“License and insurance,” he said with a smirk, moss green eyes twinkling as I rolled my window down and handed them to him. “Eden, you of all people should know where not to speed in this town.”
I sighed with relief, “I know Officer Graves, but I’m going to be late for volleyball practice.”
Officer Graves bent down to peer into my passenger seat, and his eyebrows winged up when he saw Drew. “Drew, why are you running around with this riffraff?”
Drew laughed and said, “Com-on Uncle Tony, she isn’t any worse than me.”
“If you say so, but that remains to be seen, young man.”
“You aren’t seriously gonna write her a ticket, are you? You might lose your status as my favorite uncle if you do,” Drew teased.
“Yeah, good luck with that one! I’m your only uncle, buddy. Besides, the law is the law, Drew; you know that.”
He handed me back my things with a white slip of paper, and I felt like I might cry.
“I’m giving you a warning young lady, but you can bet your ass, your dad will hear about this! Slow down—and you two stay out of trouble.”
Drew and I muttered something about how we would, and Tony headed back to his squad car laughing the whole way. I pulled out onto the road again, and as soon as I knew that Tony was well out of sight—and radar range, I resumed my speeding until I got to Bromley Gymnasium. I didn’t bother shutting the car off but instead grabbed my bag and clothes out of the back, then sprinted for the gym door. I don’t think I’d ever suited up that fast in all the time I’d been playing the sport. Everyone else had just started stretching when I walked onto the court with a few other girls who’d been in the locker-room. I’d made it on time against all odds.
Drew waved at me from the bleachers with a smile, and I waved back, as did three other girls who thought he was waving at them. I got mad for a split second before it dawned on me that no one knew about our relationship status yet except for our close friends. Friends like the one who was galloping across the court toward me at that very moment. I braced myself for the impact I knew would come with the flying hug Jennifer was about to deliver. She surprised me when she came to a screeching halt, just an inch in front of my face, poked me in the nose, and said, “Gotchya.”
I giggled and gave her a hug, “Nice to see you too! How was the vacation? You’re back early! Why didn’t you call?”
She giggled and threw her arms wide, “SURPRISE, and as for vacation, boring as hell, just like every other year. We never do anything fun, well fun by my standards anyway. Don’t get me wrong; the destination was cool, but it would have been so much better if we’d actually done some of the things the area is popular for—like snorkeling or deep-sea fishing.”
I hiked a brow and laughed as if to say, “Really?”
“Okay, maybe not the deep sea fishing part, but snorkeling would’ve been legit. My parents were more about the history of the area—like always, and you know me, if there’s one subject I’d be most likely to flunk out of, it’d be history.”
It never failed, Jennifer could always make me smile and just feel all-around good. Like Drew, she was a natural antidepressant for me.
“You’ve got to be kidding me! You’re kidding, right?”
The statement had both Jennifer and me swinging around to see what our teammate, Clarissa Johnson, was openly ranting about. She was the only other girl in the school who was clearly an ethnic mix, like me. She was also the one girl in the whole school who absolutely hated my guts, and I still had no idea why. There were two kinds of popular at Calester High, those who are the nice, talk to everyone, Valedictorian type, and then there were the people like Clarissa, also smart, but mean as hell.
She stood at the bottom of the bleachers and fixed me with a frigid stare. Drew sat five rows up, his hand over his mouth, trying not to laugh, but failing miserably. His whole body shook with the humor of whatever he was laughing about.
“You turned me down at the end of the school year for that,” Clarissa raged, gesturing toward me. “What the hell is wrong with you, Drew Graves?”
That was all the more Jennifer needed to hear before she stormed across the court to confront Clarissa. Jennifer was usually pretty laid back, the epitome of easy-going—until you messed with her family or friends. I took off after and reached her just as she’d planted herself in front of Clarissa.
“What the hell is wrong with you, Clarissa? Seriously, what’s your deal with Eden? From where I’m standing, you’ve got nothing to hate her for, except maybe your own damn jealousy.”
Jennifer’s stance was rigid, and if I didn’t do something to defuse her and fast, she’d get kicked off the team for fighting before the season even began. I placed a hand on her shoulder which had her looking over it at me. Her face had flushed primrose pink, and her ice-blue eyes glinted with aggression. I shook my head.
“She’s not worth it, Jennifer. Let’s go and start stretching.”
She let me pull her away and back toward the center of the gym, but Clarissa being the instigator she was, couldn’t just leave well enough alone.
“Yeah, go start stretching. Everyone knows Eden has to do it twice as long, with her dual personalities and all.” She’d said it with enough venom to kill someone. She really just couldn’t stand me.
