Page 99 of Foolish Games

“You told me it was all an act,” he says, shoving me backwards. I crash into one of the tables with two computers, and it scoots halfway to the next one, leaving behind a bundle of stretched cords and wires. “You said you were going to pretend to date her to make her look good after Chaz dumped her for that other nerd. You think it looks good that you were going behind my back, behind her back, and taking bets about who could fuck her?”

“Not who,” I protest. “Just me.”

“Fuck you,” he says, taking a swing at me. I duck instinctually, even though I should just let him beat the shit out of me. He’s right. I did everything he said, and worse.

“Don’t tell her,” I say, holding up my hands. “Just don’t tell her. She’d be crushed.”

“Don’t fucking tell me what will hurt my sister.” His second blow connects, and I reel backwards, tripping over the computer cords and falling onto the table between the two machines.

“Don’t ever fucking talk to her again,” he says. “Don’t fucking look at her. Don’t even say her name. You’re trash, and that’s all you’ve ever been. I took pity on you, but we’re not friends, Sebastian. I’m not hanging out with a loser anymore, and you’re sure as fuck not good enough to be even thinking about my sister. So don’t.”

With that, he turns and storms out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

I stand from where I crumpled across the table. My jaw aches where he hit me, but it could be a lot worse. The guy pulled his punch. He could have knocked my lights out—I wish he had. I’d gladly take that moment of oblivion. But I have to stop him from telling her. Not to protect me, but to protect her. It’s too late for me. She can’t dump me now that we’re not together. But I still don’t want to hurt her, don’t want her to feel the way she would if she knew.

I yank open the door and rush into the library. The front door is just settling closed behind Rob as he disappears through it. Everyone turns to look at me. I don’t know how much they could hear, if they could hear when he yelled. They know we were fighting though.

“Hey, Sebastian,” Chaz says, standing from his table with a smug little grin on his face. “You were right about Viv. She is a little freaky now.”

“What?” I ask, turning to Vivienne, who sits frozen, her dark eyes wide.

I shouldn’t be surprised. The whole purpose of our arrangement was to get him back.

“Yeah,” Chaz says. “She’s got some new moves. A definite improvement. I guess I have you to thank for that.”

I stride forward and punch him so hard he goes flying across the table and slides off the other side in a flaccid heap.

And that’s how you throw a punch that leaves more than a sore jaw.

A collective gasp goes up from the tutoring tables. Chiclet screams and runs to him, falling on her knees like she thinks I killed the asshole.

The librarian rushes back and yells at me to go to the office. I walk out without arguing. There’s no point. Everyone saw me knock him out.

I don’t regret it for a second. God, that felt good. I’ve been waiting four years to clock that smug bastard, but I never wanted to hit a kid so much smaller than me. But fuck size. He disrespected Vivienne, so all bets are off. I only wish he’d stayed up long enough for me to land another blow or two. I’m hopped up on adrenaline from my body getting ready to fight Rob but my brain telling me I couldn’t hit back at a guy who I wronged.

I didn’t wrong Chaz. I just set things right.

I leave school without going to the office and walk home. I set the stack of bowls in the center of the table and put the giant bag of cheap cereal Mom bought next to them. Then I crawl into bed. I’ll have a two-week suspension for fighting, maybe more for leaving like that. The school won’t care if I don’t come back for the rest of the year, though. After all, football season is over.

twenty-nine

#1 at the Box Office: Titanic

Vivienne Delacroix

I’m happy to go back to school after the break. I’m relieved to have something to take my mind off Sebastian, and we don’t have any classes together, so it’s not hard to avoid him. I was fine when he was nothing but my brother’s obnoxious, hot—and obnoxiously hot—football buddy, and I’ll be fine now. I float the idea of having practice in the classroom every day until the competition, and the teacher in charge of quiz bowl agrees.

Not too many people from Faulkner High were at the Darling party, and the ones who were don’t care about nerd drama. I wonder if Sebastian’s getting it worse than I am, since they definitely care about football player drama. I hear a few whispers in my classes the first day back, but it looks like the big reveal might blow over without too much notice.

And then Sebastian has to come barging into the library like he’s going to confront me. My brother’s smart enough to predict he’ll find me, and he intercepts. I wish he would have let Sebastian say whatever he had to say. The whole library goes silent while they fight in the AV room, trying to hear what they’re saying. I’m dying of embarrassment, but I want to hear more than anyone. What did Sebastian come to say? Was he trying to win me back?

Do I want him to?

We can’t really hear what goes down between them, but after Rob leaves, and Sebastian punches out Chaz and also leaves, the library is in chaos.

“Should we call an ambulance?” Krissy wails, kneeling over Chaz.

“Nah, he just knocked his lights out,” says William, who’s in for tutoring.

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