Shark Bait (The Grab Your Pole Series) (7 page)

“There isn’t a girl yet who’s been able to figure him out, and he doesn’t exactly make it easy for them either. That’s partly why they’re so attracted to him, you know? He’s the epitome of elusive. But, here’s where
you’re
in luck… Do you remember what he said about that girl, Teresa, today in class?”

“Yeah, I met her at lunch. She’s one of Michele’s friends,” I admitted.

“Camie, I hate to say this, but you might not wanna hang out with them if you want a shot at Tristan,” Kate told me with kindness but also, brutal honesty.

“Yeah, I figured. That kinda sucks, too, because I like Michele and I’m not exactly thrilled with having to eat lunch alone until I can find a safer group to hang with.” I was afraid of this. I know I can still be Michele’s friend while she still lives here, but the other three are really not my idea of the best quality people for me to be influenced by. I’ll admit right here and now that I can be somewhat impressionable, and I don’t want their personalities to rub off on me in
any
way. I’ve already gossiped about someone and I’d like to draw the line there, thank you very much.

“Uh, Camie, you and I are friends now, remember? So don’t worry about that, you’re already in my group. Besides, if you accept the challenge you’re gonna be with me at lunch and pretty much all available moments. That being said, one of your advantages is that your new best friend is the one girl who’s not after Tristan and who just so happens to know his quirks. For example, unlike almost all other guys, Tristan hates, I mean absolutely
detests
when girls throw themselves at him like Teresa does. And since most girls do exactly that, he wants less than nothing to do with them.

“So that, my friend, is why he doesn’t actually date much...I mean he’s
really
particular about whom he invests his actual time in. Now let me be clear here, that does not mean he keeps to himself, if you know what I mean…but even so, he’s pretty selective about who he screws around with casually too.
Unless
he’s being self-destructive, which does happen fairly often. Regardless of who it’s with though, or how it happens, it’s a safe bet his encounters are more or less meaningless to him, but still. In fact, that might be why Michele said he goes through girls like that.”

Since I’m truthfully new to this whole world, I’m kind of lost. I know what she meant about him not keeping to himself, but I don’t get the other part so I asked for clarification. “I don’t mean to be obtuse or anything, but what do you mean about him being self-destructive?”

Kate sighed and then screwed up her face in trying to think of how she could explain. “The best way I can say it is that he’s moody as all hell. Most of the time Tristan does a really stellar job of fending off unwanted advances, but I’ve witnessed many upon many instances when it’s like he just doesn’t give a shit at the time and hooks up with a girl he’d normally avoid like the plague. He then ends up having to deal with the aftermath of his reckless actions, which of course, pisses him off even more. I’m not sure why, or what makes him do it, but it does seem to happen more than he’d like to admit, I’m sure.”

“Okay, I get what you’re saying. He’s fickle like us girls.” In thinking about how Jillian and I felt about moving, Kate’s explanation was actually really easy for me to understand.

“Yeah, I guess he is,” she said, nodding her agreement once again.

“So, tell me why you think he might be interested in me of all people.” I’m really curious about this piece of information and judging from how well Kate knows Tristan; I think I’m safe in believing she might be right about him liking me. Wow. This is totally surreal. I mean, stuff like this just isn’t supposed to happen in real life, you know what I mean?

“Okay. Like I said earlier, I’ve known him my whole life and I’m pretty sure I can recognize the signs when he’s considering if a girl is worth his time. I already know for a fact he’s attracted to you, that’s a given, an—”

“Wait! He’s attracted to me?! How do you know he’s attracted to me?!” ‘Cause in my review of the day, the guy never looked at me twice! Maybe I missed some clue earlier in the day. I thought I’d been paying particularly close attention to everything he did, though... I was, right? God, I really need to learn some pointers from either the most loveable Kate Beaumont here, or my overly observant twelve-year-old sister.

Kate chuckled a little before answering, which she did like she was a sage or something. “Because Camie, I’ve
seen and heard
things today that you’re most likely completely unaware of, and I also know things about how he operates that most don’t.”

