He tumbles several notches down in my esteem, not that he was that far up to begin with.
“Wow.” I shake my head and start walking toward the door of the now deserted classroom, but because I can’t leave well enough alone, I wheel around. “You can’t possibly dislike every type of music.”
He lifts his hands and starts ticking off his fingers. “Rap, country, classical, and jazz suck. Ballads and soft rock are tacky. And don’t get me started on pop, hard rock, or R&B. Oh, and disco should be outlawed.”
I hoist my bag farther up my shoulder, fingers clenched so hard around the fabric handles they’ll probably tear.
He smirks, as though he gets a kick out of being a total jerk. “You seem really upset by this.”
“I am!”
He stops right in front of me. “Why?”
“Because … because…” I release my bag’s handles and drag my fingers through my hair a little roughly. Why am I trying to reason with this guy? “You know what, forget it. To each their own, right?”
I turn around and take the high road—or at least the one that leads away from Ten.
6
Crushes and Crushing Comments
I meet up with Rae by her locker, which is plastered with pictures of boy band members with swooping bangs, dazzling white teeth, and hard lines of muscles. I bet Ten abhors boy bands too.
“How was calc?” She waggles her brows.
“Awful.”
Tennessee strolls by us, his gait even and so damn self-assured. The child in me wants to trip him. Not that I’ve ever tripped anyone. But if I had to trip someone, Ten would be that someone.
Rae shuts her locker. “Want to come over and watch a movie tonight? It’s book club night.”
Our mothers founded this very exclusive book club where they drink way more than they read. Jasper’s mom is also a member, along with a bunch of other Reedwoodian mothers. They meet every first Thursday of the month, but talk about it all month.
I tell her I’m in, but regret it at lunch when she asks Melody to come too. Of course Mel says yes, and then she asks if Laney can tag along since they were supposed to hang out, and Rae says the more the merrier. I’m bummed she’s invited Mel and Laney, but it’s Rae. Rae wouldn’t be Rae if she weren’t surrounded by her court at all times. In a way, I’m glad she has them in her life since music takes up such a huge chunk of mine.
While I sip apple juice, Jasper trots over to our table. He spins the free chair next to mine and straddles it. “Did I hear y’all mention a movie night?”
Melody flips her chin-length hair. “Hey, Jasper.”
On his way toward the jocks’ corner of the cafeteria, Brad, Jasper’s best friend, stops by our table. Laney’s black eyes dart to his ultra-pale blue ones that play hide-and-seek underneath his shaggy brown hair. He and Laney use to be an item, but they split up last spring. From what Rae told me, it didn’t end well.
“Yo, J-man, some sophomorian chicks just asked me if you were single.” A smug grin laps against Brad’s fuzzy face. I think he’s trying to grow facial hair, but trying is the key word.
“That’s not even a word, Brad,” Rae says, rolling her eyes at him.
Jasper eyes me as he says, “Not interested.”
The last time Jasper paid me this much attention was when we played Guitar Hero back in middle school and I beat him by a million points.
Brad turns but halts midspin. “By the way, Conrad, I approve.”
“What do you approve of?” I take a long swallow of my juice.
He points to my shirt, which is stretched a little tight. “Rae’s daddy’s work. Looks very natural.”
I choke on my apple juice.
Rae narrows her eyes at him. “I noticed you were scheduled for a ball lift in Daddy’s agenda, or was it a testicular implant? You have just the one, right?”
Brad flips her the finger, but I can tell by his reddening jaw that her comment hit hard. He glares at Laney, whose lips begin to tremble.
“Screw you.” I’m not sure if Brad says this to Rae or Laney.
Once he’s stormed off, Laney jumps out of her seat, tears streaming down her narrow, pale face. “How could you, Rae?”
Mel stands up. “That was cold, Rae.”
“He insulted Angie!”
Mel glowers at me as though this were my fault, before running after Laney.
Jasper chuckles. “I dig girl fights.”
“Shut up.” Rae jabs at her vanilla pudding. “Brad’s such a prick. Why are you even friends with him?”
Jasper grins.
“And why are you still here, Jasper?” she adds.
He stops rocking his chair back and forth. “I was tryin’ to score an invite to your chick night.”
“We don’t invite boys to chick nights.”
“You should. We’d liven it up.”
“Oh, please.” Rae rolls her eyes.
“What if I brought Tennessee?”
Rae plants her elbows on the table and leans forward. “I’m listenin’.”
“Please no. He’s so obnoxious,” I say.
Jasper’s gaze surfs toward the table Ten is occupying with a potted palm. I wonder why he still sits alone. I’ve seen him hanging out in the hallway with a couple of kids, all from the track team. I assume he must run track, unless he just enjoys discussing electrolytes and speed intervals.
“If he comes,” Rae says, “you can come.”
Jasper’s out of his chair in under a second. He jogs over to Ten. I watch them talk. When Ten’s gaze bangs into mine, my fingers tighten around the juice box, and it squirts into my face. I snatch a paper napkin off my tray and blot my eye, which has already started to water.
A minute later, Jasper plops his palms against our table and leans over. “Mission was a bust, RaeRae, but I might’ve heard our new QB has the hots for a certain leggy blonde.”
Rae glances over at Jasper’s section of the cafeteria, the VIP area. It’s not cordoned off or anything but might as well be considering the string of jocks and cheerleaders wedged together. If it weren’t for me, Rae would be sitting there too.
Rae returns her gaze to Jasper. “I’m not into jocks.”
“Since when?”
“Since last year,” I say softly.
“Oh.” He palms his hair. “Right. Not my brother’s finest hour.”
Jasper had a front-row seat to that debacle, what with Rae’s ex being none other than his older brother.
Rae squashes her bottle of water until it’s no thicker than a compact disc. She’s probably imagining it’s the boy we no longer talk about’s soul. He graduated last year, but that’s not the reason we don’t talk about him. We don’t talk about him because he cheated on Rae and shattered her heart. It took months of late-night commiseration over tubs of ice cream and popcorn to get Rae out of her funk.
“Besides, I favor intellect over brawn now,” she adds.
Even though Jasper’s close with his brother, he doesn’t leap to his defense. “Shouldn’t personality factor in?”
“Just because Ten keeps to himself doesn’t mean there’s something off about him. In my opinion, it makes him sort of intriguing.”