Hookup List (5 page)

Morgan grabbed the front of my tee-shirt and pulled me over to the woods that surrounded the soccer fields. I could hear some girls from the soccer team cat-calling and I smiled. It was clear to everyone what was going to happen. I hope those catcalls drove Sadie crazy.

As soon as we were out of sight.
Morgan pushed me up against the trunk of a tree. Then she hooked a finger inside the waistband of my shorts.

“This is how I started with Graham,” Morgan said with a confident smile. She started to slip my shorts down. Then she leaned in and whispered in my ear, “This isn’t making you uncomfortable, is it?”

“Not at all,” I said.

“Okay,” Morgan said. With that, she pushed my shorts down. They landed at my feet. She glanced down at the front of my spandex shorts. “Not bad,” she admitted grudgingly.

“I know,” I said cockily.

Morgan rolled her eyes.
“Boys. The only way to get you to shut up is to kiss you.”

“Damn straight,” I said.

I leaned forward and met Morgan’s lips. She was a forceful and adventurous kisser. As soon as our lips touched she slipped her tongue inside my mouth. I enjoyed the sensation. Even better, she pressed her body firmly against mine. I loved the way her breasts brushed invitingly against my hard chest. I put my hand on her hips as we kissed. She was amazingly fit. I felt the hard ridges of hip bones with my thumbs. There was no extra padding there. I also loved the way she smelled. How could girls work out hard and still smell so nice and feminine? It was amazing.

Ungettable
girl number one was just checked off the hook up list. Sorry Sadie.

“Last year with Graham I did this,” Morgan said between kisses. I felt her hand slide down between my legs. “You can handle this, right? I’m not going too fast for you, pretty boy?” She began to kiss my neck.

“No problem at all,” I said, trying not to sound breathless. Morgan now had my undivided attention. I felt every part of her hand with distinct clarity as she familiarized herself intimately with my no-longer-private parts. Unlike a lot of girls, she definitely knew what she was doing, expertly teasing me.

I rested back against the tree and let Morgan have her fun. Soon enough she would not be able to resist taking the next step beyond teasing. I imagined how the evening would progress. I was in no rush. There was plenty of fun to be had. Perhaps we could start with...

Suddenly four decidedly masculine hands seized me. My eyes flew open in surprise as Morgan yelped and darted away. Dylan, Noah, and a handful of other varsity guys were staring back at me.

“Nate,” Dylan said, sounding far too pleased with
himself for comfort. “I just realized that you are a member of Lakeville men’s soccer now that you’re playing with the JV guys and we haven’t had a chance to give you a proper initiation. This seems like the perfect time.”

“Perfect time?
I was making out,” I protested.

“Really?
I didn’t notice,” Dylan said.

”I hate you,” I said.

“Good,” Dylan replied. “Just make sure to tell your brother. Like I said, I owe him.”

“Okay boys, you know the drill, let’s dye him and tie him,” Noah chirped happily. “Who’s got the duct tape?”

Bryson London gave me evil look that sent chills down my spine. “Right here,” he said, holding up a full roll of duct tape. “Let’s do this.”

Those monster piles of human excrement.
Those asinine jerks of unimaginable idiocy. I wanted to punch every one of them in the face. Unfortunately, I couldn’t, for my arms were duct taped to my sides and my body was taped firmly to the goal post of the football field.  

Morgan had ditched me and was nowhere to be seen. The varsity guys had taken my shirt and coated my body in ridiculous red and black paint. Bryson in particular took pleasure from slapping my chest and back so that
black hand prints were all over me. The guys then put duct tape across my mouth, taped me to the post, and left me. All the other after-school activities teams seemed to know the drill because no one else bothered to stop and let me free.

I was hoping that the soccer girls would stay far away but it seemed that Sadie was not about to pass up this opportunity. She came marching over with her team and they spent nearly half an hour teasing me and helping the guys apply paint. I think they just liked having an excuse to touch my body but it still rankled that they saw me like this. I had hooked up with several of those girls and now they saw me tied up like some chump. All I could do was act like I was cool with it.

Several of the girls wanted to let me go after all was said and done but Bryson was having none of that. He made sure I stayed taped up until all the girls had left. To my great annoyance, Dylan and Sadie backed him up.