And boy, she wasn’t kidding about how much she’d picked up on!

“Liiiike…?”
I quizzed her with growing excitement. I mean because the way she said all that made me feel like I was the topic of much discussion among the hierarchy at school today, although I know that’s not true. I think I would’ve heard the buzz if people were actually talking about me. I have a feeling that’ll soon be changing, though, if I decide to accept the challenge like Kate said and if Michele’s right about how people talk in this school.

“Alright, first let me just caution you by saying that the events of today pertaining to Tristan Daniels were unprecedented and there was a lot going on that the casual observer would never think of as important. Except they’re
hugely important
and every detail counts, especially if you understand there’s always meaning behind what this guy does. Basically, it all boils down to the fact that for whatever reason, he’s chosen to give you an enormous opening to accomplish what the vast majority of girls on campus dream of. I know I’m being overly melodramatic, but, this is high school and, well…this is the kind of stuff we teenagers live for, you know?” Kate asked rather formally and with a fair amount of suspense in her tone, kind of like we’re living in some sort of mystery dinner theater production.

“Yeah. I’m starting to understand there’re things at play here that could possibly cause the social dynamics of this school to be thrown into a topsy-turvy kind of upheaval. I never-ever thought I’d be a part of some huge teen scandal, let alone be the cause of it though. I certainly feel honored, but sorta unworthy at the same time.” I’m also starting to have a growing understanding of how kids my age take the ins and outs of each other’s lives along with the minutiae of those lives so seriously.

And now let’s sit back and relax because it’s time to pay attention to what Kate’s about to tell me. And know this, how she put it all together is nothing short of phenomenal...

“Okay good, you get it. Now, I’m gonna walk you through what I feel to be some very remarkable happenings of today, so let’s start at the beginning… I saw how he stopped you from falling this morning. It wasn’t like he just happened to be walking behind you two, you know. He literally sprang off the stage and practically sprinted to grab that book his cousin dropped. And this part is pretty amazing in itself and I still can’t believe he did it,” she said, shaking her head, emphasizing her disbelief. “He then
circled around
so he could come up behind you guys and appear nonchalant in an attempt to not only get a closer look at you, but make sure you noticed him too. And you should understand it’s highly unusual for Tristan to draw attention to himself like that.

“Now Camie, I cannot stress enough how important this next tidbit is...
Jeff
witnessed it as well. So, keeping in mind there were a good four hours that passed in which he could’ve been thinking about you, that brings us to several groundbreaking things that happened in English.”

“Oh, you mean the class I’ve heretofore been referring to as heaven?”

She laughed. “Yeah, that would be the one.”

“Okay, just checking. You may continue...”

“Alright well, Jeff is a total flirt, but what he was doing today wasn’t so much flirting with you as it was egging Tristan on. This leads me to believe that Tristan either A, said something about you to his best friend, or B, Jeff guessed at his interest like I did.

“Either way, there was enough in his behavior to take notice of. I have a hunch Tristan probably said something though, because not only did they have their heads together for much of first period, but it kinda seemed like they were speaking in code during English, as if Jeff was telling Tristan what he thought of you without actually saying anything. So that could mean Tristan might’ve asked Jeff’s opinion earlier in the day. And let’s not forget that Jeff works in the office third period where he could’ve easily obtained pertinent information about you for Tristan.”

“But what about him thinking I wa—”

“A guy? And him not seeing a new girl on the roster?”

I nodded.

“I think that was bullshit. It’s my belief that Jeff scripted some of what he said and he did it solely to ferret out a reaction from you. I think he took it upon himself to screen you for Tristan, who was paying very close attention to
everything
being said, even though he did a damned good job of appearing not to be…and judging from the way Tristan looked at you and laughed about what was said, I think Jeff’s statement about you being a sophomore took him by surprise.

