Shark Bait (The Grab Your Pole Series) (8 page)

She nodded, further affirming my correct assumption. “However, I thought he was gonna break that long-standing protocol when Zack started flirting with you by yanking your hair that way. After all, he’d been doing the same thing a couple hours before that, only Tristan wasn’t flirting. The way it looked to me, he felt
compelled
to touch you in some way and he’d chosen to give in to that compulsion, but only on the sly because he’s still testing the water so to speak…he’s not about to lay his cards on the table before you’ve even thrown in your ante, you know? And I’ll bet you money he had a contingency plan in place on the off chance you caught him red handed. You know, like a spider crawling on you or something. But then Zack goes and blatantly shows interest in you…

“Again, this is just my opinion, but watching Zack barely touch you enraged Tristan, because Camie, I was watching him and I’m telling you, he was about to blow. Then when I saw him start cracking up, I knew something was going on behind us and that was right when my stoner ex showed up,” Kate explained, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

And I don’t know about you, but Kate has me totally rapt. I’m listening really intently to what she’s saying because I’m not only fascinated, but I’m also realizing that I have SO much to learn about the little nuances of people’s actions and their motives for doing things. Jeez, when I said Kate was insightful before, I’d no idea how discerning she
really
is.

“Jeff would’ve totally seen what was going on from where he came from and I’m positive that whatever he did behind our backs, rescued Tristan from having to make a scene, which he wouldn’t want to do…especially at school and Jeff would know that. As a bonus, it also cracked him up. And another thing Jeff knows all too well is that a laughing Tristan is a happy Tristan, which is important to keep in mind because of that moody issue.

“Jeff’s little stunt that he
intentionally
included you in was a statement that Zack read loud and clear. He essentially meant it to say, ‘These two are ours, so back the fuck off.’ What I’m saying is this, even though he can be a jerk and he’s definitely a clown, Jeff was watching over his best friend’s interests as well as his own, meaning you and me. That’s also how I know Tristan won’t abandon Jeff to make rotten choices. The two of them watch out for each other more than the closest of brothers.

“So to break this all down and make it simple, Tristan has displayed some very rare and exceptionally indicative behavior today that I’ve never seen him do all in
one
day and in regards to
one
girl… He made a concerted effort to make himself known, he shared something personal with his best friend, he dropped a
major
hint on the one thing that really turns him cold, he went out of his way to make an obscene amount of physical contact at school, and the coup de grace…he was
totally
jealous, which I believe is a first for him. So, now do you understand why I think you have more than a snowball’s chance in hell?” Kate finished in a flurry, her face beaming with pride.

“Wow, that was spectacular! You could totally be a lawyer or an FBI profiler or something…seriously impressive, Kate,” I said after applauding her extraordinarily detailed outline of today’s events by clapping and whistling.

She laughed, made a bowing motion and then said, “Thank you. It was actually a lot of fun. I was dying to tell someone about all of this and you were the most likely to appreciate it, seeing as how it all revolved around you. And that’s something else…aside from Melissa, there aren’t gonna be many girls who’ll support your campaign to land Tristan. In fact, if you end up taking him out of the running, one of two things will probably happen. One, you’ll be able to write your own ticket socially. Or two, you’ll be hated with a passion by every female in this school and many from some other neighboring schools. I can probably get Melissa on board though, and if she backs you, chances are it’ll be the first. Are you up to it?”

“Um, I’m not sure yet, and I don’t wanna sound rude, but why are you so gung-ho about this? You seem kind of invested.” This whole time I’ve been engrossed in what Kate has been elucidating, and I believe her reason for wanting to be friends with me, but now I’m wondering why she’s trying to get her lifelong friend together with a girl neither of them knows. It just seems...odd.

“Well, for a few reasons… I really do like you and think you’re cool. You showed compassion to a stranger this morning with Paul, even when you realized being friends with him wouldn’t be of great help to you in fitting in. So that means you’re brave, too, which you’ll need to be if you decide to go for the school’s most popular, self-prescribed bachelor. But, the main reason is I care about him. You see, Camie, even though we’re not as close as he and Jeff are and our friendship has kinda changed over the years, Tristan is still one of my very best friends and honestly, I don’t think he’s all that happy. In fact, I think he’s sorta lonely, the way he flits from girl to girl, you know?”

