Page 42 of The Game
“Well… fuck Asher.” He mumbles under his breath before raking his fingers through his dark hair.
“I will.” I reply just as the bell rings for the day and his mouth falls open.
First class of the day has Britney in it. It's always such fun when she's around.
“Killer,” she hisses as she passes me, shoving me out of the way. I ignore her, but it's getting old and tiring. It's been long enough that she should have already got a new nickname for me by now. Maybe after she sees me kissing Roman, I will get an upgrade.
“Hi, Roman,” she practically purrs at him. I freeze and so do the rest of the guys. Well… that's new. Roman ignores her and she sashays over and takes her seat. I eye her as I pass and take my seat beside Roman. Jace and Hunter take the table behind us and we turn to talk.
“So, good news. I’m not grounded anymore.” Hunter grins and wiggles his brows at me, and I try to ignore that. I have a whole day of school to get through first and the day has barely started, and I already need to change my underwear.
I don’t need to be all worked up, I won't be able to concentrate in class, I will be thinking of… well later.
Speaking of later. “Do we have all the teams ready for tonight?” I change the subject to the laser tag Walker has organised for us all. Said it's on him. Can’t believe how nice he is to us all. He hardly knows Roman… hell, most people barely know Roman. But Walker booked out the whole arcade just for him.
Walker said he will never forget my trip to the mobsters' house. I smile at the thought. He told me, “I never felt scared.” Then admitted later, he freaked out and tried to stay calm by talking football with Alessandro.
“Yes, can’t wait. Gonna kick all your asses. Grady's in,” Jace lets me know. Awesome. I haven't seen him much lately, but I guess having different classes and no longer living next door to him that's bound to happen.
“Awesome. What about Emerson?” Hunter nods. “Okay, and Cadence and Sadie said they were in as well. That makes…” I count on my fingers. “Ten.” Perfect.
The teacher tells us to all turn around and be quiet. Ugh… I can’t wait for school to be over. I’m excited about tonight, but I’m nervous about what Alessandro is going to say.
I quickly text him underneath the table to meet us at the Arcade in Ridgecrest at seven. That we’re there for Roman's seventeenth birthday and if there's going to be any bad news not to come.
I watch the… on the screen and hold my breath. I don’t think I can get through today if he says he won't come.
He replied, “I'll see you there.”
I let out a deep breath. Okay, this is good. This isn't bad news, but I hope Hunter is wrong in saying he wants to be part of my harem.I don’t have a harem. I have no interest in dating the guy and I sense he isn’t the sharing type.
* * *
“What do you mean, you can't come anymore?” I ask Sadie as I stuff another French fry in my mouth. I need her there tonight. I haven't seen her very much, and I really wanted her to be there so we could hang out. She changed her hair to pink on Monday and I love it. Not that purple wasn’t rocking.
“I'm sorry my mom is making me do this stupid family stuffing recipe. She told me I can't go. Stupid stuffing recipe. I don't even want Turkey. I want to come with you all.” She sighs. Picking up a fry, she drops it back on the tray.
I wish her mum didn't want her to make Turkey stuffing, but at the same time it's nice that her mom wants her to do that with her. A family recipe. My mom never did that with me. I don’t think she’s ever cooked a day in her life. Makes me wonder what she’s up to right now? Probably turned my room into a nursery and stocked it with the most expensive baby stuff. I bet Malcolm’ssuperexcited to be an old dad.
“I can still come, though. But can you pick me up? I've been having car trouble and my dad said he will look at it tomorrow when he's off work. But I can't make it if I don't have a lift.” I smile over at Cadence and bump her shoulder with mine.
“Of course, I'm over in Lakeview, but I'm sure I can swing around, or I could at least ask Jace or Emerson to come get you.” Her eyes widen at his name, and I poke her.
“Is there something you’re not telling me here? Or have you and Em—” her hand flies across to cover my mouth and my eyes widen. Oh, something happened.
“Nothing happened.” She whispers. She lets go of my mouth and I smile.
“But you want something to happen?” She shakes her head, and her cheeks grow red as her hair and Sadie giggles.
“Oh yeah, she wants something to happen.” She wiggles her brows.
“Shut up,” Cadence hisses under her breath. I grin. She shakes her head at me and points.
“You told me to stay away from him, but…”
“I need to know what happened.” she shrugs and sighs.
“I'm not blind. I'm too smart to hook up with him. But I also have only one chance in high school to hook up with a football player. I guess you could say it's on my bucket list. I don't want to leave here and regret not knowing how he kisses.”
