Play With Me

even
know my name until I told him at the tryouts.”
    “Yeah, me too.”
Or so I thought until I found out he actually knew my name yesterday.
    “Will you wear
your sports clothes for the training or get a real soccer dress?” Susan seemed
so excited, I couldn’t understand her enthusiasm. Which girl would voluntarily
play soccer? Well, if there wasn’t a guy on the team she wanted to recognize
her anyway.
    I shrugged. “No
idea. Think I’ll start with what I have. Just shorts and a tee. Anything else
is too expensive to buy with my pocket money.” And no way would I wear those
horrible shoes with spikes on their soles. But the outfit was nothing that
really concerned me. “Listen, did you see Tony anywhere this evening?”
    “Not after you
came in with him earlier. Why?”
    “Haven’t seen
him much. I just wonder where he is.” I threw my empty soda can in the trash
and pulled an apologetic face. “Mind if I go looking for him?”
    Susan was cool.
“Do that. I’ll find you later.”
    I went back into
the hall and wandered around the ground floor, hoping to find Tony somewhere.
But the shoving and bumping of sweat drenched people soon got on my nerves, and
I kept closer to the walls instead. When I reached an arch leading to another
room, I peeked inside. No blond caught my eye. My shoulders slumped with
disappointment. But then a few guys shifted to the side, and I spotted a pool
table and someone leaning over it in an eye-catching way.
    By now I was
pretty good at recognizing Hunter’s black hair.
    He held the cue
low over the green felt, aiming the tip at the white ball. Some colored balls
fanned out on the table too, but as it looked he went for the black eight.
    “Come on, Ryan,
give a friend a chance. You can’t hole the ball just yet.”
    I pivoted to the
left to see who was pleading with Hunter. I didn’t know the tall boy’s name,
but he had Algebra with Tony. The look on his face was hilarious. One would
think his life depended on Ryan’s hit or fail.
    “What’s your
problem, Justin?” Still working on positioning the cue perfectly, Hunter
grinned. “Afraid, your Mama’s going to find out you’re playing for money?”
    Just then I
noticed the stack of dollar bills at the edge of the table. They seemed to have
a sum of about one hundred bucks in the pot. My jaw dropped. Fifty from each? I
didn’t get half as much pocket money in one month.
    “My Mama doesn’t
give a damn. But I really, really need this Spiderman comic. It’s
an original,” Justin whined.
    I felt really
bad for him. Intrigued how the game would end, I moved around the edge of the
wall and stood face to face with Hunter across the room. Narrowed eyes and
knitted brows gave away his tension. The cue moved backward just a couple of
inches. He’d shoot any moment.
    But then his
dark eyes looked up…and remained fixed on me. His body froze, only his chest
moved with each breath. Heads turned in my direction. My heart drummed a little
faster, and with all the attention, my cheeks warmed uncomfortably.
    I grimaced. “Is
something wrong?”
    Ryan didn’t
answer, but Justin victory-punched the air as he rushed to my side. He laid his
arm around my shoulders, grinning like a loon. “You just saved my life,
poppet.”
    “Ah… yes .”
With a grimace, my gazed switched back to Hunter. “And how so?”
    He started
grinning, too, but didn’t seem as happy as the guy next to me. More like, he
knew crap was about to fall.
    “He can’t play
when someone is watching him,” Justin almost sang into my ear. “Totally screws
up then.”
    “But you all are watching him,” I pointed out.
    At the back of
the room, someone laughed. “Yeah, but we’re not girls.”
    Chuckling,
Hunter straightened and chalked the tip of his cue, lips tight, eyes set on me.
Although my being there obviously amused him, I didn’t want to trouble him,
especially where money had a hand in the pie.
    “Sorry,” I
croaked. “I’ll leave you guys alone then.”
    “Uh-uh, no way,
poppet!” Justin’s arm remained firm around my shoulders. “You’re my insurance
to get that comic book. You stay.”
    His antics made
me laugh, even though I felt like a traitor.
    Ryan, who hadn’t
said one word in all that time, slid his tongue over his bottom lip, then the
left corner of his mouth tilted up. He took a deep breath and leaned over the
table once more. Everyone kept silent. Justin crossed his fingers next to my
face, no doubt praying for