I don’t really know, but hoping her question was more rhetorical than anything else, I shrugged my shoulders and nodded anyway.

“It’s just that, there’re tons of really great looking and popular guys in this school, who date all the time and get involved in relationships, but none of them are as unattainable as he is. He’s done it by choice, too, which I think is kinda sad. I mean I know he’s remained single on purpose, but I think he deserves to have something special with a girl for once. Try to remember what his voice sounded like when he was tearing up that note, Camie…I swear, the more I think about it, it sounded like he was pleading. Even if it’s only on a subconscious level, I think he’s desperate to feel valued for more than being a gorgeous face and great kisser.

“For whatever reason, he picked you and I agree with his choice, I think you could be really good for him. And if I’m being honest, I’m kinda hoping if Tristan has a girlfriend he’ll settle down, and then maybe Jeff will follow his lead. I mean you’ve seen him…it’s like he’s a giant kid and he refuses to grow up. But because they sorta play off each other, they both do a lot of asinine stuff, only Tristan usually knows when to say when. Jeff doesn’t and sometimes I think he doesn’t even care about the consequences. I guess I’m hoping if Tristan isn’t out there ruling the playground with him, Jeff won’t be so inclined to play, you know? I just… I just
really
don’t wanna see Jeff waste his life…does that make sense?” Kate asked seriously and wiped away a small tear from her cheek.

“Yeah, that makes sense. If you really think I’m the one who can accomplish all this, then I’ll give it my best shot. If I’ve understood everything correctly though, it sounds like it’ll be next to impossible,” I replied solemnly. Even though I am one, I’d no idea that this emotionally heady current runs unseen in the deep water of a teenager’s life. It’s pretty sobering to consider.

“Well, I think it’s worth a try. If you don’t actually land him exclusively, there’s still a really good chance he’ll wanna be friends, and that’s not such a bad thing. Tristan really is a good guy and he can be a powerful ally when it comes to other guys you might be interested in, that is, if things with him don’t work out like we’re hoping. That’s essentially how Melissa and Keith got together. She and Tristan went out a couple times at the beginning of our freshman year and didn’t hit it off, but because they’re friends, he was more than happy to influence Keith for her when she asked a while back. He’s a senior and not only quarterback for the football team, he’s the team captain and he’s almost as difficult to pin down as Tristan is. I’m not sure how Tristan did that either, but he’s responsible for a couple matches that probably wouldn’t have happened without his involvement.”

Did I mention what an overflowing fountain of information she is? Holy cow! This girl knows
everything
! And now that I’ve made a decision and I’m armed with a slew of information, I think it’s time to get down to brass tacks and figure out what the strategy is for this mission. “Okay. I’m sold. What do I do?”

“Well, this is probably gonna be the hard part, I know I’d have difficulty with it…if you wanna hook him and truly reel him in for good, I suggest you do nothing. He’s gotta come to you…it won’t work any other way. Oh and you need to be prepared, there
will
be
attempts to get away, because I’m sure he’s not gonna come quietly. He can be stubborn to a fault and sometimes even to his own downfall.”

“His downfall?” Jeez, this guy sounds like he’s more complex than the Pythagorean theorem. (Blechk…
math
.)

She laughed and then enlightened me on her meaning once more. “This is just an example, but it’s kinda funny… You probably don’t know this yet, but both Tristan and Jeff should actually be seniors this year. However, back in third grade Jeff came down with a really nasty case of chicken pox and had to miss almost half the year.”

“You’re kidding? That’s crazy!” I guess I never thought about having to miss school because of illness. It was never an issue, we were already home.

“Yeah, he was super sick. Here’s the really crazy part though, Jeff was gonna be held back because he couldn’t make up all that work in time, so, because he and Tristan didn’t wanna be separated, they came up with a plan that resulted in Tristan being held back too. The downfall came when Tristan missed out on a perfect attendance award he’d been competing for since he’d been in kindergarten,” Kate told me, shaking her head like she still couldn’t believe they’d done that.

