Mer Tales 01 - Everblue

Georgia’s grasp, hiding behind it.
    Callahan? Me? This couldn’t be true?
    “ What’s with you?” Georgia said, and turned to look.
    I knew she saw him. What girl didn’t lose all ability to speak coherently in the beguiling all-star pitcher’s presence? Callahan defined handsome in every girls’ internal dictionary and took a close second to Fin for me any day. But no one of his caliber ever paid attention to me—the geeky girls’ swim team captain. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him sit down a few rows over. So did Georgia. The thought he might possibly want to take me to Senior Ball made my stomach tremble. Holly always exaggerated. There was no way he’d ask me.
    Taking a deep breath, I refocused my attention on Mrs. Keifer after hearing the buzz of the second bell.
    “ All right, let’s get started. I thought we’d read in class today—”
    The door opened, interrupting her talk, and Brooke sauntered in with swollen eyes. A pang of guilt wracked my chest, though I’d done nothing wrong. Her glare met mine anyway and my cheeks burned. I slouched down in my seat. Why couldn’t I have been home-schooled instead of Tatchi? Great. Today’s cover story featured me.
    “ Nice of you to join us, Brooke. Holly, could you start reading chapter eight outloud?”
    The sound of shuffling pages filled the room like a delicate rainstorm falling on dried leaves. When Brooke found her seat somewhere behind me, a burst of hushed whispers followed. Cold stares prickled down the back of my neck while I tried to listen as Holly stumbled over her words. Could Callahan really like me? Did Brooke and her flock of friends already know, prepared to swoop down and ambush me later? I bit my lip and pushed away the notion as ridiculous.
    The next few periods zipped by and I’d managed to stay far away from the drama. But as I walked into the cafeteria with Georgia, I spotted Callahan’s brown head of hair right away. He sat off to the side with his friends, looking utterly gorgeous. My pulse jolted thinking about what Holly had said.
    “ Nervous about Saturday?” Georgia asked after we found seats, a celery stick hanging from her mouth.
    A ball of dough from my peanut butter sandwich lodged in my throat as my gaze swept over to Callahan. I quickly sucked down a sip of Sprite. “No. Why?”
    “ Did you not look at the board? You’re racing against Meredith Hamusek and she’s wicked fast. “
    “ Right.” The meet. I stuffed a corn chip in my mouth, embarrassed. Holly mentions Callahan once and my brain becomes total mush. “I guess we’ll have to see.”
    “ You have to win. We need it for the championships but I hope we get out of there at noon. I have a hair appointment at two. Plus I need to get different shoes. Do you want to come shopping with me? I’m looking for something strappy but not too gaudy, you know? I’m so glad I got a little bit of color from working out in the pool, but I need to put bronzer on the tan lines, unless you want to help me? It’s lame you aren’t coming.”
    Her explosion of words blew me back into my chair. “Did you have a lot of caffeine today?”
    “ Why? Am I talking too fast? My mom always says I do. I had a few cups of coffee and a diet Coke earlier. Why?”
    “ Nothing. Go on.”
    “ So, no one even asked you to go?”
    I contemplated lying, but told her the truth. “Ryan did.”
    Her jaw dropped. “And what happened?”
    “ I said no.”
    “ What? Why?” Georgia slammed her apparent second Diet Coke down, clanking it against the table with a splash.
    For once I’d knocked Georgia speechless. I marveled in the quiet for a moment as her eyes—lashes heavy with mascara—watched me in wonder. Coyly, I smiled back.
    “ The guy I want to go with didn’t ask me, so . . . I’m not going,” I shrugged and crunched on another chip.
    “ Who?”
    “ No one you know.”
    “ Does he go here? ‘Cause I know everyone at this school.”
    “ No, but it’s fine.” I looked away, avoiding the confrontation.
    “ Whatever,” she said with a huff and prattled on, completely oblivious to the fact that people were strangely gawking at me.
    Sixth period came and went with more odd stares from my peers. At the bell, I went straight to the pool without stopping to drop my books off at my locker. Drama with my name was apparently underfoot and I had no wish to indulge it. Only a good workout would calm my nerves.
    I was the first at the pool for practice. A dash