Page 99 of Crew
"You're such a liar."
I shrugged, just staring at him. I didn't dare look anywhere else.
"I'll call the guys. We can do a crew skip day."
That sounded heavenly. I tried to smile. I failed. "You know all the right moves to make a girl happy."
He barked out a laugh. "Doubtful. Something tells me I've got things to learn yet." We stared at each other again, and this time there was some extra heat. It was long, and slow, and smoldering, and I couldn't stop myself.
I stared right back, and somehow, in some magical and miraculous way, under the layers of shit inside of me, I felt something good happening.
It scared the crap out of me.
"What happened to you?"
The next day, when I finally went back to school, Taz cornered me at my locker. Well, her locker was there too, but she already had her books in hand, and she didn't make a move to open her locker. I turned around, gathering my things, and closed my locker.
"Good morning to you too."
She wasn't looking at me--her eyes cut to the side like she was refusing to look at me.
"You were supposed to make sure Race's dad did the sponsor ad, but that was days ago. You've been gone from school, and my brother skipped school yesterday too."
Jordan and Zellman as well, I added silently. We'd hung out in Jordan's storage shed the whole day. We played video games and watched movies. And we napped, which I was most happy about. The guys smoked. A few beers were consumed, but that was it. We each told our favorite crew memories, and my ribs had hurt from laughter.
It was one of the best days I'd had in a while.
"No one told you what happened?" I asked her.
She frowned and still didn't look at me. "No. What happened?"
"I went to find Race, but Alex Ryerson and his crew jumped me."
"WHAT?!" She finally looked up and saw me. She let out a shriek. "YOUR FACE! What happened?!"
"What I said. Ryerson and his crew jumped me." I'd used makeup this morning, and I covered a lot of it, but I hadn't been able to hide all of the bruises.
"Oh my God."
I nodded, hearing the first bell. "No one's said anything?"
"No. I mean..." She tightened her hold on her books, moving them to her hip as she reached to open her locker. Her eyes remained glued to my face, even as she swung open the door. It almost hit her, but she didn't seem fazed. "Man," she said under her breath. "Things have been tense. Cross wouldn't leave Jordan and Zellman's side, but he doesn't normally anyway, at least when you're not here. I've been busy with the charity planning. We're hoping to get everything done by the end of the month since we have early Homecoming this year."
"Yeah." I looked up as Race came around the corner. He kept going, but he glanced over. There was no reaction on his face, but I don't know what I was expecting. He'd been honest with us, and we'd shut him out.
"About that," I said. "I won't be able to ask him after all."
She shut her locker closed. "Why? What happened?"
Cross came down the hallway now, moving the opposite direction from Race.
"Nothing," I murmured, watching his progression. "You can ask him, but I won't be."
Cross saw me, but then he noticed Race. He straightened up, his face stoic as the two watched each other pass in silence. Neither broke stride.
"You just went pale," Taz said, a deep frown on her face. "What just happened? What is going on with you?"
"What?" I asked, but then Cross was here.
