a shirt when you’re trying to save for your prom dress?”

“I—it was a cute shirt. Not to mention it was on sale. You know me and sales, I can’t pass up a good deal.” I stood straight and wiped my dirty fingers on my practice shorts.

“Okay, I’ll give you that. But I still think there’s more going on here than you’re letting on.”

“Denson, Green, get on the line, you’re next.” Coach blew her whistle.

We raced down the field once more. Kenadi was wrong. I mean, Trey’s cute. But he’d been one of my best friends since we were toddlers. No way would I jeopardize that. Not to mention Rex. Hot. Senior. Sex God of the entire school. Okay, I didn’t really know if he was a Sex God, because we hadn’t done it. But still. Who would give that up?

Chapter 10

Rex rolled the window down and cranked the music in his jeep. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. Sunglasses rested on top of his head. He sang along with the country song, his forearms flexing as he gripped the steering wheel. When we came to a stop sign, he shifted his gaze to mine.

“What are you looking at?” He smiled.

I chuckled. “The scenery.”

“Oh, so now I’m just a piece of scenery.” He reached over and tickled my side.

With a shriek, I attempted to move closer to my door. “No. You’ll make me pee my pants.”

A car behind us honked, urging Rex to go. Once again, he clutched a hold of the wheel. “You’re so lucky I’m driving right now.”

Ten minutes later, we parked in my driveway and Rex turned off the vehicle.

“Thanks for the ride home. You know, I probably owe you like a million dollars in gas money by now.” I hefted up my soccer bag with my gear in it.

He caught my arm. “You don’t owe me anything. You’re my girl. Besides, I like driving you home.”

“I know. I just feel bad because I’m kind of out of the way.”

“You’re never out of my way.” He inched closer, cupping my chin in his hand. “So, I thought maybe I could come in for a while and hang out with you.”

“Actually, I’ve gotta shower then work on that project with the Nerd Herd.”

His face fell and he sat back in his seat. Crap. I was the worst girlfriend ever. Problem was, he couldn’t find out about TRC. Rex might be a good boyfriend, but he wasn’t exactly the nicest person when it came to other people outside of our crowd.

“I guess I’ll see you around then.”

As I sat there, the guilt sank in. We’d barely spent any time together in the last week or two. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt his feelings. “You know what, never mind. I’ll just tell the guys we can work on it later.”

We climbed from the vehicle and he snagged me around the waist then dumped me over his shoulder like a sack of basketballs. “I knew you’d see it my way.”

I swatted his back. “Only because you gave me puppy dog eyes. You know I can’t resist them.”

When we got inside, he set me down. “I think the game’s on. We might be able to catch the last couple innings.”

“Sounds good. You can go turn it on, while I run down and let the guys know we’ll be starting our stuff later tonight.”

His lips brushed my cheek. The scent of his cologne intoxicated me. “If you want, I can help you. I know I’m not in the Science Club, but I’m sure I could do something useful.”

“No. It’s fine. Really. I’ll be back in two seconds.”

The Nerd Herd glanced up when I barged into the family. “About time,” C.C. said. “We’ve been here for twenty minutes already.”

“Sorry. Um—Rex kind of came home with me. I might need a little bit longer.” I chewed my bottom lip.

“How long are we talking?” Kevin rubbed his face.

“Not sure. But, if I keep dodging my boyfriend, he’s gonna keep asking questions. I just need to spend a few minutes with him.”

“It’s fine. I’ve got to work on my Lit paper anyway,” Trey said, pulling his text book from his bag.

“I swear we’ll still get your lesson in.” With that, I raced back upstairs to find Rex already sprawled out on my couch watching the TV.

When he saw me standing in the doorway, he patted the spot next to him. “Hey, come sit with me.”

I kicked off my sandals then ripped off my soccer socks and slid onto the sofa next to him. He wrapped his arm around my hips, tugging me closer so I nestled against his chest. The game was in the eighth inning, Tigers up six to three.

“Come on,” he shouted as one of our batters struck out.

We watched several players come and go. My gaze flitted to the clock, wondering how long he’d stay. Not that I wanted to get rid of him, but if I was gonna talk to the Nerd Herd, get my Chemistry and Trig homework done, and eat dinner, I needed him to go pretty soon.

“So did you finish your lab for science?” I asked.

