As soon as I take the box, I realize what they’re smiling about.
“These aren’t frozen!”
The whole color guard groans in dismay. Callie takes the box from me as if she doesn’t believe me. “Are you serious right now?”
Max looks from her to me. “You said that if you won, we had to bring you Popsicles. You never said they had to be frozen.”
“I shouldn’t have to specify—they’rePopsicles.Of course they’re going to be frozen!”
Anger burns through me from my head to my fingertips. I can’t believe I thought Max might act like a decent human being today. Who does something like this?
“Welp, there goes my D&D game,” Nova mutters under her breath.
All around him, the other percussion members are laughing at their hilarious joke and watching him like he’s some god. “Was this your idea?” I ask him.
“That box is a twenty-count—that’s double the amount we agreed on. You should be thanking me.”
“You are the most arrogant, irritating joke of a person I’ve ever met, and that’s really saying something.” I squeeze my hands into fists and step closer to him, tilting my chin up to meet his gaze with contempt. “You lost our bet and now you need to pay up.”
“I already brought you Popsicles.” The corner of his mouthquirks up in a smile and his eyes flash. “What else would you like from me?”
“I want…I mean, you should—” I cut off when I realize how close we’re standing. Close enough that I can see his individual eyelashes and smell the scent of peppermint on his breath.
Sire’s whistle sounds, indicating the end of our rest period. I suck in a breath and break off eye contact. I can’t let him get to me like that anymore. It only makes me look more ridiculous.
“Gotta go!” He gives a little wave. “Enjoy the Popsicles, though!”
I stand in shock as he jogs away, then glare at the box by my feet. I want to pull out the individual Popsicles and throw them at the back of his head.
“I’ll put them in our deep freezer when I get home,” I tell the guard as we walk back to the field. “And I’ll bring them back tomorrow if they freeze in time.”
“I’m starting to understand why we hate the percussion section,” Deja says.
As if on cue, they shout their stupid chant again.
“More liketheysuck all day,” Li says quietly.
An idea pops into my head. “Actually, I think you may have just given us a new motivational chant, Li.”
I gather the whole guard around me and whisper my hurried thoughts to them before Sire gets frustrated that we aren’t on the field yet. Our rhymes aren’t great, and the chant is still corny, but it’ll annoy percussion and that’s all I want right now.
“As loud as you can,” I whisper and we all turn to thepercussion section. “Hey, we wrote you something!” Then we chant in unison:“Good luck? No way! They suck? All day! Big yuck, don’t play!”
We burst into laughter and a flurry of high fives. To my surprise, Max looks unbothered by our new and improved chant. In fact, his mouth twitches like he’s trying not to laugh. Granted, he’s only been a Glen Vale percussion member for six days. The rest of the percussion is livid, though. Brody’s face goes bright red, and I know that’s not from a sunburn. They’ve passed their chant down for years. To them, it’s sacred.
Whoops. I guess that’ll teach them for trying to humiliate us.
Chapter Six
When the guard pulls up to our house on Wednesday evening for our section dinner, I’m not surprised to see that Mom has outdone herself yet again. The front yard is filled with massive letters that spell outWelcome Knights!
“Come on in, it’s great to have you here,” Dad says as he beckons everyone inside and toward the kitchen. Kelsey waves from her spot in the living room but is surprisingly quiet. Though it’s hard to be louder than ten teenagers who are eager to dissect the day’s rehearsals.
“I hope you all like tacos!” Mom calls as they walk in. “We have hard and soft shell tortillas, rice, a Crock-Pot of shredded chicken, and a skillet of peppers and onions for any vegetarians in the mix, plus all the toppings. Please help yourself!”
The guard stands around in awe for a second before jumping into line.
“Thanks, Mom,” I say quietly. “I think everyone’s impressed.”
