Page 7 of Ready to Score

She was back in her seat before Dunn could even register what she’d said, but that didn’t mean Franny missed the way Dunn seemed to choke on her own tongue at the words. A little thrill went through Franny at the thought that she could get under her skin like that. This was going to be fun.

Landry flagged Franny down during the postgame. He beckoned her over to a corner of the basement, and she worked hard not to view the gesture as displeased.

“Why are you really at my poker night, Ms. Lim?” The man had no time for pleasantries, it seemed.

She stammered a bit, floundering hopelessly on what to tell him. The truth didn’t seem like a sufficient option—until she happened to glance over her shoulder. Dunn was right there behind her, not five feet away, resting her butt against the arm of the couch. Her head was down as she typed away on her phone, but Franny was close enough to see that she seemed to be randomly typing numbers into her calculator app. It was such a blatant attempt at eavesdropping that Franny—despite having begrudging respect for the action—simply could not abide it.

Dunn was afraid that Franny was after her job. That much had been made clear during their moment at the snack table. In an instant, telling Landry the truth felt like the perfect option.

“Honestly, Coach Landry, I’m here looking for a job. Some little birdies told me that poker night is where shit actually happens, so I figured I should be here.”

“A job?” His blond brows furrowed. “You want a job on my team? Doing what?”

“Coaching.”

There was a shuffling noise, followed by a thud. Jade Dunn had dropped her phone on the ground.

Landry let out a loud bark. “Jesus Christ. How in the hell did you hear about that?”

She didn’t want to out herself as a nosy busybody in what was essentially a job interview, so she ignored the question. “I’m serious.”

“Oh, I know you are.”

“So, I can keep coming to poker night, then?”

He shook his head, mirth written all over his reddened face. “Good luck is all I can say to you, Ms. Lim. Good luck.”

She took that as a yes.

3

Jade did not come out on top at poker night. But neither did Lim, so she was only marginally furious. By some ridiculous stroke of fate, Jeremy Bell made out with their money—all $400 of it. His skin was so sallow by the end of the night, Jade couldn’t even find it in herself to do anything but pat him on the back in congratulations.

The ride home in her beloved rusted 1984 Chevy Silverado—named Gladys—was a bumpy one. The roads in Greenbelt weren’t the best, and the truck’s suspension had seen better days. Holding on to the wheel for dear life, Jade thought about nothing but the cocky words Lim had spoken to her. She didn’t know if it made her angrier that Lim had said them in the first place or that she had managed to get the last word in. All she knew was that by the time she turned her engine off, her palms were red and raw.

Three days later, she was still thinking about it.

“I hate her,” she grumbled to her friends as they sat around Aja Owens’s dining room table. They were decorating sugar cookies, and if Jade had any talent for it, she’d have drawn Ms. Lim on one and smashed her to bits. “I’ve never hated anyone more than I hate her.”

Olivia was sitting next to her, trying and failing to draw an intricate orange tabby on one of her cookies. “This is about the art teacher, right?”

“Yes,” Jade hissed. “Ms. Lim.”

Miri barked out a laugh that startled them all. “Why do you say her name like you’re coming, though?”

“I do not! I say it like I hate her, which I do.”

Even Aja, with her sweet self, giggled.

“Oh, Ms. Lim,” Miri rubbed her hands over her breasts, throwing her head back in dramatic fashion. “Draw me like one of your French girls, Ms. Lim.”

“She probably doesn’t even draw real people,” Jade grumbled. “She probably just paints like… fruit bowls or something. And not pretty ones either. Shitty ones with rotting fruit. Because she’s rotten.”

“Awww, she’s probably not that bad,” Aja said gently. “Maybe she’s just shy.”

“She’s not shy, she’s evil, and she’s trying to take my job.”

“The coaching job?” Miri asked.

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