had to get back to the game before my body started thinking for me. “Twelve– fourteen,” I said. I dribbled from hand to hand. She bent at the waist, rocking back and forth on her hips, her eyes on mine. She had this look on her face like she knew she was going to win. Screw it. Basketball was not my game. There was a good chance I wasn’t going to get around her. Might as well go through. I barreled straight ahead, slamming her shoulder with mine. As she went sprawling I realized that might have been kind of unnecessary . I hesitated before tossing the ball up, which gave her just enough of a window to spring off the ground, go vertical, and slap the ball away. It bounced toward the edge of the court, and by the time I figured out what had happened, she was shooting a perfect arcing shot over my head. It fell through the net with a slosh, spraying water everywhere. “That’s game!” Ally shouted, raising her arms. I hung my head. Good thing it was raining. Otherwise Hammond or the Idiot Twins might have dropped by and witnessed this tragedy . “Nice one,” I said, reaching my hand out to her . She slapped it and sat down on the bottom bleacher . “Yeah. You too.” I sat down next to her. Too close. Our thighs and knees touched. She looked at our legs but didn’t move away. I was breathing kind of heavy from the game and wished I had a Gatorade or something so I’d have something to do with my hands. I looked over at her . She quickly looked away . We both laughed. “That was fun,” I said, leaning back. My shoulder pressed against hers. “We should do it again.” “And risk pissing of f your friends?” she asked. My face turned hot. “Screw them.” She twisted slightly , leaning her hand into the bench. Which meant that her knee was pushing more solidly against mine. I cleared my throat. “What the hell did you do to Chloe, anyway?” I asked. I mean, the girl was obviously cool. I couldn’ t believe she could have done anything that bad. Maybe if I could sort of ease her back into the group, we could hang out. “No one will tell me.” Ally’s face grew serious, and she sat up straight. Her leg was no longer touching mine. She looked down at her feet, which she kicked out in front of her. “I skipped out on her sweet sixteen.” “No way .” I laughed. “That’ s the big drama?”
“Y ep.” She looked away . “And the punishment for that is a lifetime ban?” I asked. “The funny thing is, I never even got an invitation,” she said. “Chloe claims she sent it, but if she did, I didn’t get it. So technically , there’s no reason for them to be mad.” “Girls,” I said—then hoped she wouldn’ t take it to mean her . “Tell me about it,” she joked. “It’s more what my dad did, I think,” she said, swinging her legs back and forth. “When they look at me . . . all they see is him. He really did eff up. They have a right to be pissed at him. We all do.” I swallowed hard. We were getting into heavy territory . I’d never been good at heavy . Ally sighed and looked down at her hands, fidgeting with her fingers. “I guess we all just need to move on.” Then the weirdest thing happened. I had this sudden itch to hold her hand. My fingers actually twitched toward hers, but I held back. That would definitely be too weird. And definitely be sending a signal I did not want to send. So instead, I pressed my palm into my thigh and sighed. I waited. The rain got harder and louder for a second, and then, all of a sudden, stopped. Ally was done talking. Rain dripped from our hair and clothes. I had to clench my teeth to ke ep from shaking. Now that we’d stopped moving, I was getting cold. “So whose idea was it?” she asked suddenly . “What?” “The lawn jockey .” I froze. Like I was really going to rat out Shannen. “Why do you want to know?” She stared at me for a long moment. “It was Shannen’ s, wasn’t it? You can tell me. It’ s not like I’m going to go fight her or something.” I didn’t answer , but my face must have said it all. “I knew it.” She pulled the fabric of her T-shirt away from her stomach and wrung it out. Skin. She was showing skin. And her stomach was seriously ripped. “It’s so insane. We used to be best friends.” She shook her head and looked out across the court with this sad look on her face. “I knew they were going to be pissed, but I never thought . . . I mean, I thought we’d all get over it.” I swallowed hard. “Sucks.”
She nodded. “Yeah. Whatever . It doesn’t matter. I guess we’re really just not going to be friends anymore. I just have to deal with it.” Ally let the hem of her shirt drop over her abs again and glanced up at me. I tore my eyes from her stomach, and she blushed. Crap. Suddenly I was finding it hard to swallow . And now I was staring at her lips. “So, then . . . what should we do?” I asked. I mean, she was here. She’d come here in the middle of a downpour to hang out with me. Even though last night she’d been kissing David Drake at the Harvest Ball. That had to mean something, right? She smiled slightly . “Play another game?” My heart dropped. Or maybe she was just using me for her basketball court. I stood up, relieved to put some space between the two of us. Relieved to have something to do other than think about kissing her. I grabbed the ball from the ground where we’d left it. “You’re on.”
n o v e m b e r
Did you hear? Ally R yan’s going out with David Drake. Please. Everyone knows that. My mother knows that. Oh. Well, I didn’ t. I kind of thought she had a crush on Jake Graydon. Why did you think that ? I don’t know. She’s always, like, staring at him. So is half the female population of Or chard Hill. And some of the male. Whatever . There’s just this vibe whenever they’r e in a room together . Okay, Dr. Phil. Whatever you say. But Ally and Jake? That could never happen. Why not? I think they’d be kind of cute together . First of all, he’s a Crestie and she’s a Norm. It’s just not done. And second of all . . . Second of all what? Second of all, Shannen Moor e would scratch her eyes right out. Why? Do you think Shannen likes Jake? Isn’t it obvious? She’s just waiting for him to wake up and smell the soul mate.
Whoa. So, why doesn’ t Jake ask her out alr eady? Because. He’ s a guy . Which means? Which means he is, by definition, oblivious.
I dropped my old Orchard Hill High duffel bag on the bottom bleacher in the gym and sat down to retie my sneakers. It was the second week of November and the first day of basketball practice. By Friday Coach Prescott would have to cut the thirty-one hopeful players down to a final roster of fifteen. As I casually checked out the competition, I saw a lot of familiar faces—girls I had played with on JV freshman year. I could imagine that the lineup would be similar to that one, and as long as none of them had developed crazy skills since I’d been gone, I had a pretty good shot of making the team. “Hey, Ally! Come shoot around with us,” Jessica Landry shouted, waving me over . Jessica was a Norm senior who I’d always thought was the coolest girl on the team. She was one of those girls who wore sweats practicall y every day but always looked good anyway . Plus, she had a smile for everyone all the time. Not once in my life had I ever felt uncomfortable around her. I jogged over to join her and her friends, slapping a few hands and feeling lighthearted and ready for a workout. I had just hit a sweet three from the corner when Shannen walked into the gym. My gut twisted with nerves, which just annoyed me. I was not going to let Shannen Moore make me nervous. She had no power over me. If anything, I should be pissed of f at her. Coach gave one bleat on her whistle and shouted at us to grab some water before we got started. I’d just dropped down on the bottom bleacher and was fishing in my bag for my water bottle when the toes of Shannen’ s sneakers suddenly lined up with mine. My stomach hollowed out. “Hey,” she said. Her foot twisted so that the side was to the floor for a second, then righted itself. She wore an Orchard Hill basketball T-shirt and held a ball loosely between her crossed wrists and her stomach. Her dark hair was back in a sloppy pony-tail, those long bangs half-hiding her eyes.