Chapter 61

"What are you playing at?"

"Excuse me," I said, looking up at Robbie. I'd been sitting in the library reading about Custer's early career. I couldn't decide if the man was a genius who got unlucky at Little Big Horn, or an idiot who got lucky in the Civil War.

"What's with you and the Bronx princess?"

"Manhattan. She's from Manhattan."

"Quiet!" Mrs. Conners snapped from the circulation desk. I nodded, and Robbie slipped into the chair opposite me.

"What about you and Tami?"

"Tami's my... my friend. She always will be."

"I thought she was more. I thought you loved her."

"I'll always love Tami. She was my first."

"But not your last?"

"Life's complicated."

"That's always your excuse. Life's complicated. Maybe you'd better uncomplicate it."

"Wouldn't that be nice," I said wistfully. "A life without complications. I think they call that death."

"God, I hate you sometimes."

"That's too bad, I've always liked you."

"Ladies!" I shouted to get their attention.

"He's going to yell at us again," Miranda complained.

"I thought he only yelled on the bus," Stephy said.

"It's tradition. He has to yell after every meet," Kelly explained.

I looked at Miss Calloway standing next to me. "Is spanking allowed?"

"No, you'd enjoy it too much," Stephy said.

Damn, these girls have gotten to know me quick.

Tami smiled. "Sit!" she said loudly, and the eight girls all settled on the bench. "Listen!" The girls looked up at me attentively. Sometimes I think they behaved for her just to annoy me.

"I just wanted to say that you ladies did a great job for your first home meet." We'd had a weird schedule, maybe because we were the new team in the district. Four away meets, then two home meets, then districts.

"You managed to lose another one." The girls booed, and I noticed that some of the parents watching from the bleachers looked shocked. "But, you only lost by four points. That's a long way from twenty."

"Stephy almost won the all-around..." Stephy stood and clasped her hands together over her head like a boxer, "... and Miranda was right on her heels."

"Hey!" Kelly protested. "I've got a cold."

"And Kelly did a great job competing with a cold. We've got one more home meet a week from now on the eleventh, then districts. And I think Rachel should compete bars so that we have a sixth. All in favor?"

Before Rachel knew what was happening the rest of the team had their hands in the air.

"And that means," I continued, "that Brianna or Susie need to do floor. What do you think girls, rock, paper, scissors or flip a coin?"

The two girls looked at each other, then back at me. "You're mean," they said in stereo.

Kelly stood and walked up to me. "They're a little slow if they're just figuring that out," she whispered loudly enough for everyone to hear.

I waited for the laughter to stop. "They're a lot slow if they're just figuring that out," I whispered back. The two girls turned deep red as their team laughed.

"Four laps, then get out of here," I yelled. "Let your parents deal with you. I want to go make out with my girlfriend." Zoe, who'd been sitting on a chair behind the bench, blushed as the girls jumped up and started running around the outside of the gym.

I looked over at Miss Calloway. "Maybe a boys team would have been a better idea."

She smiled. "Then I wouldn't have you to help."

Damn! Why does everybody know me so well?