Chapter 52

"Take five!"

"But, we're..."

I took a couple quick steps and jumped up to the stage. "We're taking five," I said firmly. I took Robbie's hand and pulled her toward the exit. Outside, I took a deep breath of the cool night air, then pushed Robbie to sit on the low concrete wall by the door. "Want to talk about it?"

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Okay." I sat next to her, taking her hand again.

We sat like that for several minutes. Robbie tried to stand, but I held her in place. "Can we go now?" she asked in exasperation.

"Are you over it?"

"There's nothing to get over!" she snapped.

"Then we can't go now." I squeezed her hand. She tried to pull it away, but I held on.

"There's nothing wrong, and if there was, what makes you think it's any of your business?"

I sighed. "What you're feeling is none of my business if you don't want to share." Robbie looked satisfied and tried to stand up, but I still held her in place. "But that's my sister you're jumping on. And my friend Peter you sniped at. And my girlfriend. And..."

"I... Have I really been that bad?"

"Yes," I said simply. I could have softened it, but this is what she needed to hear.

Her hand relaxed, and I let go. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to."

"I didn't jump on you?"

"You took some shots, but I've been tackled by you, I'm not going to get hurt by some words. Do you want to talk about it? Is it the game?"

"No. I don't want to talk, and it wasn't the game. I'm over that."

"Really?"

"Mostly. The assembly today helped. I liked when you pointed out that Pasco and the Tigers were one year deals, and we keep coming back." She leaned over and laid her head on my shoulder. "I wanted to win, but we played hard and did our best, I'm happy about that."

"So you're not bummed about the game. You're a little stressed about the play on Saturday, but it's more than that. What is it?"

"It's noth... Okay, I'll deal with it." She stood, and this time I didn't try to stop her. I follower her back inside. Tami was running Peter and Traci through one of their scenes. I replayed the day in my head. I couldn't think of anything that had happed, but it occurred to me that maybe something was missing.

"Your best friend is going to get her head slapped off."

I looked closely at Tami to see if she'd been replaced by an evil twin. "MY best friend?"

"Yeah. At the moment, I ain't claiming her."

I sighed. It had been a rough couple of days. Robbie had been down on everyone. In fact, I knew a couple of teachers who wanted to trade her to North Lincoln. Even Mr. Reed had looked like he wanted to strangle her.

"Any idea what's bugging her? And how long it's going to last? It ain't her time of the month."

I sighed again. "A small one, not a clue, and I know."

Tami cocked her head. "So are you going to tell me? Or is it one of those secrets that aren't yours to tell."

I looked at my watch. We had about ninety seconds before debate. "Close your eyes," I said putting my hands on her shoulders. "Now visualize Robbie for the last three days."

Tami nodded, eyes closed. "Okay. It's Robbie, ready to kill or maim for any reason."

"Now think about your question Sunday night and put that with your vision."

Tami's eyes popped open. "What happened?"

I shrugged, put my arm around her, and started us toward debate. Neither of us put into words the question of the day. Where was Cody?

"Do you think there's any question that I could squish you like a bug?"

Luke Reese looked up at me. He'd been sitting on a bench in front of his P.E. locker, tying his shoe. He glanced around and realized that we were the last two in the locker room.

"I... you wouldn't do that," he said.

He was right, but I wasn't going to tell him that. Luke had been my best friend the first year I'd moved here. Though Robbie replaced him as number one, we were still friends, but that didn't mean I wasn't above a little intimidation to get what I wanted. "Are you sure?"