Page 18 of The Best Is Yet to Come

Spencer immediately gasped. His hands went to his throat, as it took him a moment to recover enough to breathe again.

Hope was furious and had trouble hiding her irritation. She calmed herself. “Scott, I understand you’re upset. The girl you thought was your date has chosen someone else. That, however, doesn’t give you the right to attack Spencer. You need to come to the office with me to see Dean Wilcox.”

“Aw, come on, Teach, we were just horsing around. It didn’t mean anything, did it, Spencer?” Scott glared at the other boy, daring him to contradict.

“He’s right,” Spencer said, shaking off the other boy’s arm and stepping away. “It was nothing.”

“See,” Scott said, grinning like he’d just won the lottery. “All good here.”

“It didn’t look like nothing to me,” Hope protested, unwilling to ignore Scott’s aggressive behavior. She could only guess what might have happened if she hadn’t come upon them when she did.

Spencer’s eyes connected with hers, silently pleading for her not to make an issue out of this. She returned his look, and while she would have liked to comply, she was unwilling to let this go. Spencer gave his head a small shake as if to say reporting Scott to the dean would only make matters worse for him.

A moment of tense silence followed. Looking from one boy to the next, she noticed the heated look Scott aimed at Spencer. They were like two gunslingers outside of the O.K. Corral. This was exactly what Hope feared would happen. Spencer was out of his depth. Furthermore, she didn’t trust Scott.

Hope didn’t need a fortune-teller to understand the situation. Scott believed he would be taking Callie to homecoming. It was expected. Scott was a shoo-in as homecoming king. Callie would be giving up the key position as his date if she went with Spencer instead of Scott.

Whatever it was the girl wanted Spencer to help her with had to be something major. Something important. Her mind whirled with possibilities as her suspicions rose. Hope could only wonder what Spencer had gotten himself into and what she could do to help before he got himself into major trouble.

“I’ve got to get to football practice,” Scott said, as if all was forgiven.

“I—” Hope was about to stop him when Spencer cut her off.

“Okay, Scott, see you around.”

Scott’s eyes darkened. “Sure thing.”

Hope read the message in that look and knew this wasn’t over. Scott wasn’t through with Spencer.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” she asked after Scott had left, wanting to issue a warning to Spencer and at the same time knowing it would do no good.

“I said I’m fine.”

Hope doubted that was true. “Does Scott know why Callie agreed to go to the dance with you…that you’re doing her a favor in return?”

He answered with a half-hearted lift of one shoulder. “Maybe. Maybe not. It doesn’t matter either way.”

“You should ask her to explain before there’s another incident.”

Spencer adamantly shook his head, and when he spoke his voice was tight with tension. “I don’t want Callie to know anything about this. It’s bad enough as it is; she’ll want to defend me, and that will only make everything worse.”

“I’m not sure that’s wise, Spencer. Promise me you’ll think about it.”

Holding her gaze, Spencer didn’t respond. “I can take care of myself, Ms. Goodwin.”

Hope wasn’t convinced Callie would do anything to spare Spencer from Scott’s wrath, especially if she felt she’d been coerced into attending the dance with him. Callie was using him, and once she got what she wanted, Spencer would be old news. Former good friend or not.

“I’ve got to go,” Spencer said, and fled as if he couldn’t get away fast enough.

The sound of the door closing echoed in the hall. Still processing what had happened, Hope slowly started toward the school’s office. Either by luck or by circumstance, Dean Wilcox was sitting at his desk with the door open.

Hope hesitated and then knocked against the door.

Gregory Wilcox glanced up and, seeing Hope, grinned. “Come in,” he said, and motioned toward the chair in front of his desk.

At this point, Hope was grateful to sit down. “I just had a run-in with Scott Pender in the hallway,” she said. “And I’m not sure what to do about it.”

Sitting up straighter, the dean said, “Tell me what happened.”

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