Page 103 of Fraternizing with the Enemy
Amir leaned forward. “He went to Haven’s open house?”
Danielle also frowned in confusion. “Why?”
They reminded me of the group of cheerleaders a little, eager for the answer to a shocking reveal—but it was different. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. “He said his friends dared him to. I tripped in the hallway and he… caught me.”
Correction—everyone’s eyes widened in surprise except for Noah’s. He stared at me with the same flat expression he always had. I waited, half holding my breath, but he didn’t speak up.
“Must’ve been the footballers who dared him,” Danielle said, but her expression didn’t totally clear. It looked a little uneasy. “I’m shocked Logan never said anything, though.”
Again, I still waited, but Noah still didn’t chime in.
“Maybe he was embarrassed,” Peter offered. “The team talks him into a lot of stupid stuff, and whoever came up with that is an idiot.”
Charlie snorted. “Probably Jake.”
“That’s Logan’s curse,” Danielle told me. “He’s a people pleaser, to a fault.”
“And he always tries to take everything on himself,” Trevor added, pulling out a graham cracker and gesturing wildly with it. “Everyone, what’s his catchphrase?”
In a unified chorus, they all said, “I can handle it.”
I thought of Wednesday night, when we’d stood outside my house.School, football practice, theater practice, extra shifts at Expresso’s—but I can handle it. I can handle it.I hadn’t realized it’d been the soundtrack of Logan’s life, pushing things down, trying to deal with everything all on his own.
“He’s taking forever,” Noah said, extracting himselffrom his girlfriend while pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I’m going to go check on him.”
I bit down on one corner of my lip as I watched him go. He had such a lean build but strong-looking arms, perfect for a quarterback. Whether he was right about Brentwood doing it on purpose or not, I tried to imagine myself in his shoes. I had no idea how treasured football was to Noah, but if that happened to me, would my world end? Would I be able to give it up?
It had me thinking back to Monday, how, even though it wasn’t an injury, Jade had all but forced me to give up co-captain. Was that similar?
I inched toward Danielle. “I’m sorry if I stepped on any toes,” I told her in a quiet voice. “With Noah, or anything.”
She waved her hand at me. “Oh, don’t worry about it. Seriously. We talk about it here and there. It’s okay.”
I took it as an opening. “So, like… heknowsBrentwood did it on purpose?”
“It’s kind of a long story, and I don’t know the specifics. Noah said they tackled him after it was clear he’d thrown the ball, and he felt them grab at his leg. Snapped it the other way. He said it was clear it wasn’t an accident.”
“Does he know why?”
Danielle hesitated then. “Like I said, I don’t really know all the specifics.” She gave me a sheepish smile. “But Logan would know, I think, if you asked him.”
I could see her discomfort as plain as day, and backed off immediately. “Speaking of Logan.” I raised my voice higher, glancing around the group. “Anyone have any juicy gossip about him?”
And oh, did they ever.
Charlie told me how, in the ninth grade, Logan was cast in a small part in their school musical ofMulan, and it was the one and only time he’d taken on a singing role. “His voice cracked in ‘Make A Man Out of You,’” she said, laughing now as she recalled. “Bad. On opening night, too. Everyone teased him about it formonths.”
“They kept saying ‘oh, they’re really making a man out of him for this role!’” Trevor added, licking melted chocolate from his s’more off his thumb. “Hilarious.”
“That explains why he said he’d rather die than sing,” I said with a laugh of my own, trying to imagine a small Logan in the spotlight. “Poor thing.”
“Oh! He crashed his car last year.” Amir abandoned his cards on the blanket and came up to sit on Danielle’s blanket. “In the school parking lot. Backed up into Jay’s truck so hard that it knocked his headlight out. Westillmake fun of him.”
Danielle shook her head. “I mean, come on. Who can’t back into a parking space?”
Even as they poked fun, their voices were so fond, and I wondered if they even knew it. They all had light smiles on their faces as they brought up Logan’s top mishaps. No one in the Top Tier spoke of anyone like that, with an affectionate look in their eye that was like a direct window to their heart. The Top Tier would drag out the other’s dirty laundry for the sole purpose of knocking them down a peg, but with Logan’s friends, they were just sharing warm memories with each other—memories they cherished.
No one in the Top Tier would have a sparkle in their eye if they spoke about me. Not even Jade.