“This is good for you,” Sadie said once only she, Bryson, and Dylan were left. She held up her phone. “Your brother will want to see this,” she said and took a photo. “Cute. You look just like your brother in red.”

“Well, I suppose we should let him go now,” Dylan said. “His parents are going to wonder where he is if we leave him taped up all night. It’s too bad, though. A little more time here might help change his attitude.”

“I’m going to stay and practice for another half hour or so,” Bryson said. “I can let him go when I’m done.”

“It’s settled then,” Sadie said happily. She walked up to me and kissed my cheek. “I’m glad we had a chance to have this talk. Stay away from the girls now and focus on school.” With that, she and Dylan left.

Bryson watched them go with a smile on his face. That smile grew into an evil sneer as he turned back to me. “So, you thought you were pretty bad ass, didn’t you, kid?” he said. “You come from your private school and think you’re going to take over. I know how guys like your work. Well, I bet you’re not feeling so hot right now, are you? You know, you still owe me for screwing up at practice the other day. I tell you what. You can make it up to me by helping with my soccer shot. You just stay right there and I’ll see if I can hit you. It’ll be some good target practice.”

Bryson took a few soccer balls that were lying around and backed up about twenty yards. Then he started shooting them at me as hard as he could. The first one missed altogether, which me chuckle behind the duct tape over my mouth. That only made him angrier. The second ball hit me directly in the stomach. I doubled over as the wind got knocked out of me and would have fallen if the tape had not held me up.

“Score!”
Bryson yelled happily.

His third shot hit me in the face. My head snapped back and hit the pole behind my head. Stars danced across my line of vision.

“Stomach, head... I’m pretty good,” Bryson said. “This is a lot of fun. How about we...”

“Hey!” someone yelled. “Stop it!” Bryson looked past me. I couldn’t turn around to see what he was looking at but whatever it was caused him to snort.

“Looks like you’ve got a champion,” Bryson said to me. “Don’t worry, we just having some fun,” he yelled back.

A little girl suddenly materialized beside me. She placed herself directly in front of me. I could only see the back of her but I could tell that she had a thin, waif-like body, was just over five feet tall, and had long blond hair that was in a pony tail.

Bryson started to laugh. “This is priceless,” he said. “It’s just a prank, girl. Take it easy.”

“It’s time for you to go,” the girl said firmly.

“This is too much,” Bryson said. “Okay, whatever, I’m out. Nate, have fun with your little friend.”

Bryson left and the girl turned to face me. She was pretty but very young looking – too young for me to be interested. She barely looked old enough to be a freshman. I could not see any fat on her body at all. Her arms were so thin I thought I could encircle them by touching the tip of my index finger to my thumb. Her eyes were a pretty shade of blue, though, and she had a kind expression on her face.

“This might hurt a little,” she said as she reached up and took hold of the tape across my mouth. She pulled it quickly off. I worked my lips back and forth a little to lessen the sting.

“Thanks,” I said in my best nonchalant tone as the girl continued to
untape me.

“No problem,” she said. “I’m just sorry you had to go through that. Bullying can be extremely painful to endure.”

“Oh, it wasn’t bullying, more of hazing really,” I said.

“Uh-huh. Well, you’re red, but I guess whatever you want to call it is fine,” the girl said.

She finished unwinding the tape from around my body. I took a step forward and felt my chest, thankful that I didn’t have any hair there to rip off. I looked like a mess. The red and black paint had been smeared by the tape so that it looked like one hideous mixture.

“What’s your name?” the girl asked.

“Nate Cadwell,” I replied as I tried to wipe some of the paint off and then gave up. “Yours?”

“Faith Reagan,” she said. “I would shake your hand but it’s got paint all over it.
Nice to meet you, though.”

“Yeah, likewise,” I said. “Well, thanks again.”

I started walking up to the school. To my surprise and partial annoyance, Faith fell in step beside me.

“It was lucky I found you,” she said. “I stayed late after cross-country practice ‘
cause my brother wasn’t done with his run yet. Otherwise I never would have seen you.”

My ears perked up a bit when she said
that she was on the cross-country team. Trinity was on that team. “Are you a freshman?” I asked.

The girl nodded. “I’m too young to drive so my brother gives me a ride after school,” she said.

“So how are you liking high school so far?” I asked. “Is the cross-country team treating ya well? Some nice girls on it?”

