Chapter 29

The one good thing about not training in the mornings, just coaching the others, was that I didn’t need to catch a shower before class, which always made me rush to get from the field house to my first-period class.

Monday, however, I wished I’d stopped to shower instead of heading inside when we finished, letting the other guys go get ready for the day. I always started practice as late as I could, since I didn’t want to get up any earlier than I had to, so the halls were already packed when I made my way inside through the side entrance.

I could feel a weird energy from everyone the second I walked through the doors. At first, it was just a feeling, like when you think someone is looking at you when you have your back turned.

I passed a group of kids who stopped talking the second they saw me, just cut off mid-sentence like someone had hit a pause button. When I nodded at them, they all suddenly found their shoes incredibly interesting.

That was weird enough, but then I saw Hanna and Emily, along with two other girls I assume were cheerleaders that I didn’t know, when I got to my locker. I raised my hand to wave to them, and both Emily and Hanna got this look like they’d just seen something terrifying and turned their backs to me, trying to pretend they hadn’t seen me.

“Morning,” I said loud enough so they could hear.

“Ohh, hey, Blake,” Emily said, but it was in that overly cheerful way that people used when they’re trying too hard to act normal.

Then they all scattered like they were late for class.

I won’t lie; I was starting to take it a little personally. I was trying to figure out what major thing I had done wrong since Friday that people were acting so weird. Yes, I’d gone to the party and yeah, some of the other underclassmen I knew from sports were annoyed I didn’t get them invited, but that shouldn’t be enough to get kids I didn’t even know giving me this reaction.

I’d just closed my locker and started to head to class when I spotted Kenneth walking down the opposite side of the hallway.

“Hey, Kenneth!” I called out, raising my hand again.

He looked right at me. Made direct eye contact, then turned his head and kept walking like I didn’t exist.

That stopped me cold.

We weren’t exactly friends or anything, but we weren’t enemies. He’d invited me to his party for Christ’s sake.

I was watching him, trying to figure out what the hell had happened when he headed toward Tammy and a couple of other varsity cheerleaders. Even from a distance, I could see the change in his body language as he got closer to her.

Tammy saw him coming. Her entire posture shifted, shoulders going rigid, chin lifting. The expression that crossed her face was unlike anything I’d ever seen from her before. Pure fury and disgust.

Kenneth said something to her, too far away for me to hear, but Tammy’s response was immediate. She turned her back on him completely, dismissing him like he was nothing.

The other cheerleaders with her stepped back, clearly uncomfortable with whatever was happening between the two of them. Understandable. They were the two most popular people in the school, the homecoming king and queen, and the ‘it’ couple. Kenneth moved around to face Tammy again, his hands gesturing as he spoke, but she wouldn’t even look at him.

More students had started to notice. Conversations were dying out as people turned to watch the drama unfold.

Tammy turned her back to him again, this time starting to walk away from him. Kenneth hurried after her, reaching out to grab her arm.

“Tammy, wait. Can we just talk about this?” he said.

They’d gotten close enough that I could hear them now.

She jerked her arm free so violently that Kenneth actually stumbled backward.

“Don’t you dare touch me,” she said, spinning around to face him.

Even from where I stood, I could hear the venom in her voice. Kenneth’s face went pale as he realized how many people were now watching them.

“Look, I know you’re upset, but can we please do this somewhere private?” Kenneth kept his voice low, but the desperation was creeping in. “This isn’t the place...”

“Oh, so now you’re worried about what people might see?” Tammy’s voice rose dangerously. “You should have thought about that before you decided to be a lying, cheating piece of trash!”

The hallway had gone completely silent now. Everyone within a fifty-foot radius had stopped what they were doing to stare. Kenneth’s eyes darted around frantically as more students gathered, drawn by the shouting.