Page 77 of Bending Under Pressure

“We do like Haley,” Mom says. “But your behavior when she’s in the picture is what worries us. That’s all.” She squeezes my shoulder and kisses my head. “We love you.”

“Love y’all too.”

They leave me to finish my pizza. My behavior? Aside from today and the hammock incident, what have I done? Nothing that I can think of! Nothing that they would know anyway. After a while, my mulling turns into guilt. Guilt at making them worry over me. Guilt for not hiding what I am doing better. I want to be the best damn kid they could ask for. I don’t want to be a hassle, burden, or anything other than a reason for them to smile, be proud of me, and not regret adopting me.

Today, I failed at that.

My second period class is weight lifting. Thankfully, one of the nicer assistant coaches is the one who supervises us. Otherwise, it would suck having this in the middle of the day. We don’t have the option to shower afterward. Coach would surely run us hard enough to get sweaty and filthy. As long as we’re doing something and not goofing off, he leaves us alone.

Weight lifting I like.

The talk that seems to happen during it, I don’t like.

We’re guys and I get that we like to brag and talk about our latest conquests, but some of these guys are ruthless.

“Picking a truck over a car was the best damn decision,” Wade says. “There is plenty of room for Bianca to ride me. I thought she was going to bust my windows, she was screaming so loud.”

I roll my eyes. Wade has supposedly slept with all the cheerleaders. I don’t think he has that much charm or whatever it is he needs to convince them. Some of the guys are clearly impressed though, always eager to hear about his conquests.

“Have you banged the new girl yet, Keelan?”

At this, I turn to see all eyes seem to have landed on me. “It’s October. You don’t know the new girl’s name?”

Laughter barks out of them and Wade says, “I’ll take that as a no.”

“We’d ask Cameron, but he always ignores us.” That is true. Cam doesn’t even acknowledge the fact they’ve asked him.

“If he hasn’t tapped Jess by now, he’s an idiot,” Wade comments.

“Change out!” the assistant coach shouts from his office.

We begin shuffling to the locker room and I glance at Cameron. As usual, their comments don’t faze him. It’s reassuring after what happened between them. Once the bell rings, Cameron and I head outside and to the main building for lunch.

“So, have you banged the new girl yet?” Cam mocks their question.

“No, and it’s not in the foreseeable future.” Haley isn’t ready, my parents are obviously going to do their best to make sure it doesn’t happen, and honestly, I’m ninety-nine percent happy with just making out. That other one percent is a horny teenager who doesn’t care about waiting and only wants to come, but I’m ignoring the one percent. There’s way too much going on for me to tack on something like sex.

Besides, the waiting and anticipation is what makes it worthwhile, right?

I’ve been a little withdrawn today, only because I’m already missing tennis. We have two games this week and then our season will be over. The end of a season always leaves me with the same set of questions. What am I supposed to do every day after school now? Which of the girls will want to keep playing to stay in shape? What am I going to do? It’s not as if I’ll have more time with Keelan because football season is nowhere near done. They still have a month to go and that won’t count the games for the championship.

Sliding into my seat next to Seth for my fourth period class, I realize that while I won’t have tennis, I’ll have more time to do anything I want. A guy sits down in front of me, but immediately turns to face me.

“Haley, right?”

I nod. I can’t place his name, but I know he’s on the football team.

He leans forward, his eyes seemingly laughing at me already, and then asks, “So, why haven’t you had sex with Keelan yet?”

My jaw drops, my eyes widen, and I stare at him. Did he really ask me that? How does he know what we have or haven’t done?

“Wade, you’re such a prick,” Seth says with annoyance. “Leave her alone.”

Wade holds up his hands and laughs. “I was just curious.” Then he stands up and sits down in his normal seat.

“Haley,” Seth begins.

“What was that about?” I ask him, though I doubt he knows.

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