Page 41 of Huge Dynamite
“Nothing.” He shakes his head but looks at me quizzically again.
“Okay. Come on.” Nodding to the school, I lead him to the entrance that goes directly to the cafetorium.
Opening the door, I’m immediately hit by the smell of tempera paint I remember from when I was a kid. This isn’t what this place usually smells like—it usually reeks of sloppy joe meat and teenage sweat. When we step inside, a hush falls over the room. A bunch of kids I don’t know are standing around on the opposite side of the room with paint brushes in their hands, painting a big green building made of cardboard. Rather than the cafeteria tables and chairs that are always cluttering the room, today there is a yellow brick road on the floor.
“Excuse me?” A young woman dressed in jeans with a tie-dye T-shirt and long, loosely curled blonde hair emerges from behind the green building and walks up to us. She has a pin in her mouth and others are stuck into a pin cushion shaped like a tomato velcroed to her wrist. She glances at Colt and then pulls the pin from her mouth, sticks it into the tomato, and hides the wrist with the tomato behind her back. “Can I help you?”
“I’m Seth Hardy,” I tell her. “I tutor the kids in math once a week.”
She looks me up and down, and I can’t help but narrow my eyes at her. This is exactly what Holly was talking about. Being judged on appearance. It’s the same damned thing I did to Holly, and she’s right, it sucks. Crossing my arms in front of my puffed-up chest, I narrow my eyes at the little blonde girl, and she glares at me. Huh. Feisty, and not the least bit intimidated. Good for her.
“How about you?” She has a surprisingly deep, raspy voice for such a small thing. She nods to Colt.
“Colt. Hardy. I’m with him.”
Colt smiles, and she smiles back. Smirking, I turn away and when I turn back, she’s glaring at me again. Guess I’m not exactly popular with women right now, although I haven’t done a damned thing to this one.
“Erica Peters. Nice to meet you both.”
When she puts out her hand, I give her mine and she shakes it and then let’s go quickly. Then she takes Colt’s hand and shakes it, holding on just a little too long.
“Well.” Slipping her thumbs through the belt loops of her jeans, she sways back and forth. “I’m sorry to tell you, but there’s no tutoring this week. We have the cafetorium for rehearsals. We open withthe Wizard of Ozthis weekend.” Looking directly at Colt, she rocks forward on her toes and smiles. “Do you know the show?”
“Sure.”
“Maybe you’d like to come see it?” Raising one shoulder, she smiles at Colt. When she does, her blue eyes sparkle and dimples form in her cheeks. She is cute.
“I’m not much of a musical kind of guy.”
Clearing my throat, I elbow Colt.
Rubbing his side, he blurts, “But, uh, the set looks so good, maybe I will stop by. That is if you’re in it?”
Laughing, she reaches out and touches his arm. Bingo. “I’m the director, silly. The drama teacher.” Glancing at the emblem on the front of my jacket, she squints and drops her hands. “Sorry, are you guys Steel Knights?” Just like that, her demeanor changes from flirtatious and happy to serious.
“Yes, actually.” Colt’s not a full-fledged member yet, but he has the jacket and wears our colors. “You know the Knights?”
Nodding, she frowns. “I’m originally from Hoppa. Moved out here for this glamorous job.” Holding out her hands, she spins in a circle. “I knew CJ. He was in my sister’s grade. I knew Tess, too. Has anyone seen her?”
Shaking my head, I push away the feeling I’m getting from this girl. How well did she know Tess and CJ?
“I’m guessing Nick is still in charge?” She scowls when she mentions him, and I can’t help but wonder why. What’s going on here, and what does this woman know?
“He is,” I add. “The Knights are a good group of guys—and girl now,” I throw in, just in case it’s the idea of a motorcycle club that’s scaring her off.
Nodding, she looks me in the eye. “Oh, I know. That’s why you’re named the ‘SteelKnights’ instead of the Hellhounds or whatever that other group near Hoppa is called.”
“The Unchained Dogs,” I tell her. She does know a lot more than the average person who lives in Hoppa. Just saying their name causes agitation in my gut that momentarily distracts me. Today, I found out from my connections that the Dogs know about our build and they’re not too happy about it. I don’t blame them. When we were just set up in Hoppa’s Taphouse, it was one thing, but now that we’re expanding, it means we’ll have more opportunities to build the organization so we’re not only stronger in numbers, but we can also stick our fingers into more business dealings. That’s what pisses Luther and the damned Dogs off more than anything.
And right now, since I’m heading the build, I’m Number One on their Shit List.
“Anyway.” Just like that, she’s back to smiles and sunshine. “Thanks to having no school funding—” She points to the set made of cardboard to show what she means. “—there’s only one performance, and we were lucky to get that. The set is all made of cardboard I collected from recycling bins, and I sewed each of the costumes by hand.”
“That’s impressive,” I comment.
Frowning at me, she turns to Colt. “The show starts at seven on Friday, and it’ll be over by nine. There’s a cast party after. Maybe you want to come?”
“Sounds great.” He nods and smiles.
