Page 71 of Enemies to Prom Dates
I turned back to him with a bored look on my face. I really wasn’t about the dramatics. It’s why I played football instead of playing the lead in the fall play.
“Who what?”
“The new name on the list. The one attracting all the action.”
I didn’t take the bait. He was either going to tell me or he wasn’t. But I still couldn’t help the sudden pit of dread I felt in my stomach.
Locke smiled and maybe took some appreciation in my unwillingness to play his game, by his rules.
“Her name isn’t spelled out,” he said as he approached me. “Just her initials. B.B.”
B.B. It didn’t take longer than a second to understand his meaning. He gave me a two fingered salute and walked off before I could say anything.
No, I thought. It couldn’t be.
B.B.
But I knew it was.
Beth Bennet.
* * *
Fuck!
I slammed the gym locker door shut and took minor satisfaction in the loud clang, but it wasn’t nearly enough. I wanted to hit someone but, unfortunately, practice was over and there was no one around to unleash my rage upon.
I thought I was alone in the locker room, but I heard someone approaching.
“What bug crawled up your ass?” Ed asked me.
I turned and saw him and Heath in my locker row, taking a seat on the bench.
“Why are you still here?” I asked.
Practice for Ed was long since over, and Heath didn’tdoafter school activities. He found them beneath him. He’d once told me he was interested only in life activities. School activities were for kids.
Heath shrugged and jerked his thumb in Ed’s direction. “The human bottomless stomach needed to eat after practice and apparently you ghosted him, so I had to fill in as his date. You know Ed can’t eat alone. He’s sensitive like that. We were driving back this way and saw your car still in the parking lot. Figured we better check up on you.”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” I grumbled.
“Sounds like that bug is crawling up a little higher,” Heath mentioned. “Dude, out with it.”
I turned and slammed my back against the lockers, feeling the lock dig into my lower back. I didn’t talk to the guys about Beth. They either knew or suspected how I felt, but they didn’t ask questions and I didn’t offer answers.
What we had was private. Hell, even Beth was still clueing into it.
“The Freshman Bait List is expanding,” I said.
“What? How?” Heath asked.
“Names are being added to the list. Non-freshman names.”
Ed crossed his arms over his chest. “Why do I feel like you know one of those names?”
“It’s Beth,” I spit out.
“Shit,” Ed whistled. “Since the party?”
