Page 9 of Quarterback Crush
“So, he kissed you to make Savannah jealous?” she asked.
“No, not jealous,” I said, “to give Savannah a message.”
“And what message is that?”
“That they’re over,” I said.
“Are you sure he’s not using you?” Sammy asked. “You know, you have crushed on him for some time.”
“He doesn’t know that,” I said with a half-grimace, “though, to be fair, who hasn’t crushed on Oliver Blackwell?”
“True,” Sammy conceded. “I’m just worried, you know, that you might get hurt.”
“Hurt? Aw, you’re so sweet to worry, but no way I’ll get hurt.” I squirmed with joy. “It’s Oliver Blackwell!”
“Maya,” Sammy said sternly, putting on her mom voice. I guess you could say my bestie was the more grounded of the two of us, less flighty, less awestruck than me.
“Okay, I’m under no illusions that Oliver is going to fall in love with me,” I said, “but just think...I get to kiss Oliver again. It’s like all my dreams have come true.” I smiled and batted my mascara-covered eyelashes in a slightly supercilious way, unable to stop my boasting.
Sammy sighed, seeming to appreciate how important this was to me, but only for a moment. “What about Savannah?” she asked with a scowl.
“He just wants to move on from her,” I said, mirroring Oliver’s own explanation.
“Yeah, fine,” Sammy said, “but how do you think Savannah is going to react to this?”
“Huh?”
“On. The. Cheer. Team.” Sammy spelled it out for me slowly. “You think Savannah will just accept that Oliver’s suddenly dating you? You do know that they break up and get back together as regularly as a lunar eclipse?”
I stared. I had no idea how regular lunar eclipses were, but I did know a little about #Olivannah’s past history—everyone did.
“I’m just saying, what if Savannah doesn’t like the idea of Oliver dating you? What if she gets upset with you?”
Sammy’s words hit like a punch to the face (not that I had ever been punched in the face, but once I’d been smacked on the head by a wayward frisbee and that had hurt a lot.) It hadn’tcrossed my mind that Savannah could make things difficult for me.
“You mean, on the cheer team?”
“Maybe...” Sammy replied.
“She wouldn’t,” I snapped back. “The cheer team is like a family.”
“She might. Cheer captain,” Sammy held out her right hand, “and junior cheerleader.” She put out her left hand as if weighing up the two. The junior cheerleader left hand went down low, way down low, clearly showing that the cheer captain would have the upper hand.
I bit down on my lower lip, my stomach knotting at the very real possibility that Savannah could make my life somewhat miserable if she wanted to. But the moment was temporary and I sprung back in joyful rapture. I couldn’t let something minor like that ruin the opportunity that Oliver offered. To be his girlfriend, albeit fake, would be worth it.
“It’ll be okay. I’ll be okay,” I said with a carefree shrug.
Sammy’s lips pressed tightly and her eyes narrowed with doubt.
“It’ll be fine!” I reassured, but my confidence was fake because maybe she was right and I’d jumped too quickly, was getting in way too deep. A silly, star-struck junior who had her head in the clouds. For that reason, I decided not to tell Sammy that Oliver wanted to meet me at lunch break.
And I was pleased I hadn’t. Because no matter that I stalled at my locker and pretended I couldn’t find my books and then needed to go to the restroom, Oliver never showed.
Yep, seemed my fake boyfriend was already backing down.
I MET UP WITH ROSEbefore cheer practice, ensuring I had an ally before facing Savannah. But Savannah wasn’t there and the gossip spread that she was sick. There were squinty sneers from a few of the seniors, but nobody said anything so I carried on as usual. With the Owls playing for a semifinal position, we went out to the field to co-ordinate our opening cheer with the band.
As we practiced to the music, the football players started to wind up their training, some of them were stretching, others were jogging slowly, and in a move that made my heart leap, Oliver was obviously watching me.