“Oh yes, I love it;” Faith said. “It seems a lot nicer than your soccer team, anyways.”

I didn’t want to talk about that. “Trinity London is on your team, isn’t she?” I said as if the thought had suddenly occurred to me.

Faith raised an eyebrow and gave me a sideways look. “Are you serious right now?” she asked.

“What?” I said.

“You’re red.
Like, the color red. How am I the only one of us who sees this? You need to take a cold shower, sport. Trinity London is not happening for you. She’s way out of your league. Focus on the problems on hand, like how not to get taped to a pole again tomorrow.”

I glanced at her. “You’re pretty bold for a pip-squeak,” I said.

“Pip squeak? I’m one of the fastest girls on the team,” Faith said. “I bet you couldn’t keep up, fatty.”

“Fatty?” I protested. I glanced down at my shredded abs.
Was the girl blind?

“You heard me,” Faith said. “So what’s your story, anyhow? I haven’t seen you around before and trust me, I would have remembered seeing a guy who’s
frickin’ red even if I am just a freshman. Are you new here?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I got kicked out of my boarding school. My parents live in town so here I am.”

“Uh-huh,” Faith said. “Why were you at a boarding school?”

I sighed. This chick was wearing me out. “It’s a long story,” I said.

“Sum it up,” she replied. “We’ve got about three minutes until we’re in the parking lot.”

“Fine,” I said. I didn’t know why but I suddenly felt nervous. I had never really told this story to anyone before. “When I was in middle school my dad and I got into a fight. It turned physical. After that my parents decided it was probably best not to have me around too much. My dad and I never get along too well.”

“Why not?” Faith asked.

I sighed again. “He’s not really my dad,” I said. “My mom and he split up for a few months after my brother was born and she had a fling with another guy. After that I was born. They weren’t really sure whose kid I was – especially ‘
cause I looked so much like my brother – so they decided they didn’t want to find out for sure. Finally my dad – I mean Jerry – wanted a paternity test. After they found out I wasn’t his kid he started treating me differently. He got drunk one night and hit me. He was really sorry afterwards, of course, and he doesn’t drink very often. I think my mom felt guilty for the whole thing so she couldn’t bring herself to leave him. The unspoken compromise we all made was that he had to go into counseling and I got shipped away. Mom tells me to still call him dad and think of him that way but I can tell he doesn’t look at me as a son anymore.”

That was way more than I had planned to share. I took a deep breath. Once I had started talking about things they had just gotten away from me.

“I’m sorry,” Faith said softly. “That must have been really hard.”

“I didn’t mean to dump all of that on you,” I said gruffly. “I have never talked about it before. Just forget about it. I just met you; you shouldn’t have to worry about my family issues.”

“Family issues are not unique to you, you know,” Faith said. “You never know what someone’s background is and whether they’ve been through something like you and know how to help. What about your real father? Do you know who he is?”

I shrugged. “No, and I don’t really want to know,” I said. At least, I didn’t think I wanted to know. What if my dad was some kind of axe murderer? He couldn’t have been a stellar human being if he had never bothered to visit his biological son. “My brother became my father as well as my best friend. Aaron was the only reason Jerry and I could be in the same room together; he
made both of us happy and at ease. Without him around, I don’t think this little experiment of Jerry and me living under the same roof is going to work.”

“Well, I hope it does,” Faith said. “You seem like a pretty nice guy to me and I think your choice of skin color is a novel way of introducing more diversity to the school.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help myself. Faith’s non-judgmental attitude and spunk were infectious.

We reached the parking lots. “I see David, my brother,” Faith said, pointing to tall blond-haired guy who was leaning against a car and talking to one of the girls from the soccer team. “He hangs around a lot of soccer girls for some reason,” she said. “Well,” she said, turning to me, “I would hug you goodbye but...”

“Yeah, I got it, I’m red,” I said.

“Right.
Okay, take care, and try not to let any more boys tie you up,” Faith said.

I shook my head as she walked away. Insolent little
squirt. Still, she was fun. I would have to see if I could find her in the hallways around school. Faith’s brother David gave me a strange look as he suddenly noticed me and I realized I really did need to get cleaned off. I headed back to Aaron’s car, wondering how I was going to keep the paint from smearing all over his seats. The last thing I needed was to give him another reason to be angry with me.