had bad games when we just couldn’ t get anything right. But did I really want to boost Mr . Ego? The guy who was so cocky he thought a few posters meant I wanted to taste his tongue? Maybe he needed some humbling. “Jake! Dude! It’s all right, man! You’ll get ’em next time!” Trevor shouted from the top bleacher . “Jake, Jake, Jake! Jake, Jake, Jake!” Todd chanted, trying to get the crowd into it. “Jake, Jake, Jake!” I rolled my eyes at them. Didn’t they know they were just making it worse? “Oh, no worries, man! Look! Here comes your backslapper to save the day!” T revor joked loudly , standing up and pointing at me. “Ally R yan to the rescue! W oot!” Todd added, raising the roof. I would have knocked their skulls together , but I had a feeling that had already happened to them too many times. It was probably the whole reason they were like that. Jake, meanwhile, spotted me and dropped back against the bench, shaking his head. Like I was some huge, pointless disappointment. A waste of a backslapper . Was that what he thought? Suddenly , Shannen’ s hand fell on my arm. “You’re not really going over there.” My adrenaline rose in my veins. “I’m his backslapper .” “I’ll do it. He doesn’ t even know who you are,” she said snidely . I glanced past her shoulder at Jake. So he still hadn’t told anyone we’d met. That Crestie code was as strong as a gag order. I pried my arm from her grip. “Thanks, but don’ t worry about us,” I said. “W e’ll be fine.” I knew that calling me and Jake “us” and “we” would piss her off—show her that her exclusionary tactics were lost on me—and I was right. Her nostrils flared as I walked over to the bench and sat down next to him. “What is it with you?” I demanded His eyes narrowed. “What?” “What’s your problem?” I asked, turning my knees toward him. He glanced at Chloe, Shannen, and Faith, who were hovering just on the edge of earshot, and leaned in. “Look, I’m sorry I tried to kiss you, okay?” he whispered through his teeth. “Obviously I was wrong. But I don’t really think that right now is—”
“I’m not talking about that! I’m talking about the game!” I r eplied, blushing. “What the hell are you doing out there?” “Excuse me?” he blurted. “Missing passes, giving them easy steals. I thought you were the star of this team!” I tried to ignore the obnoxious, annoyed glares of my former friends. This was not about them right now . “Dude, that guy is all over me!” Jake protested, throwing his hand out. “Did you see that illegal tackle? He should have gotten a yellow card for that. It’s not my fault if the refs are freaking blind.” “Oh, wah, wah, wah,” I r eplied sarcastically , tilting my head back and forth. “Poor Jake’ s getting defended. Are you gonna cry about it now?” A few people in the stands laughed, Annie harder than most. Jake, meanwhile, blazed red with anger . “Um, Ally?” Trista said, appearing behind us. “This isn’t exactly what I meant.” “I’m not crying about it,” Jake snapped. “Oh, no? That’ s what it sounds like to me,” I shot back. He stood up and faced me. “I can run circles around that guy .” I pressed my lips together to ke ep from smiling. “Oh, so all of a sudden you’re a player?” I said dubiously , standing up to look him in the eye. “More of a player than you’ll ever be,” he shot back. Was it just me, or was he trying not to smile now too? “Oh, yeah?” “Yeah!” “Then why don’ t you try proving it?” I demanded. “Fine!” he shouted. “Fine!” I r eplied. Suddenly , he grinned. To my surprise, he leaned toward my ear. “You’re pretty good at this.” Then he smiled at me again before jogging over to Coach and pleading his case to be put back in the game. “Wow. Nice work, Ally,” Trista said as she walked by. “I think I underestimated you.” I turned around, grinning over both the praise and the lingering buzz of flirtation, and found Shannen staring me down through narrowed eyes.
Clearly I had somehow crossed her imaginary Crestie line, and she didn’t like it at all.
“Nice tits, Dorkus,” Hammond said, clapping David Drake on the back. David gave us a tolerant look. Impressive, considering he was wearing a huge bra on the outside of his soccer jersey and that the bra was stuffed with rancid sweat socks from the locker room’s lost and found. He also had red lipstick on his lips and blue eyeliner around his eyes, plus a purple wig one of my teammates had borrowed from his little sister . All Hammond’ s idea. All his way of putting Drake in his place for taking my spot on the field. Which I was pissed about, but it wasn’t exactly his fault. Still, I guess it was better than the kick in the head Hammond was always threatening to give him. “Can I get you anything, sirs?” David asked us bitterly . “I could use a beer ,” Hammond said as I tried not to laugh. “I’m right on top of that, sir ,” he said. As soon as he was gone, Hammond and I both doubled over. “I’m a genius, dude,” Hammond said, smacking my hand, front and back. “The newbies look hilarious.” “Y ep,” I agreed with a nod. Once Hammond had come up with the idea to haze Drake, I’d insisted we make all the other new players dress up too. That was only fair . At least this way David wasn’ t in it alone. “So, dude, you figured out who you’re taking to the Harvest Ball yet?” Hammond asked me, taking out his Black Berry to check his messages. I automatically glanced across Hammond’ s game room at Ally. A few people were starting to dance in the open space between the pool table and the arcade games, but she was hanging out by the wall, talking to Tommy Kopp. I was surprised she’d shown. Usually Norms didn’t come to these parties. But then, usually there were no Norm backslappers, either. She looked hot in her frayed jeans and OHH soccer T-shirt, her hair pulled up in a ponytail. The only question was, why the hell was she talking to Tommy Kopp? That guy had breath like a garbage dump and a face to match.