Page 20 of Kicking It with the Point Guard

The door to the cafeteria opens just as I was reaching for it and a warm voice stops me.

“There you are.”

A freshly showered Cameron is in front of me. The strong, clean scent of his soap washes over me.

“I was hoping to run into you here. I looked for you earlier, but I couldn’t find you.”

His face is unreadable, but his eyes search mine.

“Why were you looking for me? I told you not to follow me.” The daydream from earlier makes a very unwelcome appearance. I cross my arms, looking away to hide the flush that’s creeping up my neck.

“You left your math book… I thought you might need it.”

I risk a glance at him. His face is as emotionless as ever.

“Oh, thanks.”

He hands me the book, and we both stand there awkwardly.

A throat clears behind us, and I jump. I turn to find the beautiful girl Lindsay was talking to the other day. She’s glaring at me and discomfort crawls and itches beneath my skin.

“Well, thanks for returning my book,” I say, scooting around Cameron. Then I escape into the night.

Relief washes over me as soon as I’m out of her line of sight, and I feel a little bit bad for leaving Cameron there alone. But he’s a big boy. Literally. He’ll be fine.

So why do I feel so guilty?

Cameron

As soon as Violet leaves, Allyson’s face changes from scary to soft. She smiles at me, and I suppress a shudder. It’s not a real smile, although most people wouldn’t be able to tell. She’s an A-plus actor.

I’d know better than anyone.

Before she says anything, I brush past her, heading into the cafeteria. I did come here hoping to give Violet back her book, but I’m also starving. I skipped lunch and worked myself over pretty hard in both gyms.

She grabs my arm. Her nails dig slightly into my wrist, then she relaxes her grip.

“Cam, baby. Can we talk? I’ve been missing you.” She makes her eyes big, and her lips pout just enough that some might say it was cute.

But not me.

“No.” I rip my arm out of her grasp and spin, using my long legs to put distance between us as quickly as possible. But Allyson isn’t easily deterred.

She catches up with me, her own long muscular legs easily keeping pace. Once upon a time, I thought she was beautiful. Just a couple inches shorter than me, and her body toned and tight from the grueling workouts she puts it through just to be good at her sport.

Every part of her is always made up. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her without makeup, but such is the life of the head cheerleader, I suppose.

“Please, Cameron. Just have dinner with me?” She keeps her voice low. She can’t have anyone hearing the infallible Allyson Hart begging for something.

“I said no.” I make a stop at several of the to-go spots, grabbing a personal pizza, a salad, a parfait, a sandwich, a bag of chips, and a couple of bottles of water, tossing them into a plastic bag that’s hanging on the end of the section.

I did want to eat dinner here, maybe catch up with Oscar for a bit. I heard him laughing somewhere in the noisy room, but since Allyson has decided to torture me with her presence, I now want nothing more than to go somewhere she can’t.

So I swipe my card, the amount of the items subtracting from my yearly food allowance, and speed walk to the exit.

She’s been following me the whole time, and when I refuse to look at her, she sighs.

“Fine, Cam. Have it your way. But we will be having this conversation soon.”

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