“We used to know each other, and our parents are friends, so everything is…weird,” I explain. “I can’t believe what a jerk he’s turned into.”
Devin glances back at him. “But he’s so hot.”
I’m tempted to look over at Max again but fight the urge. “Just because he’s hot doesn’t mean he’s nice.”
“If you say so,” Callie says.
Just then the percussion section breaks out into their stupid chant:“Good luck? All day! We suck? No way!”
I roll my eyes and turn my back fully on them. I hate that chant with my whole being. It barely makes sense, it’s not creative, and I’ve heard them scream it at the top of their lungs more times than I can count.
“The only time I want to interact with them is when they’re delivering our Popsicles. Otherwise, we should be focusing on ourselves,” I remind the guard. “Speaking of which, I’d love to do a color guard sectional dinner. How about this Wednesday? I was thinking we could meet at my place to hang out and eat a bunch of food?”
Everyone’s quiet, and it occurs to me that they might refuse. How mortifying would it be if I can’t get them to eat a free dinner with me? I could never tell Mom. Maybe I have enough in savings to bribe them into coming if necessary.
“Uh…” Madisyn glances at her friends. “I have a date at eight, but I can come for dinner beforehand.”
Addison and Devin nod in agreement.
“I’d love to come!” Li says eagerly.
“I can probably be free,” Rosa adds.
The others agree and I’m able to breathe again. “Awesome. Okay, then let’s go work our tails off!” I shake my fluffy tail at them.
“Nooooooo,” Callie groans, while a few others boo at me…but they’re smiling. Right now, I’ll take what I can get.
Our afternoon practice on the field is scorching. August in Ohio can be absolutely miserable with the high heat and humidity, and Sire keeps giving us extra breaks to gulp down water and apply extra sunscreen (not that most people take advantage of that). The guys in particular seem to compete for worst sunburn by the time band camp is over.
“I should have brought my own Popsicles for the guard,” I say to Nova during our latest break. She hauled in a cooler filled with ice and rainbow Popsicles for all the clarinets. She might hate people in general, but there’s no denying she’s a great section leader. I take a gulp of my sad lukewarm water. “Why did I think the percussion would actually fulfill their side of the bet?”
“I wish I had enough for both our sections.”
“No, it’s my fault. Once again, I wasn’t cynical enough. I need to learn your ways.”
I’m seriously debating asking if I can have some of the melting ice from her cooler when Max jogs up to us. “Those Popsicles are probably sounding pretty good right now, huh? I’ll go grab them for you. Andno,I didn’t forget. I never go back on the bets I make.”
And then he smiles at me. I feel it all the way down to my toes.
I only have enough time to blink before he’s jogging back into the high school.
I turn to Nova. “Did he justsmileat me?”
“I saw his teeth, so I’m pretty sure that’s an affirmative.”
“Well, now I’m officially scared.” I glower at his back and take another swig of water.
“Maybe he’s coming around to you again?” She takes a bite of her Popsicle. “Or he was impressed by your drill down skills?”
“Maybe…”
“Well, whatever it is, I hope it sticks. Max seemed genuinely interested in D&D and it got my hopes up that we might get a game together after all this time.”
The rest of the color guard circles around Nova and me when Max comes back, and the percussion also meanders over. He holds out the box to me. I recognize it as one of those generic brands of Popsicles where it’s really just colored water frozen in narrow plastic pouches. It’s not my favorite kind of Popsicle, but with this heat I’m willing to take anything.
“You won fair and square, so here’s your box,” he says. “From the percussion to the color guard.”
This doesn’t feel right. He’s still smiling, but now I notice that the rest of the percussion is too. That can’t bode well.