“Next, Tristan put his hand on your knee when he picked up Teresa’s note, making skin-to-skin contact for the second time today, and coming from him, that’s a
big
clue that he’s attracted to you. He could’ve very easily reached over you without touching or leaning against you like that, or just not picked it up at all. He didn’t
want
the note…I know you saw his face when he shredded it; he was completely repulsed by even touching it! He did all that with intent, Camie, like a test to see how you’d react. You did very well by the way,” Kate said with a smile, like she was proud of me or something.

“Why, thank you. I do try to keep my licentious thoughts to myself whenever possible,” I replied, feeling kind of proud of myself too. For being someone who doesn’t normally test well and having passed the one
he’d
given me without even being aware I was taking it, well, that’s pretty much a cause for celebration as anything.

Kate laughed at my humble acceptance of her compliment. “You’re very welcome. Oh, and remember what he said as his excuse for asking for her number in the first place?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, that was strictly for your benefit, Camie, not mine. He’s very well aware that I already understand perfectly just how much he doesn’t appreciate being treated like that, but you didn’t and he
wanted
you to know. He was point-blank
telling
you what not to do. His tone suggested to me that he could’ve even been
asking
you not to be like that with him. And then there was that whole thing with the book… Good grief, that was a freaking riot, but so completely and totally out of character for Tristan!” Kate said and started to giggle again.

It was several minutes before she regained control of her giggle-fit and was able to continue, and although I found myself grinning and giggling along with her, I’m kind of lost about why this is so funny to her. I kept my mouth shut, though, because Kate can really tell a story. I feel like I’m watching an Agatha Christie movie and the murderer is about to be revealed.

“Sorry for laughing so much, but I mean you just have to appreciate this for what it really was, and trust me when I say it was a
master stroke of genius
how Tristan took outrageous advantage of Mrs. Henderson’s kick-back atmosphere and manipulated his environment the way he did! He actually got you pressed up against him with his arm around you under the guise of reading a book you both probably have memorized
and
he did it front of everybody!

“I doubt you noticed this either, but the guy could
not
keep his eyes off you the whole time, or his fingers from playing with a piece of your hair that he could reach without you becoming the wiser. I bet he was just so tickled with himself for pulling that off without being questioned by a soul…I was really impressed actually. And just so you know, I’ve never seen him do anything like that at school, never-ever!

“He keeps his little affairs not only pretty private, which I’m not too sure how he manages to do with all the gossips in this school, but they’re also kept strictly for afterhours events like parties and stuff where people aren’t always paying close attention to what he’s doing. And not because he’s shy, because he’s so not. I think it’s just that he prefers to keep his personal life out of public view and he considers school to be a very public fishbowl. Plus, he’s just not a PDA kinda guy. You know, now that I’m really thinking about that scene in English in conjunction with everything else, I’m positive he’s more in to you than even he may realize. Oh! I almost forgot, remember Jeff’s shenanigans in the hall?”

I nodded. And did you hear what she said? He was playing with my freaking hair!

“Well I think he was waiting for a verdict, and Tristan gave it to him with that astounding tour de force of his. I like to think of that part where he stuck his tongue out as being an exclamation point, and once Jeff understood that Tristan had reached some kind of decision, he bowed and went on his way. I think Jeff having that knowledge is important to remember too, especially in light of what happened later. So, moving on… I know you saw him by the locker room and you’re also not stupid, but I don’t know if you understood his behavior after dance today,” Kate said and waited for me to give my interpretation of that more recent event.

“Well, I know he certainly didn’t look happy…not until Jeff showed up anyway.” Interesting, apparently there’s more to that as well. Honestly, I don’t know how Kate can figure people out like this, but really, it’s mesmerizing to watch her run through her thoughts and then listen to her expound on them.

“Noticed that, did you? Well again, here’s what
I
think was going on... Tristan and Zack don’t play well together. Normally, they pretty much avoid each other and that’s probably the main reason Tristan stayed so far away from us.”

“I knew it!” Man, being right feels awesome!