Page 45 of Inception

She went on to wave at a dark-haired guy sitting a few rows below us. He was staring up at her adoringly.

“He’s cute,” I noted. Maybe he was one ofhers.

“Dillon Walker. Biggest scumbag ever,” she said as soon as he wasn’t looking. “That’s his pregnant girlfriend waddling up over there,” she said pointing to an extremely pregnant sophomore girl. “And that’s the skank he screws from Easton when his girlfriend’s not around,” she added, pointing to another scantily clad girl only a few seats away from him.

“Gross.” Guys like that needed to come with warning labels.

The cool air bit against my skin as I focused back on the ice, waiting for the game to start. I tried not to notice the smokestacks that were bleeding from my nose every time I took a breath as it only forced me to pay greater attention to the profound level of freezing I was experiencing. It was becoming increasingly more difficult as each minute passed.

“Watch your mouth!” I heard someone yell.

The crowd to our right suddenly broke out into a scuffle, distracting me from my plight. Bodies from several rows jostled around as fists flew rapidly through the virgin air. I heard the girls screeching out in distress as the crowd collectively spread itself apart, distancing themselves from the commotion.

A few odd strays piled into the brawl, though after a few moments, we could see the Johnny-come-lately's were actually trying to break the fight apart, and not partake in it.

“What the hell happened?” I asked nobody specific.

“Trace got into it with two kids from Easton,” answered Hannah who had somehow ended up behind Taylor and me.

I craned my neck to get a better look as the angry mob began settling down. I could see Trace shaking off a pair of (what looked like) friendly hands, as another man pulled the other two guys in the opposite direction. One of them was bleeding from his nose and walked away willingly though the other one was a lot less eager to leave. He turned around and grinned in our direction, proudly flashing the nasty cut above his right eye.

“Stupid boys,” said Taylor as she tied her hair in a ponytail. “Can’t live with them.”

I waited for her to add the,can’t live without thempart, but she didn’t.

I relaxed back into my place, bouncing a final glance down the line to Trace who also had his own little accolade settling in—a busted bottom lip, though not too bad for a two-on-one.

His piercing blue eyes locked in on me, hardening with what looked like anger, before averting back to the ice.

If I didn’t know any better, I might have thought he just openly glared at me.

The night wasn’t a total bust. After three intense periods of play, a decent intermission performance by both squads, and a stellar performance from the star-player himself, Weston took home the victory with a demoralizing 7-2 win over Easton. The stands roared with cheers as we rose in a standing ovation that I only participated in to get a better view of the nearest exit.

As soon as the arena started to clear out, we quickly swapped our seats for the parking lot where we hung around and waited for Carly and Caleb to round out the rest of the group. I sat on the hood of Taylor’s beetle, listening as Ben went on about an after-party going on at some girl’s house from Easton, and I could already tell Taylor was into it.

I immediately started devising a plan to get out of it.

Carly showed up shortly after still dressed in full cheer attire. After making a few rounds in the parking lot, she piled into Nikki’s red jeep along with Morgan and Hannah and headed off to the Easton party together. And they weren’t alone. More than half the cars had already cleared out.

“Who am I riding with?” asked Ben, looking directly at Taylor as he walked back over to us with Trace.

“Obviously with the person you came with, genius,” replied Taylor as she fetched her keys from her purse.

“Trace isn’t going.”

“Great,” said Taylor, throwing her keys back in her purse. “I guess you’re riding with us, which means we’re stuck here waiting for Caleb.” She wasn’t happy, and she was about to get even more unhappy.

“Don’t be mad,” I said, turning to her with regret. “But I’m not going either. I promised my uncle I’d be home right after the game. He already texted me,” I said holding up my phone. Both were lies. I wassogoing to hell.

“What? You can’t be serious!” Taylor’s bottom lip sulked out. “This totally sucks.”

“I know, but I’ll make it up to you tomorrow at Carly’s party,” I assured her, though I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go to that one either. “We’ll have a great time.”

“We better,” she warned, letting me know she wasn’t going to be as forgiving with that one. Her smile quickly returned. “Alright, get in. Let’s see if we can get you home before curfew without breaking any laws.” The girl loved a challenge.

“Hold up,” said Ben. “That doesn’t make any sense. Trace should take Jemma home. He’s already going that way.”

I glanced over at Trace who looked annoyed with Ben’s offer.

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