Page 171 of The Locker Room
whirled around, gasping, to see what had happened to the guy who"d just
been practically breaking her arm.
“Jesus,” she said, shaking out her arm and her hand with obvious
pain. “Xander Karcek? You just… well… did you kill him?”
Derek moved on the ground and moaned a little, and Mandy kicked
him in the ribs, platform spike heel and all.
“C"mon,” she said decisively. “Let"s go around the corner before
he comes to. It would be better for everybody if he never figures out who
just gave him a big lump on his noggin, okay?”
Xander nodded and turned back around, following the girl"s lead as
she clicked purposefully through the fog back the way Xander had come.
The Locker Room 147
When they got there, Xander"s car was waiting, and Xander turned
to the girl to make sure she was going to be all right. “Um, Mandy? Do
you need a ride somewhere?”
She nodded, suddenly shaking in aftermath, and he realized she
was about the most forlorn thing he"d ever seen. Her eyes were black
with mascara—the girls had been heavily made up for their last dance—
and it was running down her cheeks. Her high ponytail extension was
coming out, and her mid-length hair was a mess of pins and escaping
tendrils as it drooped from an escaped chunk of the real hair that had
been anchoring it in the right spot. Her coat was torn, and she was
rubbing her shoulder with force, as though something hadn"t quite
popped back in.
But when Xander asked her, she shook her head and bit her lip.
“I—” she started, and then reaction set in and her lower lip started to
quiver alarmingly, and then her face lost all composition and began to
squash together like artwork in the rain.
Xander was completely helpless. He knew nothing about women
except that they smelled good and he admired the pretty ones, but they
