Page 51 of Offside
The tears slipped out of her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. I felt my chest clench and wished I could do something about it, but I knew there was nothing I could do.
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I had no idea…I mean, people were saying shit to me, but I didn’t even know what they were talking about…not until lunch—but you were already gone.”
She nodded.
“I looked all over for you,” I told her. “Where did you go?”
“To the trailer park on the other side of town,” she said with a shrug.
“Why the heck did you go out there?”
“Just to see a friend.”
She didn’t seem interested in elaborating, so I let it drop.
“What am I going to do?” she whispered as she finally looked over to meet my eyes. “No one is going to believe nothing happened, even if you tell them. Now I have a bunch of guys chasing me because they think I’m going to put out and a bunch of girls hating me for the same reason. I can’t believe this is happening again.”
“What’s happening again?”
“Forget it,” she grumbled, and she started to stand up.
I reached out and grabbed her arm.
“Tell me,” I insisted.
“It’s really none of your business,” she said again.
Taking the chance, I reached over and put my hand on top of hers.
“Tell me what happened,” I said.
Nicole looked over at me with narrowed eyes.
“How about I make you a deal?” she said as she pulled her hand away from mine. “We go out to the soccer field at school, and if I can’t get a penalty kick past you, I’ll tell you the whole story. If I do get one past you, you have to answer one question completely truthfully—anything I ask.”
I couldn’t help it—I laughed.
“You think you’re going to get a PK past me?”
“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “I’ve never tried. It doesn’t look that hard, though. Besides, you’re hurt.”
I shook my head.
“If that’s what you want,” I said.
“So we have a deal?”
“You got a deal, Rumple,” I snickered. “You’re an idiot, but you got a deal.”
“Now?”
“Sure.”
Shakespeare wrote, “Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.” Somehow, I still had to admire her tenacity.
Now to get this over with so I could figure out what had happened to her.
CHAPTER 9
