Page 22 of My High School Rebel Boyfriend
“Game on, Dell,” Mitchell said, enthused at the prospect. I meekly hoped I wouldn’t let him down.
Ebony and I were superfluous to the game really. The boys dribbled and pushed and shot around us. We tried to keep up, but the two of them were superior athletes. Still, we jumped and defended and had a good workout.
The time was running down on the clock and Mitchell and I had a five point lead, when in a freak misjudgement Ebony reached her arm out for the ball, but lost her balance and collided with me. Unable to steady myself, I felt myself falling and in desperation stuck my hand out. Unfortunately for Mitchell I entangled with him, staying upright myself but knocking him down. Titan was there in a flash, his hand out to Ebony, helping her up. A howl of laughter assured me she wasn’t hurt.
“Sorry,” I apologized to Mitchell who was lying on his back, legs floundering in bug style. Spontaneously I extended my hand to pull him up and our palms joined, but I had a sudden thought that I was sweating and how shameful was that. Yet something happened when I gripped it, something unexpected, and in a panic I let him go making him slump back to the floor. There was an instant where we were staring at each other, his eyes gold and bright and sending a flutter to my very core, but in a blink it was gone.
“Sorry, but my hand was slippery,” I squeaked, quickly wiping my hand on my t-shirt and re-offering it.
But Mitchell wasn’t interested. His narrowed glare told me that.
He’d already jumped up and with a look of daggers stormed off to get the ball, leaving me trembling.
Feigning thirst, I went back to the bench finishing my juice box and munching on a nut bar. But I knew my sugar levels weren’t low; that’s not why I was shaky and my mind twisting like a tornado.
Oh no, this was way worse than hypoglycemia. Hey, this might be worse than a diabetic coma.
With a touch to my hand Mitchell Finlayson had sent a surge through my whole body. Yeah, somehow the boy who hated me had managed to punch me straight in the heart.
Chapter 9
MITCHELL
“YOU’RE KIDDING, RIGHT?”
These were words I seemed to say to Titan on a daily basis. Sometimes an hourly basis. We had stopped at the gas station, and I was picking up a few snacks in the store. The boy was always coming up with harebrained schemes and expecting me to follow without question. Like his stupid double date idea. This one took the cake, though.
“No, I’m not kidding,” he retorted, “In fact, you can thank me with a trip to Peter’s Ice Cream Shoppe later.” I picked up a bottle of energy drink, knocking over half the row. “Our disciplinary record will be wiped clean, and Coach Barber says she’ll give us a college reference.Andshe’ll even provide us with lunch.”
He said it as if that was the deal breaker—a free lunch.
I let out a heavy sigh. Sure, I was all for erasing the record and the reference part, but accompanying the girls volleyball team to their tournament at Falls Creek on Thursday? That seemed like a punishment all in itself.
Titan went on to say that he’d suggested to Miss Barber that she might need assistance with equipment and warmups, and who knew the warmups better than the two of us? Plus, it would be great to have extra support for the team, and with both of our interests in sports and coaching it would be a good experience for us to see how other tournaments, other than basketball, were run.
Titan could talk a good game, and Principal Freeman saw the merit in it.
“A whole day off of school,” Titan said, “with the girls.” With the girls translated aswith Ebony.Titan was truly besotted.
He’d thrown me in it again on the weekend—basketball practice on Saturday morning, he’d said. Yeah, who was there? Ebony and Harper Dent. Admittedly, she’d surprised me. She hadn’t backed down in a game of one on one, and whereas I thought she was weak and thin, she had muscles in her legs that were downright shapely.
Okay, I had to stop thinking about Harper Dent in that way. I had to stop thinking about her full stop. The girl was a snitch and delusional about her chances of playing college volleyball. A couple of training sessions with Titan weren’t going to help her, and as much as I admired her grit, that didn’t get you a scholarship.
Did I sayadmired?
I didn’t mean to sayadmired.
There was no way I admired anything about Harper Dent. Not her long slender legs, not her tenacious attitude, not her glorious fake copper hair.
But why did that girl turn up everywhere I went?
Today she was going to be on the Outdoor Ed trip to Bannister Hill, which meant an hour bus ride, followed by a three hour hike which would be a testing climb. Well, for those who weren’t fit. I had no doubts about my ability to ace it.
“Are you even listening to me, bro?” Titan shook his head in frustration.
“What? Yeah. Nah.” I was in a muddle, my clarity confused.
“I said, Is that all you’re taking?” Titan asked, looking at the sandwich I had in my hand.