“Shh … just a second, let me watch this at bat.” He slid his arms off me and sat up, leaning closer to the TV.

Er … okay, I just got shushed for a ball game? Seriously? So maybe I shouldn’t complain too much, I mean I acted the same way when I watched soccer. But still. He’d been griping about not spending time with me and now, he ignored me to watch baseball.

I moved away from him and propped my head up on the arm of the couch. Minutes ticked by. Then his cell rang. With a groan, he grabbed it from his short’s pocket.

“Hello? Oh, hey Mom. Yeah. I’m at Del’s. Okay. I’ll be home in a few.” He hung up then turned to face me. “Sorry. Mom wants me home. She has some client who she wants me to meet coming over for dinner. There are times I swear they think I’m like a trophy they can show off.”

“I’m sure that’s not why they want you there. They’re proud of you.” I squeezed his hand. “And it’s fine if you have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow at school.” I climbed to my feet and hugged him goodbye.

Once he was out the door, I rushed to the family room. “I’m so sorry guys.”

“I can’t believe you made us wait for King Douche to leave,” C.C. said.

I glowered. “Hey, I’m trying to juggle a lot here.”

“It’s fine,” Trey said. “At least it gave me a chance to get some homework done.”

I smiled at him. Trey always came to my rescue. Even when I pissed him off. “Okay, so why don’t you guys tell me how your first assignment went?”

Kevin propped his foot up on his leg and played with his shoe laces. “On Sunday, Melanie got put on the same shift as me. So I offered to clean tables for her.”

“And?” My eyebrows raised.

“It led to us chatting about how sucky the weekend shifts are.”

“That’s awesome. See. You made it through your first conversation. But next time, don’t be scared to ask her some things about herself.”

Next, I turned to Trey. He grinned. “You guys already know I went up to Portia this morning and chatted with her about the dance show.”

C.C. snorted. “Yeah, and since when did you turn into such a wuss?”

“Since I wanted to land the hot girl.” Trey tossed his pencil at him. “And if I’m so lame, let’s hear how you did with Liza today?”

C.C.’s face grew pink. “I-I knocked her books off her desk … ”

“On purpose?” I asked.

He fidgeted in his seat. “No. I got nervous and the next thing I know, my arms were flailing and there went her books. I ended up apologizing, which I guess means I talked to her. Right?”

The boy needed help in a bad way. “Don’t worry. We’ll work on it. You just need to loosen up around her. Maybe pretend you’re talking to one of us.”

He chuckled. “You mean call her an asshole and slap her on the back?”

“Probably not a good idea.” I sat on the edge of the armchair. “If you need extra help, we can run through some more conversations.”

He shrugged. “Are you available Sunday?”

“Sure. I’ll put it on my calendar. But seriously, you guys are doing great. Just remember relationships take time to establish.”

“Drake’s didn’t,” Kevin said. He brushed his bangs off his forehead.

“He’s a special case.”

“Yeah, you can’t all be studs like me.” Drake walked into the room and plopped down on the couch. He took a swig of bottled water then set the container on the coffee table.

“Douche.” Trey lobbed a pillow at him.

“You know it.” Drake turned on the TV then clicked the power on the game console. The guys’ heads swiveled to face the screen. We watched the familiar dwarf and elf faces pop up, followed by several battle scenes.

“Well, Mr. Stud here still hasn’t beaten level four.” I laughed, gesturing toward the game.

Drake flipped me off. “Yeah, but some of us aren’t as obsessive as others.”

“Whatever, you’re just jealous I’m three levels ahead of you.” I stood to go. “Oh, and I have another assignment for you guys.”

They tore their gazes from the TV and groaned.

“I want you each to join a club or group at school. We need to start pulling you out of your comfort zones and force you to try new things.” With a wave, I headed toward the stairs. But before I made my escape, Trey caught up to me.

“So, I wondered if I can watch the rest of those dance shows tonight.”

“Sure. Just let me put my stuff away and get cleaned up.” After I threw my things in my bedroom, I took a quick shower then stopped in the kitchen to grab a pop and a cookie. Once I got situated on the couch, I turned on the reality show.

The first couple came out. Trey leaned back, a sneer on lips. “If this dude’s pants get any tighter, they’ll have to give the show an X rating.”