“Um… I don’t even know how to respond to that. It’s extreme, that’s for sure,” I said, stunned once again. I think maybe I’ve underestimated what a best friend actually does…

“Yeah. You know the saying ‘blood is thicker than water?’ Well, not between these guys. That’s partly why Jeff will be key in this whole thing too. It’s imperative he does everything he’s capable of doing to influence Tristan, but we have to be ultra-careful that he doesn’t find out what we’re really up to. Since that’ll primarily be my job, it looks like I’m gonna be getting back together with the love of my life once again,” she said, revealing part of her master plan with a smile.

“Okay, but if I’m not supposed to
do
anything, how am I gonna, you know...do this?” I mean, I really don’t understand the inner workings, the machinations if you will, of things like this so I need step-by-step instruction.

“Well, we already know you have his attention…for now. You could say that he’s easily distracted so the trick will be keeping his attention and getting him to chase you. Which might actually be the easy part because it was really weird how he totally latched onto you the way he did this morning and I still don’t get that. I mean it was
instant
. He actually gasped the second he saw you and froze…that’s what had me paying attention in the first place. Even with that though, this whole thing’s still probably gonna take time and some planning, but, essentially I think you should just be yourself.”

“Just...be myself.”

“Yep. Tristan is exceedingly sharp and nothing much ever gets by him so even though he doesn’t know you, I’m sure he’d be quick to pick up on any kind of falsity in your character. We can’t be obvious about anything, so that leaves out sitting in the stands at the water polo games and swim meets. And if it takes a
really
long time, I don’t think going to all his baseball games in the spring will be a very good idea either. However, if you hang with me around the stage at lunch, and I take you to every party and social event that I think he’ll show up at, we can put you in his way fairly often without calling too much attention to what we’re ultimately trying to accomplish.

“We might even be able to use Zack’s interest as bait, but that could be playing with fire…Tristan hasn’t ever been jealous before, so his handling of it could go either way. We’ll have to see how things play out and make some judgment calls as they unfold. I’ll try to dig up some information about what happened today from Jeff, too. I really kinda want you at the football games because the two of them usually go after their polo games. That’s also neutral territory and he’d think nothing of it if you were there. The only problem is Melissa and I cheer so we can’t sit with you, and you really shouldn’t be seen with Teresa and girls like that.”

“Yeah, even if being seen with her wouldn’t taint me by association, I’d still really rather not hang out with her. I think given the choice, I’d sit alone,” I told Kate honestly. I mean I don’t care if Teresa likes the same guy I do or anything, but she’s just so crass and obnoxious—listening to her speak is like hearing fingernails scraping a chalkboard. So, willingly spending my time with her? Yeah, no thanks.

“I don’t blame you... Maybe I can sweet talk Jeff into sitting with you, though, like if I tell him you’ve never been to a game before and you don’t wanna sit alone or something. Ooh…maybe I can hint that Zack has been fishing for information about you and wants to know if you’ll be at the game this week. That could work. After today, I’m pretty sure neither of them will want Zack within a twenty yard radius of you at a social gathering,” Kate said, laying out the blueprints on how we’re to pull off this rather daunting caper.

I have to say, although I’m really excited and giddy about the idea of Tristan being my first boyfriend and that I think I might be able to truly care for him after learning all that I have from Kate, I also understand there are some potentially very serious risks involved and someone could wind up getting hurt.

It’s just that I’m afraid it’s likely to be me...

5.

That’s Real Dedication To The Cause

Kate and I talked strategy a little more while she drove me home and when we got there; I introduced her to my parents. Jillian however was unsurprisingly holed up in her room so that introduction would have to wait. My mom invited Kate to stay for dinner, but she declined by saying that she had more homework to do. I knew that was really her way of saying she was going to put the first part of our plan in motion by getting back together with Jeff, but when her cell phone rang while we were saying goodbye on the porch, we were both surprised by who the caller was.