Bound Together (21 page)

Their heads popped up.
Pete’s voice rang out above the others, “See you at the game!”

Zoey
did not look amused, but
I
dutifully
turned and
followed
her
down the stairs
while
trying to
suppress a smile
. We stood together in the open front doorway for a few long seconds
without saying anything
.
She looked me over, then picked up my wrist,
and plucked the
black elastic hair tie of hers I was still wearing.
It snapped softly against my wrist.
No matter what either of us said, i
t was clear this thing between us wasn’t over.

*****

I walked into sch
ool Friday morning with Justin and
saw Chelsey standing up ahead
of us waiting
in front of my locker.

“Rumor has it
Dave
’s already
done
with
her
. He got what he wanted,
”
Justin said, under his breath, nodding towards Chelsey.

Chelsey
was
wast
ing
no time in crawling back. She was leaning against my locker in her cheerleading uniform.

“Hi,
Matty
!”
she said when we
got closer.

Justin glanced
at the sour lo
ok on my face, then over to
Chelsey’s toothy smile. “Your own your own.” He gave me a fist bump and sauntered off down the hall. 

“You excited for the game tonight?” she asked.

I opened my locker and grabbed my Global Studies book. “Sure.”

“Me too. I’m wearing my lucky pink polka
-
dot boy shorts.” She smiled. “You remember those, right?”

“I’ve
gotta
get to class,
Chels
.” I shrugged my backpack strap over my shoulder and turned to leave.

“Wait, Matt.”
Chelsey grabbed my hand, stopping me. “I was just wondering
…
are you planning to go the semi
-
formal?” She smiled up at me, still holding my hand.

“Chelsey.” I hung my head, trying to think of a way to get rid of her.

“Yes, Matt?”
she asked, hopeful.

“You cheated on me, remember?”

“
But t
hat was a mistake.” She gave my hand a squeeze.

Zoey
chose that moment to walk by, looking from my face down to Chelsey’s hand in mine. I quickly dropped it.
I
wondered if I’d just seen
disappointment in
Zoey
’s
eyes before she ducked her head
, letting her hair fall into her face
and walked off towards class.

I headed into class and set our paper
down
on the corner of Mr. Rhinehart’s desk.

Zoey
didn’t even look my direction, even when I leaned over to let her know our paper came out really good. She
nodded
just
once while look
ing straight ahead at Mr. Rhinehart.
Then reached back and secured her hair up in a tight bun.

At first break in the commons
,
Chelsey scooted in next to me on the bench seat and walked her fingers up my thigh. I slid over out of her reach, so our legs were no longer touching
, a
nd bit into my granola bar, doing my best to ignore her.

Zoey
was across the courtyard, standing under the oak tree with her friends. I was too far away to hear what they were talking about, but everyo
ne was laughing
—
except
Zoey
. I had to sit there watching Jordan put his grubby hands all over her.
He snaked his arm around her waist and clutched his fingers into her lower back
to
guide her in toward him.
I hated seeing him touch her. Hated it.
He bent down to her ear and whispered something that made her swat his arm.
Zoey
stepped
out of his reach. At least she never did that with me.
I grinned and Justin was looking at me strangely.

“What are you zoning out on?” he asked.

“
Nothing,” I lied.

*****

At lunch
I stood in line, wa
i
ting for pay for my grilled cheese and fries and spotted Justin sliding in to our usual corner booth. I handed the lunch lady a five and after she made my change, she winked and placed an apple on the corner of my tray.

“Here
—
growing boy like you. Take this.”

“Uh, thanks.” I turned for our table and ran smack into Chelsey.

“
Matty
, I’m sorry we didn’t get to talk earlier.”

I shifted my weight, balancing the tray with one hand. “Yeah, listen, now’s not a good time.” I nodded towards the table. “The guys are waiting for me.”

“Well, it’s just that we didn’t get to talk about the dance.” She placed her hand gingerly on my forearm. “Don’t you want me by your side when you’re being recognized at the banquet?”

I saw
Zoey
walk into the cafeteria with Morgan and once again Chelsey was touching me.
Zoey
’s
mouth tugged down, her eyes narrowed as she looked at us,
but
she
kept walking
.

“Can you take your hand off me?” I asked.
Chelsey
pouted, but complied. “
I’m not taking you to the dance
. And right now, I’m going to sit with my friends.” I stepped around her and headed over to Justin and a few guys from our varsity team. This definitely beat sitting with Chelsey and her judgmental friends, commenting on what people were wearing or their unfortunate bangs. 

Chelsey was still standing motionless where I left her in the middle of the cafeteria. I set my tray down at the table, then walked across the room to where
Zoey
sat. Her friends fell silent when
I approached their table.

“Hey. Can I talk to you for a second?”

Zoey
stared up at me, but seemed unwilling or unable to answer. Morgan elbowed her in the side. “Mar
-
ci,” she said through gritted teeth, still smiling
up
at me.

Zoey
blinked at me several times. “Uh
.
S
ure
. Talk.” She glanced around
at her friends, indifference on her face.

“I meant just me and you. It’ll just take a second
.” I flashed her my most dazzling
smile. It had no effect.

“Whatever you have to say, just say it.”

“Are you sure you want all your friends to hear what I’ve got to say?”

Her cheeks started to grow pink. She pushed her tray back and got up from the table. Once I was sure she was going to follow me, I walked towards the open cafeteria doors and stopped just outside them. I could tell we’d attracted somewhat of an audience on our walk through the cafeteria, and those that had noticed
Zoey
and me together were craning their necks to watch us through the doorway.

“What are you doing?”
Zoey
hissed at me.

I hadn’t realized she’d be mad. “I just didn’t
want you to get the wrong idea
—
about me and Chelsey I mean.”

“What? That’s what this is about? This is why you make a scene dragging me through the cafeteria?”

“I thought you were mad and I just wanted to explain Chelsey and I aren’t getting back together. I had fun with you
the other
night.
”

“Matt
—
I
don’
t care about you and Chelsey,” she said it slowly, making sure it sunk in.

“You didn’t talk to me during Global Studies. You wouldn’t even look at me. Something was definitely bugging you.”

“Yeah, the fact that you keep insisting on trying to be friend
s
at school.
It’s
kinda
weirding
me out. It was easier when you were in your circle with the jocks and I was in my circle.”

“I don’t get you,
Zoey
. I thought we were having fun together.”

She shifted her feet further apart and put her hands on her hips. “We were. Until you got
all clingy
. We’ll keep having fun
outside
of school if you’ll just not to talk me
inside
of
school. Get it?”

“No,” I said. “See you around. My lunch is getting cold.” I turned and left her standing there.
I headed thro
ugh the cafeteria
doors
,
and
the hushed room came back to life with people leaning across the tables to talk, looking between
Zoey
and I. I slunk down low into the seat next to Justin.
There were about four fries left on my tray.

“What the hell was that, bro?”

“Nothing. I just had to talk with her about an assignment,” I said.

He looked me over
and smirked. I knew I wasn’t all that convincing, but did little to try and cover it up.

Chapter Twenty
-
five

Zoey

I hated myself for it, but I felt just a teensy bit mad at myself that I’d been a bitch to Matt. He was a sweet guy
–w
hich was exactly why he shouldn’t be hanging around someone like me. But he seemed unable to stay away
and I couldn’t explain why I’d suggested we could hook up just twice more
—
at each of our choosing.
I
guess I
wasn’t quite willing to cut him loose, even though things were growing increasing more complicated by the day.
Which was
why, as I bundled the kids up in
sweatshirts and jackets, I still couldn’t believe I wa
s actually going to the game.

I ran back up the stairs, leaving the kids huddled by the front door. “
Zoey
, come on. We’re
gonna
miss kick off,” Ty called up to me.

“One sec,” I called
from the top of
the stairs. Inside my room, I yanked the pony tail from my hair and tore the brush through
it
,
glancing in the mirror to make sure I
had
work
ed
out all
the clinks. I tossed the bru
sh on my bed and jogged down
stairs. “Ready,” I declared. For what, I had no clue.

*****

The game wasn’t really what I expected. First of all
—
I was shocked to discover that you had to pay to get in. I mean, we got the
discounted
student rate, which was only two bucks each, but after paying for all five of us, that pretty much cleaned me out. Now it made more sense why I’d unknowingly boycotted this high school tradition.

We made our way to the bleachers, and sat in something called the student section. I didn’t know how all this worked, but luckily my brothers seemed to have a boy gene that made
them instantly know what to do. I followed behind them up the bleachers, holding onto Cora’s hand. We squeezed in next to a group of kids I recognized from school, but had never talked to.
They looked harmless enough,
I just hoped they kept their language clean around the kids.

The game started and I searched for Matt on the field
, and
found him.
He was number thirty
-
six, and looked confident and athletic out on the field, moving past other guys, knocking into the other team’s players, and jogging down the field. But I quickly became bored and spent the next three (yes, three!) hours alternating cheeks to try and keep my butt from falling asleep. I thought about all the things I could be getting done at home, from chores to college applications,
to nice, hot bubble bath,
but my brothers were having fun, and knowing this was definitely the one and only game I was bringing them to, I was glad they were enjoying it.